anundine | Entries tagged with in-progress

Inlay's done, sanding's done, all that's left is to paint in faux-ivory and ebony and do the final polish! I'm super proud of the sanding job-- the picture doesn't show it, but there's this lovely soft sheen to the wood and it's baby soft to the touch, like rose petals.

Some notes:
-previous pictures show the wood to be much glossier. This is because when I made Bad News the first time, it was the week before the con I meant to debut it at, so I sprayed on half a can of acrylic sealant and called it a day. That's been removed in favor of a more traditional walnut oil polish (to be applied).
-to remove the acrylic, I've got two different methods. One is....significantly easier, but requires specialized tools.
Option 1: With relatively heavy grit sandpaper-- I think I used 100?-- go after the polish. Wipe down with a rag soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Scrape remaining softened bits of polish with a sturdy knife. Repeat until the sawdust is wood-colored instead of whiteish-grey.
Option 2: Use a card scraper. Get on with your life.
- Up next is testing various paints and how they respond to the wood and the finish. I've got oil paint, milk paint, and india ink on a test block. So far, oil paint is dead last in the rankings because it takes five millions years to dry and I am not a patient person.

Every time I think to myself "home stretch now" I find something else to do, so god knows when this will be "done" BUT I've made great strides nevertheless.

I've talked about this before, but I've wanted to put brass inlay on Bad News since pretty much the moment I made the gun in the first place. With the weather getting nice-- and with all the time at home-- I've finally put my money where my mouth is and started in on that.

After a series of experiments, I discovered that the easiest way to cut clean channels to the appropriate depth was to first cut a relatively shallow guide with a carving tool and then deepen/widen as needed with a flex shaft tool (ie, a dremel but Beefy).

Channels cut, adding the wire is just a matter of shaping, cutting, and tapping with a rawhide mallet-- I like to shape the curls on the wire spool and then cut them off once they fit. I also add a dot of super glue to the channel and spread it in with a needle before tapping in the wire. Sure, theoretically, tension should hold the wire in there just fine, but I live in a constant state of mild paranoia and really enjoy the insurance.

From there, it's just a matter of grinding the brass flush with the wood, then sanding and polishing. I've taken to cycling through the steps, to give the motor of the flex shaft time to cool and my hand different things to complain about, and I've been making great progress.

Whew! The Seasonal Sadness Is Upon Me, which is why posting dropped off to nil. I still haven't started learning how to do inlay, but I have done a shitwack of embroidery and both started and largely completed my Gilmore cosplay, so that's nice. Anyway, here are some middling-quality cell phone pictures, because the thought of dragging out my real camera is...exhausting, but I do still want to brag.

Up first: I mucked about with Percy's coat, adding a fair bit of fancy embroidery to the back and switching out the low, floppy collar for a higher, stiffer, and much more dramatic one. For reference: my post with the original coat.

Pictured: Bare (left), and with Cabal's Ruin (right)
Not pictured: I haaaaated how the sleeves sat, so I changed them out for kontusz-like sleeves, which have the benefit of being significantly breezier.

Also ran: The robes of the glorious Shawn Gilmore. Since this picture was taken, I have added more trim to just about everywhere, but everything is still largely shaped and colored as pictured.

With the completion of the staff, I am suddenly cut adrift without a project to obsess over. Obviously, that means I should work on one of my many sewing projects, right? Maybe finish up some of my embroidery?

...Ahhh, it's good to laugh. No, I think I'll start on my third major project of the year: doing actual metal inlays on the body of Bad News.

Questions, issues, and problems to be solved:

1. How to cut the channels? This will be constrained by what I have access to.
    a. Chisel?
        i. Pros: very traditional, gives me maximum bragging rights. Won't involve a power tool, which kind of scare me. I do know, technically, how to use chisels already, because I've carved both stone and linoleum.
        ii. Cons: not sure where the carving set has gone. It will need sharpening for sure. My knowledge is only technical, and Bad News is made of cherry, a very hard wood.
   b. Dremel?
        i. Pros: faster. Probably easier-- would certainly require less force. I know exactly where the dremel is.
        ii. Cons: Not technically my dremel. I have only the fuzziest notion of how to use it, and would require a refresher course from the owner. Is a loud power tool.

Solution: On test wood, try both. Decide which gives best result/is easiest.

