Blogumentary: Cody’s Steampunk Earplugs Part 4

Finished! I sanded them down with wet and dry, then sprayed with acrylic. Will be posted tomorrow.

 

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Blogumentary: Cody’s Steampunk Earplugs Part 3

The plugs have now been cast, here’s how I did it…

Mixed resin and poured into mould, filling it 3/4 full. Left to set.

Sprinkled watch parts on surface of cured resin.

Topped up with catalysed resin to top of mould and left to cure again.

Demoulded.

Blogumentary: Cody’s Steampunk Earplugs Part 2 and a few other things…

Today I got on with the business of making the mould for the resin pugs I am making for Cody…

I superglued the model into the lid of a little tub to stop it from falling over…

I mixed the silicone in the main part of the pot…

I then popped the lid back on and tuned the pot upside down to allow the silicone to run around the model. The cup is for a bit of stability as the lid was slightly domed!

Also this morning before I went to work, I baked some tags for a customer. They are ready for sealing, just need to print a few more disks and her order is complete!

And on the subject of plastic tags (kind of), last night I bought the February edition of Crafts Beautiful from ASDA as my article on printed shrink plastic is in it, page 50-51! Check it out 😉

Blogumentary: Cody’s Steampunk Earplugs Part 1

Today I got another custom order on Etsy for some earplugs, after determining how they should look and the size, I made the model for the mould. It is made from a Police “Kill Your Speed” pen barrel which nicely was 1cm in diameter, and sawed it 30mm in length.

I then mixed some Milliput and filled the tube. Just waiting for it to harden and then I will gently sand the edges before making the mould.

Blogumentary: Jenny Blaze’s Two-finger ring part 6

I got this awesome new flat lap machine for Christmas, though I’ve discovered that the best place for it is in the bath as water flies everywhere! I used the diamond laps to sand, then used polishing paste and the buffing lapto polish up. Unfortunately I lost my grip on both (would you believe it) and they bounced across the bathroom creating cracks in the underneath of the ring bands meaning I have to make them again (doh)! I’m casting them again tonight and then need to redo this step and step 5, but I shan’t be blogging it twice!

Here’s my lovely new (messy) machine:

And the finished (ish) article:

Blogumentary: Jenny Blaze’s Two-finger ring part 5

I demoulded the rings and then added another layer of resin on the top to create a more domed effect. It is still very tacky, so will not start sanding these until tomorrow. The black isn’t quite as vivid as I would have liked or as how they were before they went in the resin, though not as bad as this picture shows as the sun is shining directly through the window.

Blogumentary: Jenny Blaze’s Two-finger ring part 4

The mould was an absolute nightmare and the base still wasn’t set by the time I decided enough was enough. Once the mould had been turned out of it’s container (or wrestled out in my case) a craft knife was useful for removing excess rubber so the model could be easily removed.

  

I then put in the name so facing the correct way round as per sketch in part one. It was then part filled with resin to hold acetate down.

Once it had part cured, I could then fill it to the top and leave to cure fully.

Blogumentary: Jenny Blaze’s Two-finger ring part 3

It took a while, but finally I am at the mould making stage. I originally tried this with Vinamold but I think it got too hot and it clug to the model and it took me ages to sand it all off. I ordered some RTV silicone and decided to try a cold process instead.

Mixing the silicone and catalyst…

 

 

Pouring, then leaving to set…

 

Looking forward to seeing how it turns out tomorrow!

Blogumentary: Jenny Blaze’s Two-finger ring part 2

Now I’ve sanded the model down so it’s nice and smooth, ready for creating the mould:

I’ve also printed and transfered the decal onto acetate, and it will fit nicely:

The next step is to ive the acetate a good clean, and get casting the mould! I might need to buy some more moulding material though.

Blogumentary: Jenny Blaze’s Two-finger ring part 1

I’ve decided to document the stages to completion for a custom order I am currently working on. The design is a two finger ring which will be clear resin with floating name text. There will actually be two making up this order, one side that says “Jenny” and one that says “Blaze”. My first step was to get a couple of rings in the correct size and create the model in Milliput:

And the text style and positioning has been agreed:

The next stage will be sanding and creating the mould, and I also need to print the text decal!