MORE CRITTERS! (Last of the EGG CRITTERS!)

(--> They ain't glossed yet - will look way better tomorrow :))


FINAL BATCH OF CRITTERS (WITH EGGS)
SUNDAY NIGHT 9 PM (LONDON TIME)
1 PM (PACIFIC) at http://bigmantoys.bigcartel.com/

OKAY! Molds going bad on me and a really busy week with the clerical side of making toys, and a full week of horrible real world "work" work has meant that the rubber side of production (a-la man-e-toys) has been way more prolific than the resin side (that's my job!). My apologies for that. I've got two molds so I can now work double speed and will have the LAST of the EGG Critters on Bigcartel Sunday night (9 PM London Time , 1PM Pacific).
That way our American friends won't have to try and sneak on Bigcartel while at work  :)

As always, mainly to stop myself getting bored, I've varied the styles as much as possible. I've got all kinds of totally cosmic holographic glitters and neon pigments to use on these ones. I'll get pics up as far in advance as humanly possible to give everyone time to get ready and get what they want before it's sold out!

Another cheap arse mold making article.

 Hi! You might remember (or may someday read) my previous articles on experimental methods of recylcling silicone rubber (and sometimes even resin). I try to recycle as much as I can. All the little things you do to save pennies in the meantime really add up, and no one could pretend that silicone mold making and pressure casting are cheap enough interests to simply flirt with.

Anyway, the other day I fluffed (ruined) my Critter mold. No probs, I got 30 pulls out of that, i'll make another. Damn, I forgot to mix one of the resins, that's ruined after three pulls. I'll make another after work before I work out. Ah, I rushed it and forgot to put mold release in because I was in a rush and fuzed the two parts together. I surely did throw stuff around the room and grind my teeth.

I found a way to recycle most of the old molds and use about 100grams in total on each new version!
The bit of the mold that matters is where the model touches. The rest also needs to be bubble free in case a thin layer on the inside of the mold has a bubble on the other side (totally invisible) which the resin will be sucked into - imagine a human penis going into a femidom -  it's the reason some of my early molds which I put in a pressure pot yield figures phallic growths coming out of their backs and faces.

 But if I need to re-make the mold and it's only the middle that's no good, that's a lot of housing that might go to waste if I just re-do the whole thing.

So I cut it out with scissors (see picture) and put it in the mold box to see where the chopped out shape touches the model. Then I cut again to make sure there are no points of contact. We want fresh wet silicone covering all of the model.

I pour in the fresh silicone first, bang the bottom, and blow all the bubbles off the surface. I then jam in the old silicone, making sure it's touching the box walls on all sides, and push down until it's gone as far as it can.

I've already made a 100% successful Critter mold this way and am working on a second to meet demand for all the orders we're getting quicker.

:)

Critters progress... wrestling figures, and something completely new.

There can be no denial that although I can cast a good figure, in terms of workload, there are few who can churn them out like Man-e-toys. I've tried to go at his pace and it f'd me up!

I'm working on orders from people that have asked for customs to ship out with what we sold on friday. Made a new mold and it ate it on day one (I was doing a marble fig and was too busy watching Jackass on my PC to remember to mix one of the colours - bye bye mold 2!) so i'm delayed by at least a day but won't leave anyone hanging.

A spark of inspiration hit me this week. I have a lot of wrestling figures that I don't really like. I used to collect very seriously when I thought that they were all likely to be unique, until I started noticing that they were making figures all with the same ridiculously over muscled body. It's ok for He-man but when I paid 15 quid for an import Tajiri figure who had HHH's body and Jeff HArdy's trousers, I realised that the dream was dead. I still keep my ECW SF Toymakers originals and all my Japanese figures. Charapro were the company that produced EVERYTHING for Japanese promotions from NJPW to FMW. They've gone out of business which is a criminal shame.I managed to pick most of the stuff they made up for very cheap during the decline of pro-wrestling in Japan. Everyone got into MMA and started jacking off in the mirror (no offense to my MMA friends).

AAAnyway, I originally had a concept for an art toy which would use the many wrestling figs I have as a base with some original casted element. Then I thought of all the cool bootlegs I have that aren't really worth anything but could certainly lend themselves to that LSD inspired Taiwanese bootleg look. Those strange toys that came out in the eighties and look like they were cast by a blind person.

While I'm not casting or sculpting Treegarr... L'Wrestleur Intergalactique! Coming real soon!

Treegarr... of Etheria...

SOON!

More Critters to come!

 I really hope I don't die... Nah, this is good fun and although I've got to re-do my mold, I can catch up on the ideas that I didn't have time for, next batch we do :)


http://man-e-toys.com/2012/08/25/man-e-update-the-critters-inspired-mini-figures-sold-out-but-not-for-long/


Also... on the MOTU side of things, he is coming...

CRITTERS (Inspired Minifigure) SOLD OUT!

If you're not in a reading mood: 

 These are SOLD OUT - Thanks and congratulations to everyone that got one. Unreal how quick they flew out of the shop!

WE'RE MAKING MORE! (stay tuned)

You can get my resin ones at bigmantoys.bigcartel.com 

and Man-e-toys rubber ones at manetoys.bigcartel.com

 Hmmmhmm! That's right! That series of 80s horror movies about the little aliens that roll around biting, combining, and shooting people up with spikes have their own keshi.

You may be aware of the amazing Zectron's initial annihilating assault on the keshi/art-toy scene already form his first run of awesome (I own one) rubber figs produced by EricNilla. Zectron got in touch with Bigmantoys+Man-e-toys, and asked if we might like to do our own take to add to this amazing project. Totally!
 