2. How to get the metal into the wood?
    a. Hammered wire?
        i. Pros: traditional. Guaranteed to get the effect I am looking for. I already purchased the wire, and if I don't use it for this it will feel like a waste.
        ii. Cons: Wire means a fixed width and depth I have to carve to. I have a lot of curlicues that are no doubt going to be a bitch and a half to fit.
    b. Powdered metal in some kind of resin?
        i. Pros: thanks to a family member discovering all kinds of fun stuff while cleaning, I do actually have both powdered brass and epoxy, as well as superglue in case the epoxy is too thick. Will allow for a lot of line weight variances.
        ii. Cons: a lot of potential to go sideways. Sticky and messy. Will probably need a lot of sanding, which will have to be by hand, and which I am already tired just thinking about. Getting the correct ratio of binder to metal is going to require experimentation, and I have a limited quantity of dust and a resistance to purchasing more.

Solution: Complete test project utilizing both techniques. Decide which looks best/is easiest. Will probably end up doing a mix of both-- solid wire for the bigger designs, and then epoxy for details.

anyway I'm officially just Real Terrible as estimating how long any given step is going to take, apparently. On Saturday I was convinced that making and attaching the mushrooms was going to take another week minimum. On Sunday, I stood back, looked at the staff, and realized...I was done. The staff was as covered as it was gonna be, and all the little nooks and crannies would be better served with a moss covering, instead.

Behold! About two day's worth of painting. Gonna slap some base colors on these babies, and then go totally absolutely hog wild with shading and surface treatments. I'm so excited, I'm going to shovel So Much Glitter on this thing.

I remember, last month? Two months ago? Whenever it was that I started this thing, I remember thinking to myself that this project was going almost suspiciously fast. Well, folks, I would like to announce that is no longer the case, because these mushrooms have taken approximately five BILLION years so far and have every indication of taking a few billion years more. I'm trying, though, I really am, I desperately want to have this thing done by Halloween so I can blow trick-or-treater's minds.

Making progress on adding the mushrooms! It's slow going, but it's going, which is all that really matters in the end.

Today I started to build the mushrooms using apoxie sculpt. I've never used apoxie sculpt before. Every single source I consulted told me to wait an hour after mixing the clay before trying to do anything with it. "Ehhh it'll be fine," I said, disregarding all advice and immediately using freshly-mixed sculpt.

It was not fine.

The stupid, gooey shit sagged like a motherfucker. It clung to what it shouldn't, and refused to stick to what it should. I mean I did get it to work eventually, and mostly through perseverance and aggression, but hoo boy. Hoo boy! I'll be following instructions from now on, you can be damn sure of that.

Upside:

a glowing purple crystal cluster surrounded by while shelf mushrooms.

Ta-daa! A batch of shelf mushrooms! Now I just....gotta do the rest of the staff.

Last time on Adventures In Prop-making I talked about the process of making and painting the crystals. Today I am proud to announce that I am Done With That Nonsense! Observe:

Individual crystals were hot-glued together to form larger chunks that fit on the body of the staff. the edges were taped off with masking tape and the holes were filled with caulking. After the caulk set, a batch of clear epoxy was mixed, allowed to get half-set and sticky, and was liberally smeared over the underside with a plastic knife. this formed a nice stiff base that would be less likely than the hot glue to melt in the heat of a convention. Off in the bottom-right corner is a ring of plastic cut from the bottom of a used tube of caulking. After the resin had set, that ring got Gorilla Glued to the largest cluster, the one meant to fit on top of the staff.

Now, the original plan was to light up each cluster with a little mini LED tea light-- pictured, next to the plastic ring-- by drilling a hole in the wood of the staff, into which I would drop that light and over which I could place the large clusters. Every time I wanted to turn the light on or off, I would have to take out the cluster, fiddle with the LED, and replace the cluster. For this plan to work, I would need to regularly remove and replace the clusters covering the LED, and I couldn't find a way to make it sturdy, secure, and not a pain in the ass all at the same time.

It is at this point that I said fuck it.

You can get battery powered strings of LEDs off Amazon for like six bucks, which is exactly what I did. Now the only "moving parts" I needed to worry about is access to the single battery pack,while everything else can be glued down and sculpted over. As a bonus, with multiple lights in each cluster, they glow way brighter now, which looks awesome.

And that's it for the crystals! Next up: learning how to use apoxie sculpt and covering this bad boy with a forest of mushrooms.

While I am busy bouncing my head off a few walls and maybe the odd table or two while reconsidering my game plan re: making my crystals light up, here's a cool picture of the glow in the dark powder doing its job.

three crystals glowing a soft, biolumincent blue

(sorry about the poor quality, it's a cell phone pic; my good camera was having none of this darkroom business)

For courtesy's sake, as this is a long and picture-heavy post, I've hidden the actual pictures themselves behind readmores.

