Witch Head (2016)

Which head? A Witch head.
At the corso works a man who always had a witch on top of his chimney. Unfortunately, the witch fell down and he wanted to make a new one. He's a fine welder so he could make the dress/ broom, but he didn't know how to make a face.

Finished face, only needs some outside varnish

I can do a face. Clay isn't a stranger to me. Yet it had to withstand the forces of nature and well, clay isn't the most trustworthy companion when it comes to rain and frost.

Therefor I had to make a mold from a clay model and use some sort of resin.

But first start with the clay model:
I use tin foil to make a base (which saves up a lot of clay)

The tin foil is covered with masking tape, this makes the clay stick on a bit better; it doesn't really want to stick to the foil.

Tin foil base

Same base, covered with masking tape

 After a bunch of carving and adding/ removing clay I ended up with this face:

Finished clay model

I used cheap air drying clay. Normally when you want to make a mold you might consider using plasticine or something similar. This type of clay stays soft and can be reused for your next project.
Anyhow, further methods remain the same.

Give the head a mohawk makeover. Because it's not possible to make a one piece mold with the nose and such you have to make a seam somewhere. I did this at the back of the head, because the hair will cover it up. The pouring hole will be in the top (a hat will fit here later on)

Witch with a mohawk

Now add layer after layer after layer of liquid latex. I added some harder to the latex to make it thicker. In the end I noticed the mold shrinks a considerable amount (at least 10%). So I'm not sure it's a good thing to use.

When the rubber is finished a two piece shell will be made from polyester (with glass fiber).
To make a two piece mold you need to make a barrier the whole seam around. For this I did use plasticine. 

Rubbermold with half a polyester mold

Other side

Now the hard part is done it's time to pour in the resin. At first I tried the regular resin (polyester) but it takes a lot of time before it solidifies. Next to that it doesn't cover everything + it is rather fragile.

I went online and found some better resin: Smooth-Cast 65D
This is a quick solidifying resin used for this type of hollow cast molding.
Mix the 2 parts, pour it in and keep swirling it around so everything inside is covered (yes, it's a messy process)

You'll be left with a nice lightweight white duplicate of your clay model. (The only sidenote is that it leaves some small bubbles at the surface; you can fill those with primer when you start to paint)

Casting process

The only thing left is to paint your new model.
I used a dark grey primer and added some light grey by dry brushing.

Front side of the witch.

Next it's making the actual witch, which probably will happen at the corso next year)

Tardis Mirror Frame (2015)

To complete the previous Dr. Who Tardis post; I've created a mirror frame for my Whovian Friend.

The Finished Tardis mirror with the doors open.

I don't have all the pictures from beginning to end. Mainly because it's the same process as the Tardis from my previous post

To start I first made a 3D model. This way I knew what the measurements were. I did change the depth of the frame during the proces (making it a bit more deeper)

3D model of the frame; I used some basic coloring to give myself a quick view of what it would look like. (No lights, fancy backgrounds, accurate coloring etc.)

From that model I made all the wooden pieces and glued them together.

When you've got all the pieces you can start sanding.
I used plywood which edges always need a bit extra care. I used wood filler to make it smooth.
2 Layers of grey primer were added and finished off with 2 layers of "Tardis-blue"

After the 1st layer of primer and some sanding.

The backside was left open, so the mirror could be glued in place. In the building plan I  left a small rim (0,5 cm) so the mirror would stay in place no matter what.
 

3D model of the backside; note the rim for the mirror + the extra space in the top part to fit in the electronics.

Backside with the mirror in place.

The mirror is glued with contact glue and the rim with wood glue. To this the back plate was attached.

Just as the miniature Tardis I added some light to this one.
The top part is hollow making some space to put in the wires, LED's and batteries.

Small lid with the battery pack.

Front view with the lights on.

Some hinges were added and details were glued on and there you have it: A Tardis mirror frame.

Finished Tardis

Side view of the Tardis

This frame is able to stand on its own. I added some anti slip feet to it.
If you like to hang it you can either drill 2 holes in the hollow back part or use 2 hook with eyelets.

Tardis Miniature (2015)

A friend of mine is a fan of Dr. Who. In this TV series a Time Lord able to travel trough time using a "Tardis", which on the outside looks like a Police Call Box and on the inside hold a lot of rooms and space.

I thought it would be fun to create a miniature version.

My finished TARDIS

The Original Tardis from the TV Series.

With Rhinoceros 3D I made a global building plan, but it changed during the build. The only measurements I had were the inside of the box, which I wanted to be 15x15x25 cm and the width of the main strips of wood for the doors etc.

That is were I started with; a box and a lot of wooden strips.
They were sawn and cut to size and glued against the box.
I noticed the easiest way to get the right size for the strips on the door is measuring them on place, no ruler.

Because these strips are only 4mm thick, they can be cut with a Stanley knife.

The doors were a bit of a struggle. Original I planned them to pivot with standard hinges, but it was impossible to make them swing open without seeing the hings and that didn't look so pretty. I thought of the way tiny doll furniture are sometimes hinged; using a nail in the frame and a hole in the door on which it pivots.

Nail "hinge"

The way I glued to top lid.

Another difficult part is the roof. I'd like to make it hollow, have some extra storage space + a way to hide the wires/ battery used for the lights.
I saw 4 triangle parts (I believe it was with an 8 degree angle) and glued them together. Next the bottom part was sanded straight using a band sander.
It's held in place with 2 tiny hinges at the back and 3 little magnets in the front.

When all the parts were done it was time to paint. I used grey primer because it's easier to cover than white.
After the first layer, the edges of the plywood were smoothed out with filler. This was sanded and another layer of primer was applied.
Last 2 layers of blue were added.

