Help Making Swizzles?

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 :D

Id be inetrested to know to, I have a potential swizzle project coming up

Dawn, if we don't get no help we may just have to wing it!

Mike:
I am surprised that you don't have any high pressure thermoplastic injection molding equipment on hand...

I'm surprised he hasn't made 20 or 30 prototypes today.

OK, the Zeros are ganging up on me :lol:

Today is "research on the internet while you are at work" day, maybe tomorrow will be prototype day :D

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

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 :D

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

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 :)

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??

:)

:D Sorry, I worked 12 hr shifts on most of those 4 days :D

Hopefully I'll have a prototype by today

Well, so far so BAD! :lol:

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.

This was super fun to read. Wendy

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

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.

On 2010-10-17 15:22, MadDogMike wrote:
Well, so far so BAD! :lol:

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.

Finally a topic I know something about.

I just made 35 badges for a convention with shrink film and they came out great.

First, layer your items to bake between two sheets of parchment paper.
Bake at 350 for 3-4 minutes on a flat baking sheet. When done quickly pull out the sheet and slide the parchment onto a flat surface (I use my glass cooktop). Use something flat like a another baking sheet to compress the items flat. If you aren't quick enough you can reheat them for a few minutes and try again.

I like to sand the edges since they come out a little rough. A coat or two of a sealant adds a nice gloss and you won't have to worry about your colors running.

Good luck on your next attempt. I'll be watching.

Darilyn

Thanks Darilyn, maybe the sheet on top will help them from sticking to themselves. I've also heard a heatgun works. I will try again weekend if I have any time left over after building a flying monkey costume :D

Shrinky Dink Success!

Darilyn you were right, I put the shrinky dinks bewtween 2 pieces of parchment and it worked fine. Then I epoxied them to plastic chopsticks.

Getting ready to order some resin and RTV silicone, gonna make me some real swizzles sometime :D

Those came out really cool!!!

Thanks Big Daddy :D

[ Edited by: beadtiki 2010-11-24 18:40 ]

I LOVED Shrinky Dinks when I was a kid - I probably still do! I used to use the clear plastic lids off liver containers to do mine. I've actually never used the shrinky sheets! I loved reading this thread - funny AND informative!

That came out great! Congratulations.
I may just have to do that myself.

Darilyn