Moulds and Erasers
After the cupcake craze, I decided to make a mould of some of the models that I have previously baked. As you may recall, I had bought something called Oyumaru on ebay:
It's a reusable compound, and it's heat activated. What you do with it, is place what you need into hot water, approximately 80 degrees celsius, and once it's soft, pull it out with a pair of tongs or chopsticks - whatever floats your boat - and roll it into a ball, and then you can press your model into it to make a mould, or shape the Oyumaru itself into things - like jellybeans. Anyway, I made a few moulds to try it out, and oh my goodness, it was a very good thing that it was reusuable! Since I made a few mistakes, like not pressing it in deep enough, or pulling out the model too early and distorting the mould, etc etc! Anyway, the moulds I have made so far!
A two-part mould of a chibi figurine, I'm going to use it as a base for the anime chibi figurines for the phone charms.
The mould of it turned out pretty well, there is a bit of an issue with the arms and feet of it, since I tried the mould out and the clay distorted a little bit when I pulled it out, but it was easily fixable, so I'm not too fussed. I made a (From Naruto the anime and manga) Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura Charm using this mould, I haven't baked them yet, and they're too soft to handle and take a picture of, so updates later on that! ;) Their hair is the worst thing to make, so many spikes! and I have to hand roll each spike and stick them on carefully, and sculpt it in a way to make the hair look like the characters', but when it was done, I was pleased with how it turned out ^_^
I also made a seahorse mould:
It holds the details surprisingly well, I had to make the ears/fins separate since they stick out a little from the seahose, and the mould can't get in between the fins anyway.
I haven't tried it out yet, but I did press a lump of clay into it to check what kind of details have been retained, and I think it will work pretty well! The other moulds that I made was of the small and medium sized narutomaki:
This is the small one. Making the ruffled edges of these things are a pain, so a mould was definitely needed!
Hopefully, even though it's small I would be able to use it well. And the medium one:
This picture came out really well ^_^
I cut the edges of the mould, for mainly two reasons, firstly - to give me a sort of guideline so I can put the two parts of the mould together so that it can work, and secondly, so that I can reuse the excess Oyumaru that I cut off for more moulds!
The great thing about Oyumaru is that you can 'melt' pieces back together and roll it up to make a new mould, and you can even mix colours! I think it's a good material to use, it's relatively cheap, reusuable, and holds details quite well, and if you make the mould thin, it's kind of flexible that way and helps to get the clay out of the moulds.
The only problems with it is that you would have to work pretty quickly before it cools down, and if you want to make a rigid mould, you would have to make the mould as thick as the model, but that's about it ^_^ I may just get more of it in case I make more charms and need even more moulds, as I intend to keep the final moulds I make and not reuse them (and the models too just in case the moulds breadk), and 24 pieces of Oyumaru may not be enough! I will have to put a tutorial up when I make moulds again, to show how it is done :D
Speaking of the charms, I also bought some metallic permanent markers:
With the idea that I'll use them to mark a 'W³' - as in WaterMelon³ - on the bottoms of the charms to brand it. My sister gave me that idea, so I will do that once I have finished making all the charms I intend to sell! This is just to copyright the design as my own, and so no-one can mix mine up with anyone else's I guess. Ah, I also did get the purple phone cords in the mail, so I now have all the materials I need :D A while back, I also bought an oven thermometer:
Very useful these things, I actually used it to bake the last batch of clay, and found out my oven runs a bit hotter than what the settings say, so I was able to get the temperature correct because of this ^_^ Or else, it would be far too easy to burn the clay, which I have come close to doing a couple of times actually :S
Another thing I have been making is eraser pencil toppers, I had got some eraser clay, and wanted to try it out and see what erasers I can make, and I made these:
From left to right - bunnies, bears, and squirrels, I gave them blushing cheeks and a glint in their eyes too ^_^
I think they turned out pretty well, although the clay is a bit different to handle, and it's a bit harder to smooth the clay compared to polymer. It's also a bit harder to stick things to it, even if it's another bit of the clay to the same clay, you have to really coax it and smooth it in to keep it together. Previously I have also made sushi erasers, and I'm wondering if I should make more? It would mean I would have to order more online, and that will take a while to get here, considering Christmas is coming and orders will take even longer :S There is sculpey eraser clay, but you would have to bake it, and the only colours I've seen it come in, were fluro colours, and I'm not fond of fluro. The other good thing about the clay I used (above) is that you microwave it in a container, with it covered in water for two to three minutes, and then dunk it into cold water, and voila! Erasers ^_^
I will have to think about adding erasers to the stock for Wai-con, since I don't know if I have enough time to make them, and if I do, it would be the only stationary item on the table. It may be better to add them in next year, when I have a few more stationary-like items - we shall see!
Also, good news! I received a letter yesterday from the university, and I have been accepted! Previously, I applied for the Graduate Diploma of Education through TISC, and then I applied to Master of Education (Early childhood, Primary and Secondary) through uni - and I have now been accepted and eligible to study Master of Education Early Childhood! When I got the letter, I knew what it was about before I opened it and was so nervous, but when I found out I got in, I screeched and jumped around - not something I do at all ^_^
I'm happy, since this means two years of study, and at the end of it I can teach little kids! I mean, it's not exactly what I had set out to do, be a psychologist, but being a teacher was always my second goal, and in a way, I think I am more suited to teaching, rather than working on case load by case load. And as nerdy as it sounds, I like school :D And maybe, if I wanted to, I can always do supervised training and become the school psychologist - there is hope, lol. but of course I should also wait for a reply from TISC, hmmm...
