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Help Making Swizzles? |
MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
|  Posted: 2010-10-13 1:15 pm Permalink
Has anyone tried making a small run of swizzles? I don't have any high pressure thermoplastic injection molding equipement, can you mold swizzles out of epoxy or resin? Would they be food safe?
Thanks 
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Sophista-tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 13, 2005
Posts: 1603
From: Seattle WA
| Posted: 2010-10-13 1:21 pm Permalink
Id be inetrested to know to, I have a potential swizzle project coming up
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-10-13 3:46 pm Permalink
Dawn, if we don't get no help we may just have to wing it!
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ZeroTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 02, 2009
Posts: 744
From: Rohnert Park, California
| Posted: 2010-10-13 3:54 pm Permalink
Mike:
I am surprised that you don't have any high pressure thermoplastic injection molding equipment on hand...
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zerostreet
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Feb 06, 2010
Posts: 1711
From: http://www.zerostreet.com
| Posted: 2010-10-13 4:02 pm Permalink
I'm surprised he hasn't made 20 or 30 prototypes today.
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-10-13 4:23 pm Permalink
OK, the Zeros are ganging up on me 
Today is "research on the internet while you are at work" day, maybe tomorrow will be prototype day
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 927
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2010-10-13 8:21 pm Permalink
Hey Mike - you could make some out of dental acrylic! We used the stuff to make teeth, eyes, claws, and various other things while I was in the FX biz. Once cured, it is safe to put in the mouth - the only drawback is that the monomer used to cast it with is rather smelly and toxic. Nothing a good respirator couldn't handle - but if you have close neighbors they may complain. If you have walked by a nail salon in a mall and wondered what that nasty chemical smell was, it is casting acrylic. The cool stuff about dental acrylic is it can polish to a mirror sheen, and it can be cast up to look like very convincing bone and ivory.
Can't wait to see what you make - no matter what material you decide on!
Henrik
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-10-14 10:07 am Permalink
Thanks Henrik. So difficult to tell if products are food safe, at least this one is certain. Comes in pink and several shades of white to ivory. I assume you could cast it in an RTV mold?
My dentist is amused by my experiments and even furnished me with some dental plaster once. I think it's time to go in for my 6 month check-up and pump him for information
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VanTiki
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Nov 25, 2005
Posts: 927
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2010-10-14 11:51 am Permalink
I believe it would work in RTV - we always used silicone molds when casting with it. It is a neat medium - aside from the toxic smell when casting. I've got some claws handing around here somewhere from one of the monster costumes I wore back in the day. If I can dig them up I'll snap some shots. You can also make it into a sculptable putty that you can shape (if you work quick).
Good luck at the dentist - no cavities! 
Henrik
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-10-16 9:26 pm Permalink
This probably won't get me any points with the sculpture community but I think my first attempt will be with...(drum roll please) SHRINKY DINKS!!!
Remember Shrinky Dinks from the 80s? Plastic sheets you draw on with a marker then bake in the oven. They shrink to 1/3 their original size and become 9 times thicker. They don't lose any of their detail and the colors actually becove more vibrant. Now they can be run through your inkjet printer. Problem is that they come in 8 x 10 sheets, even if they run the length of the sheet, 10 inches turns into 3 1/3 when shrunk - too short for a swizzle. So the plan will be to make personalized swizzle toppers that will glue to swizzles made from thin popsicle sticks or a bamboo skewers or plastic straws or ???
Tomorrow I will find out if they have Shrinky Dink sheets at my local Michael's
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leleliz
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Sep 02, 2008
Posts: 1981
From: NorCal
| Posted: 2010-10-17 01:16 am Permalink
Its been 4 days since you originally started this thread MDM...you should of already made like a dozen swizzles by now all trying different methods..
whats wrong?? are you slipping??
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-10-17 01:31 am Permalink
Sorry, I worked 12 hr shifts on most of those 4 days
Hopefully I'll have a prototype by today
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-10-17 3:22 pm Permalink
Well, so far so BAD!
The first attempt got hung up in the printer, then when I baked them to shrink they curled up and stuck to themselves. When they cooled and hardened they were all warped.
The good news is that the details and the colors were good as were the size and thickness. Out of time today, maybe I'll try again tomorrow.
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danlovestikis
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Jun 17, 2002
Posts: 3659 | Posted: 2010-10-25 12:07 pm Permalink
This was super fun to read. Wendy
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6486
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2010-10-25 4:21 pm Permalink
Here's a great idea from Buzzy/Babalu, I think I've seen those chopsticks at the dollar store or maybe Cost Plus World Markets
Quote:
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On 2010-10-25 13:30, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:
Those tapered wooden chopsticks might work...I drilled a hole in a smaller resin casting I did and glued an inverted chop stick in it. The chopstick was one of those fancy carved handled ones that was pre stained and all nice & foodsafe.
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