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Attempting casting resin in two colors, part three- success!!!

1/13/2019

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 Check it out! Jawsets cast in two different colors! Aren't they bee-oootyful??
resin canine jawset cast in two colors
resin canine jawset cast in two colors
I decided to try a method I had thought about before but had dismissed as too difficult- making separate models of gums and teeth, making sure they fit well together beforehand, and then molding them. I knew that teeth and gum components carefully cut apart from a single a rubber jawset model and molded separately would make casts that would fit back together with no problem. However, as I wrote about in a previous blog post, the repeated  molding and casting in rubber that this method requires caused  bubbles to build up in the casts over time. Yuck!!

So I would use teeth I cut out of a resin cast to make that part of the mold. I would use a plasticine  "borrowed casting" of the gums (I talk more about this technique in this blog post), physically removing any bubbles before molding it. Bubbles can be removed from plasticine but not from rubber!  I would make sure the teeth and the gums fit very well together before making molds of either. The big challenge would be not squishing the models and ruining the fit during this process.


Jawset model in the freezer
 SIlicone rubber tipped clay shaping tools
​

Which brings us to this picture. Why, you may reasonably ask, is there a jawset model in my freezer? Very simply, freezing the clay helps keep squishing to a minimum, so I can check the teeth and gums for fit and do as little damage as possible. This kind of plasticine, Monster Clay, contains a high amount of wax, so it freezes very well. 






Pictured here are another secret weapon in my arsenal, rubber tipped shaping tools. These also helped keep squishing to a minimum, as they made it possible to apply just the tiniest, most precise amount of pressure to only the areas it was needed. Unlike big fat fingers.


​
Clay gum models for resin canine jawset
Above, the plasticine gum models in their Lego mold boxes, ready for rubber.

Right, rubber poured over the models. Coloring it like this helps to show when the two parts of the rubber are fully mixed, so that it can be stirred only as much as necessary, avoiding excess bubbles. Pouring the rubber into the molds from relatively high up, in a thin, slow stream, also helps to break bubbles that have formed while stirring. Brushing a thin coat of rubber over the model, letting it partly set, and then pouring the rest of the rubber in also helps, as bubbles trapped against the model can more easily rise to the surface and break that way.
 Pouring mold rubber for a canine resin jawset


And, resin gums poured into the two new molds.
Casting resin gums for a canine resin jawset
 
Teeth waiting for mold rubber for a canine resin jawset



​Teeth waiting for rubber in their own Lego mold box...
Mold rubber poured over teeth for a canine resin jawset
Picture


​And rubber poured. Another thing that helps eliminate bubbles is tapping the mold box on the work table after the rubber is poured, to help the bubbles rise up to the surface and break.









 (I found myself often thinking of this scene from Finding Nemo during this whole thing...)


​Resin gums cast into one mold, teeth into the other...
Resin teeth and gums cast for a  canine jawset





​And, teeth and gums removed from the molds, and... THEY FIT TOGETHER!!! YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!
Putting together teeth and gums for a resin canine jawset
I said it before, and I'll say it again... aren't they bee-ootyful???!!!
Resin canine jawset  cast in two colors
Resin canine jawsets cast in two colors
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Airbrushing fails

12/28/2018

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Canine resin jawset masked for airbrushing
Canine Resin jawset being airbrushed








Ah, trying to airbrush jawsets with white teeth and pink gums. Much easier said than done. First, the paint has to stick. Second, it has to go where you want it and not where you don't.


If there is even a trace of release on the cast forget it, the paint will not stick. The good news is, resin cast into silicone rubber doesn't really need release! Yay! Unfortunately the paint doesn't like to stick to bare resin either, and according to the saints at Smooth On Technical Support there are very few primers that will help. One is the Bulldog Adhesion Promoter shown here. The other is Plasticote Sandable Primer Enamel.


The areas where paint is not wanted need to be masked. What to use? Liquid frisket came first to mind, here applied with silicone shaper tools. (The frisket would quickly ruin a regular paintbrush.) For me, this was very tricky and took several hours to apply. I only attempted masking the teeth with the frisket, as I was completely daunted by the much larger surface area of the gums.