^_^
It's a reusable compound, and it's heat activated. What you do with it, is place what you need into hot water, approximately 80 degrees celsius, and once it's soft, pull it out with a pair of tongs or chopsticks - whatever floats your boat - and roll it into a ball, and then you can press your model into it to make a mould, or shape the Oyumaru itself into things - like jellybeans. Anyway, I made a few moulds to try it out, and oh my goodness, it was a very good thing that it was reusuable! Since I made a few mistakes, like not pressing it in deep enough, or pulling out the model too early and distorting the mould, etc etc! Anyway, the moulds I have made so far!
A two-part mould of a chibi figurine, I'm going to use it as a base for the anime chibi figurines for the phone charms.
The mould of it turned out pretty well, there is a bit of an issue with the arms and feet of it, since I tried the mould out and the clay distorted a little bit when I pulled it out, but it was easily fixable, so I'm not too fussed. I made a (From Naruto the anime and manga) Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura Charm using this mould, I haven't baked them yet, and they're too soft to handle and take a picture of, so updates later on that! ;) Their hair is the worst thing to make, so many spikes! and I have to hand roll each spike and stick them on carefully, and sculpt it in a way to make the hair look like the characters', but when it was done, I was pleased with how it turned out ^_^
I also made a seahorse mould:
It holds the details surprisingly well, I had to make the ears/fins separate since they stick out a little from the seahose, and the mould can't get in between the fins anyway.
I haven't tried it out yet, but I did press a lump of clay into it to check what kind of details have been retained, and I think it will work pretty well! The other moulds that I made was of the small and medium sized narutomaki:
This is the small one. Making the ruffled edges of these things are a pain, so a mould was definitely needed!
Hopefully, even though it's small I would be able to use it well. And the medium one:
This picture came out really well ^_^
I cut the edges of the mould, for mainly two reasons, firstly - to give me a sort of guideline so I can put the two parts of the mould together so that it can work, and secondly, so that I can reuse the excess Oyumaru that I cut off for more moulds!
The great thing about Oyumaru is that you can 'melt' pieces back together and roll it up to make a new mould, and you can even mix colours! I think it's a good material to use, it's relatively cheap, reusuable, and holds details quite well, and if you make the mould thin, it's kind of flexible that way and helps to get the clay out of the moulds.
The only problems with it is that you would have to work pretty quickly before it cools down, and if you want to make a rigid mould, you would have to make the mould as thick as the model, but that's about it ^_^ I may just get more of it in case I make more charms and need even more moulds, as I intend to keep the final moulds I make and not reuse them (and the models too just in case the moulds breadk), and 24 pieces of Oyumaru may not be enough! I will have to put a tutorial up when I make moulds again, to show how it is done :D
Speaking of the charms, I also bought some metallic permanent markers:
With the idea that I'll use them to mark a 'W³' - as in WaterMelon³ - on the bottoms of the charms to brand it. My sister gave me that idea, so I will do that once I have finished making all the charms I intend to sell! This is just to copyright the design as my own, and so no-one can mix mine up with anyone else's I guess. Ah, I also did get the purple phone cords in the mail, so I now have all the materials I need :D A while back, I also bought an oven thermometer:
Very useful these things, I actually used it to bake the last batch of clay, and found out my oven runs a bit hotter than what the settings say, so I was able to get the temperature correct because of this ^_^ Or else, it would be far too easy to burn the clay, which I have come close to doing a couple of times actually :S
Another thing I have been making is eraser pencil toppers, I had got some eraser clay, and wanted to try it out and see what erasers I can make, and I made these:
From left to right - bunnies, bears, and squirrels, I gave them blushing cheeks and a glint in their eyes too ^_^
I think they turned out pretty well, although the clay is a bit different to handle, and it's a bit harder to smooth the clay compared to polymer. It's also a bit harder to stick things to it, even if it's another bit of the clay to the same clay, you have to really coax it and smooth it in to keep it together. Previously I have also made sushi erasers, and I'm wondering if I should make more? It would mean I would have to order more online, and that will take a while to get here, considering Christmas is coming and orders will take even longer :S There is sculpey eraser clay, but you would have to bake it, and the only colours I've seen it come in, were fluro colours, and I'm not fond of fluro. The other good thing about the clay I used (above) is that you microwave it in a container, with it covered in water for two to three minutes, and then dunk it into cold water, and voila! Erasers ^_^
I will have to think about adding erasers to the stock for Wai-con, since I don't know if I have enough time to make them, and if I do, it would be the only stationary item on the table. It may be better to add them in next year, when I have a few more stationary-like items - we shall see!
Also, good news! I received a letter yesterday from the university, and I have been accepted! Previously, I applied for the Graduate Diploma of Education through TISC, and then I applied to Master of Education (Early childhood, Primary and Secondary) through uni - and I have now been accepted and eligible to study Master of Education Early Childhood! When I got the letter, I knew what it was about before I opened it and was so nervous, but when I found out I got in, I screeched and jumped around - not something I do at all ^_^
I'm happy, since this means two years of study, and at the end of it I can teach little kids! I mean, it's not exactly what I had set out to do, be a psychologist, but being a teacher was always my second goal, and in a way, I think I am more suited to teaching, rather than working on case load by case load. And as nerdy as it sounds, I like school :D And maybe, if I wanted to, I can always do supervised training and become the school psychologist - there is hope, lol. but of course I should also wait for a reply from TISC, hmmm...
^_^