Front unpainted

Perspective unpainted

Front with primer

Perspective with primer

Front painted

Perspective painted.

By now it was time for the details; lights, frame panel, windows.
For the lights I used 9 5mm LED's and 1 10mm LED; that last one becomes the tiny lantern on the roof.
The windows are made from pieces of Popsicle sticks. A piece of plastic sheet was painted and glued to the frame.
An easier way it to print the background on photo paper. This way you don't need several coats of paint. (Except for the door windows as the black parts are transparent)

LED's

Back and frontside of the windows

Top view of the wiring.

 Some more details were added like the "Police Box" frame. This is made from a strip of plywood. The words are done in Word and printed on Photopaper (Black ink only; otherwise it will turn out a very dark green). A piece of plastic sheet covers this with a framing made from Popsicle sticks.
On the front it has another sign which is made in basically the same way.
The handles are made from bent nails.
Also I added 2 tiny magnets to keep the doors shut.

Front view of the finished box with the doors/ rooftop open.

Last but not least, I added mirrors inside to give it a fake feeling of extra space.

Finished Tardis with the lights on.

Finished Tardis in the dark.

Example of the "fake" space inside.

Finished Tardis

Guinea Pig Home (2014)

My niece got 2 Guinea Pigs, she asked me to make a little house for them.
She'd like to have something that resembles some sort of farm house with little shutters. The house had to be grey with a red roof. The shutters needed to be red, green and white with the pattern found at old farm houses. And she wanted a name sign.

Finished house

Before I started I made a 3D drawing of something I thought looked farm like, compared to online pictures. I also tried different shapes of the roof and colors.

3 types of farm houses. I choose the front one to make. I wasn't fond of the chimney, therefor I skipped to make it.

From the drawing I took the measurements necessary to make the house. When I was drawing the doorway on the wood, it seemed too small. I looked online and it had to be at least 10 cm wide; the arc on the 3D drawing had to go.
I used the sawn out door to glue it on the side. I could have made that one a bit smaller thought. But it's alright.

For this project I used Plywood (6 mm for the walls, but 9-12 mm might be better). This is a safe kind of wood as far as I know and it will not absorb liquids like pee as MDF would (And break down because of it)

It's size is: 30 cm width, 20 cm deep. The rood overlays in the front which is about 1,5 cm. From the ground to the highest point is about 21 cm.

Starting with a pile of wooden parts.

With a pair of scissors I carved some lines in the roofing, so it would look like tiles.
When the paint job was done I covered it with 2 layers of acrylic varnish. If you do not varnish it there's a chance your Guinea Pig has a red or grey tongue later on because the acrylic paint will eventually stain if you soak it.

House without the name sign.

Perspective view

Perspective view

Left Side

Right Side 

Because Guinea Pigs are rodents, one of them decided to use his house as a teeth sharpener.
When it becomes to bad, I will fix it up again.

IMPORTANT: You're working for animals, make sure you sand all the edges, use paint that holds no lead or any other nasty chemicals and no nails, screws or any other sharp bits!

Hoggle Statuette part 1 (2014)

Something I like to do it make statuettes from clay. The only problem is that I only have 1 finished product and I'd like to have more. Therefor I'm learning about making molds and concrete statues.
For this project I needed an idea; some sort of garden gnome. A friend of mine came up with the idea to make a Hoggle from the movie Labyrinth. I thought that was great so I started to make one out of Plasticine; a clay that doesn't harden and can be reused after casting.

End result of the clay sculpture

Before I started I searched for pictures of him. I used screencaps I made from the movie + some pictures I found only of the figurine version.

What I liked about Hoggle was that he uses a toxic sprayer to spray down biting fairies. I needed a posture where he didn't have a lot of pointing out arms/ fingers, because that is a level harder to make a mold of. Instead I made him carry the sprayer against his body as if it is a gun.

To make a clay sculpture you start of with a frame and cover it with paper/aluminum to get some volume. This you cover with clay and start sculpting. I forgot to make pictures of this process, but you can find examples on Youtube.

With the clay you make a basic shape and then you add detail. I like to start with the face, because if the head fails it has no point to finish the rest.

Details done in the face.

Side view of the face.

Some more detail in his hands, torso.

This sculpture didn't happen over night. It took a lot of hours. The benefits of Plasticine is that it doesn't harden like air drying clay will. This means that you can put it aside for the next day, month or even leave it on a shelf to finish it a few months later (Be sure it stands dust free). The clay reacts to warmth. It gets softer when it gets warmer. I had to quit the project in the summer, because my room was to warm and the clay became to soft to continue.
Also small parts seem to be a difficulty, due to body heat. Your fingers are warm, which quickly warms up the clay with small parts. Maybe it's an idea to make little details (f.e. the bags on his belt) of polymer clay. But I haven't worked with that yet, so I don't know.

Finished Hoggle front side

Finished Hoggle right side.

Finished Hoggle left side

Finished Hoggle back side

Detailed view of his belt.

Because the dark color of the clay It might not be 100% Hoggle, but I thought it was pretty close. I like how he looks. Next thing is to make a mold. I wanted to make an easier sculpture to do a 1st attempt, but Hoggle had some trouble staying up right, due to the soft clay/ bad framing, which meant I had to quickly make some sort of mold of him before he fell over and all the work had been for nothing.

That's where I am at the moment. He is covered with several layers of latex, but I will show those steps when I'm completely done. Thanks to this latex shell he keeps his position and I can do a polyester shell when temperatures go up a bit more. (This has to be done outside, due to the awful stench)