( Pictured: a series of silicone molds sitting in little cups, full of something that looks rather a lot like grape cough syrup. )

Poured crystals, colored with a combination of loose eyeshadows and Stuart Semple's Blue Lit

( Pictured: The same crystals, freshly peeled. )

Normally, I'd take these out while their outsides are still kind of gooey, but this time I wasn't able to get to them until they were all the way hard. I hadn't fully appreciated until that moment how much that outer goo layer made a fairly effective lubricant until it wasn't there anymore and the resin had to be pried out by force, which was fun and exciting to learn. A couple of the molds were totally wrecked, and several more will need patching but are mostly still usable.

( Pictured: wet crystals setting up on a metal box lid that has been wiped down with vaseline to prevent sticking. )

What I'd done previously with crystals that were sticky was rub color powder on them before letting them set the rest of the way up. Once dry, I sanded this thin, highly pigmented layer partially but not fully off, which resulted in a really cool flaked gilding look. Since these came out all the way hard, I couldn't do this, but I was not willing to give up that look. Instead, I mixed up a batch of resin and tinted portions of it a handful of different colors, which I then painted onto the crystals with a small brush I didn't care very much about.

( Pictured: a cluster of purple crystals sitting on a paper towel, by several paint tins. )

Once the color layer was cured, I sanded the everloving shit out of those fuckers. Took like eight hours to do all of them, since there were more than a few that had weird lumps on them that needed taken down to shape with really rough sandpaper and then worked through increasingly fine grits. Fun fact! If you make too sharp a jump from a rougher to a smoother grit, not only will it take way longer than it would have if you switched more often, but a lot of the time you won't even get the scrape marks from the heavy stuff all the way out! Ask me how I know this! :) :) :)

( Pictured: A different cluster than the above but next to the same paints, this one shading darker at the tips. )

The good news is that not sanding the crystals mirror-smooth is not only way easier, but the resulting satin finish gives enough texture for watercolors and inks to stick, a fact I exploited ruthlessly to add color with a all-over wash, shading, and more metallic patches because I will be dead and buried before I stop adding glitter to things.

( Pictured: Many purple crystals on a cardboad box, all glossy and slightly wet-looking. )

The final step was a heavy coat of gloss seal, so they're nice and shiny and also the watercolors won't rub off.

Tomorrow I get to start gluing these back into clusters in preparation for sticking them on the staff.

The first round of crystals are out, cured, sanded, and ready for further messing about with. My previous post discussed my options for lighting-- drilled holes, clear rods, or mostly translucent crystals-- and I have firmly settled on the last as yielding the most even diffusion with the lowest error margin.

Now, when the resin comes out of the molds, the surface is tacky and needs an extra day to cure the rest of the way. This opens up the opportunity to brush colored powders onto the surface for a more vibrant color. The downside here is that I’ve found that sanding the crystals once they’re all the way cured gives the best look re: clean facets, no bubbling, but that gets rid of most of the surface coloring except in patches, making it useless for more ephemeral or translucent colors. However, when opaque colors like gold are brushed on and partially sanded away, it gives a very nice effect, sort of like half-flaked gilding.

As a bonus, sanding makes the surface slightly rough—rough enough that I can apply inks and watercolors in washes, including metallic watercolors. It’s important they are on the thicker side, as too much water makes them prone to beading on the surface. Using a combination of brush, finger, and rag, I can add a lot of shading and visual interest to the crystals, which is what I've done in the above picture, defining the edges while deepening color. Clear gloss seals the watercolors and brings back the shine sanding took away, a nice twofor.

1. I rescind my callout post. The silicone caulk I applied directly from the tube onto the wax did, actually, set up. It took two days and the molds need another going over to patch certain spots that got too thin, but it did work. Eventually. Since it means I don’t have to dunk my hands in dish soap again, I’m okay with the delay. (To be clear: it’s not the bit where I have my hands in the soapy water I mind. It’s after, when the soap refuses to wash off without a half hour of dedicated scrubbing that gets to me.)

2. I’ve figured out the colors, and now I’ve moved on to a whole new set of problems. They are, in order:
a. How to make them light up properly?

i. Solution one: drill a hole down the middle for light to go. Pros: easy, have materials already. Cons: time-consuming, runs risk of cracking.

ii. Solution two: insert a clear rod down the middle during the casting process, which will work the same way fiber optic cables do on Christmas trees. Pros: easy, little risk of fracture. Cons: I have one rod, will need to source more. Currently untested, as crystal made that way is still setting up.

iii. Solution three, which I just thought of as I was typing this out: tinting the body of the crystal very lightly, then painting the surface for deeper color. Pros: this will probably be the easiest way to achieve the look I want. Cons: most likely of all three solutions to look fakey and bad.

b. How to make them look good and smooth and not weird and slightly lumpy?

i. Solution one: pour a layer of clear resin over. Results: super did not work, looked worse than when I started, made a mess. Bad.

ii. Solution two: heavy layering of clear gloss sealant. Results: not bad, but not great either.

iii. Solution three: sanding the surface. Results: best look so far, but also time consuming. Good news is that it’s not that time consuming, and it really does look the best. Needs coat of clear gloss to bring back shine. This is the solution I will probably be embracing going forward, unless I come up with something brilliant.

