The Sandman - Epilogue

Well, I've worn the Sandman helm out and about a few times now, the most recent being Wasteland Weekend, a fantastic desert event out near California City in Nevada.

While out and about during the day, I got snapped a couple of times, and I absolutely adore these shots. They'll definitely be going into the final gallery once I get round to re-making the helm with the benefit of unlimited time on my hands. :)

Enjoy!

Photo 1: HyperSapiens.com
Photo 2: Jeff Vaillancourt

The Sandman - Complete! (Helm Pt.12)

After a morning of furious painting, starting with a white primer layer, followed bu successive layers of airbrushing, I rushed out the paint job on both the spine and the mask itself in a few hours, and it's not exactly what I would have liked, but it's damn good for the time frame.

Post mortem fixes are at the bottom, but let's get to it first!


We attended the masquerade ball in style, and got a lot of comments and pictures on the costumes and how recognisable we were as a theme.

Enjoy the pics, and the fruit of all that labour! I already have planned improvements for the second version, when I no longer have a deadline, and can spend a lot more time researching making it functional, but I wore it for a lot of the night, and it was amazing.

As you can see, my two friends were Delirium and Death. I actually crafted the Ankh to attach to the choker for Death, and she did a fantastic job on nailing not only the rest of the outfit, but also the attitude.

As for Delirium, I gave here the Nemo balloon idea, the fishnets and corset, and she went on with the crazy attitude that had people running away in case she touched them and sent them off to crazy town.

The whole night was amazing, and seeing the pictures afterwards I can only imagine how surreal it must have been for those around us. The last two shots here are fantastic, the first shows the side detail in all its glory, and how it fits with the whole outfit as we slink through the crowd, like The Endless would, practically unseen.


The final shot was right at the very end of the night, and we clearly had some wear and tear apparent, but held up well. All in all, a vast success!

Things that fell short:

1) My Sclera contact lenses didn't arrive on time, so I had to make do with normal black costume lenses, seems like a shame in the pics, but the flashes were illuminating the interior, in the normally dull environment, I'm sure it looked authentic.
2) I started out the project with the idea that I would make a robe, form fitting, with led strips in the interior of the hem, which would make it look like flames. I had to dump that, because I know nothing about tailoring (yet!) and it would probably have taken me away from the mask
3) The eye sockets needed more work, and that's mainly because I positioned it incorrectly in my rush, you can see my eyes sat low, which made it hard to go up and down stairs! Next time, the eyes will be closer to he brow.
4) Colouring was rushed, I'd love the opportunity to do it again at a slower pace.
5) The Dreamstone, in my attempt to make it look diffuse, came out a bit less like a gem, and not 'sharp' enough for my liking, I wanted more of a 'hard cut gem' look. It also came out just a touch too big.
6) I would like the spine to be a bit more flexible next time, while maintaining its shape, not flapping all over the place. It was rigid for the night, which also didn't help going down stairs.

and finally...

7) I need a photoshoot just for the helm!

Cya for the next iteration!

The Sandman's Helm (Pt.11)

1 more day! Let's get to it shall we?

The first thing that had to be done, was to retrieve the gas mask from its clay prison! I was going to be needing it, seeing as the whole thing was based around that being the attachment point to my face.

Oh, the poor sculpt, but that's fine, I have a perfect cast now!

Ermegherd, every time I look at it, it's awesome! So from the raw pull, it was time for some clean-up, I trimmed off all the flashing around the edges of the mask, cut off the lower hose section that wasn't needed, and then carefully trimmed out the eye holes and sanded it all down smooth so as not to have any ragged edges that will catch on anything.

After that, I had to figure out how to 'glue' the mask to the inner surface, and I actually tried a few different things, starting with super glue, and soon realising that wasn't going to work on the smooth inner surface. I then tried scratching up the inside for a bit of traction, and then following it up with a more sturdy epoxy.

Bad idea! Epoxy produces some pretty noxious fumes, and there was no chance I was going to be wearing that near my face all night, so I stripped that off and decided to use the very material the mask was made of.

I don't have pics of that process, I started sacrificing documentation at this point to get things done, so I'll just try to describe it. I basically masked the eyes and edges I didn't want affected, placed the gas-mask carefully in the mask-proper, and then slushed some more urethane resin around inside, this basically fused the masks together to become one useful whole.