.




Below, the gums airbrushed and the frisket removed.
Airbrushed canine resin jawset
Not too bad, except that the paint was still fairly fragile and the frisket would pull bits of it off around the gumline. I was not convinced this would be the go to method.
Canine resin jawset masked for airbrushing
Canine resin jawset being airbrushed
Airbrushed canine resin jawset






I hit the airbrush forums looking for a mask less fiddly than frisket, and found.... Poster Putty.



















Not bad, but not great either. The putty more or less worked, but the gumline was messy, and I'd like to avoid this much touching up with a paintbrush if at all possible.




And back to the message boards. Another recommended masking material- SIlly Putty!!
Canine resin jawset masked for airbrushing with silly putty





It kinda worked, but....
Airbrushed canine resin jawset
The paint built up around the edges of the putty and left these unattractive ridges along the gumline, which no amount of touching up with a paintbrush is going to fix! The message boards warned of this.
Paint ridges on an airbrushed canine jawset

 Below, various airbrushing attempts, in various states of completion.A big fat pile of frustration.
Airbrushed canine resin jawsets
Some of these are solid pink plastic, with the teeth airbrushed white; some of these are white plastic with the gums airbrushed pink. Ultimately, though, I was not happy with the durability of the airbrushed paint- even with the primer, and even sealed with a topcoat afterwards, it was too easy to scratch and damage. Maybe there is a method I hadn't discovered yet to make the paint more durable, but for the moment anyway I am SO DONE  airbrushing these things for sure. On to plan B, attempting to cast in two colors of plastic!

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And... Action!

4/14/2018

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A short little video showing the new jawset and tongue in one of my resin heads.
Cool, huh??
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In Pursuit of Pointy, and In Search of Squishy

3/27/2018

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To date I've purchased teeth from other craftspeople to use in my masks, but I've always really wanted to make my own. Below, a pile of attempts made over the past couple of years, made with Monster Clay (a kind of plasticine), Super Sculpey and Apoxie Sculpt.(Skully is supervising. He is a very helpful skull.) A whole lotta nope right here.
jawset sculpting teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
I finally settled on the Monster Clay for making the prototype teeth. I got tired of waiting for the other two to dry and/or set up in between sculpting sessions, and I got REALLY tired of trying to smooth out the hardened model with sandpaper or a Dremel. Monster Clay can be frozen to make it very hard and  can be softened with a hairdryer or microwave or such to make it very soft, so it is adaptable for a variety of sculpting situations. It also smooths beautifully using rubbing alcohol or its more powerful big brother, isopropyl myristate.
sculpting jawset teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting jawset teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
First, I made "plates" for both the upper and lower jaw, making sure they fit comfortably inside the resin head. Then, using Skully and reference pictures I found online, I sketched the placement of the teeth on the "plates". Using a lightbox, I then checked to see how the teeth on the upper and lower jaw would line up with each other (left). These would serve as "templates" for the jawset.
 
teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask





Now it's time to start sculpting! Left, rechecking the template in the lower jaw.





























​Gum line built up (and though it's hard to see) tooth placement traced in from the template.  
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
​



​Actual teeth taking shape. The whole thing is built on a thick piece of cardboard, so I can take it in and out of the mask's mouth without squishing it. Not too badly, anyway.
  
sculpting jawset teeth in resin wolf head fursuit mask
Above, looking to see how the lower part of the jawset is shaping up when viewed from the side. The teeth are just loosely stuck down to the gums at this point, so I can easily move them around if I need to.
sculpting jawset teeth in resin fursuit wolf head mask



​Now for the upper jaw. Left, checking the template for the upper teeth inside the resin head, using Skully and photos for reference.
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head maskPicture


​Gumline built up, roof of mouth roughed out, and tooth placement traced in, using the template. 
sculpting jawset teeth for resin wolf head fursuit


​And, roof of the mouth more refined, and actual teeth taking shape.
 
