Getting a Foot in The Door

Diana's Feet

Wire Armature

The feet were made using the smaller square brass K&S which I cut to the planned lengths shown in my design. These pieces of K&S were then Epoxy glued to pieces of steel plate which had been cut and filled down. Once the Epoxy glue had dried I ran twisted wire (two part Aluminium one part Copper) connecting the sections of feet. The wire was then bent upwards with another piece of smaller square K&S Epoxy glued on, this allows the feet to be replaceable.

I then made up some Milliput and manipulated this around the area where the Brass and the Steel had been glued together, adding strength to the foot.

Sculpts

Next I Sculpted my feet, I went back to sculpting with Sculpey for the feet as oppose to the "Gedeo Modelling Paste" used on both sets of hands. I'm not knocking the Gedeo paste its great! Really useful for two part moulds, I just find Sculpey easier to sculpt with. I decided to go simple with the shoes adding a buckle and strap and also a heel for tiny details.

Laying Up

Part One

Because Diana's shoes have tiny heels the mould needed to be taken in two parts, exactly how I had done for the hands. I rolled out a piece of plasticine and cut silhouettes of the soles of the shoes and gently pressed the shoes into this cut out shape so that just the sole imbedded. I filled in any gaps with small pieces of plasticine using sculpting tools. The edges were then built to form a box making sure it was completely sealed, I then carefully pored in the plaster from one corner and left to set. 

Part Two

As with the hands to make the second half of my mould I placed pieces of plasticine around the feet to create a smaller surface area for when both sides will be pressed together, this would create a smaller split line. I applied a small amount of Petroleum Jelly to the areas of plaster that were exposed, so both sides of my mould would not bond to each other. I then repeated the final two steps used on part one of my mould.

Final Two Part Mould

Part one

Part Two

Above are photos of the final two sides of Diana's feet mould

Very Handy

Fortune Teller Hand's

Wire Armature

The Fortune Tellers hands were made from a small washer with thin pieces of Aluminium wire wrapped around to form fingers, two strands of the thin Aluminium wire were then twisted to form his wrist. The fingers were then cut back to my desired size and the wrists glued into small pieces of Brass K&S to make them replaceable. I then covered the palm in milliput leaving a hole in the middle to help my character hold an item if needs be. 

Sculpts

I then began sculpting my hands for this I used a new material I found called "Gedeo Modelling Paste" a material that when placed in the freezer becomes very hard, which was such a huge help in laying up my hands for two part moulds. I first created a basic shape of the hand out of the Gedeo and then went in with sculpting tools and the added finer details. 

Laying Up

Part One

I laid up the first part of my mould by placing my hands on top of a rolled out piece of plasticine i then traced round my hands into the plasticine and cut out simple silhouettes. My hands then went into the freezer for a couple of hours till hard, I then placed them onto the plasticine were I had cut out the silhouettes and pressed gently so the hands become imbedded till about half way up. The great thing about the Gedeo used to sculpt the hands here, is that none of the fine details I had worked into the sculpts were lost when I pressed them slightly into the plasticine. Finally using sculpting tools I filled in any gaps around the hands with small pieces of plasticine. The edges where then built to form a rectangle box making sure it was sealed all around, care was then taken poring the plaster in from one corner and the cast was left to set.

Part Two

Firstly, the hands didn't stay in the plasticine like my first attempt last year! (Click here for more information). To make the second half of my mould I placed pieces of plasticine around the hands to create a smaller surface area for when both sides will be pressed together, this would create a smaller split line. I applied a small amount of Petroleum Jelly to the areas of plaster showing so that the second half of my mould would not bond itself to the first. I then repeated the final two steps used in part one of my mould.

Final Two Part Mould

Part One

Part Two

Above are photos of the final two sides of my mould with any air bubbles found being filled with Milliput. I found a lot of air bubbles on the second half of the mould, this could have been down to the amount of petroleum jelly I used. 

Diana's Hands

Wire Armature

Diana's hands were made the same way as the Fortune Tellers a small washer with thin pieces of Aluminium wire wrapped around and twisted to form fingers, two strands of the thin Aluminium wire were then twisted to form his wrist and glued into small pieces of Brass K&S to make them replaceable. I then covered the palm in milliput leaving a hole in the middle to help my character hold an item if needs be. 

Sculpts

I sculpted Diana's hands using the same material used on the Fortune Tellers "Gedeo Modelling Paste" a material that when placed in the freezer becomes very hard. I first created a basic shape of the hand out of the Gedeo and then went in with sculpting tools and the added finer details. I apologise if the hands look rough in places I foolishly forgot to take photos of my hands before making my moulds. But lucky for me they survived being sandwiched in plaster, the photos above being taken from then.  

Laying up

Part one

I laid up the first part of my mould the same way I did the Fortune Tellers hands: by placing my hands on top of a rolled out piece of plasticine, cutting out simple silhouettes and then gently pressing my hands into the plasticine imbedding them till about half way up. I then used sculpting tools to fill in any gaps around the hands with small pieces of plasticine. The edges where then built to form a rectangle box making sure it was sealed all around, care was then taken poring the plaster in from one corner and the cast was left to set.

Part Two

As I did for the Fortune Tellers hands  I placed pieces of plasticine around the hands to create a smaller surface area for when both sides will be pressed together, this would create a smaller split line. I applied a small amount of Petroleum Jelly to the areas of plaster showing so that the second half of my mould would not bond itself to the first. I then repeated the final two steps used in part one of Diana's hand mould.

Final Two Part Mould

Part One

Part Two

Above are photos of the final two sides of my mould with any air bubbles found being filled with Milliput. I found that Diana's hands came out better than the Fortune Tellers, which could of been a case of trial and error as it had been some months since I'd taken a mould of a pair of hands.

Armature Building

Armature Building

To begin with I used my armature plans to guide me with cutting up the various pieces of K&S that were going to be used in my armatures. I used three different types of K&S in my builds: for the upper arms and legs a piece of round Brass K&S were used, this type of K&S would reduce friction on the wire when animating. For the lower arms, lower legs, chest, crotch and head the larger of the two square pieces of Brass K&S were used, this would allow me to create replacements for arms, hands, legs and feet for my models when using the third and final type of K&S to slot into the larger piece. All the pieces were filed down to remove any jagged edges and reduce friction.

The next stage in my armature building was assembling the various limbs and body parts with wire. I used two strands of aluminium wire and one strand of copper wire twisted together this was the covered in heat sink to reduce friction (shown above).

 I then glued the pieces together with Epoxy glue, and left to dry them to dry. It's clearer in these photos how all the different sections of the models assemble together, and how limbs can be replaced if breakage occurs. 

As you can see I removed the shoulder segments of Diana from my build, I did this as when I built her original arms the shoulders made her appear to bulky and broad in her stature. original arm is show above. 

Once the Epoxy glue had dried I was able to finally assemble my armatures, I then used a hammer and a nail to tap were sections connected allowing them to click in and out of place.   

Finally I mixed together some Milliput and manipulated this around the chests and crotch of my armatures, this helped strengthen these parts.