Monday, December 31, 2012

Mold Making Mayhem


Phew, mold making was certainly a process but it's just about done!  For about a two months I've been refining the process and producing 23 detailed molds out of stills from the show.  I just have seven constellations to produce and I'll be ready for the next phase.

 "What's the next phase," you ask?  Well I'm waiting to hear back on a quote for image printing on the Braillon paper, and then once we can get the images printed on the pages I can make them tactile with the molds - and then the books will be FINISHED and ready to go!

A white desk holds a black box (which is the EZ-Brailler) with a white board hanging off the back and a silver cord hanging out of the side. Propped up against it is the new poster for "The Little Star That Could" which shows the yellow Little Star; white star, Pearl; red star with sunglasses, Big Daddy; and blue star, Mr. Angry Blue-White Star. There is a red pen in front of the poster and a grey clay mold of Little Star with silver pins in it to create air holes, a silver x-acto knife. There is a white, green and yellow tub of air dry clay. An off-white phone sits on the desk next to a black tool box. In front of the tool box is a silver ring, a white bottle of puff paint and a picture of a red star with sunglasses, Big Daddy; orange star, Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star; yellow star, Little Star; white star, Pearl; and blue star, Mr. Angry Blue-White Star on a red background. The stars are all outlined in puff paint.
First Attempt at Mold Making: Clay or Puff Paint?


The grey clay mold of Little Star sits with about fifty silver pins in it on top of silver aluminum foil. Next to it on the foil is the image of a red star with sunglasses, Big Daddy; orange star, Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star; yellow star, Little Star; white star, Pearl; and blue star, Mr. Angry Blue-White Star on a red background.
Clay or Puff Paint Molds Drying (the clay had to be pierced with pins to allow air to pass through)


On the white desk sits a black desk organizer with pens, a black stapler, a tan tape dispenser, the black box with a red front and silver dials (the EZ-Brailler), and two pieces of Braillon paper. The Braillon paper in the foreground has a severely raised image of Little Star. The clay mold used to make the raised image shattered in the process. The pieces are sitting on the Braillon paper.
Clay and Puff Paint definitely did not work :(


There is the piece of Braillon paper with the severely raised image of Little Star is hanging on the left side of a cubical wall that is covered with tan fabric. On the right side directly next to the severe image is a new image made from stacking paper. It is the same image but far less severe. It is Little Star Smiling. He has a round face, a fluffy tuft of hair on top, big round eyes, an oval nose and a big smile. He also has rays jetting out from all around his face to show that he is shining. Above "The Little Star That Could" is written in Braille.
Clay is too severe but stacking paper seems to work alright


On Braillon paper is Little Star. He has a round face, a fluffy tuft of hair on top, big round eyes, an oval nose and a big smile. He also has rays jetting out from all around his face to show that he is shining. Above "The Little Star That Could" is written in Braille.
Paper stacking works but it needs to be a little taller than this


On a piece of white paper in size 36 bold black font reads "Little Star is born in a cloud of gas and dust" over two lines, followed by "Little Star (a yellow star)" and "Page 1" over two more lines. Under the second and third lines on light green strips is the Contracted Braille for these phrases.
Our wonderful volunteer Deb has Brailled all the text for  the book :D


Sitting in the shiny, silver EZ-Brailler's inside compartment is the first page of the Little Star Follow-Along book on Braillon paper. Little Star is seen as a circle in the center of the page. He has round eyes, a sideways oval nose and a smile with plump cheeks. He has rays extending out all around him and two rays are very long, like jets spurting out. Radiating out and around the afore described, are three half circles on the left and three half circles on the right. Around Little Star and the half circles is a light wavy and crinkly cloudy texture. At the top of the page reads "Little Star is born in a cloud of gas and dust," in contracted Braille.
The first page hot off the EZ-Brailler!  Little Star is Born in a Cloud of Gas and Dust

On an off-white L-shaped desk sits a large green mat. On the mat sits a tan metal lunch box with red boomerang shapes, a silver metal travel coffee mug, a manila colored piece of Braillon paper with the image of Little Star being born in a cloud of gas and dust, the mold that made the image which shows Little Star as a circle in the center of the page. He has round eyes, a sideways oval nose and a smile with plump cheeks. He has rays extending out all around him and two rays are very long, like jets spurting out. Radiating out and around the afore described, are three half circles on the left and three half circles on the right. Around Little Star and the half circles is a light wavy and crinkly cloudy texture. At the top of the page reads "Little Star is born in a cloud of gas and dust," in contracted Braille. Also on the green mat below the mold is a black circle covered in red dots with wide eyes and an open mouth to be the Globular Cluster. There is also a square of black illustration board with a circle cut out, and another mold showing several planets and their orbits around a star. Some white Elmer's glue and blue and silver scissors sit on the green mat too. Propped up against the wall of the cubical is a square piece of cardboard with nine circular rays for the stars. On the wall is the image of the Planetarium (a white single sheet hyperboloid) with it's red bow, the Planetarium with fireworks behind it, a picture of the blog author with the plush yellow Little Star in an Apollo Capsule mockup, and two more sheets of Braillon paper. Also on the desk is the EZ-Brailler machine which is a black box with a red handle on the side of the top half of the box and a red plaque with silver dials and a black toggle switch, silver push button, a green light, orange light and blue light on the side on the bottom half.
Getting to work!




On top of the black EZ-Brailler sits many mold pages drying. One is of the spiral Milky Way galaxy which is cloudy and given texture with red puff paint. There is also the globular cluster (round, red and very bumpy) and Little Star (yellow and smiling and small), Little Star (yellow and smiling) meeting Big Daddy (a red star with sunglasses, a large nose and a goatee), Little Star meeting Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star (orange with a white mustache and large nose), and the line up of stars: a red star with sunglasses, Big Daddy; orange star, Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star; yellow star, Little Star; white star, Pearl; and blue star, Mr. Angry Blue-White Star on a red background.
Many pages drying




On the green mat on the off-white desk is a clear oval gladware with a blue lid lopsided inside of it on top of a brown paper towel. On the cubical wall is the picture of the Planetarium (a white single sheet hyperboloid) with a red bow around it and just in front of that is a bottle of white Elmer's glue, a white scrub brush with red bristles, a white can of salt, a white electric tea pot with a blue lid, handle, base and heat-level knob, a white strainer, the tan lunchbox with red boomerangs, a purple and black flyer for the Planetarium, another bottle of Elmer's glue, the black and red EZ-Brailler, and a yellow piece of paper with the blue papier-mâché valley and moons of mars drying.
Making the last major mold out of Papier-Mâché... Or maybe just making a mess... 

On the green mat is a piece of yellow abrasive tape. On the tape is one of the Mars moons made of blue papier-mâché. There is a fine powder around the moon and the tape from the moon being sanded down.
The Moons were a bit big... Sanding them down to work a little better in the EZ-Brailler (thanks for the materials Al!)


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)