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask.
And tada! Above, a finished Monster Clay plasticine model, ready for molding. Silly me, little did I realize that this would be the first of three finished jawsets I would mold. Sucks being a perfectionist.
Sculpting tongue and jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting tongue and jawset for resin fursuit wolf head mask
Above, beginning the molding process, and a tongue while I'm at it. The jawset has been firmly attached to a thin piece of plywood, which will serve as a mold board. Every little gap between the model and the mold board is filled in, as otherwise the mold rubber could find its way under the model, and float the model up on top of it while it's curing. Which would not make a very good mold at all.
making molds of jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
mixing silicone mold rubber
Left, making molds! I've used cheap Tupperware type containers for the mold boxes, attaching them to the mold boards with hot glue and cutting openings out of the bottoms for pouring in the rubber. 
pouring silicone mold rubber over jawset teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
mixing resin for making jawset teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
​And, casting resin into the new molds to make teeth! Wheee!!! 
Picture
cast resin teeth jawset for fursuit wolf head mask
 

sculpting teeth jawset for resin wolf head fursuit mask

Above, getting ready to revise the jawset. Did I mention how I did this three times? Seriously though, it's easier to check the fit of the teeth in the head when they're in hard resin and not squishable clay. Above, a set of resin teeth that has been Dremelled down to fit the head better, and another set of clay teeth made by pouring melted Monster Clay into the mold, called a "borrowed casting". It's much easier to tweak the teeth from a borrowed casting than trying to make a whole new set from scratch. (If I wasn't such a chicken, I could have also resculpted my original set of clay teeth. But I wanted to keep them the way they were for extra insurance.) 
sculpting teeth jawset for resin fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting teeth jawset for resin fursuit wolf head mask
Above, revisions. To the right in both pictures is the original sculpt, still on the moldboard. In the middle is a modified resin casting, and to the left is the resculpted "borrowed casting". This first go round I removed the "flare" thingy from the bottom jaw, as it only really served to complicate fitting it into the resin head. I also made the plate for the upper jaw more symmetrical. You can see how the original sculpt has a bigger "bulge" on the left hand side than the right. Why did I do this, you may ask. Well, I was using a reject resin head casting to fit the teeth in, and I forgot that the resin on one side of the muzzle was much thicker than that on the other so.... in order to center the teeth in the opening, the plate had to be a lot wider on one side. Definitely not going to be the case with the average resin head! Fortunately I realized this before I got too much further into this process!  A great big duh, but could have been a much bigger duh.
resin teeth jawset for fursuit wolf head mask
resin jawsets teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
Above, showing all three sets of revised teeth. The top set is the first one, the middle is the second and the set on the bottom is the final version. Besides changing the "plate" as described earlier, I did a lot of playing with the front incisors. I refined them in the second set but then realized I had also made the top ones too small, so I made them bigger in the third set. After re-checking my reference pictures of real wolves I also decided the gum area above the front incisors also needed to be longer, so I also changed that in the third set. I also did a lot of fiddling with the area circled in yellow in the right hand picture, with the way those particular teeth came together. The top incisor right next to the large bottom canine also underwent a fair bit of refinement.
nose and tongue for fursuit wolf head resin mask





Last but not least, a freshly textured nose and tongue, ready for moldmaking.
molding nose and teeth jawset for resin fursuit wolf head mask with legos
And since I had spent so much time fiddling with the teeth, I decided to fiddle with the mold making method as well. At the suggestion of an acquaintance I made my next set of mold boxes out of Legos instead of Tupperware containers, so I could get the mold boxes precisely the size I needed them and save molding rubber. Molding rubber is expensive. They don't call it "platinum cure silicone" for nothing. (A good source of cheap used Legos is bricklink.com.)
making molds for fursuit parts with lego bricks
molding parts for fursuit heads using lego bricks
The rubber curing and then  being removed from the Lego mold boxes. I sealed all the little gaps between the bricks with Sonite Wax **except** the one between the first row and the mold board, with the results seen below on the left. Brain cramp!! Little rubber Lego bricks! Fortunately the hot glue attaching the Lego mold  box to the mold board kept the leak from getting out of hand, the worst effect being I didn't have quite the thickness of rubber I would have liked around the model at the top of the mold. 
molding parts for fursuit heads using lego bricks
 






