I figured I'd go ahead with one of these threads to post some updates on as I go. Kinda late.
Welp, I started sculpting designs last year for fun then for a friend under the alias of Shadowcaps. Unfortunately, that never panned out and I didn't get some of my designs back until a month or so ago.
I went into this with some background knowledge from what I've read online, but obviously zero experience in resin casting itself. Helpful people: Dgneo, Sneaky Potato, Binge, Booper, and the Internet, in general.
Eventually, with excess time and money from selling caps I was able to purchase some equipment (some I already had on hand, but I'll list it anyway).
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Materials + Equipment List
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Expensive things:Pressure Pot - California Air Tools 365B 5-Gallon Pressure Pot
Air Compressor - Already had 2 on hand, but they are loud af, but great quality. Some people opt for CAT ACs as well though for ultra quiet models.
Vacuum Chamber + Vacuum Pump - I personally haven't bought one yet, but if you really want to decrease your chances of air bubbles get one.
Not as expensive things:Silicone - I've tried OOMOO 25 and 30. Some use Alumilite. 25 cures in 75 minutes, 30 in 6 hours. 25 isn't enough time to work the bubbles out on your own w/o a pot. I've had decent results simply watching how I mix, using 30 w/o and I managed to get some workable molds. However, you should totally stick those suckers in your pressure pot when you have the chance. I ran into an issue of bubbles forming in molds (that appeared bubble free) after pressurizing them, so stick them in kids.
:thinking:
Resin - Smooth Cast 326. I'm not sure I'd recommend this at first when you're just getting started. It's like a 9min pot life and 60min cure time. You don't have long after mixing your parts together to doddle around before it starts hardening. One thing to remember for sure, mix thoroughly. There for a bit, I was opening up tacky, uncured molds before I realized that I wasn't mixing for a sufficient amount of time. The more you know. Only stuff I've used so far, and after understanding it, it's perfect for me. However, I will probably get a different resin soon that cures at a slower speed as I find myself with more molds to fill.
Pigments - Liquid is easiest. Obviously get a range of colors to mix with. Smooth-On has some decent sample sizes to get started. Google around though for something that catches your eye.
Mold Release - Just do it.
Things I Can't Live Without:Gram Scale: Weigh all of your concoctions for accurate/best results.
Paint Brushes: For brushing things into nooks and crannies. Specifically resin, silicone, and mold release.
Mixing Cups: Small ones for resin and larger ones for silicone
Mixing sticks: obvious?
Syringes: You can run out of these pretty easily I've found. I'm able to snag free ones so I don't run out, but they lack a needle; yet, I've had fine results without one.
Qtips/Cotton Swabs: To make your sprues out of. Some people use toothpicks as well, in that case, you may want to opt for a needle tip syringe.
Super Glue: Get something fast drying.
Gloves: Good lord, always use them. Things can get messy. I use small black medical nitrile gloves. Just make sure you have a good fit, otherwise it'd be annoying fumbling around I imagine.
Mask/Respirator: Depending on your environment, you'll probably want one of these.
Some of this is really repetitive, mind-less work, so I recommend listening to music or something to increase productivity; also, it helps drown out my air compressor OnO
It may go without saying, but you should really make an effort to make a dedicated work space.
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Introduction #1
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Anyway, a timeline of progress and failures.
So, this was my first set of molds. Obviously 2 piece molds. I made them really small, 1 key, to not waste silicone. As you can see, the stems didn't fill in due to bubble in the cross. I fixed this by jamming a brush with silicone into the stem cross and needle to burst bubbles, before I poured the rest of my mixture in.
Boom, molds. At this point I switched to OOMOO 30 as well. I normally have 5 sprues, 1 for each corner of the cap + the stem. However, I have been increasing the number of sprues due to the base of the stem not completely filling at times on me.
Test run 1. Initially, I never let the 1st shot cure in the pressure pot, but now I typically do this. Here I casted: Cuddles, Snack Wraps, Synth Blank, and Yorick.
There for a bit, I was having trouble with my butts not filling in properly. Typically, I would close my molds and injecting the resin through the sprues. I instead poured the resin in to the top, then closed the two pieces of the mold together. Then finalized it with a hot beef resin injection.
