For this project we were asked to create three figures casted from a single mold. The inspiration for this project was an 80s film called “Blade Runner.” It’s a sci-fi movie set in the year 2019, where Blade Runners were tasked with the job of hunting down and “retiring” replicants. Replicants are bioengineered organisms that are used as slave labor on other planets.
For my project I was inspired by the Replicant Zhora during her shower scene. I was amazed by the futuristic hair dryer that she used, and found the overall scene very mesmerizing.
However, I also explored other figures as well. Below are my sketches I did for this project. 
Making the Sculpey
I had some trouble at first making the head. I had to restart over and over because I either made the aluminum foil too big or not round enough. This was my first time using sculpey, so there was a huge learning curve for me on this project. Also another obstacle was making sure the neck was thick enough or else it could snap off during casting.
Brushing on the Rebound 25
Doing this process was the scariest part of the whole project. I had to try to keep calm because I was so nervous about messing up my sculpey. The process took so long, but towards the last part the process became faster since I knew how much of part A and B to use. I was extremely nervous about cross contamination and ruining the rebound. However, overall the experience was fun!
Making the Mother Mold
The mother mold was my least favorite part because it was so messy and temperamental. My mold turned out to be three parts because I initially thought the head had to be exposed, but I was also confused on how that would function as I’m casting. I realized I did it wrong and luckily I was able to overcome the obstacle by just creating another part to the mold. The scariest thing was towards the end when the plaster was drying, some of it leaked through the clay so I had to quickly patch it up before any real damage was done.
Breaking Apart the Mother Mold
However, it was kind of tricky too. The third part of my mold stuck to the bottom pieces even though I lathered the plaster with vaseline.
Casting with Smooth Cast 300!
As you can tell from my reaction in the video I was very nervous about the big reveal. I took it out too soon, so that’s why my first few figures had a bent neck. Afterwards I went out to buy more smooth cast to perfect my figures. I ended up casting about six figures total.
Giving My Characters Life
I had fun boiling a wig for the “Fashionable Girl” figure.
I created a needle felt wig for my “Geisha Girl.” Then I used hot glue to adhere it to the plastic figure.
I hand-sewn felt to make the basic shape of a shirt, then needle felted on top of it to create a fuzzy turtleneck sweater. I envisioned the “Fashionable Girl” wearing an exaggerated turtleneck with a prominent tube-like collar. I painted this figure blue because I originally saw them painted in pastel colors, but after discussing my professor, I decided to keep this one as it is but do the other two versions with a skin tone palette. I’m happy I decided to take his advice.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take more in-depth photos of my cloth making process. I primarily used needle felt and felt fabric for my figures. I had fun making the denim overalls especially! I just two tiny push pins as the buttons for the overalls, thick wire as the buckles, and scrap denim as the material.
Package Design
I chose to keep my packaging plain and simple, because I still had a lot left to do on my figures and I wanted to prioritize them first. However, I still considered what kind of packaging I’d want for my figures to be displayed in and so I decided on this double box packaging.
Sadly, I had to adjust the double-closet carton to a single because the 36×24 Laser cutter wasn’t available anymore, so I had to adjust my design to fit on a 24×18 bed. Luckily, after many trial and error I was able to figure out my box with its precise measurements.
Engraving the letterforms took the longest during my session.
Assembling the Box
A small issue I came across was that the chipboard started to peel a little especially the tab. I should’ve made the flap a bit longer so the tab can be inserted easily, I didn’t account for the thickness of the chipboard so my measurements didn’t line up as expected.
Also another problem I realized was that my figures needed something to keep it from moving around in the box. I troubleshooted with some needle felted nest structures, but I felt as if it make the figures themselves unbalanced in the box. So I went back to the drawing board, and as I was thinking I realized this nest could be the perfect opportunity to reincorporate my Bladerunner hair dryer inspiration. I was previously bummed I couldn’t engrave the hair drying scene onto my box, but this was the answer to both my problems. I started hand sewing felt together to make the underlying structure for which I later needle felted on top to create the head nest. I also thought it was funny to have a somewhat double blind packaging, since when you open the box the character’s face is still hidden from you unless you removed it from its nest.
Below are my first three casted figures. I used them as testers to try out paints, epoxy sculpting, and needle felting.
I think the rejected figures deserve a chance in the spotlight too!
Presentation
Tomboy Girl
Fashionable Girl
Geisha Girl
Well that’s it! Thank you for sticking around for this long journey of a project. I originally made gifs during the photoshoot for fun, but for some reason WordPress won’t play them so I will try to figure that out later. Stay tuned for more of my 3D projects!