It worked out amazingly, though I had the mask sitting too low, so more of the chin was visible than I intended, but the eye line was better than I expected!

Here's a little video of it moving around.

Next up was how to get in and out of the mask easily, and possibly when drunk. :P

It was molded to my head in such a fitted manner that I definitely wouldn't just be able to slip on and off, and I also have a pretty massive head as far as helmets go in general, so I decided that the back section could be flipped up like a 'flap' and you put your head in through the gap, and secure the back panel again.

Again, time was running out fast, and I was really worried that cutting the mask apart at this point would result in further failure, but I bolstered that attitude with the knowledge I could just pull another awesome version of the mask in about a 30 minute time frame.

Once that was done, I set about dealing with one of the most important parts, that has so far gone pretty much neglected. The spine!

I would have liked the whole thing to be flexible by the time I was done, but it was being really hard to work with, so long as it had the metal rods in it. I scrapped the rods in the end, replacing the central column with a wooden dowel, reducing the overall length of the spine by about half, and then drilling out a left and right hole on either side of the dowel.

I then took two screws of about two inch length and placed them in the holes for now.

Quickly after that, I dammed up the nose section of the mask, and filled it with resin, just enough to support the weight of the spine. The colour on the pics above are inks that I used to transfer the positions of the holes to the mask, and drill out more sections there.

I moved back to the rear head head plate, where my idea was to attach the back with powerful magnets. I positioned them appropriately, built some dams around them, and 'glued' them into place using more resin, again, I couldn't afford to have any toxic glue fumes as I'd be wearing this in the next day or two for a whole night!

It's a complete mess in there, like a bomb went off, but a little bit of cleaning should sort that out.

As I was drilling down bits, I accidentally hit some of the magnets, but look at beautiful magnet fragments being positioned by their fields.

Interesting failure point here that the magnets were close, but not close enough to the edge to hold the back plate in place while I was walking, but fine when standing. I realised that while the magnets I used were really strong, they couldn't defeat their own weight pulling the mask back down when I took a step, so it fell off onto the floor, cracking it (and some hasty repairs had to be made!).

I hastily removed the magnets from the top and replaced them with two loops of Velcro strapping to keep them in place, and make sure that if it fell, it would still be attached to the helm. It worked amazingly! With the reduction in weight, the too better positioned, lower magnets, held really well, and when I did jar a motion a little too hard, the back would only fall about an inch before the Velcro straps caught them. I'd then just reposition, which the magnets helped with, and I was back on form.

And this is the point I lose it, no more documentation, none on the painting process, just straight to the end now.

The Sandman's Helm (Pt.10)

Great success!

After a bit of prying, I took off the mother mold, and pulled the glove mold up and over the sculpt, which held up reasonably well and almost completely intact. I thought I was going to decimate it!

Look at that beauty, and not only that, when its inside out, it kinda looks like a Creature from the Black Lagoon mask, double-bonus! Look at me, so delighted to be a creature.

Next up, a double first time attempt for me, and that's 'slush casting' with a urethane plastic. This basically involves a two part liquid formula that hardens to a plastic consistency, you pour it into the mold, roll it around so that it covers every surface, and in about 10 minutes it sets to hard plastic. Amazing stuff!

I used Smooth-On's Smooth Cast 320, which comes out handily off-white.

But, before you think its all Daisy's and Snowflakes, I failed pretty hard. Once again, I didn't quite understand how the material worked, and in my excitement, I used too much, poured a big wad of it in there and started rolling it about like the dickens.

How the resin works is interesting. The larger the mass in a specific area, the faster the catalysing reaction will occur, so if you happen to have a big splodge or puddle of it anywhere, you can bet that's gonna kick faster than the thin coating everywhere else.

Well, that's what happened to me, I got the interior surface covered up to a point, and then as it was puddling in the bottom, it just immediately went solid. That stuff kicks fast! I was surprised and pretty bummed out, but I needed to pull it out anyway, check it out, it might have been a failure, but it gave me a preview of its potential!

I used a lot less resin this time, and did it three times, immediately building up on top of the last layer just as it had set. This resulted in a super hard, perfectly cast mask which I did a little victory dance to!

Here it is, in all its glory!

Here's a comparison shot, you can see how thin the first one was in places, it just started deteriorating as I handled it, the other is just awesome. So awesome, it was awesome before awesome even became a word.

