The top pic is broken and from the name that's the one I'd be most interested in as it's different - skulls, and faces in general, are common themes.
The strawberry is awesome and the coffee cup is good too but they're not things I'd want it on my keyboard (unless the strawberry was triple shot with green leaves, a red strawberry and maybe cream base? Probably not one for a beginner...) while Grump and Grisly Skull show promise but as you say, they're a little rough around the edges. The embedded cube just looks painful :))
- Great pictures.
- Neat designs! I love the nautilus and coffee mug. You're up to a really good start! congratulations.
General sculpting:
- Try to have an even, soft, light source when sculpting. Sun light is the best when possible. If you got more than one light source, and they are hard lights, your sculptures will look deformed under normal light.
- Keep a mirror at hand reach to check for symmetry when needed.
Sculpey specifics:
- Are you using sculpey firm, right?. In general to keep it pliable, you must store it in a sealed bag to avoid it loosing humidity, and knead it before each session, adding a little bit of oil (clay softner), to homogenize it. It renders better results, make it less prone to break, etc.
- I see debris on some of the sculpts, to get it out keep a soft toothbrush in hand and scrub it now and then. Probably they don't show as big in real life, but in the pictures it's noticeable. If you get to do wax as CX5 it also applies.
- Sculpey is possible to be smoothed with vegetable oils, baby oil. If not, they sell a clay softner medium, that comes in small bottles. Brush it at the end to even out imperfections.
- A great help for sculpting miniatures is to buy used dental carving tools that comes in various shapes. They are easier to handle than the hobby store/craft shop/hobby lobby kinda tools. Loop tools at this scale don't work, and they are mostly used for clays and for little to nothing in wax works.
ALRIGHTY. It's been too long since an update - stuffs been happening that took priority over creative time unfortunately. But I'm back to trying things out now.praise helix
I found out pretty quick my sculpting skills are lacking so I went a different direction and now I can present you with:Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/RH8vcwr.png)
MX stem OEM profile nautilus sculpt!
I got some calipers and measured everything out, modeled a nice cap and then sculpted the sea creature dude digitally. I like this process because I can easily swap out model partsfor different stems/cap profiles, even surface texture!
I sampled a few materials here, a dark opaque resin, a more translucent one, and a clear one (the last two having LEDs underneath them).
next step: get theses babies printed out then start practicing casting when I have some money for supplies!
I'll also be translating the strawberry cap to a 3d model next, I'll try to keep this updated.
praise helix
Currently the design is on a MX cap, OEM profile. if I can get my hands on some topre, alps, other MX profiles I can get this design on whatever style your keycap loving heart desires! :D
cherry profile escape key
http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,cherrymxkeys&pid=cds_redesc
topre escape cap
http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,toprekeys&pid=hh_redescn
Not much to say, but I got the prints today! I spent a while cleaning them up with fine sand paper and they feel wonderful now.Your nautilus caps are sharp, but the material in that last image is particularly interesting as it is perfect for a concept I have; a keyboard that replicates the effect of Cherenkov radiation. Lit from underneath with the light rapidly dimming the further it gets from the light source, an acrylic case with a set of those key caps would be awesome.Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/6U6CZSp.jpg)
this material is really hard to photograph.
Hopefully I can begin making molds soon, but due to financial stuff I don't know when that will be :/
Not much to say, but I got the prints today! I spent a while cleaning them up with fine sand paper and they feel wonderful now.Your nautilus caps are sharp, but the material in that last image is particularly interesting as it is perfect for a concept I have; a keyboard that replicates the effect of Cherenkov radiation. Lit from underneath with the light rapidly dimming the further it gets from the light source, an acrylic case with a set of those key caps would be awesome.Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/6U6CZSp.jpg)
this material is really hard to photograph.
Hopefully I can begin making molds soon, but due to financial stuff I don't know when that will be :/
(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)
Not much to say, but I got the prints today! I spent a while cleaning them up with fine sand paper and they feel wonderful now.Your nautilus caps are sharp, but the material in that last image is particularly interesting as it is perfect for a concept I have; a keyboard that replicates the effect of Cherenkov radiation. Lit from underneath with the light rapidly dimming the further it gets from the light source, an acrylic case with a set of those key caps would be awesome.Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/6U6CZSp.jpg)
this material is really hard to photograph.
Hopefully I can begin making molds soon, but due to financial stuff I don't know when that will be :/
(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)
Ohh now I want to design a reactor core cap. I love the idea!