Arin Egoraptor pt 3 - Mold making!
Hey readers!
This is a weird one since you won't be seeing any of Arin in this post. I promise it is related though. Shout out to Adam Kreutinger again for the inspiration for this project. I was sick of using spoons to serve as eyeballs for my puppets - it was time to up my game and run silicone molds!
Why do I dislike spoons? Good question, hypothetical inquisitive person. They aren't really all that bad. They make for great eyes that are easy to come by. There is just not that much you can do to make them not look like spoons. I know, you come to this blog to learn the really important life truths - spoons look like spoons.
The other big problem is the lack of variety. Here are some of my previous puppet designs. There is some good variety there on design and overall look, but the thing that stands out to me the most is that their eye shape is identical. The red character has some cool feather eyelids to hide it, the pink and blue guy (Grizwald) has upper and lower lids, and you can even flip them to portrait mode for some variety - but at the end of the day you are looking at spoons. As my crew of puppets gets larger every day - not literally of course, I do have a job - the lack of variety in eye shape becomes even more evident. I needed a solution.
That is when I discovered Adam's silicone mold making video. He used these awesome measuring spoons to create a silicone mold of eyes. Weirdly enough, I have the exact same measuring cups. I use them to measure things, so I would need to get some more. I suppose I could have used mine, but then I would be flying blind when I cook things. Given how often I cook, I probably could have sacrificed them.
Adam used a dremel to cut them free from their handles. I don't own a dremel, but bending them back and forth separated them them just fine. I am saving the handles for eyebrows someday. I am hoping I can make some moveable brows for a future character. Then came the arduous task of sanding all the edges and the cups to use in my mold. Had I used a dremel I would have had less work, but it still wasn't that hard. I wound up with a little pile of plastic dust that looked like someone was about to do lines of very colorful cocaine.
Speaking of cocaine, when I was a kid there was a brand of soda called Cocaine. Shockingly, it was taken off the shelves after some concerned people reminded the manufactures that there is already a substance called cocaine and that naming your energy drink after it might be in poor taste. Still available online though - google that shit on your own. My mom bought a can in anticipation of it being pulled from shelves. We have never opened it so I am sure it is even more delicious now than it was then. Apparently they sell a variety that "burns less than our original flavor." That's when you know you have something good.
This is a long post and I need to stay focused - enough soft drink related distractions. Once I had all the cups sanded it was time to give them a paint job to fill in some of the imperfection from the sanding. I glued them into a box I made out of foam board just like Adam taught me. I used all the cups, unlike Adam. I also added two cut ping pong balls and a sanded down silly putty container for additional varieties. I am thinking of doing a smaller set of puppets next so smaller eyes might come in handy.
Mistake 1: The product Adam recommended is called Smooth-On. It is great. However, after watching again, it is not the product he actually winds up using. So I quickly discovered that I didn't have nearly enough for a mold this big. After one failed attempt that barely covered the smallest eyes, I bought 6 more packages of the stuff and that was enough. It is pricey, but I won't have to look at spoon eyes for a while so I think it is a win.
The silicone is super easy to use, just mix the two parts together thoroughly and pour over your mold. Like I said, I needed 5 boxes to make it work (I have one box left for a future project). Six hours later I had a super cool mold with a ton of new eye options.
Another great product from Smooth On is Smooth Cast. That was how I made my eyes. Again, mix the two parts together and pour into your fancy new mold. I was shocked at how quick the clear liquid started turning white.
Once they were ready, the popped out super easily and I was ready to finish up Arin! I will save the finishing touches on him for next week though. In the meantime, see if your local store carries cocaine. Ask the cashier and see if they send you to the refrigerator section or the alley behind the store.
Keep making cool stuff!
Until next time,
JoshPrime
This is a weird one since you won't be seeing any of Arin in this post. I promise it is related though. Shout out to Adam Kreutinger again for the inspiration for this project. I was sick of using spoons to serve as eyeballs for my puppets - it was time to up my game and run silicone molds!
The other big problem is the lack of variety. Here are some of my previous puppet designs. There is some good variety there on design and overall look, but the thing that stands out to me the most is that their eye shape is identical. The red character has some cool feather eyelids to hide it, the pink and blue guy (Grizwald) has upper and lower lids, and you can even flip them to portrait mode for some variety - but at the end of the day you are looking at spoons. As my crew of puppets gets larger every day - not literally of course, I do have a job - the lack of variety in eye shape becomes even more evident. I needed a solution.
That is when I discovered Adam's silicone mold making video. He used these awesome measuring spoons to create a silicone mold of eyes. Weirdly enough, I have the exact same measuring cups. I use them to measure things, so I would need to get some more. I suppose I could have used mine, but then I would be flying blind when I cook things. Given how often I cook, I probably could have sacrificed them.
Adam used a dremel to cut them free from their handles. I don't own a dremel, but bending them back and forth separated them them just fine. I am saving the handles for eyebrows someday. I am hoping I can make some moveable brows for a future character. Then came the arduous task of sanding all the edges and the cups to use in my mold. Had I used a dremel I would have had less work, but it still wasn't that hard. I wound up with a little pile of plastic dust that looked like someone was about to do lines of very colorful cocaine.Speaking of cocaine, when I was a kid there was a brand of soda called Cocaine. Shockingly, it was taken off the shelves after some concerned people reminded the manufactures that there is already a substance called cocaine and that naming your energy drink after it might be in poor taste. Still available online though - google that shit on your own. My mom bought a can in anticipation of it being pulled from shelves. We have never opened it so I am sure it is even more delicious now than it was then. Apparently they sell a variety that "burns less than our original flavor." That's when you know you have something good.
This is a long post and I need to stay focused - enough soft drink related distractions. Once I had all the cups sanded it was time to give them a paint job to fill in some of the imperfection from the sanding. I glued them into a box I made out of foam board just like Adam taught me. I used all the cups, unlike Adam. I also added two cut ping pong balls and a sanded down silly putty container for additional varieties. I am thinking of doing a smaller set of puppets next so smaller eyes might come in handy.
Mistake 1: The product Adam recommended is called Smooth-On. It is great. However, after watching again, it is not the product he actually winds up using. So I quickly discovered that I didn't have nearly enough for a mold this big. After one failed attempt that barely covered the smallest eyes, I bought 6 more packages of the stuff and that was enough. It is pricey, but I won't have to look at spoon eyes for a while so I think it is a win.
The silicone is super easy to use, just mix the two parts together thoroughly and pour over your mold. Like I said, I needed 5 boxes to make it work (I have one box left for a future project). Six hours later I had a super cool mold with a ton of new eye options. 
Another great product from Smooth On is Smooth Cast. That was how I made my eyes. Again, mix the two parts together and pour into your fancy new mold. I was shocked at how quick the clear liquid started turning white.Once they were ready, the popped out super easily and I was ready to finish up Arin! I will save the finishing touches on him for next week though. In the meantime, see if your local store carries cocaine. Ask the cashier and see if they send you to the refrigerator section or the alley behind the store.
Keep making cool stuff!
Until next time,
JoshPrime
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