At this point, I would have liked to spend some time with sandpaper knocking out some of the sculpt marks, and buffing some of the larger areas out to a smoother texture, but I didn't have time to spare, so it would have to wait till the next pull after the masquerade.

The Sandman's Helm (Pt.9)

4 days left!

It's pretty much all or nothing at this point, and boy, did I make some mistakes through these stages, I guess that's what happens when the pressure is on.

So I put this picture here, but it's actually a carefully crafted timeline lie! One thing I've found I'm desperately terrible at is remembering to apply a release agent to a master that I'm molding, and ending up with a ridiculous mess of struggling and cleaning up afterwards. For the observant, you can already see the pot of mixed silicone sitting there on the table, curing away all by itself, while I rushed to spray on a coat of rubber release.

I bought myself Platinum Silicone from Smooth-On's LA Subsidiary, Reynolds Advanced Materials. I chose Rebound 25 because not only was it brushable, but a good hardness level for glove molds which is what I was aiming for. Point of note, remember that sulphur will inhibit the cure of silicone, which is why I chose the sulphur free plastalina right back at the start. Goes to show you really need to think all the way to the end, preparation is key.

Below is the gallon of silicone (that I was hoping not to use in its entirety), and the first mix. I added a little bit of colourant to the silicone as brushing the orange silicone onto an orange sculpt probably wouldn't have been the best idea, so I chose a dark brown.

And so, disaster strikes! I shall recount the woe, so that you may one day avoid this horrible fate. Due to completely forgetting to apply release, I had already excitedly mixed together the silicone, and it was sitting there in the pot for a while before it even got used. Not only that but I mis-read the instructions that come with the silicone, and grossly mis-judged the working time I had with the silicone.

In short, I thought I would have an hour or more to work brushing the silicone around, but what actually happened was it started solidifying about 10-15 minutes after it was first mixed, which means I was left with only about 2/3 of the sculpt covered by the time it had hardened beyond usable viscosity. What to do?

Well, I grit my teeth and had to accept the loss, I quickly opened the buckets again, poured and remixed, and recoloured, and got to applying the silicone to the last side. Ok, ok, it looks a bit funky, but all in I think I got full coverage without too much pain.

Completely solidified bucket of fail below, pure waste! I guess I can just grind this into silicone bits and use it in future silicone molds I need bulk for. Waste not want not, I guess.

Now that I had a much darker layer, and now after having fully re-read the instructions and understood them, I went ahead with an uncoloured second layer. You can see the natural mix colour here, and the good thing about differentiating the layers his way is you can see where it runs off, and which areas might be too thin.

So basically, you just make sure there's full coverage, and shift it around to make sure there's a decent thickness all over.

After that, it was time to fill in those wicked bone-structure hollows and undercuts. I got myself some silicone thickener, which is a fascinating chemical that, with just a little, makes runny silicone thick to the point it can be troweled on, will hold in vertical surfaces, and will fill gaps nicely.

The thing to be careful about there is that you don't trap air bubbles in your hollows and undercuts, so I took this one in batches, mixed up silicone, added thickener and colouring, and then poked it into the hollows, trying to eliminate all air bubbles, then repeating the process.

The end goal is to make it into a generic 'blob', which will later make the mother mold easier to get on and off. I think I still need to work on that part a bit, or maybe I use a little too much thickener, but it usually comes out a bit rough.

Once done, added a fourth and final layer to give a final smooth surface.

As you can see in the last pic, I started damming up the edges so that I could create the mother mold. I had to decide how many pieces i was going to make it in, and I toyed with the idea of a two piece mold, but after careful inspection, I really didn't want waste a lot of material and end up with the mother mold locked in place. Looking at the contours, I decided to go for a 4 piece mother mold, back, two sides, and top.

I used Smooth-Ons 'Plasti-paste' which is a trowl-able material that hardens to a plastic solidity. Worked great on the back, so I started immediately damming up the side.

Now here's another epic fail, I was adding release agent this time, as the instructions said plasti-paste will really stick to anything, but this time I think I added too much. I brushed on Vaseline (like I used in scenarios using plaster bandages), but as I was working on the side, the whole thing just slewed off as it started to harden, and while I was still working on it. Imagine my face as the whole side just goes 'bloop!' and falls onto the table below.

