My First RTV Silicone Mold

Since I want to eventually offer resin dolls through Tamara Henson Studios, I need to learn how to mold and cast Master doll samples. Enter RTV Silicone Moldmaking and Casting Resin. I had ordered some doll ball joints from Batchix's Shapeways account and got her permission to use 'em however. I decided to practice my moldmaking with the parts.  

I read up on the process, ordered supplies and made my first mold. Turns out, practice moldmaking was the best route for me. The rest of the Internet can explain the science and specifics of the process. I'm no expert, but I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have. I also welcome constructive criticism. Hope this helps anyone who's looking for basic 2-Part silicone mold-making procedures:

SUPPLIES:

RTV Moldmaking Silicone (I bought mine here.)

Casting Resin, of some type... (Mine is polymer. Sold by the same guy as above, here.)

Disposable plastic cups

Disposable plastic spoons or wooden spatulas... or new chopsticks!

Oil-based, non-drying modeling clay

A small cardboard box that allows at least 1/2" on all sides, top and bottom of your part

Petroleum Jelly

Paintbrush

A scale that accurately measures grams (kitchen scale, $20, Wal-Mart!)

A ruler

A simple part or non-porous object to replicate

A wooden bead to make register marks

Hot glue gun

Plastic (To protect surfaces)

Papertowels

A soft, small scrub brush

Elbow grease ;)

1. Add 1/2" clay to taped-closed bottom of box, pressing to make no cracks remain. Press parts into clay so that no silicone can seep under them. I also sealed the slit in the side to keep out the silicone. Dig a shallow registry trench around the perimeter using a chopstick (or an actual sculpting tool, if you're feeling ambitious). Press and twist wooden bead in spaces between parts, no more than halfway up the side of the bead. Using the paintbrush and your hand, smear petroleum jelly on exposed sides of box and anything that silicone will stick to. You can see the register running around the perimeter between the part and the cardboard wall, as well as a couple other registry depressions between the parts:

Swirly modeling clay. Note the chopstick on the right.

2. Mix silicone and catalyst by volume according to package directions. (Use your scale!) A chopstick is not the optimal stirring device for this task, since the silicone is REALLY thick, worse than cake batter, and the catalyst is basically colorful water. Also, stir slowly, being careful not to pull in air and make undesirable bubbles. This is true especially for the silicone touching the object you're molding. 

The catalyst is purple, the base off-white. And, no kidding, it smells like grapes!

3. Pour the silicone. I poured the first layer, making sure all the parts had a layer of silicone. But then again, I'm silly and mixed by the plastic cupful, so I did this several times. You want to cover up the object, giving no more or less than a half inch over the highest point of the object. (Use your ruler!) My last couple batches have bubbles. I don't consider that a problem, because those bubbles aren't affecting the casting surfaces. A tip from someone online: Pour in a thin, steady stream in the corner of the box. The silicone will spread out on its own. (Too late, buddy. Next time, though!)

Lubed up box, and such a pretty color! Also, oops-bubbles!

4. Let it cure, probably overnight. Then cut a piece of cardboard and hot-glue tack it over your smooth silicone to support it when you flip the box. Assuming you didn't fill the whole box. Your stirring arm must be tired, and your wasted silicone was expensive! (No more than 1/2"... No wasting!)

Strategically placed hot-glue blobs

5. Get ready for side 2. Flip the box and cut the tape. Scoop out the modeling clay and clean the silicone with a paper towel. Do not remove the parts yet! You can see that some modeling clay is still crammed down in the holes. Trusty chopstick dug that out for me! You can clearly see the bumps I created with the bead and the ridge running around the outside to help the two pieces match up. 

Getting ready for the Core Mold step!

6. Apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly to EVERY EXPOSED SILICONE SURFACE and the cardboard box! Aw, heck. Apply the stuff to every surface, like I did. A brush will leave ridges that the silicone may pick up, though, so be careful not to leave streaks on your object. (I lubed the parts as well, because I felt some rough edges I hadn't sanded, AND because all the doll joints I cast from these will be sanded anyway...) Then, mix more silicone and pour it in. The "pour it in the corner and let it seep into crevices" advice would've worked better here. But I was stuck poking at big bubbles with my chopstick. Let it cure overnight again. 

7. Rip off the box and gently separate the two parts of the mold, using an X-Acto knife, if needed. You should be able to gently pry apart the halves with your fingers. Remove the original part(s) at this time, using a combination of your fingers and some minor X-Acto work. (My mold had a couple places where the silicone covered the edge of the original part. I just carefully cut that thin stuff off. This is the mold before I washed it. You can see the shiny, overly liberal application of petroleum jelly AND the remnants of some modeling clay I neglected to remove before. (Since this mold is for casting doll joints, not finished products, this doesn't bother me.)

