twigLimbs Progress; still going strong
I think the pics from the previous post were taken on Monday July 2, and posted the next day....
Tuesday July 3:
Had a late start today, because it took so long to upload and make the pics show up (slight coding error, my bad), but I still got the new molds for the hips done, and I've cast doll number two as well. I need to clean it up a little, but when I cast all the parts and looked at the time it was 8pm and I started at 10am, so I decided to call it a night, go home, have a glass of wine and get some sleep. It was bloody hot today too, wearing a mask and gloves was very unpleasant, I need to get some blinds or curtains to block out some of that afternoon sun. I'm glad its the middle of winter here, there is no way I could do this in summer!!!
I figure if I cast monday-thursday, then ship on friday and cast another one after I get back from the PO on Friday it will take me 4 weeks to fill all the orders if all goes off without any more hitches (fingers crossed). As I get more organised and develop a routine I can try to cast more than one doll per day, but at the moment I only have resin for around 10 dolls, so no need to rush. Still trying to decide which resin I want to use for the rest of the order, and haven't had time to test all of them yet either.
Wednesday July 4:
Arrrgh!! Lots of trouble today, not sure if any of the castings I got are any good, I didn't manage to finish a whole doll, and before 4pm, my scales stopped working, which sucks as they are the second most (after myself) useful tool I have, and I can't do anything without them. So I went home, tested again and they still didn't work. Then I got my partner to look at them, and he even said "You know they will probably work fine when I try". And they frakfrakfraking did!!!
Hopefully they will continue to work fine tomorrow, else I only have two dolls ready to ship at the moment.... grahh!
I took some time then to test the Aqua-resin, and I am honestly not sure it will be any good, but I won't be able to tell until a) I check them tomorrow, and b) they are fully cured on Friday.
In the meantime I am checking prices and trying to figure out which regular polyurethane resin I should get.
Thursday July 5:
Another doll got cast today, yesterdays efforts have been scrapped and relegated to the junk drawer. The scales gave out on me again, so I measured by volume using two plastic cups & some awesome guesstimation powers I seem to have acquired after a good bang on the head or something. I'd still prefer to have a set of working scales, though.
Tomorrow (Friday) I am shipping out the sets I have cast so far, then I will crank out another doll before I call it a weekend. I will be emailing the recipients of the first few sets tonight with tracking numbers and various info regarding the preparation of the sets.
Next week I am casting white dolls as I am out of the NS resin once I cast the Friday-doll. Will place an order on Monday for another 20 kg to get me till the end of the order.
Friday July 6:
I do not know how I managed it, but today, not only did I get to the post office and shipped off the first three fullsets, but I also picked up some s-hooks and some proper plastic measuring cups, so that now I can mix by volume instead of by weight if I have to. I actually found out (ie I read the instructions for the resin I've been using....) that the stuff is supposed to be mixed 1:1 by volume, or 10A:9B by weight, and I had a lot less problems since I figured that out. I borrowed some scales to replace my dead ones that won't zero out when I turn them on, but used the volume method instead.
The resin I will be using next week is different, and mixes 1:1 by weight and 9A:10B by volume, so I'll probably switch back to using scales then.
Anyway what I am getting at is that when I finally got into the studio at 10.30am (which is a bit later than I like) I got to work and it is now 4.45pm and I am back home, and in that time I cast the Friday-doll and ran out of NS resin as expected, failing only to cast one part (the inner torso) but I'll fix that up first thing Monday; I also swept the floor. Usually I am in the studio from 9-6 or 7pm, struggling to finish a doll, and leave the floor-sweeping till the next morning. So I seem to be working out some sort of system and hopefully will be able to cram more actual work into each day next week.
Weekend July 7-8:
Saturday: Drove all over the place with Ron getting perspex and trying to find some flexible hose to set up a dust (& fume) extractor for my workshop.
Sunday: Washed the middle-bedroom in preparation for renovations.
Monday July 9:
Ordered my new resin today, 20kg of it, as well as UV additive to help prevent yellowing. They are also sending me a new set of scales to replace the ones that stopped working last week.
Cast a creamy white doll today, this is not the same resin as the first few dolls, and I do feel it is a little thicker and harder to work with. It gets hard a lot faster so I have trouble trimming the pouring gates if I wait too long. In fact I cut my finger today rather badly on a blunt Stanley knife while trimming gates, but I will still be able to work.
Anyway the resin I ordered for next week is more runny and stays soft before it cures hard so I'll be able to cut the gates much more easily. It also has a 5 minute working time instead of 2.5 minutes, so less rush and hopefully I'll be able to pour more parts at once. Will have to see how many molds I can fit in the pressure pot at once.
