I found an interesting blog post about electro forming, and I was thinking that it would be really easy to make paint masks using this process (well maybe not easy, but definitely doable). I'm curious, as to why we do have machinists in America using this process? Is anyone here familiar with this, and if so do you know if the plating will pull off, or is it permanently attached to that object. From what I gathered, the only place it will form is where you brush on the conductive paint, but I was unsure if the vinyl would have to be burned to get the copper off...

Anyone with experience please weigh in on this. I'm seriously considering attending one of, Shari Haab's, Classes if she ever comes around.

http://cassymuronaka.wordpress.com/2010 ... e3-etch-2/

its pretty much powder coating except that you paint that conductive paint on the object instead of the object being conductive itself. Not sure how this could be used for making masks and it seems pretty permanent...

Theres a guy who has a shop by my work that can chrome any object, maybe its the same sort of deal.

I was thinking if you were making your own toys, and subsequently had enough of them to let one or 2 of them that could go by the wayside, you could put the coating on different areas you wanted masked. After it was coated, in your metal substance you could melt down the vinyl and the metal would remain. Just off the top of my head that's one way it could possibly work(?) Also maybe there's some sort of substance that could go in-between the vinyl and metal, so It wouldn't attach straight on the vinyl.

Electro-forming isn't that difficult. It was big for a while in the glass scene and some artists use it in everything that they make. Who is going to start electro-forming toys? They already do so with toy parts, forming them to glass pieces. The only negative is afterwards its a smelly piece of copper covered something. However it is pretty cool art and seeing many of these toys electro-formed would be amazing. Even toys that are made up of multiple colored vinyl layers and then cut/carved into to reveal what is on the inside. I love how Rich painted some of the Ollies on the inside. It made them look like they were made of glass plus if the ollie were to bump into something no paint would be damaged, super cool!

if you want cheap paint masks look towards vacu formed plastic, I know a few people have talked about it and I would be surprised if there wasn't a facility capable of it near every major city, ever see a chocolate mold?they would turn out something like that and you could then use a scalpel to cut away the area you want hit with paint

do most sofubi factories paint almost immediately after pulling the figures? i ask this because i been messing with a dozen rose vampires... and some are different sizes... now im sure they can shrink after sitting. my main thought on this though was if the head shrinks and then they paint, the mask technically shouldnt line up.

electro plating is how they make the masks in japan.

i assume that they pull extra figures to make the masks, since they aren't made until after the molds and figures are done.

I figured thats how they made masks, isn't mold making a very similar process ?

I saw a post last week on Kozik's instagram where he was pressing sheets of Magic Putty onto his figures and cutting out areas to make a DIY paint mask.

Would something like Super Sculpey/Fimo work for this method of making paint masks? You would want to bake it so that they are reusable.. Anybody had big problems with the polymer clay shrinking heaps after baking?

Wow, never thought to try and make a mask out of clay, I think I might just have to try that since it would solve my issue of painting identical pupils on my Stolas project... That's been boggling my mind for months.

I've had issues with Sculpey III shrinking, but I've found that Super Sculpey doesn't seem to shrink/change as much. The only problem I've found with Super Sculpey is that while baking it and as it's cooling, it's still somewhat pliable. I've had issues where I put something in the oven only to have it fall over and bend, or I take it out of the oven and gouge it with a fingernail. I think something that air-dries would be a lot better for mask-making.

^^ super sculpy shrinks pretty much as well. Youd probably wanna use some airdry clay.
Interloper, until the clay is fully cool its gonna be somewhat soft. But you should also bake for longer than recommended but not higher temp. I will bake something for about twice the recommended on the package at 285 then turn the oven down as low as it can and keep it in the same amount of time as before at that temp, then turn the oven off and let it cool till later in the oven. This style gets the clay super hard and strong.

You want to paint ASAP if you are using masks, the toy starts to shrink right away so after a few weeks it's going to a noticeable problem using a mask. Some vinyl also shrinks more than others too, different colors and the raw material producers throw more variables in also.

Interesting, I did not realize the post production shrinkage was an issue. I haven't done any mask painting myself, but always thought heavy aluminum foil might work

Super sculpey firm holds up better but I always think it's smarter to boil any sculpey then it is to just bake it. You get a much more consistent temp and it doesn't dry out or shrink nearly as much. Plus it comes out harder in my opinion with less risk of flaking. And nothing can fall over either. I tend to cook and cook and cook again as i add more details so it's nice to not have to bake a piece a dozen times when I keep adding layers.

Boiling, huh? That's an interesting way to cook Sculpey! Do you just drop it into boiling water? I'd be kind of worried about what I'm cooking hitting the sides of the pot I'm boiling water in, or does it kind of flash-harden it?

It depends on what type of sculpey but yeah it hardens pretty instantly. If you google it you'll see tons of great info. A lot of professionals swear by boiling because it's not only safer and faster and easier to control but it creates a longer lasting end product as well. I learned a lot a few years ago when I had some trouble with my clay and I started using the boiling method and it solved so many problems. Before boiling I had issues with clay surviving the molding casting process because sometimes instead of one mold I needed 5 or more and the silicone started pulling pieces of clay off eventually.

That's exactly what's been happening to me, I've had a sculpt break during molding twice for pretty much no reason at all. I opened my two-part up and it was broken already. Definitely going to try researching the boiling method, thanks so much for the info.