Left: Core Mold (looks like Spaceballs city), Right: Base Mold

8. Gently scrub the mold with warm water and dish soap, removing any gunk and as much jelly as possible. Let the mold dry thoroughly. At this time, I cut some vents in the core mold so that air could escape. I just slipped my X-Acto knife up through the thin ridge you see around the base of the dome shapes (where the resin will rise), a couple slits for each piece. Not really necessary for this mold, but I wanted to practice. Place on plastic for the horrid mess you'll make in a few minutes...

9. Mix resin base and catalyst together, following manufacturer's instructions. Most resins are exothermic, meaning they give off heat as they cure, and they have a very fast working and cure time. Even so, stir thoroughly and slowly so you don't get bubbles. Pour into mold wells, and set core mold on top, making sure it fits into register ridge. The excess resin will either spill over the sides or rise up through the vents. Yeah, I made a big mess... (No pic. I was rushing to not waste the stuff!) Since this is not a complicated mold, I didn't need to do any fancy resin injection or holding it together with rubber bands or bungees. That type of mold will come along soon enough...

10. De-mold. See the fruits of your labor, and the extent of the mess you made. I for instance overfilled to the point of having a thin cover of resin across the whole mold and drizzled all across my makeshift Wal-Mart bag table cover, which had a perfect resin mold-shaped rectangle. Since the mold is flexible, you can bend it and twist it to remove your pieces. My parts needed a lot of trimming, but it didn't take a lot of time. There was a thin film of resin in the slit up the side of the dome and all around the base of each part. Also, some parts were actually UNDER-filled. Don't know how that happened, considering...

The Mess! All that not-purple is resin, covering the whole surface of the mold!

11. Finished parts! Not bad for a first-time mold. You can see that some parts are a little rough around the edges, but the next casting should be better. 

Finished parts: On my kitchen scale, in the disposable plastic lid I used to contain spills! :)

Moldmaking tutorial, complete! :) I take questions and constructive criticism seriously. Lemme know what you think, and how I can improve.

Cuddles,

Tamara

Volume 2 Cover Progress

I think I've mentioned that my favorite part of self-publishing is total creative control. The Pathos of Rowan Jun was a real challenge. I had to draft, revise, edit, proofread, format, illustrate, make the cover, write blurbs, and everything else for the book, plus make adjustments for a total of three versions (Paperback, Kindle, Smashwords). And that's not even mentioning the marketing process, which I'm still fine-tuning.

I posted progression artwork for The Pathos of Rowan Jun here, so I figured it would be a good idea to do the same for Silver Empress. It's interesting to see how the concept grew from scribble to final concept. (I'll work this final concept into the finished cover. It's nowhere near ready yet!)

The Scribble:

Art informing writing content... Cluttered composition. Changed my mind at this time about releasing a short story collection. Instead, the two background characters will get their own short story book, and Silver and Briescha (foreground) headline volume 2. Smoother design possibilities, smoother story flow.

From the time when Silver Empress was going to be a short story collection.  Not anymore!

The Re-Scribble:

The decision to narrow the focus of the book to this MAJOR plot swivel made my cover characters obvious. Fiddled in Manga Studio with existing sketches and my trusty tablet to produce a new composition. Focused on the faces and worked out some loose angles and things. Very rough design...

Silver, left. Briescha, right. Foreground: Scribble hand  and sword! :)

The Final Drawing and Base Colors:

I realize that I forgot to save a JPEG of just the basic finished black and white drawing. Oh, well. Here's the finished drawing with some base colors, a texture on Briescha's skin, and no background. Silver is all base-gray and solid black at this point. She'll have mirrored skin, God-willing, when I get finished with her. (Still not happy with her mouth shape...) I've overlaid another texture on Briescha's skin to soften the shadows, but there's sooo much left to do...

Final V2 line art with base colors, some shading

As always, the images contained in this blog post are copyright Tamara Henson, Tamara Henson Studios and may not be used without my express written consent.  I welcome any feedback and constructive criticism you can provide on this design, either via comments below or direct messaging on FB or dA. 

Cuddles,

Tamara

Now doing art for my next novel...

Thanks to loads of input from two friends and my mother, I've finalized the release order and composition for my next two books. I originally decided on releasing some short stories while I edit Volume 2. Now, I've decided it's in the best interest of the story to release Volume 2 instead. The book will be titled Silver Empress  and follow the story arc of the Azelan named Briescha and her twin sister... Silver. :D (When a bereft child character insists on naming a newborn, someone should step in. Just sayin'...)

