MannyCan wrote:kanna wrote:MannyCan that's quite an impressive insert. Also, since DS has been one of my primary candidates for dipping my feet into silicone world thus far, it's good to know this about their inserts
. It's almost like they don't have anyone on their team who actually uses then. If I do decide to pick one of theirs, I better make sure I know how to create my own before I order. How much does it cost to get the necessary supplies for making one of those? 3D printer I already have access to.
Let's see. Knowing that I know now, I could save some money avoiding unnecessary costs. If you checked out my other post:
viewtopic.php?f=183&t=116050 ,that is all still correct. You need alginate and plaster to cast the cavity. Once you have that, the rest is much easier since you don't risk your doll ever again. Remember, I did all this never having pulled out my doll again knowing that it should fit perfectly. It a huge load off my mind realizing that I'm not endangering her for my mad, crazy ideas.
The next step is I then casted the "internals" of the insert (meaning the part that will occupy the doll cavity) .. darn .. easier to show you.
Here:
Layers.JPG
As you can see, the white part is the "based structure" I did this so that I wouldn't have to bother with making it over and over as I perfect the top part, which is the clay sculpture. I also limits any damage to the piece as you work on it.
So lets see .. that's:
HARD SHELL (PLASTER CASTING OF THE DOLL CAVITY)
Alginate, which is perfectly safe to use on your doll (the only thing I'd let touch it)
Plaster to make the hard shell (so you never have to touch your doll in this process)
I glazed the hard shell with
XTC-3D This makes the hard shell very durable and slick. If you 3D print, you should know about this stuff. Its great.
Making in "
INTERNAL INSERT" from the hard plaster shell I used
Equinox Silicone - That stuff is awesome. I spread it onto the inside SIDES of the hard shell (effectively using the shell as a mold). See, you can't just fill up the hard shell with poured silicone else it will never come out. That almost happened to me. Just smear the Equinox onto the sides of the cavity (in your hard shell). It will stick and cure right in place. Its kind of a thick thick putty.
Here I also "prepped the edges" .. how do I explain this. The parts that need to be seen "on the outside" and matches the angles and contours of the doll cavity, I used Equinox create a rough of that. The rest I did with clay in the next step.
Once cured, I then removed the Equinox casting and RE-Created a silicone mold using it. The silicone mold is flexible and useful actual casting (has give unlike a hard shell). For that I used
Mold Star, another awesome product.
Once I had the silicone mold I casted the is using
Smooth Cast Plastic Casting to build the white base you see in the pictures.
Making the
FINAL PRODUCT you'll need clay to make your sculpt.
I used
Scupltex clay .. it was good. I was very unfamiliar with clay and this stuff was quite forgiving. There might be better on the market. But I wouldn't know. One thing to mention is that your clay has to be sulfur free. Otherwise you can't use it with silicone. The silicone will never cure around it. Even the slightest amount of sulfur will ruin the molding process.
Obviously with clay you need some clay tools. I bought a bundle off Amazon for like $20 .. had like 50 tools. I think I used 4
If you want to texture your sculpt you'll need a skin
Texture Stamp .. honestly you could just find some fine leather piece at home. But I got a little fancy.
Once I was done with the mold (and 3D design and all) it was time to finally make a mold of the final sculpt. Again I used
Mold Star. For the final casting I used
Ecoflex 00-20. Its very soft .. buttery soft. Matches the feel of my DS163 perfectly I believe. Its very durable, skin safe, and withstands temperatures over 300 degree F. Really whats not to love. I've also tried DragonSkin .. since everyone raves about it. That stuff is good too. Its just not as soft.
Finally you'll want to color the silicone to match your doll .. for that I use
Silc Pig. Works .. just make sure you read the instructions. A little (I'm talking what would fit on the end of a toothpick) goes a LONG way.
That's the route I took. I know its a long post .. but I hope its gives you an idea of the material and costs. Eyeballing it, a project like this could be done in under .. hmm .. $275 .. I did some trial and error so it costed me more. But I got an education out of it. If I was ambitious enough, I could probably make a whole doll from scratch now. And one of the joys of tinkering is that its a hobby .. and hobbies cost money.
One side note - I created the Hard Shell (from my other post) because I wasn't sure I was going to create a whole insert (or just a facade). I could have EASILY created an adapter for say an insert from Abyss or 4Wood. The would have been super easy. I was tempted to make an adapter for the Abyss SenseX insert - but I just didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I didn't know would feel good. For that, the hard shell is perfect. If you wanted to skip it and save a little money, you COULD create a "Soft Shell" using Mold Star (and skip using plaster on the alignate). I'm not 100% sure I'd recommend it. But its an option to consider if you know you're going straight for a full insert. If I did it all over, I think I'd still opt to make the hard shell. It was just too useful as you muddle through some trial and errors.
kanna wrote:You must be using a different lube than I am. 1.5ml of lube is what I've found is the optimal amount of the lube for my use. I haven't felt any need to add any more, even when I've had sessions that last for an hour. I have tried up to 5ml, but the only thing that accomplishes is more mess to clean afterwards.
Now a question for YOU .. what sort of lube do you use? I'm considering enlarging the "lubrication sac". So I'm interested in knowing what can do a lot with less. Thanks for any info.
