Castellan Craft
Jr Member
A little preamble. Feel free to scroll down to the pictures first and come back later, I won't blame you.
So, as an artist that is way more used to working in two dimensions, I thought I should start small. I really wanna get into resin casting, but figured trying to tackle armour first would be a bad idea. Rather then risk wasting a ton of materials and money on a (highly likely) screw up, I decided on a small prop and figured I'd kill two birds with one stone: get some hands on experience with everything I've read here, and maybe finish an accessory I need for an outfit I promised I'd make.
So, I'm working on a Trailer Depiction/In Game hybrid of the character Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins (I convinced a friend to dress up as Morrigan's mother, Flemeth, so we could run around being evil together muahahaha).
I figured cold casting the character's necklace out of resin with powered brass would be the best way to avoid having a cheesy looking prop since I've seen a couple girls with painted ones I was kinda meh about. A few do it right, but I didn't trust myself to paint wood and clay right. The brass should also make it easier to add a patina later.
Another thing that I'm really hoping will work out is that I'm attempting to inset a cabochon right into the centerpiece rather then paint the section in. (FYI: A Cabochon is: "a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted. The resulting form is usually a convex top with a flat bottom.") The worst that could happen is that I could pull the cast out only to find the resin has crept over and covered the cabochon and it would have to be carefully cut away, but I'm hoping to mitigate this by actually including the gem itself in the sculpt so that the mold will match it's curvature and it'll have a snug place to sit while I slowly pour the resin in around it. The other advantage of insetting it is that it's allowing me to shape it's appearance since I was unable to find a cabochon is the proper pointed shape. I also won't have to worry about glue giving out and losing my shiny while running around cons. Whoo!
Click the thumbnails for larger images. Larger sizes still can be viewed once you're there. My apologies for using white clay on a white cutting board, but I happened to have pink lying around when I first started and... yeah. The anatomy jokes got old after about the dozenth time. XD
This is my first sculpt (if you don't count the lopsided mug I made for my dad in elementary school). Oil based clay, blue paua shell cabochon (I realize the shell isn't highly accurate, but I decided to opt for something cheap in case I screwed up royally. Plus, it's still pretty. If all goes according to plan, I'll still have a mold and can just slot some nice lapis lazuli in for a future one.) These pieces are still a bit rough and need work, but hey, that's why it's a Work In Progress. I still have to do the more leaf shaped beads yet. I also left some of the incomplete rectangular ones in the image so you can see how they progress, haha. I also plan to sculpt and cast her staff head (which appears to be a springbok horn), though more likely out of something like Super Sculpy rather then oil based clay.
Wish me luck. ^_~
So, as an artist that is way more used to working in two dimensions, I thought I should start small. I really wanna get into resin casting, but figured trying to tackle armour first would be a bad idea. Rather then risk wasting a ton of materials and money on a (highly likely) screw up, I decided on a small prop and figured I'd kill two birds with one stone: get some hands on experience with everything I've read here, and maybe finish an accessory I need for an outfit I promised I'd make.
So, I'm working on a Trailer Depiction/In Game hybrid of the character Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins (I convinced a friend to dress up as Morrigan's mother, Flemeth, so we could run around being evil together muahahaha).
I figured cold casting the character's necklace out of resin with powered brass would be the best way to avoid having a cheesy looking prop since I've seen a couple girls with painted ones I was kinda meh about. A few do it right, but I didn't trust myself to paint wood and clay right. The brass should also make it easier to add a patina later.
Another thing that I'm really hoping will work out is that I'm attempting to inset a cabochon right into the centerpiece rather then paint the section in. (FYI: A Cabochon is: "a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted. The resulting form is usually a convex top with a flat bottom.") The worst that could happen is that I could pull the cast out only to find the resin has crept over and covered the cabochon and it would have to be carefully cut away, but I'm hoping to mitigate this by actually including the gem itself in the sculpt so that the mold will match it's curvature and it'll have a snug place to sit while I slowly pour the resin in around it. The other advantage of insetting it is that it's allowing me to shape it's appearance since I was unable to find a cabochon is the proper pointed shape. I also won't have to worry about glue giving out and losing my shiny while running around cons. Whoo!
Click the thumbnails for larger images. Larger sizes still can be viewed once you're there. My apologies for using white clay on a white cutting board, but I happened to have pink lying around when I first started and... yeah. The anatomy jokes got old after about the dozenth time. XD
This is my first sculpt (if you don't count the lopsided mug I made for my dad in elementary school). Oil based clay, blue paua shell cabochon (I realize the shell isn't highly accurate, but I decided to opt for something cheap in case I screwed up royally. Plus, it's still pretty. If all goes according to plan, I'll still have a mold and can just slot some nice lapis lazuli in for a future one.) These pieces are still a bit rough and need work, but hey, that's why it's a Work In Progress. I still have to do the more leaf shaped beads yet. I also left some of the incomplete rectangular ones in the image so you can see how they progress, haha. I also plan to sculpt and cast her staff head (which appears to be a springbok horn), though more likely out of something like Super Sculpy rather then oil based clay.
Wish me luck. ^_~