Another interesting fact about Plasti-Paste is that its a 3-1 ratio fiber to liquid ratio, and even though I bought a gallon of it, doing the back and side along used most of it, not sure if it's cost effective then, over something like plaster bandages, I'll do some calculations later, or pull the trick that Volpin does, which is to use as little as possible.

Anyway, on the wings of that disaster, and with my deadline approaching fast, I decided to stick with what I know, and went ahead finishing the mother mold with triple-folded extra fast set bandages. Thankfully I've had a lot of experience with these from life casting so much recently, so this was a breeze.

And a final shot of the buckets and mayhem left afterwards...

Now to leave it all over night and make sure everything has cured properly. It's quite nerve wracking having to leave it, hopes pinned. It's make or break!

The Sandman's Ruby - Complete! (Dreamstone Pt.4)

Nope, looks like last night's extended experiment resulted in nothing more than the resin hardening in the rough pattern (I'm really not sure what I was expecting, I think I might have been too tired to consider this result)

I achieved nothing more than taking the sharpness away from the edges, and still having the rough pattern. At least it was a tad more shiny now, I'll take that at least.

Well, I don't have pictures of the rest, but it was a simple matter of adding some 'fake highlights' in white around the edges to make them SEEM sharper (and old trick I learned from my miniature modelling days), and assembling the 'glass' and 'mount' around a long gold chain.

In the next iteration, here's what I'll change, having more time:

1) Start with a wooden block, and start a bit smaller.
2) Sand down the edges carefully, get as few imperfections as possible, and if I lose an edge, start again with a new block.
3) Make sure there is an indent or dam to allow more resin to set around the edges, making it stronger.
4) Either add colouring to the resin before pour, are add it to the inside after it has set, this should help the outer layer seem clean and shiny, while the colour is in there deep.
5) Scratch up the INSIDE of the final resin cast, giving the diffuse factor, while maintaining the sharp outer edges.
6) Make my own L.E.D. layout and patterns, while those ones were great, the predictable pattern sometimes put them in sync, and it didn't really look random. Nonetheless, to someone not staring at it, it seemed more than random enough.

That's it, here's a pic from the night, where I was about half way toward getting dressed.

The Sandman's Helm (Pt.8)

So here I am, back at the helm, and sure enough, I wasn't too impressed with the middle section. Only one week left till finish, but I do like a challenge!

I fiddled around with it a bit, but I already knew the writing was on the wall, I just didn't like it's current incarnation. Here is where I ended up.

So I originally got the idea of copying the tail-bone of the medical spine I had, and then it occurred to me, instead of 'copying it', why don't I ACTUALLY copy it, making a mold and a cast, that way I could get two exactly identical bones sections for either side.

I spent a while preparing the spine that you can see here (below) by eliminating the undercuts that would cause the mold to be stuck to the original, but thanks to the wonderful flexible properties of silicone, I didn't need to go too far, and I could keep some deep depressions for further detail.

The mold, pretty dirty, but I was trying to save money and therefore silicone. Turned out great though!

I then pulled two copies using some clear urethane resin I had lying around. I also recently bought some aluminium powder for future metal-looking castings, hence why they turned out grey.

And now for the interesting part! I cut out the work I was unhappy with, right down to the head cast. I then placed the tailbone against the head with some clay underneath to support its weight and keep it in place, after that, it was a matter of taking the lines of the tail-bone and making them 'flow' into the other sculpted detail.

I think you'll agree this is vastly better!

Spent some time cleaning up the ridges, the Y shapes and making sure the tail bone blended seamlessly with the rest of the head. I also decided to remove the detail from the lower helm closest to the neck, I would probably need it o be stronger down there, so detail might not be a good idea.

Looks great!

I went straight to work on the other side, measuring and copying the whole time. This time, with the tail-bone being an exact copy, I just needed to place it carefully, and the rest was a piece of cake. I busted out the other side.

Cleaned up the remaining pieces of the left side, and done my last adjustments to make sure both sides are as symmetrical as possible (without actually being symmetrical, that would just be weird from an anatomy standpoint!)

And here we have it, finished, both sides, and front. All smoothed out and pretty. Sadly it was one HEAVY sonuvagun, carting it about must have given me the best workout I've had in a while!

As soon as I can, onto molding and casting this beast!

And for your viewing pleasure, a video so you get a better idea of how it looks in real life. (Is this real life!?)