Platinum Cure!

Last night I mixed up a little bit of Brush on, platinum-cure silicone to test, and see if I could make a good mask for painting. I think this is gonna do it. This stuff is so tough, I can see it being thin enough, and still strong enough to do the job. I think I'll mix up a bit more tonight and do another coat, and maybe start in on a new mold. But at the very least, I can see having a good enough mask by Wednesday to try a new paint test. I also got some Krylon Fusion spraypaint, which I hope will do me better in the happy-paint-love department.

Moving along. This first batch of Milos will not all be identical, because the original mold was so varied, and the amount of sanding necessary also made them varied, but they'll all still be pretty darn cute, I'd say. So, if nothing else, this Milo v 0.1 is incredibly home-made and collectible??? Maybe this version goes to friends and family, and the few folks who write in and say they WANT the experimental first batch.

Roadblocks

It's sometimes good when you hit stumbling blocks, because it makes you realize just how excited you are about something. Right now, I'm huffing and puffing because the painting just isn't happening the way I'd like. It's maddening to have a bunch of clouds just waiting to be painted, but unable to really do much because the painting I've done already looks so bad. I've never done any kind of spray painting before, and I need to get some practice with making it look just right. Plus, I thought I was done sanding, but I'm obviously not. So, I bought some different paint, because even the color isn't right out of the can, and we'll see how that goes.

Then comes the other hurdle: masking. I have yet to find the perfect way to mask out the face and have it look decent. I'm sure I'll hit upon it, but it hasn't happened yet. It's cool. It doesn't have to be perfect right now. I'm still experimenting and I haven't released it to the public, or taken any orders from stores. It's still bubbling, just not boiling yet. So I'm enjoying it now. Enjoying this anticipation and enjoying the feeling of knowing that I have something that people will dig once it's done.

If you've got anything you're bubbling about, I'd love to hear it. Hit me up with a comment, and link me to your steaming pots.

Best,
Sean

Milo The Cloud is Online!

I've just registered MiloTheCloud.com and put up a placeholder site which will be up there until I can get some mojo working on building the actual site. All of that hinges on actually finishing the toy in some fashion and getting some packaging happening as well. I just did some spray painting last night and this morning before I left for work, so hopefully tonight I'll be on track to get the faces painted on, with some clear-coating going on over the weekend. I'm happy so far with them, but I think I could be happier. Very likely I'll make a new mold once I get these guys painted and looking good. The process of getting them to where they are was way too intensive. There were so many tiny imperfections in them that I had to spend an inordinate amount of time sanding and buffing before I could ever get to painting them. Tags of plastic that were just too huge to ignore and holes that were there in the original cast that got added to each copy and consequently into the original five piece mold. I was too hasty in making that mold, because my enthusiasm was bigger than my patience at that moment. I wanted to see a ton of these guys and I wanted it FAST.



So, even though I posted this picture already at the old blog I figure it doesn't hurt to show it here for those who didn't see it there. This was the first batch, the ones that were full of pin like holes in the back that had to be sanded out of every cast I've made so far. They're cute, and the sanded versions look good, but the next batch will be as clean as I can get the new mold to be. I expect to sand a bit, because they'll need it to take the paint, but not like this.

Forget Perfection.

This is a first post. It won't be perfect. As a writer you want everything to fall into place and for it all to work. This is a blog. It's not the great American novel. Norman Mailer claimed before his death that the great American novel is a myth and won't ever happen anyway. That's another debate for another time.

We post to throw something out there. To call out into the gap between souls and feel the whispering voice of our own creation remind us who we are. We post for the same reason that we get up in the morning. We post because we seek the greatest vision of our selves, not in some egocentric way. But in the same way that we seek connection with a friend over a cup of coffee in a cafe, or by holding the door for a stranger coming in behind us out of the rain. We post because we need to declare that this is who we are, in this moment. Not tomorrow, or the next day, or even last week. This is who I choose to be this forever-tinged, multi-hued instant.

Take me in your arms. Wrap me in the silence of eternity. Make fun of me if it makes you happy. Join me in a song if you feel it welling up inside. I am with you. You and me, and we are all together.

...

Or something like that. (apolos to John, for lifting that last bit)