Spooky 1.3

Ok so progress on this project has been mixed, partly due to my own constraints, both energy, or perhaps inspiration and the skills needed, and also due to external factors. This is a side-hustle so does have to give way to my full time job, family and other commitments. I have also decided to try a ‘pivot’ on the main project, as it requires a master mould I don’t yet have the skills to create and some tools and equipment I can’t yet afford, at least not within the scope of a side-hustle at the moment, with the cost of living and all bills and food etc going up in price. This doesn’t mean I won’t spend that money in the future but for now I need to ensure this project is going to make money and not just cost money, I ideally want to start with a very minimal budget, something like £100. This amount is what I decided on very early in the project, I didn’t want this project to put my own money, money I need to pay the bills, buy food, support my family with at risk. It would therefore start with a negligible amount that I could afford to lose if it all went wrong. Not only that but its also an amount that anyone starting a business or side-hustle at least could scrape together and emulate , or at least be inspired by its – hopefully – success

So the project ‘pivot’ is to create accessories for the main subject of the project, its a little hard to explain when I can’t yet divulge the actual project yet but its accessories. These are smaller, easier to make, I have the skills to produce the mould for these and actually make them, well the last part has yet to be proven but tests so far have been close, close enough to make me believe with honing my skills a little more I can produce a quality finished product that people will actually want to purchase

So I’ve created about 4 of these accessories in a 3D design program, the one I use is a very simple web based designer called Tinkercad. Its a bit like lego for 3D design and you can quickly knock up simple designs. With a bit more practice and learning some more advanced techniques using negative space you can combine these objects to make more complex designs. Although not the best program for sculpting fluid or curved forms it’s good enough for the accessory design. I’ve then purchased some high-temp silicone and made 3 different design moulds

The first I tested and after ensuring I pre-heated the mould first to stop the excessive reaction hot metal can have when entering a cold mould I had some success. It wasn’t perfect and has some gaps in the finished product but as a test and proof of concept it was close enough. I re-created the mould with changes learnt from this test. It also emphasised to me that I should get my moulds a lot more accurate as the accessory, although of an acceptable quality for a cast item did require a lot of finishing to make it presentable and more importantly saleable to a customer