Tallarns with hats! 5-4-10 update.

So, Im still waiting for my canoe-load (I dont think my lil splurge warrants a boat-load label!) of goodies, so I wanted to figure out a simple way to do the shemaghs.

I've got the keffiyehs down pretty good- but I want some variety in head gear amongst my guys. A war torn, worn down, using whatever gear they can get sort of look. So, shemaghs are like huge scarves that work as head wraps/hats, and a face covering to keep dust & debris out.

So, enter an old gizmo I recently rediscovered. Years ago I bought a lil clay press- it looks like a retarded chrome syringe- but instead of a needle, theres several various discs that attach to the front. The discs have differently shaped holes in them- if you think back to childhood, its kinda like the PlayDoh-Press that some of us used to make neat shapes with. What does this have to do with anything?

Well, its pretty small- the discs are about the size of a dime. And years ago I tried to use it with Greenstuff. But, lacking the hand strength of a PowerFist, there was no way in hell I was able to get the green stuff out in any extruded shape.
So, it sat unused for years. Until I had one of my brilliant ideas. I discovered that it would fit into the front of a caulking gun! So the plunger on the bottom could be pressed with hte caulking guns ratcheting strength...and its now strong enough to push ProCreate (grey stuff) out of a 1. mm hole. Just about the same size as a las gun barrel.

Now- you might be wondering- "wtf does that have to do with hats on tallarns!??!"

Everything!

Previously I was rolling thin cylinders of this stuff out by hand- which isnt super difficult, but it takes time, during which the stuff is curing, so its a waste of sculpt time and makes me mix smaller batches(also tedious).

So, now I can squirt out about 2-3 inches of 1mm 'rod', which I can then flatten out with a roller into thin strips- which is the right width for the cloth I want for my shemaghs! So, rather than blobbing on putty- then forcing it into as shmagh shape- I can actually wrap it onto the fig like an actual piece of clothing- From there ifs pretty simple to shape it with a sculpting tool. Pushing into the recesses, ans using a point to pull down sections to open them up. And, rolling the edges a bit to emphasize the layers and shape.

For me, another apparent use of being able to easily make the 'rod' shape with the putty- is the ribbed power hoses. I have a tool that makes it super easy to put the ribbed pattern onto a piece of putty, but rahter than explain it I'll eventually just get pics up of all this. Still working on getting a more suitable cam for all this ;)

And my pipettes arrived today, small batch resin mixing is now possible- so I have to find the mold for the shoulder pads I want- or make a new mold :/

Later this week should be the Ultrasonic cleaner, the ink/wash making supplies, and some Fimo to sculpt some stuff that regular putty wont work for (mainly prototyping parts for the line of armored vehicles Im planning on replacing the IG tanks with).