[Alveeno Caps]Yet another artisan maker thread

[alveeno]

I have decided to document my crafting journey here! Hopefully I can inspire someone else to begin this hobby

My setup:

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Vacuum Chamber - http://www.ebay.com/itm/201581802171
Super Sculpey
Quantum Silicones 262
Innovative Polymers IE-3075
Also bought some Smooth-On OOMOO 30 Silicone Rubber, haven't tried using it yet tho

Vacuum Chamber is okay, it reaches near -25 inHg to -28 inHg, also when I unpacked it there was oil all over the vacuum pump oh well.
After ordering the vacuum chamber, I read that if you had to choose between a vacuum chamber and pressure pot, go with the pressure pot. For now, I'll stick with the vacuum chamber and will grab a pressure pot once I master hand pouring

Making the mold:

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Making my mold with Super Sculpey and legos MegaBlocks


Silicone in the vacuum chamber


Silicone after being degassed


After pouring, I poured in bottom right corner at about ~20 inches above


Some air bubbles but thats okay

[pinkizhip]

Thanks for the pics. Keep em coming 

[alveeno]

[alveeno]

Some recent experiments of mine, first attempts at double shot

[alveeno]

Some more casts

[suicidal_orange]

Looking good - nice bright colours and no bubbles that I can see, and as they're trans that should be easy!

Great design to practice your doubleshots so give them another go

[alveeno]

Looking good - nice bright colours and no bubbles that I can see, and as they're trans that should be easy!

Great design to practice your doubleshots so give them another go

Doubleshot https://imgur.com/gallery/Q1dGH

Learning lots, next batch will be better

[FioraCorp]

Hey there!  Had to come find you on GH after seeing your pink and black doubleshot on reddit.  I'll be watching and I'm stoked for your sale

[alveeno]

Hey there!  Had to come find you on GH after seeing your pink and black doubleshot on reddit.  I'll be watching and I'm stoked for your sale

Thank you for the kind words! Cute cat

[nathanrosspowell]

Entered.

I'm in Canada. Will PM you on reddit later on 

GLWS

[alveeno]

Sounds good, thank you man! Will keep an eye out for your pm.

[alveeno]

First time trying to match colors with a set, a little off.

[ArchDill]

Missed out on the sale but I like your caps! Keep up the good work!

[alveeno]

Missed out on the sale but I like your caps! Keep up the good work!

Thank you!

Here's my first attempt at triple shot

[Raenbo]

Got mine today!


They look good and they fit on the stem really well! The colors are great.

But I have a little feedback (from a fellow maker).

Some sanding goes a long way in terms of cleanliness on the backside. Just to get rid of the sprue marks is enough in my opinion. The key on the left is one of ETF's, which is like the ultimate clean backside, and is something I'm starting to compare my caps to.  But overall your caps are really good looking, especially for your first sale. Keep up the good work and always strive to keep improving

[alveeno]

Wow, didn't know you were in my sale! I forgot to collect reddit/geekhack usernames on the form  )

Yeah, I had some sanding sponges but they didn't work very well, I tried to clean it up as much as possible! What do you recommend for sanding?

Anyways, I agree with your points. I'm holding a higher standard for my next sale in terms of quality of the caps. The goal is to have a clean backside :]

[Raenbo]

Wow, didn't know you were in my sale! I forgot to collect reddit/geekhack usernames on the form  )

Yeah, I had some sanding sponges but they didn't work very well, I tried to clean it up as much as possible! What do you recommend for sanding?

Anyways, I agree with your points. I'm holding a higher standard for my next sale in terms of quality of the caps. The goal is to have a clean backside :]

We've been using sandpaper from Amazon

Starting from 400 to get the sprue marks off, then going up in grit to get the cap smoother and smoother. We stop around 1000. Sanding is probably the least fun part out of the whole cap-making process, but in the end it's worth it to up the quality of your caps

Here's one of Binge's streams, where you can watch him work on sanding. You can just watch a few minutes to get the idea of it.

[ArchDill]

Missed out on the sale but I like your caps! Keep up the good work!

Thank you!

Here's my first attempt at triple shot

Show Image

Is this watermelon colorway?

[alveeno]

Missed out on the sale but I like your caps! Keep up the good work!

Thank you!

Here's my first attempt at triple shot

Show Image

Is this watermelon colorway?

Yessir.


Paw Cap v2

[CamRank1]

Got mine today, very happy! Looking forward for some White ones

[alveeno]

Paw V2, coming soon..
Also, it's a little dirty cuz I just sanded it, D:

[Stevec]

Any plans for your next design, after the Pawcap v2?

[alveeno]

Any plans for your next design, after the Pawcap v2?

I'm open for suggestions!  )

Some other makers are creating elaborate sculpts, but I'm more of a minimal-ist/simple kind of guy.

[brizzzle]

I think it would look nice centered on a DSA cap.

[alveeno]

I think it would look nice centered on a DSA cap.

I've been considering making DSA caps, definitely don't see a lot of DSA artisans.

[GreyAmbience]

I like the idea, but...
Interested in criticism?

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I don't like that it is off-center and it looks to much like play dough on top of a cap.   


I really feel like this is the standard now:
 


It might be that ETF is really skilled, but with caps like the moondrops around, anything less well made just looks extra bad in comparison.


Hope I didn't make anyone sad, just wanted to share my honest opinion.

Keep up the good work

[alveeno]

I like the idea, but...
Interested in criticism?

More

I don't like that it is off-center and it looks to much like play dough on top of a cap.   


I really feel like this is the standard now:
 

Show Image

It might be that ETF is really skilled, but with caps like the moondrops around, anything less well made just looks extra bad in comparison.


Hope I didn't make anyone sad, just wanted to share my honest opinion.

Keep up the good work :)

Thanks for sharing! I'll do my best to try and improve, I'm pale in comparison to ETF :-X

[dgneo]

Wow, didn't know you were in my sale! I forgot to collect reddit/geekhack usernames on the form  )

Yeah, I had some sanding sponges but they didn't work very well, I tried to clean it up as much as possible! What do you recommend for sanding?

Anyways, I agree with your points. I'm holding a higher standard for my next sale in terms of quality of the caps. The goal is to have a clean backside :]

Cheap and readily available at any beauty store.

[alveeno]

Wow, didn't know you were in my sale! I forgot to collect reddit/geekhack usernames on the form  )

Yeah, I had some sanding sponges but they didn't work very well, I tried to clean it up as much as possible! What do you recommend for sanding?

Anyways, I agree with your points. I'm holding a higher standard for my next sale in terms of quality of the caps. The goal is to have a clean backside :]

Show Image

Cheap and readily available at any beauty store.

Ooh, smart. I'll try and grab some. I grabbed some sandpaper raenbo mentioned and that worked waaay better than my stupid sanding sponges. :)

[Raenbo]

I like the idea, but...
Interested in criticism?

More

I don't like that it is off-center and it looks to much like play dough on top of a cap.   


I really feel like this is the standard now:
 

Show Image

It might be that ETF is really skilled, but with caps like the moondrops around, anything less well made just looks extra bad in comparison.


Hope I didn't make anyone sad, just wanted to share my honest opinion.

Keep up the good work :)

Thanks for sharing! I'll do my best to try and improve, I'm pale in comparison to ETF :-X

Aren't we all heh o-o''

[alveeno]

Let's get festive