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Wooops! Sometimes we forget how much our pet armatures like to swim! You may want to consider mixing up a tiny bit of foam and secure the armature in place with it first before pouring the rest. You may also want to consider NOT tearing all the foam off the armature from the bad casting, just trim it down so that it fits in the mold with a gap around it. You won't have to mix up as much foam next time and that reject casting won't be a total waste of material.
Thursday, 22 July 2010 05:33
Doh! The armature was in the mold but not secured to anything other than over the edge to keep it centered. The expanding foam pushed it up and ruined the casting - it's up almost an inch out of it's placement. New casting will definitely have a better way of keeping the wire in place.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010 21:43
First casting - though the venting hole in the bottom came in very helpful - the first batch I mixed I stirred for too long so it was already foaming by the time I started pouring in and only went around 3/4 of the way into the mold. So I did a small second batch from the bottom hole that fixed it up. And yep about 1 tentacle at a time - it seemed a practical way to go since the body of the puppet will be covered and so seams are okay.
The skin I painted in is around 1-2mm thick - I did it that heavy on Henry (I should post pics of him too) and haven't had any tears yet, though that was with slacker inside - I might increase it a bit for the foam. You mentioned gripping puppets with your nails more and I don't do that much so maybe that's why they haven't torn. (I have had finger wires poke through eventually but sil-poxy fixed that right up.)
The skin I painted in is around 1-2mm thick - I did it that heavy on Henry (I should post pics of him too) and haven't had any tears yet, though that was with slacker inside - I might increase it a bit for the foam. You mentioned gripping puppets with your nails more and I don't do that much so maybe that's why they haven't torn. (I have had finger wires poke through eventually but sil-poxy fixed that right up.)
Tuesday, 20 July 2010 21:16
Excellent! And was that your first casting or did you have any bad trials prior to this? I'm not exactly sure why you have the armature partially sticking out of the mold in that one photo but, I can easily see that it's the product of a grand plan! (one tentacle at a time me suspects?) How thick of a Platsil skin did you give it prior to the foam casting? When I do it, I try to give the whole thing a thickness that's more than paper thin because I know Soma-Foama can rip with a little abrasion so, I trust a thicker skin more.
As for switching photos around, I think you can delete the ones you already added and start a new album aside from the one I started. If you can't remove the ones you already posted (because time to edit runs out or something) just ask me to delete them for you - because I am the almighty administrator of this group, I can always edit.
Silicone foam has come to Earth at last! Doncha love it? :)
As for switching photos around, I think you can delete the ones you already added and start a new album aside from the one I started. If you can't remove the ones you already posted (because time to edit runs out or something) just ask me to delete them for you - because I am the almighty administrator of this group, I can always edit.
Silicone foam has come to Earth at last! Doncha love it? :)
Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:41
I posted some photos of my first test with the Soma Foama - overall it's great, very short working time (less than 1 min!) but very light - I'm actually remaking the armature because I built it to move a heavier puppet and it's quite light with this foam.
I'm putting a few comments on the photos - sorry, probably should've put them in another folder to keep them organized. (Any way to move them after the fact?)
I'm putting a few comments on the photos - sorry, probably should've put them in another folder to keep them organized. (Any way to move them after the fact?)
Tuesday, 20 July 2010 19:19