Stay tuned for developments!

All the colors right out of the tube have now been tested, and I'm moving on to color blends, layers, and working with silicone molds.

Right-hand picture is all three stages of my mold-making process. From left to right:

1. The initial wax carving, like the ones from my previous post

2. Two wax crystals that have already been covered in silicone and are now drying

3. A silicone worm ready for kneading and forming into a mold.

To make my molds, I followed the instructions here. For those who would prefer not to follow the link:

1. Get a tube of 100% silicone caulking-- it very much matters that it is 100% silicone, be very aware of labels.

2. In a thing of water, mix enough dish soap in that it feels slimy. More is better! In the pictured tub, the tub holds about 2 1/2 cups, and I have between 1/4-1/2 cup soap in there probably.

3. Squirt silicone into the water. You will need a caulking gun.

4. Get your hands wet, and THEN gently knead that bad boy until it starts getting a little bit stiffer and uppity about sticking to itself. This will happen faster or slower depending on the caulking and the amount of soap in your dish-- the center two molds were made from tub&tile silicone and took less then ten minutes. The one in the tub was just regular clear silicone and it took closer to twenty. If you touch the caulk with dry hands it Will stick to you.
5. Moosh onto desired object. Make sure to leave a hole to pour your resin into.
6.Let cure overnight, or until hard.
7. Alternate method: put stick or pencil or similar in wax, like a lollipop. Using a caulking gun, squirt silicone directly out of tube onto wax, taking care to leave no gaps. With damp, soapy finger, gently pat silicone smooth. Brace upright using stick to dry overnight.
8. Once hard, either pull wax directly out, or use knife to carefully slit the mold open enough to remove wax.

Stay tuned for the first round of crystals!

EDIT 8/31/2019: I tried three different types of silicone caulking-- two half-tubes of leftover tub&tile white caulk, and a fresh full tube of clear 100% silicone, GE brand. The last one did not set up for love nor money. Do not try it under any circumstances. It is cheap. You will be tempted. DO NOT. It will remain sticky forever, and ooze a distressing orange color.

Having completed Vex's gorget, I'm taking a break from her to embark on a totally different project: learning how to cast resin to make a light-up staff for Caduceus.

Here we have step one: making wax models of the crystal clusters. This was pretty easy, actually! I used the candle to get my knife hot, which let me cut the wax into smooth facets with decently crisp edges. Attaching each individual crystal together at the base was a little trickier, and I had to go back once it was cold and hard later to smooth over the bits I accidentally mooshed a little bit when it still warm and pliable.

Step two will be making silicone molds from these. This will involve cutting these chunks back apart to cast each individual crystal separately, then gluing them together. This is because I'm using epoxy resin, which doesn't do super great in larger chunks, plus casting smaller chunks and then sticking them together gives me greater control-- if one spar comes out weird, I haven't ruined the whole pour and can pick and choose the best looking pieces. The only reason I stuck them together in the first place was to make sure they looked good and fit on the staff right.

This is the first batch of color tests. As this is the first time I've worked with resin like this, I've only done a very small batch to practice technique before I test all my colors. (Pictured: top row of powder eyeshadows available from Shiro Cosmetics, bottom row four of a set of thirty pigments from amazon)

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anundine

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Page Summary

a better kind of bad news
wheeeee progress
power tools make the world go round
Probably my last post of the decade, let's be honest here
toil and trouble
oh boy
an obligatory update
dead and decomposing of my own free will
apoxie sculpt is an Adventure
all wired up and nowhere to go
i am having the MOST fun
Crystal Creation: A Journey in Pictures
Experimenting with surface treatments
Crystal updates
dots dots dots dots dots EVERYBODY
Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more

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AND NOW, MURDERS

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Entries tagged with in-progress

a better kind of bad news

wheeeee progress

power tools make the world go round

Probably my last post of the decade, let's be honest here

toil and trouble

oh boy

an obligatory update

dead and decomposing of my own free will

apoxie sculpt is an Adventure

all wired up and nowhere to go

i am having the MOST fun

Crystal Creation: A Journey in Pictures

Experimenting with surface treatments

Crystal updates

dots dots dots dots dots EVERYBODY

Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more