​In the home stretch! Right, casting a nose and some teeth in the new molds.
casting parts for resin fursuit wolf head mask
casting parts for fursuit resin heads out of silicone and resin
silicone rubber fursuit nose and tongue parts for resin head
Above, the nose and tongue models with their squishy rubber counterparts. Wheee!!!
silicone rubber nose for fursuit wolf head
Checking out the fit of the rubber nose in a resin head. Lookin' good! The resin head on the right wants a rubber nose too. 
cast noses tongues teeth jawset parts for resin fursuit heads
fursuit head parts teeth jawset tonges noses silicone resin
And above, a pile o' puppy parts, ready for maskmaking!! I'm feeling good about the results of my endeavors here. Time to think about colors for fur!!
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Putting It All Together

12/30/2016

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Sans Souci Studios resin head with DVC teeth nose and tongue added

​My own resin base! My own sculpt, my own mold, my own cast! So excited I can't stand it! One day I'd dearly love to make my own teeth, tongues and noses too, but for this time around at least I'm using DVC parts. (Click here to read more about moldmaking and here for casting the base.) Putting it all together, though, definitely gave me ideas about how I'd sculpt a head differently the next time.

Left, eyes, teeth and nose glued into the base. The DVC teeth took a little fiddling to get them to work with my head. I wound up dremelling off part of the front of the upper part of the jawset, so that the teeth wouldn't sit too far back in the head, and dremelling off much of the back of the lower jawset, so the teeth could fit into the head at all. Fortunately the base colored DVC jawsets are solid color all the way through, so this little bit of surgery didn't show as much as it could have. (Needless to say I did this before I painted the teeth!)


​​I also wanted the teeth to sit up much higher in the lower jaw than they did in my first head, as they kinda disappeared into lips and fur after I got it assembled. I played a lot with layers of Foamies underneath the teeth to get them exactly where I wanted them, and so far I'm happy with how they look.
Sans Souci Studios resin head with DVC parts, eyelids and lips added


Left, eyelids added. I love the moment afterwards when the eyes become follow me eyes! It's as if the mask has magically come to life.

 


As with the previous head, I've been referring to the DVC tutorials online as I work on this head, and much to my confusion they've started redoing that series- when I did the first mask, the lips were applied last, after the airbrushing, and now they're applied early in the process, along with the eyelids. Maybe they were done last in the first series so that airbrush overspray wouldn't get on them, but that's easy enough to paint over with black paint. In any case it was a pain to apply them with fur already there, and so far I like this way better.
​
Sans Souci Studios resin head with a crooked jaw
Sans Souci Studios resin head with a crooked jaw
​I also learned the hard way it's best to cut the cast up right before assembling it. I was so excited to get a good cast I couldn't wait to open the eyes up and hinge the jaw, and then I let the head sit, and sit, and sit.... and the jaw warped, shifting to one side. Now the head has an expression kinda like this: :-/ Nothing that can't be fixed with a Dremel and some epoxy, but still, something I'd rather avoid in the future.
planning for straightening jaw on resin head
Planning for straightening lower jaw on resin head
Above, working out how to resculpt the jaw to make it look straighter. I often take a photo of an area I'm working on, print it out and draw on it, to help visualize what I should do. In the printout /drawing to the right, I've decided to dremel off the lip outside of the thick blue line. Another point for adding the lip early on- it gave me a way to tweak the jaw I wouldn't have had otherwise.
Silly picture of Sans Souci Studios resin head with DVC parts
(And... one day I went down into the basement to work, and I found my daughter had gotten into my packing peanuts....)
Sans Souci Studios resin head with straightened jaw
Sans  Souci Studios resin head with straightened jaw
Above, the lower jaw resculpted and straightened out a bit. I think it looks much better. Neatening up the edge of the lower lip helped a bit too.
silly picture of chiffon in tear ducts of Sans Souci Studios resin head
Above, chiffon added to one tear duct but not yet the other, as modelled by my packing peanut loving daughter. Freaky deaky!
checking vision in Sans Souci Studios resin head
Above, straps and padding added, checking the vision through the tear ducts. I like the rather naturalistic angle of the nose. Right, hubby is DONE with trying the mask on to see how it works, and he is REALLY DONE with getting sh*t about how silly his hair looks after he takes it off!!
grouchy husband with Sans Souci Studios resin head
​Two takeaways for the next resin base sculpt:

First, make sure the areas in which the eyes will be glued are as flat as possible and in the exact same plane with each other. Any crookedness or unnevenness in these areas will be greatly exaggerated when the resin eyes are in place, and gives the mask a rather wall-eyed, inbred expression. Next base sculpt, I think I'll use metal or rigid plastic discs of the correct size to mark out these areas and leave them there while moldmaking, to make sure those areas don't squish out of shape. I was able to glue the eyes into this base to my satisfaction using bits of resin and hot glue to level them out, but care taken with the next sculpt could definitely make the process a lot easier. 

Second, sculpt the next head so that it can easily take a nose with a flat back. DVC noses, and I suspect any other noses that are cast separately and glued on to a base later, have flat backs. I suspect they are made in one piece molds, the backs of which are open so that the casting material can be poured in, which then levels out as it sets. When I removed the nose on this base to accommodate the DVC nose, I was left with an awkwardly shaped hole into which to glue it. I re-sculpted the area a bit with epoxy so that the nose would fit (the thick black band behind the nose in the pics is epoxy for the most part) and so all is well that ends well, but again, this is something to take into consideration for future head sculpts.

Next, ears!!

​
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Painting Resin Teeth

12/10/2016

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 For my last head, I was in so much noobie awe of my resin jawset from DVC that I was afraid to alter it in any way, shape or form. By the time I was ready to make this head, I had seen how cool jawsets could look when painted, and especially since I love to play with color, I wanted to give it a whirl. Here is the tutorial I used to paint my teeth.
Color ideas for resin jawset
So I ordered the same jawset from DVC that I had the last time, the pink/white semi realistic large K9 jawset, and dremelled it down to make it fit my own resin head. I shortened the front of the upper jaw, as otherwise the teeth would sit too far back in the head, and narrowed the back of the lower jaw as otherwise it wouldn't fit in the head at all. Fortunately the color is solid all the way through these jawsets so the dremelling didn't show as much as it might have otherwise.

Left, my handy dandy color notebook, and below, my reference photos. I played with colors until I was satisfied with how they looked with the jawset- my intention wasn't to paint over the entire jawset, just to add some accents and shadings. (One thing to keep in mind- acrylic paint darkens slightly as it dies.) The colors I ultimately settled on were a mix of titanium white, quinacridone crimson, and just a teeny smidge of yellow ochre for the pink parts of the gums, and a mix of burnt sienna, carbon black and titanium white for the brown parts. For the teeth I settled on titanium white and yellow ochre, using more white toward the tips of the teeth and more ochre at the bases, to paint the "tartar buildup" there. 
 
Painted resin dreamvision creations jawset
Painted and glossed dreamvision creations resin jawset
Above, top, the painted jawset before gloss acrylic sealer was applied, and bottom, after. (Oooo, shiny!!)

Public Service Announcement- when spraying sealer, make sure the little arrow on the trigger thingy is pointing TOWARDS the object you're spraying! In what might have  been my biggest "D'OH!" moment ever I sprayed myself in the face with the sealer, coating my $400 progressive glasses with a fine and very tough mist. My noble husband rode to the rescue and spent a half an hour in the basement gently cleaning the lenses with mineral spirits, and amazingly enough, was able to salvage them. Thank goodness I was wearing the glasses and didn't spray myself directly in the eyes!!!
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    I make masks. Because art is more fun when you put it on your head.

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