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Hi guys. I have recently been working on a large tree spirit army for a friend excited for the wood elf book coming out. I don't know why I haven't been taking as many pictures of them but I need to get on that. Anyhow, after getting 2 tree men 90% complete, and the last one 70% complete I wanted to work on one for myself for casting. I had also been doing 12 tree-kin for him as well, but again, no pics :/


So anyways, here is this fella. I was kinda going for a spooky/haunted tree look. He is made in several pieces. Legs/2 arms/torso/1 side attaching branch/3 top attaching branches. I was hoping to make a cast copy of him, and add more personalized details.. So I could for instance have a version with fungus/mushrooms growing on him, another that has spider web patterns here and there, maybe a crow or something, maybe a pumpkin vine wrapped around foot.

I need to make a second set of arms and legs. Probably a version standing with slightly bent legs, and a squatting about to jump at you pose. I would like to do an arm set of him also reaching out towards the sky, thought about doin a set of arms in which he was potentially flipping the bird like Kev Adams old night goblin as well?

Early WIP shot before branches were done, or top/bottom of torso complete (including hip joint)






Finished shots











Gonna try and yellow-tack him together a little better tonight and photograph him in better conditions. Sorry for the quality in those.





When it comes to casting this guy up. I need to ensure he isn't too heavy as to warp his lone leg on the ground. I figure I could use a more dense resin/higher strength or whatever for that piece, and make the others of a lighter weight resin? I am about to begin researching this stuff so if anyone can point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it!



Thanks for lookin!


-Skyler

That looks awesome! Im no help with the casting just wanted to give it a thumbs up for the fact it can be spooky spooky or cartoony spooky and i love cartoons lol

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it!

Big cartoon can myself, and glad this can be perceived from a perspective like that and a spooky scary one!


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Cartoon fan*....

If I was a cartoon can... I probably wouldn't type as much, and would probably spend my days rolling around, or kickin around with friends.

Now a cartoon fan.. I could of been in that little toaster stuff


Shoulda said fan of cartoons..

Resin should hold up fine without any problems. No need for special engineering. If it were a huge concern though, you can place brass wire in the mold...but I have cast much more top heavy items (almost all my dragons).

That is a big figure though, so you may want to ease into casting him. If you havent done much (any) casting, do a few open faced molds to learn mixing silicone and resins. Do a couple small two part molds to learn vents and gates. Then move onto him. You dont want to goof on something that big...silicone in particular will add up in price.

The other thing to remember is resin makes heat, lots of resin makes lots of heat. This creates a different set of problems. The first big cast I did actually began smoking and softened the mold so much it slumped over.

Thanks for the tips Sean. I appreciate it!

I have planned on doing some bases first, followed by the arms of this guy. I figure I would do multiple molds I'm event I screw one up, or can't inject resin/pour it to get into small details?

I figure I would do a mold for legs, one for each arm, one for torso, and one for branches? That way if one is buggered the whole mold isn't trash?

I have been trying to research what resin I should use, I have come to conclusion that smooth on 300 would be appropriate?

Would you recommend them for silicone to or?

I sure hope his torso doesn't generate too much heat. Is increasing wall thickness off that mold supposed to help it maintain during heat? I was under impression this stuff got to about 220F while curing also?

I let to much 300 dry in a solo cup once, so that's a bit thicker than your model. I could still hold the cup. It was very hot but wasn't dangerous.

Oomo 30 is a fine silicone. I haven't had problems with it.

Thank you Dessorag for the anecdote. I will start browing smooth on's site and place an order this afternoon hopefully!

The idea of casting my own model has me pretty excited! I'm not the best sculptor in the world, and have no delusions, but it's just neat to see something "yours" come to fruition!

Smooth on is a very good beginner rubber to use, but if you plan on making multiple casts of your model go with something else that has a higher tear strength. Id recommend Making the body a single mold, the legs a single mold, and then the branches and arms can possibly go into a single mold. Do you have a hobby lobby in your area? If you do, look into alumilites high strength 3 there. It has a high tear strength (means it wont break as easy when demolding) and its quite soft. Its a more forgiving rubber to mold with. Oomoo 300 is low tear strength, and high hardness.
It IS a good starter rubber for 2 piece molds. Youre also looking for something with high viscosity as well to allow airbubbles to escape the curing.




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You dont really have to worry about the resin being bad either, pretty much anything you use will be fine. Itll cure in the cavity of the mold into a solid piece so itll all be proportional, you dont need several resins to recast the different pieces. Yes, when curing, resins heat up. No big deal. They wont affect your original or really even the mold (unless its made wrong).