Which brings me to my next digital art challenge:

Julie Bell is the master of making very organic people and things look like shiny silver. With oil paint! And here I am, aspiring to do the same with highly advanced imaging software. I could expound on the fact that Julie and Boris have been making fantasy and sci-fi art since before I was born with amazing success, and that I'm just starting out by comparison. But that would be an excuse, and I don't like those. Regardless, I'm still feeling incredibly inferior. Will have to break out the Julie and Boris book for color reference. But this kind of challenge gets the blood pumping! Also... What kind of idiot creates a character with mirrored skin and then places that title character on the cover??? This kind of idiot. :)

Cuddles,
Tamara

On Sale for a Limited Time! Just .99!

I wanted to celebrate my cover contest win, pending Springtime and life in general. (And to make some monies, of course!) I'm also very excited about my next book. I have a draft and some cover scribbles. Long way to go...

For a limited time, The Pathos of Rowan Jun eBook is on sale for just 99 cents on Kindle and at Smashwords! (Amazon's a little slow to update the price due to processing. It should be .99 by morning, at the latest! Let me know if it isn't...)

For links, go here: http://www.tamarahensonstudios.com/index.php?page=novels

Cuddles,

Tamara

News, and SMASHWORDS!

Things happen... 

1. My paperback order arrived with unforeseen print errors that had nothing to do with my uploaded files. The print company is correcting the issue and reprinting my order now. That means a delay for anyone who pre-ordered the book. I will supplement your pretend-despair with digital hugs. *hugs* They're working as quickly as they can to remedy the situation. Two more weeks, maybe...

2. I won an award for my cover design! This warrants re-mentioning to improve my mood after hauling a big box full of patented Rowan Jun doorstops and table-levelers into my house. (Can't in good conscience sell a defective copy...) 

3. After some tedious re-formatting and uploading, I've made The Pathos of Rowan Jun available on Smashwords! There should be tons of new formats to select beyond just Kindle. The book won't have full distribution to online retailers until it goes through review, but you can view and buy it directly here:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/141710 

(Formats include EPUB, PDF, and tons more...)

Cuddles and even more hugs!

Tamara

I WON AN AWARD!

I won the eBook cover design contest for fiction! How very exciting! The Pathos of Rowan Jun was one of 67 eBook covers submitted to the Fiction category for February, 2012. 


Here's what Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer, posted about my submission:

"Tamara Henson Coffey submitted The Pathos of Rowan Jun designed by Tamara Henson Coffey. “I wanted to express a graphic novel feel for a very action/adventure type of story, so I made a close-up of a fully inked comics-style character and hand lettered the title and author name.”

JF: An astonishingly strong and harmonious blend of art and lettering. The energy in this cover is palpable, it almost leaps off the screen. Getting this kind of internal consistency and focus, here for a “warrior sci-fi” story, is unusual. Great stuff."

See the original post, as well as the stiff competition, here: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/03/e-book-cover-design-awards-february-2012/

This just raised the art-bar for me! :D Bring on the next book!

Cuddles and "Squeees", 

Tamara

Self-Publishing Links and Advice, Vol. 2

I just posted this advice on reddit for the following question: Does self-publishing hurt your mainstream publishing chances? Thought I'd share it here, as it may be helpful...

Both The Passive Voice blog (http://www.thepassivevoice.com/) and Joe Konrath (http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/) are strong advocates for why we should NOT go the traditional publishing route.

This guy's a treasure, too: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/ He gives practical advice for do-it-yourself designing, and also resources for paying others for services.

All three make valid points supporting self-publishing as a means in itself, not just a springboard to traditional publishing. From my experience, I enjoyed more creative control by self publishing. Since specialty "niche" nonfiction can rack up quite a respectable following, you may stand a good chance with self-pubbing.

I encourage you to read up on the above sites and make the decision yourself. If you expect to be a multi-millionaire by month's end, you will set yourself up for failure. If you treat it like a business, expecting overhead and a steady break-even point, AND if your book finds a market, you'll not be disappointed with the results.

Good luck!

Kindle and Paperback Now on Amazon!

Both Kindle and Paperback versions of The Pathos of Rowan Jun are now linked on Amazon. Just click on  your preferred version in the "Formats" box. See it here: 

http://www.amazon.com/Pathos-Rowan-Jun-ebook/dp/B0078L898E/

More formats on the way, too! I'll be working with Smashwords to post several other formats to allow for the widest possible download options. I'll give you links when those are up for grabs. 

NEXT BOOK: Yep... I've already started edits/rewrites/revisions on the next book. It'll be my first anthology of side-stories to the main arc. These particular three novellas will contain character prequels to Volume 2. There will be art! Even better: I'll celebrate it's release (for a limited time) with a VERY low introductory price! Yep. 99 cents! 