 I myself have been working on all resin. to say this is a fun (if somewhat fiddly) sculpt to work with would be an understatement. Not to mention not being able to get over how awesome Zectron's sculpting is! This is something that everyone who wants one should own!! It's just too good to be limited to keshi collectors, art toy collectors, horror fans, or whatever. There isn't a level on which this figure fails to rock!

Within a week (?) of agreeing to cast these, Zectron somehow managed to land a giant box of plastic eggs, with crack-effect, just like in the movie, on my doorstep form somewhere in England. 70 plastic eggs?! How do you find something like that?! He may be an insane genius but Zectron means business!! I sprayed them up movie style with neon green, neon red, silver, and lots of glitter spray. I'm really happy wih how awesome they came out.

 I've got a few distinct types - available.
GITD - I don't know if i've used too much powder but they glow like crazy. If I put them next to a lamp, and cap them in my hand, even in a lit room, they glow like a nuclear rod.
Glitter - I love glitter and would live in a house made of translucent glittery plastic if I could.
Graf-eaty. The funky rad 80s stylings of these figures REALLY suit some graffing-up. I plan to do a few more of these.
Standard - Opaque colours.
Fruit gums - translucent citrus colours.  They look like candy.
Experimental/ Gradient - because it's more fun than making opaque :)

Diazombie's up! Help some cats and own a meistervwerk!

I'm sitting next to two failed attempts at giving him swish packaging. The printer's bust too! So he's going on as is!

Click HERE to go to the auction. It's for a very good cause :)

Final Acrozombie going on E-bay for charity auction.

 It's been a wile since I said I'd be selling the final Acrozombie, the one of a kind and very special "Diazombie". The head sculpt is one of a kind. I got one pull out of the mold before it died on me - there will never be another, and I like it a lot.

 It might be the best figure I've ever made. It's fully posable with all joints fitting snug and correctly, and is made of a very solid urethane. It's handmade so it's not perfect, but it is not only the last Acrozombie available, but completely one of a kind and will include three custom cast solid Blockmen, to allow for multiple variations. I haven't yet made a Blockman mold that gives me flawless results, but these are snug on every peg and hole and can totally be used for Takara building goodness.

I really didn't want to sell it but did consider making it a charity auction before, and today I saw that our favourite charity: Lost Cats Brighton is in real trouble. They run it out of their own pockets and what donations they get, and it's also where our cat Fudge came from. We owe them and it's time to do what we can. I read that Ron who runs the charity has suffered two heart attacks this year busting his hump to help the cats they look after.

Thanks to them we can wake up with heavy cat on our face every morning. So Diazombie will be going on e-bay this weekend. I'm working on packaging for him now, but if I can't get something that looks good enough done in time, I'll sell him as is. It needs to be done quickly.

If you happen to feel like helping out additionally, you can Paypal them donations via their website linked above. As a one off figure, all it could accomplish is being something awesome in someone's collection and putting a few quid in my pocket. This way it can be an awesome collector's item, and help our friends at Lost Cats.

Thanks!

Kind of fun!

So i've got nothing I can post about but lots I'd like to right now. I've got one project that I'm working on by myself and two collabs - one that will be a good while yet, and one that should blow up by next monday.

Sculpting away on the MOTU guy and have come up with some pretty fine artwork for him already too. HE should be ready within a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, here's a teaser shot of something that's a long way from being ready.

I'll be moldmaking this weekend and will FINALLY (It's been MONTHS!) be able to get cracking on the BLOCKMAN project!!! I've had all kinds of possible problems with my molds. It's been shit to put it unmildly. I wasn't sure which muse I'd choose but when I picked up this OP head at a car boot with a 5mm peg on the bottom, the choice was made for me... IT will be a Blockman OP - soonish.

No posts = lots of making.

I've got nothing I can really show at the moment. Rather than rush and come out with some old crap, I'm really taking my time with the projects I'm working on. All I can say is the MOTU fig, I'm telling you now without being bigheaded, is going to be awesome. I'm going to make sure of it. And the keshi projects I'm working on are some serious business.
I'm proud of my Microkeshi and that project is due an exciting final burst of life before I stop making them, but the collab I'm working on is seriously fucking awesome. I've treated myself like a bitch and worked like a dog to make sure my new stuff looks like it belongs alongside factory produced keshi. I haven't let myself of the hook or shortcutted a single fraction of a  millimetre of sculpting.

A great article on getting started with moldmaking.

Even if I wasn't mental for Micronauts, I'd still consider Gold Dober's blog to be one of the best places to learn how to make molds and casts. I've trawled through years of his posts and sent him an abnormal number of e-mails getting advice on how to make posable action figures. I have some of his stuff and it looks and feels like it's form a shop. There is no element of it that makes it feel homemade, short of lacking a trademark on it. If you're interested in getting into this, his blog, especially his earlier stuff about what kit to get and why, is really useful.

http://micronautshomeworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/making-mold.html

Something MOTU this way comes...

From making Battlegaze, I learned how to make posable figures in the MOTU scale. I had fun with the gag, but now it's time to get serious.

 I've spent a LOT of time concepting this figure and I will not be taking any shortcuts with sculpting and production. I'm actually making something I wanted as a kid and never thought I'd have the means to make. It's actually based on real fears I had and a toy which genuinely scared me. I didn't even let it stay in my room at night...

Fright Zone - that's really the only clue. I will be double checking with aficionados on MOTU all the way, on the final look until it's done. Then it will be ready. I've been convinced this figure is worth making, and I totally believe it to be so.

Here's the scoop at Nerdcity - with pics! 


...and now here at Man-E-Toys, too! :)

Something old, something new, something very reasonably priced.

Homophobos-Z, bug edition is now on Bigcartel for sale for only 38 GBP. (Why so cheap? I need money for materials NOW!)

BUY HOMOPHOBOS-Z HERE.

An entirely new 100% original figure coming soon in 5.5" scale, too! :)