'Hard' part is over!

The mold making process really tires me out. I've been using WED-clay to make the walls for the mold and by the second time around I knew it was the wrong material to go with. I just had this giant block of it now so I'm using it. My little niece loves playing around with water and combined with this clay does miracles in creating a mess - which my niece also loves doing. At least she's getting a kick out of it :) Next time I'm gonna go with Klean? or Kleen Klay as recommended by Ron Cole (Isomer) in his badass mold making tutorial videos! It looks easy to handle and is re-usable so an investment is well worth it.

Over the course of making the initial wall as Kathi did in her video, my energy just gets zapped to hell and by the plaster stage I was really cutting corners which is a huge mistake. I just hope I didn't do too much to create a faulty mold - would be heartbreaking. Normally I have over an inch on all sides of the sculpt but this time parts of it came in just under an inch -.-! All the important details are still intact as far as I know. We'll see later today - I like to let it dry for at least half a day to put my mind at ease.

So I was reading up on the handbook at SMA.com getting some insight on urethane foam and puppetmaking in general and came across this message that I think Mike (Strider) posted:

"Working with foam latex requires a considerable set of skills that must be developed over time... such as sculpting and moldmaking. Before diving in head first and investing in the expensive equipment and materials, it would be wise to develop these skills and familiarize yourself with some of the various techniques and materials involved."

Hah, maybe I should have heeded that warning :) The reason I jumped into Foam Latex was because of Gerald's Last Day. When I saw how capable Foam Latex was I bit the bait and was reeled in. Of course most of it is the animator, I was just impressed how much movement there was and I wanted a piece of it. But I'm pretty lucky I've gotten anywhere with this process. I feel like I didn't have to spend the crazy amounts I had anticipated and I've learned so much throughout - I'm very thankful for all of the info at that site.

Sidenote: Got my whole camera set up bought and paid for. Webcam -> Angle Viewfinder -> Nikon D70 -> Laptop -> Nikon Capture -> Camera Control Pro -> Me. Feels very nice to have the whole set :) Only thing left is the lighting and the immense process of LEARNING lighting.