I actually bought a Allumilite super casting kit 40% off from Hobby Lobby last month that I haven't gotten around to using. I felt like a dummy because I didn't realize it was a mold PUTTY and not a liquid pour in mold medium like silicone. I have heard that it draws away from the model frequently and is better suited for models with less detail? I really don't know.

would my super casting kit mold putty hold the detail of this piece? I guess it never hurts to try.

I just didn't wanna waste my allumilite kit :/ I was hoping to do a bunch of simple things like mushrooms for basing that I could easily replicate with it in good confidence?


Sorry for all the Q's I just don't want to stack up a ton of stuff that will go bad before I use it :/

Ok I realized I was derping it up majorly. Alumni lite is liquid pour over silicone. What was I smoking??

I saw the insta mold putty tutorial on falls making a griffon shell and that was what confused me.
Someone mixed the two up.

So last night I Made Lego box molds and laid down blue modeling putty that came with the kit. Pressed my models halfway in and sealed em in as much as possible. Built up underside of stuff sticking up. Ran out of time last night but had enough putty to do mold boxes of legs torso arms and big branch. Just need another for small branches!

Pouring my first half of 2 piece molds tonight! I have been doing so much teeter tottering on the damn thing I'm just going balls to the wall. If I screw up I'm out a master and 40$ but oh well!

Thanks for all the advice here guys will post pics of how it turns out

I use non sulfur medium hardness modeling clay as my modeling putty for 2 part molds. Did your kit come with a releasing agent? It helps avoid master damage.

And oh yeah, it's expensive. And you burn a lot of money learning. I have been happy with results do far, and I just do bits. Things like an arm with an Axe. It would be a massive pain to buy enough kits for the extra bits, bitz stores always seem to be sold out and I need 10 of them. It's slightly lower quality but still cheaper and let's me do more customization.

Good luck!

My kit came with rubber to rubber mold release which I need to locate. Didn't think I needed mold release for master :( hope he is ok! If not oh well.

Looked Ada ribbon of silicon on top of mold box and it was rubbery this Mornin about 9 hours post pour so hoping these will turn out ok and I can take clay off bottom tonight clean the clay off master (any tips on this?) been using metal tools to scrape to best of my ability but figure will take more. Considered a cheap spinning toothbrush? Half model will still be in half of the part mold while doin this so I figure I can't use any water or anything to clean it up

First piece cast!



Gate/pour hole was not big enough and resin cited too fast/clogged it up preventing arm from forming. Cleaned up hand and if looked really good and hardness was good so mix was correct. I added too much black to te second cast and screwed It up. Fixed gate issue though

Moved it under a lamp to hopefully finish curing if not lesson learned!

poured the first torso! was rushing the morning I did it before a tournament. So didn't even clean putty off of mold (correctly) or anything, hadn't even cleaned master up very much.

Just rushed to pour and see results! was really happy/ few small bubbles at ridge of his waste (highest point in mold) but didn't use any vibration so expected some

now i need to finish the molds for his legs and branches and do a test pour of all the components!!

Im not going to pretend ive ever done it, but it seems to me that if you bent a simi rigid rod to shape and place it in the mold before you pour, that it would solve your stability concerns.

after feeling this resin, its freaking solid. I'm gonna make up some alternate legs as well in event the customer doesn't want that pose of legs/risk it warping over time/forgetting it in car on hot day etc

the rigid rod inside it is a good idea, may have to use it in future

Looks good man, glad it's working out for you. That's a pretty kickass model.

Thanks man!

I have been playing around with the torso and limb molds I have ready. legs and other branches should be done today and ready to pour.

I have no been microwaving my molds before pouring to warm them up, and I have not been brushing any talcum in before either.

My first pour was done using a long stream of thin resin and the cast came out the best so far, the one pictured. his bottom had a dozen small bubbles but that was about the only issue.

The ones after that I used a 10 ML plastic syringe from walgreens the pharmacist gave me all ended up VERY bubbly. not just the ass end like the poured one either. bubbles all over the vertical surfaces, EVERYWHERE.

So going to go back to the pour method and try some more tonight. Will microwave molds and brush in talc powder trying to eliminate issues. Will also put a vibrating sander on table to help it out as well hopefully.

We shall see. The injection method saves so much more time, but the bubbles.. afraid that is making it worse


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quick and dirty paint job from last night, need to finish base and do some more highlighting. Going to change glow to not hit hands as it looks like crap, and change it from green to blue I think. Possibly red orange. if I do red orange I will make foliage on top green, and if I do blue eyes I'll do orange/red/yellow foliage