Projects: In Progess or Ideas? What'choo Workin' On?

[richila]

haha... I made a polymer clay cake for my dolls. It is the ugliest little cake you've ever seen so I've decided one of the boys will have made it. I can see a bunch of college kids making a pretty rough looking cake. :-p

The only time I tried to make a polymer clay cake for my dolls-my husband had to ask me what it was.

[magkelly]

I just got some molding putty and some casting stuff. Soon as they arrive I'm going to try to make some shoe bases for Big Kitty and the Tonner sized dolls. I'm not brave enough to try molding a whole clear shoe, looks too complicated with two-piece molds and all but if I can mold the bases with heels clear at least I can make me some pretty designer evening shoes for my girls. When you make jewelry molds you just press the putty around the object or press it down into it. I don't see why I can't just press a doll shoe base into the clay and fill it up with the resin once the mold is cured. Every tutorial out there that I see has people making these elaborate 2 piece molds then closing them up and pouring them in and carving with a dremel and sanding and all. I mean come on. Does it really have to be that complicated? I mean if people can cast pendants and such far more easily I should be able to cast a simple shoe base so I am going to try it and see if I can't accomplish the deed with a minimum of fuss. I also have some colored metallic pigments so if I get it right the I may try to add some of that to it. We'll see. At worse I'll have wasted $20. At best I'll have some really terrific new shoes for my girls....

[Dirili]

You can do that magkelly, just so long as the material you use as a cast is compatible with the resin that you use.

The 2 part molds are supposed to be for complicated shapes with undercuts and all. The way that you mold something is solely dependent on the shape you're trying to achieve. Whatever works, works.

I've been having trouble trying to replicate the litttle eyes I've been making myself... The first casting I didn't anchor the eyes, so as the resin poured they spread too close to the edges of the containment field and the walls were too thin at those points. Plus the resin snuck under the eyes, so I had to cut out the backs to open it up which makes the mold messy.

2nd mold I tried creating separate compartments for each eye (I made a bunch of different sizes) but for some reason the silicone started to cure too fast so only the first few eye molds that I poured worked out right. After the first few, the silicone was too thick to get into all the cracks.

The instructions say to mix 3 whole minutes, but I suspect that was actually too long under today's weather conditions or something.

That's the suckiest thing about casting with silicone... so much depends on the temperature and the humidity. You kind of have to feel things out.

[E-Beth]

Got a bit more of the Great Bed Project done (I think it was a page or two ago I posted about it).
I have the supports for the slats glued to the side rails. Now I have to let them sit at least overnight before I can sand and putty the places where I didn't quite get lined up. (Not enough clamps for two side rails 25" long).
I marked and drilled some holes for pegging the headboard together. Somehow, the drill bit I chose for the dowel pegs turned out too small even though I did a test-fit, so I spent some time sanding down tiny dowels. Bleah. Maybe I should have re-drilled? Too late now!
I tried out some toothpick dowels for the decorative verticals in the headboard and they will work ok if I have a steady hand drilling the holes tomorrow.
It is 104 F here today so the heat drove me inside. I think I'll sit in front of the tv and watch another Thin Man movie and tuft some more mattress.
I did pick up some fancy 500 thread count pillowcases for making bed linens out of.

[E-Beth]

The mattress is done


It is a lot less puffy and more mattress like than before.


I figure I owe you all a pic of the frame (just a pile of random lumber)


And I'm really pleased with how my sheets came out. The pink thing sticking out is my pinky finger (for scale. Yeah. That's right. Totally meant to do that).


and a detail of the honeycomb stitch I used for decoration (and to hold down the turning).

[richila]

Nice sheets! It is the little details that make them look so real.


One More for Rainbow by richila9098, on Flickr
Only one more dress to finish the Rainbow project. I want to get it finished before I start drafting the Merida dress.

[E-Beth]

Nice sheets! It is the little details that make them look so real.

Thanks! I was very pleased to find fancy pillowcases with plausibly scaled stripes.

I love your rainbow set! I tried to learn to crochet once and my flat square thing ended up decidedly 3 dimensional and not at ALL square!

[OkamiKodomo]

I tried to crochet once. I somehow managed to tie the yarn TO the hook. Had to cut the yarn to unravel it.

[DollyKim]

Try a bigger hook, it's easier to see your stitches etc that way.

[OkamiKodomo]

Haha I think I'll just leave it to the pro's. Honestly, I'm a bit vampiric in that I somewhat obsessively untie/untangle knots.