Some starting sketches for a dream that I figured is time to start! More information in the written bits below, I guess...
These are the initial research sketches and ideas for a little figure I want to make. I've been toying (surprise pun) with the idea for a long time, and doodling has been as far as I've taken it; up to this point.
A vinyl-type figure that I can mold and cast copies of is something I've been wanting to do for years, but simply never known where to start. I figured "somewhere" is as good a place as any, so after a ton of doodles and research, I grabbed some tin foil, made a ball and four sticks, and Milliputt'd around it until I had something that resembled a human figure.
I'd been working with it like this for a while and thought that it kind of lacked something, but I couldn't put my finger on it...
Then tonight, I just drilled some more holes in the tops of the arms to see what it would look like with the palms facing inwards, as opposed to backwards; and now I love it again and that excitement has been revived!
I wasn't a fan of the left hand on this guy; the process was as follows: I balled up one big and one small ball of tin foil and Milliput..ted around it to get a basic shape; made tin foil sausages (4) and Milliputted around them and made rough arm and leg shapes. Then I rolled out a ~1/8" thick sausage and cut it into smaller sausages and left to cure to make the fingers out of.
Once the fingers were cured, I got a small disc of cured Milliput and used hot glue to attach the fingers and bulk up the hand some. I was able to sculpt the shape somewhat with the nib of the hot glue gun on the glue once it was on the arms, which cut down on any excess and errant glue wisps.
After sculpting on some more detail, I didn't like where the left hand was going. Something about how I'd attached the fingers had sat them a little awkwardly, and I wanted to redo them. Which further moved the idea on to articulate at least some parts of the figure - I drew that out below.
I think that if I use the same gauge of ball bearing (1/4") for the ball and socket joints on the figure, I could cast a small mold for that 1/4" ball and make a few casts in order to keep the same size for the ball parts that I'll sculpt to the arm-side of the shoulders, the head-side of the neck, and the hand-side of the wrists, respectively. Then I'll drill out the body-side sockets at the shoulders and neck, and the arm-side sockets at the wrists, get some Milliput in there and make an impression with my 1/4" ball tool. That way, the sockets and the balls will all be a consistent size and more straightforward to make.
Here's where I'll be cutting the figure once it's sculpted up fully. I've got two more hands (one for each side) that I'll also be able to work on - easily, because of the consistent gauge. I can pop a 1/4" ball on those and they'll fit into the wrist sockets no problem.
For casting, I'll be using the method that gives me two halves of a mold as opposed to casting this completely and cutting out a removal slit down the side. I'll have the head on its own, body and legs together, arms separate, and four hands separate; I'll mold some Plasticine around the (approximate) half way point around the length of the model parts, and pour some silicone to set the first half.
Once this is done, I'll scrape off the Plasticine, cover the first silicone half of the mold with Vaseline in order to release the second half (silicone sticks to silicone), and then pour the second half.
After that, it'll just be a case of pouring a cast from resin when I want to make a new figure to work on. If I can get over the step of actually making the mold and casting the figure, I'll be at a place where I can cast another prototype to further the design and maybe cast again to make a second run and improved design. It's quite exciting.
I'm picturing something that's versatile and customisable, but that could look pretty good on its own.
That's where I'm up to right now; amid a host of other projects, of course.
I'll keep you posted on how it progresses. I've got some more cutting, sculpting, and rethinking to do, but I'm getting to a point at which I'm pretty happy.
Peace.
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