Artificer Made is now a Blog!

That's right. It seems that the things I make and sell are a little difficult to explain sometimes with the tools that ETSY provides. But by all means please go see what I'm selling at my ETSY store Artificer Made.

That is to say, that much of what I create exists within a context that is not always apparent at first blush. That is the nature of creating ... well ... oddities and frivolities I suppose. Things that exist to satisfy the demands of a fictitious reality are just going to need more introduction.

So here's what we're going to do. The current artificers will post as often as we can about what we are building, how we are building it, and ... when it matters ... why we are building it.

I will be producing some tutorial videos whenever a good subject comes up. Feel free to send me suggestions, or questions whenever they arise.

Last but not least, we will be giving shit away. Once we have a few dedicated fans I plan on running a weekly promotion. It could be a straight up give-a-way. It could be a contest. But there will always be an interesting prize.

The prizes will be in the tradition of the fiasco artifica, abject and ruinous failure. Whenever a project fails miserably there is usually something interesting left amid the wreckage. Perhaps some bit of metal or glass that could be used as a decoration or jewelry. I don't know. I don't care. If I could have used it for something I would have so it's up to you. I have all manner of things here I can't use but are still too cool to melt for scrap.

Anyway, there's my welcome message, I hope you enjoy the show.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Working on a very special project.

I have cleared my bench and my calendar in anticipation of a really interesting special project.

I don't want to go into too many details in case the client decides to not go forward.

The plan though, is to make a hand. Life sized. Bright yellow brass shined up like gold. The kind of hand that looks like it should have "Bad Ass Motherfucker" written on it somewhere.

There is a Marine who is recently one hand short of a matched pair and I got to thinking that this has got to be the most vulnerable the man has felt in his young life. A synthetic 'life-like' hand is never going to pass beyond the first look so why not lead with it. "Yeah, it's a gold hand, jealous?"

Anyway I got in contact with the guy's handlers (whatever they call it) and he's interested. Not committing to anything yet, but interested.

So I've been doing trial runs on this all weekend trying to plan the best possible technique for casting a model of a human hand.

Design Constraints:

  1. I want it to be brass.
  2. The hand will include wrist and a sleeve of sorts.
  3. It should weigh approximately what the original hand it is replacing weighs.
  4. First version will be a static model, but should take into account that later versions will have articulated fingers.
  5. The hand will be hand-shaped but stylized to some degree so ultra-realism is unnecessary. Following that, casting in pieces and brazing them together is an option.
I have been reading several approaches to the mold making and casting process.

In particular I like what Olivier Duhamel has written on his webpage BodyScapes. He has a few books on this subject he would like me to promote and I'm only too happy to do so. If they are as good as the information he gives away then they are worth every penny.

Check it:

I think promoting his book earns me a digital copy. If so I will give a full review (for good or ill)

If anyone has any incite on this project I am open to it all.

edited to Get Mr. Duhamel's first name spelled correctly. Apologies.
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1 comment:

  1. Steampunk AddieApril 17, 2012 at 3:22 PM

    Oh man, I got psyched thinking you were talking about my hand. I have to agree that this sounds like a worthier project though. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete

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