Experimenting with cast resin claws

[SPark]

That's a test set I made today.  It took forever, and has some flaws, which I have some ideas about improving already!  But even with the flaws, they're nicer claws than the ones I've been making out of sculpey and apoxie sculpt previously, so I may still be using them on the panda suit I'm currently making. 

There's also something kind of fun about resin casting.  Next up after getting these perfected will be trying cast pawpads. 

[Kobuk]

Those look really good. I like the way they turned out. How much stronger or durable will they be compared to Sculpey claws?

There's also something kind of fun about resin casting.

Not for me there isn't.  I tried casting some model parts for a model I was making a few years ago and failed miserably. It was a two part resin casting process and I had to mix equal amounts of compounds together. It just never turned out right and I had to switch to air dry modeling clay.

[SPark]

They're a TON more durable than sculpey.  Sculpey shatters at the drop of a hat, these won't break unless you do something really awful to them.

[Kobuk]

Are they lighter weight than sculpey claws or about the same?

[SPark]

They're quite a lot lighter.  They're basically plastic.  A little more fragile than something like ABS (what Lego is made of) but still pretty strong.

[Kobuk]

Cool. I look forward to seeing them used on any future creations you make. I'll bet they'll look fantastic when attached and painted.

[SPark]

I've made a second mold (it came out about like the first one, though I was hoping to get a little improvement) so I am selling the first one, which I used to make all the claws above.

It has a few flaws, mostly in that the holes for sewing the claws on had bubbles in them, so they're not actually holes. It's easy enough to drill holes if you want them, and of course if you glue rather than sew your claws then that's not even a problem. The small claw also has a tiny bubble in the groove on the underside, but that is not visible unless you're looking for it. Other than that it's a great, nearly unused mold. It casts one small claw and one large claw at a time, and you don't need to pour both, you can just use one or the other. Single piece mold, no messing around with parts, no seam lines. Meant for resin casting, doesn't need any mold release.

Make me an offer if you're interested. I'd like to get at least $8 for it, which would cover the cost of the rubber I used to make it. Highest offer I get today (Feb. 26) gets it.