(Huh. Anyone else out there remember the "cents" symbol key? I think @ replaced it? I miss it... and suddenly feel kinda old! LOL)

Cuddles,

Tamara, who fondly remembers the "cents" key

PAPERBACK NOW AVAILABLE!

The paperback has been approved for ordering! The first place the book has been made available is my Createspace page, here:  https://www.createspace.com/3775570

It'll show up on Amazon (hopefully linked to the Kindle book) in about a week. And then it's on to Expanded Distribution, where I'll have to hound the bookstores to pick it up. In a little over two or three weeks, my order will arrive for local sales and website sales. If you're on my local preorder list, you'll get it when that order comes in!

More product pics on the way...

AN ASIDE ABOUT ADVERTISING AND PLATFORM:

My book is finished, as prettily formatted and printed and designed as my skill and brain allow. This is all very exciting. I self-published a book. I'm told that's pretty impressive. I published without querying an agent or submitting to a small press, and I had TOTAL CREATIVE CONTROL, which is exhilarating!

And yet I have a touch of melancholy. I don't do melancholy, so it's confusing. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I feel like I've overstayed my welcome on my social network sites, like I've aggravated some people and just alienated the rest. But I really know almost everyone on my Facebook, and they're not all avid readers. And I have many followers who are also writers on Twitter, who I don't expect to buy my book, really. They are the community with which I want to learn and grow, not potential readers. I just haven't expanded my readership to my target audience yet. Working on that, next...

Truth be told, I'm not a super-awesome marketing expert. :) I know platform-building comes first, and I'm trying very hard to do that. I know advertising is key. (People can't buy what they don't know about!) I even bought an experimental ad here: http://www.kindlefantasyauthors.com/. Top of the page. Maybe the shiniest thing on that whole blog. (Experimental because the readership of this blog is under 1000. Maybe not a good return on investment, but I needed to practice somewhere...) I have an AdWords campaign in the works, but it's still under review. I'm told AdWords can be super-effective or a total loss. Encouraging, no? :D So we'll see. 

I also submitted to thebookdesigner.com Cover Contest, which is exciting!

I write stories and make art. I know where I stand there. Advertising is just a creative extension of my existing skills. I have some videos, banners, text ads, and other things in store for a broader audience. Then I'll focus my campaigns once I figure out what works, and I will thoroughly appreciate the feedback from anyone who experiences those campaigns.

What it all comes down to is time. I have no delusions about the pace of building a writer's career. I do have the very human desire to see results quickly. My "quickly" is different from many others' "quickly," and operates in 3-month quarters. Quarters feel like forever, there is much experimentation, and feedback on that experimentation may not come for weeks or months. And yet, my brain likes the exercise. So please bear with me as I learn the new skillset called "advertising." :)

Or maybe reality just needs to set in. I just published a book. This is pretty dang cool. Now comes the hard work, which really doesn't bother me. Now comes the risk that everyone or no one will love the book. Now comes the most important element to a successful writing business... the NEXT book!

Cuddles,

Tamara

The Pathos of Rowan Jun, Now On Kindle!

The Pathos of Rowan Jun, Kindle Edition 2 (the FINAL version) is up for grabs now!

http://www.amazon.com/Pathos-Rowan-Jun-ebook/dp/B0078L898E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329630518&sr=8-1

THE BLURB:

BURY YOUR HUMAN SOUL IN THE HEART OF A WARRIOR!

“What are you, boy?” asked the Valkyrie.
“A murderer,” Rowan said. “Nothing more.”
“I will be the judge of your worth, now.”

* * *

Rowan Jun awakens to a new, violent world when the Slaveship QuellTruth crashes on the planet Unata.

The human struggles to reconcile his bloody past with that of his new home, and sets out to become the greatest warrior Unata has ever known!

THE STORY:

This sci-fi adventure begins when the title character Rowan is thrown into the mix with a race of warriors on a new planet. The reason? He sabotages the directional controls aboard the QuellTruth, on which he is a slave, in order to save 10,000 slaves from lifelong servitude. The result? The ship crashes, killing all the slaves he tried to free. 

Rowan's guilt rises to strangle him as he seeks out refuge, freedom, and the ability to protect even just one person with his new skills as a warrior. Then a new enemy brings war upon Unata. The creatures—the warrior class from the Slavers’ race—thirst for vengeance over their losses, threatening to wipe out all Unatans. Can Rowan overcome his paralyzing past, to fight and protect his new home? Will he prove for the first time that he can become the Champion of Unata?

COVER:

THE ART:

Not counting the full color cover, the book has 12 illustrations. The map and one other illustration are in full color, for devices that have that functionality. However, they still look great in black, white and gray!

Sample illustration, the title character:

I hope you enjoy the story. Thanks for stopping by!

Cuddles,

Tamara