Tuesday July 3:
Had a late start today, because it took so long to upload and make the pics show up (slight coding error, my bad), but I still got the new molds for the hips done, and I've cast doll number two as well. I need to clean it up a little, but when I cast all the parts and looked at the time it was 8pm and I started at 10am, so I decided to call it a night, go home, have a glass of wine and get some sleep. It was bloody hot today too, wearing a mask and gloves was very unpleasant, I need to get some blinds or curtains to block out some of that afternoon sun. I'm glad its the middle of winter here, there is no way I could do this in summer!!!
I figure if I cast monday-thursday, then ship on friday and cast another one after I get back from the PO on Friday it will take me 4 weeks to fill all the orders if all goes off without any more hitches (fingers crossed). As I get more organised and develop a routine I can try to cast more than one doll per day, but at the moment I only have resin for around 10 dolls, so no need to rush. Still trying to decide which resin I want to use for the rest of the order, and haven't had time to test all of them yet either.
Wednesday July 4:
Arrrgh!! Lots of trouble today, not sure if any of the castings I got are any good, I didn't manage to finish a whole doll, and before 4pm, my scales stopped working, which sucks as they are the second most (after myself) useful tool I have, and I can't do anything without them. So I went home, tested again and they still didn't work. Then I got my partner to look at them, and he even said "You know they will probably work fine when I try". And they frakfrakfraking did!!!
Hopefully they will continue to work fine tomorrow, else I only have two dolls ready to ship at the moment.... grahh!
I took some time then to test the Aqua-resin, and I am honestly not sure it will be any good, but I won't be able to tell until a) I check them tomorrow, and b) they are fully cured on Friday.
In the meantime I am checking prices and trying to figure out which regular polyurethane resin I should get.
Thursday July 5:
Another doll got cast today, yesterdays efforts have been scrapped and relegated to the junk drawer. The scales gave out on me again, so I measured by volume using two plastic cups & some awesome guesstimation powers I seem to have acquired after a good bang on the head or something. I'd still prefer to have a set of working scales, though.
Tomorrow (Friday) I am shipping out the sets I have cast so far, then I will crank out another doll before I call it a weekend. I will be emailing the recipients of the first few sets tonight with tracking numbers and various info regarding the preparation of the sets.
Next week I am casting white dolls as I am out of the NS resin once I cast the Friday-doll. Will place an order on Monday for another 20 kg to get me till the end of the order.
Friday July 6:
I do not know how I managed it, but today, not only did I get to the post office and shipped off the first three fullsets, but I also picked up some s-hooks and some proper plastic measuring cups, so that now I can mix by volume instead of by weight if I have to. I actually found out (ie I read the instructions for the resin I've been using....) that the stuff is supposed to be mixed 1:1 by volume, or 10A:9B by weight, and I had a lot less problems since I figured that out. I borrowed some scales to replace my dead ones that won't zero out when I turn them on, but used the volume method instead.
The resin I will be using next week is different, and mixes 1:1 by weight and 9A:10B by volume, so I'll probably switch back to using scales then.
Anyway what I am getting at is that when I finally got into the studio at 10.30am (which is a bit later than I like) I got to work and it is now 4.45pm and I am back home, and in that time I cast the Friday-doll and ran out of NS resin as expected, failing only to cast one part (the inner torso) but I'll fix that up first thing Monday; I also swept the floor. Usually I am in the studio from 9-6 or 7pm, struggling to finish a doll, and leave the floor-sweeping till the next morning. So I seem to be working out some sort of system and hopefully will be able to cram more actual work into each day next week.
Weekend July 7-8:
Saturday: Drove all over the place with Ron getting perspex and trying to find some flexible hose to set up a dust (& fume) extractor for my workshop.
Sunday: Washed the middle-bedroom in preparation for renovations.
Monday July 9:
Ordered my new resin today, 20kg of it, as well as UV additive to help prevent yellowing. They are also sending me a new set of scales to replace the ones that stopped working last week.
Cast a creamy white doll today, this is not the same resin as the first few dolls, and I do feel it is a little thicker and harder to work with. It gets hard a lot faster so I have trouble trimming the pouring gates if I wait too long. In fact I cut my finger today rather badly on a blunt Stanley knife while trimming gates, but I will still be able to work.
Anyway the resin I ordered for next week is more runny and stays soft before it cures hard so I'll be able to cut the gates much more easily. It also has a 5 minute working time instead of 2.5 minutes, so less rush and hopefully I'll be able to pour more parts at once. Will have to see how many molds I can fit in the pressure pot at once.