Then I was having a couple of days spat of my casts coming out tacky and uncured. I chalked this up to it being not optimal temperature and bad mixing procedure. In my workshop I started running a heater next to the pressure pot and just really mixed the hell out of the resin and my problems quickly solved.
The ending of uncuredness!
I then pooped out some of these. Some of my blanks still were not working properly due to me using a stem that was not meant for that keycap. Often times, my molds get rekt by the stems getting stuck in a cast and I'm just without one at that point, but the sculpt part is still good. I got by with that a couple of times, it's basically resulted in me not having consistent stems on the back of my caps. These were still wet and sandy when I took pictures.
By this time, I'm consistently pushing out double shots that for the most part are bubble free, good stems. I decided well, I'm going to have to sand these bad boys somehow. I initially took 2 small emory boards together :raughs: and ran caps over that. That took way too long. Luckily, we have an array of sanders to ease my hand pain. We had a belt sander, air sander, and electric sander handy. The air one ran off the compressor, but it was annoying with this trigger handle. Settled on the electric and use 80 grit paper. It's not that rough, I might try something else at some point, but it gets them real smooth fast. These were the latest things I pooped out:
I'm still having trouble with layering shots properly I think. I keep noticing a film over my 1st shot as I pull out on the 2nd. We'll figure it out eventually! Oh dem, forgot. I did get my hands on an actual synth finally. I haven't had the chance to use it yet though, I want to think of something new to sculpt on it first.
And that's it for now really :thinking: my journey has only been 3 weeks so I don't have much else to share with write ups, except pictures of my messy set up/equipment. I'll update this obviously as I learn the ways OuO
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Update #2
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New update. I finished classes this past Tuesday, so I'm able to dedicate more time to my projects. After recently acquiring a synth I really wanted to try out some sculpting again. I decided to revisit one of my first design Cuddles, which is simply just a cuttlefish, a rather adorable sea creature. Well today I sculpted for around 7 hours, as I listened to podcasts that built up in my library because of finals. I pooped out this dude, and there's some comparison pictures of the original sculpt as well for those interested.
He's nothing special, but I wanted to re-do the little guy. There's a lot of octopus caps out there, which he certainly looks like from the tentacles, but hopefully it comes across as a cuttlefish. After initially completing the body, I baked him for 20 minutes at 300 degrees in the oven. I added some eyesockets, another 20. Then finally the inner eye, another 20. I tried to do a stamp on the back, but it wasn't coming out right so I scraped the idea. Took me hours to decide one eyes tbh, they always seem to be the hardest part for me on a sculpt. I re-did them countless times. Nonetheless, I finally got something I liked. Also began working on Topre bottoms tonight. I'll probably attempt the torch method on Cuddles v2 tomorrow and start new molds for topre blanks and more.
Also, apparently Bee Caps is a thing already? Lol. This saddens me, so I'll just call this place The Hatchery for now.
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Update #3
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I spent the day sort of just playing around with Cuds v2. He broke in the inital mold, but not too badly. I think I need to switch to super sculpey, instead of the reg maybe? I am finally out of resin though. I'll probably do some b-stock sale of some sorts for more pigments/resin eventually. Just gives me time to work on new molds without bubs.
Update #4
Currently working on making more Cuds v2 molds and a new design!
Beekey <- album of side shots
WIP sorta went like this:
to what you have now
Lol, I attempted a triple shot as my first cast of him. Super messy, but I just did it to give myself some ideas. It's really hard to paint in resin detail I'm finding. I'm using a fine tipped paint brush, but I have rather shaky hands so that doesn't help. I think I just need to take my time with slower curing resin and I'll find my sweet spot eventually.
I also made a little reference sheet for myself for resin weights finally:
idk if that existed in a pdf somewhere, but I just did some maths to get my ratios down for 1-40g. Helpful, considering I used to just write the info on my arms as I worked. Printed that bad boy out and stuck it on the wall.
and topre stuff
i've made more but they're being used for molds OuO
ketch you l8r
