"Space Race" keys first cast was finished last night. WARNING!! THE EYES WILL HAUNT YOUR NIGHTMARES!!
Info on the key:
This key was very challenging, and is not completely finished in the pics. It is entirely plastic, the only place I "cheated" with some paint was the eyes, and the eyes because of (well reasons) had to be that wide open, but the next one I cast will have much more subtle eyes. I really get scared looking into this guys eyes! The reason I thought it was ok to cheat with a little paint for the eyes was because it is encased in clear plastic making up the "glass" part of the face shield. This key also has not been sanded and polished to a shine like a space helmet should be, but I will do that once I get the eyes / face right.
5 different colors and 3 different types of plastic. The lettering and face are one material and use two colors... and the face shield is a clear plastic. The face is flesh toned (obviously) and the helmet is quite detailed with a silver brim. It is hard to take a pic of this one due to its 3 dimensional(ism?) and really is different than most keys. Left, right, top and bottom are all different... the helmet has a tube piece coming out of the helmet for oxygen / pressurization, and the bottom of the helmet has a round bracket for securing it to a space suit.
The design was inspired by Yuri Gagarin, an early Russian cosmonaut. Although it ended up looking like a dead or shocked cosmonaut due to the large eyes. Again, the eyes need work and I will work it out on the next castings.. I tried doing a fully plastic eye, but it ended up being too big and strange so I had to paint over it. In the future I will just paint the eyes and details and encase it in the clear plastic, making it completely durable. The main body of the key is made with the strongest plastic I have, and I always use that for the base and stem... but it takes 16 hours + 5 hours in an oven before it cures so I don't think I can mass produce these. I think that this is more of a specialty key anyways and not really mainstream so I don't know how many of you will be interested in one.
Anyways, these are Potato pics, because this is just the first cast, and once I get it how I want it I will do a full high res pic showcase. Please be kind.. .this one was way more work than any of my other keys.. and it is not sanded and polished yet.. so it is not shiny as it will be and there are some small defects. Anyways.. here it is... and keep in mind the future facial features and eyes will be much more sublte... and wont scare me as much as this one does.
Here is a closeup of the face shield.. the "roughness" will be sanded out on the helmet in final keys.