Picture of the sample Lagoon!! :D

here's the sample head with the face-up the company sent me! The samples themselves are getting shipped out today and i'll have them sometime this week! Yeeeaaahhh!!!

that means pre-orders for the girls will start sometime in the next three weeks! once the pre-order starts I will run it for one month before turning in the order and getting the dolls cast. All the dolls will have face-ups and a bag, but i'm not sure about eyes yet, or if this will be the final face-up. We'll see!!

terrible cellphone pics of one of the dresses i'm working on.

made those shoes myself. i don't have time or cash right now to buy a bunch of shoes to measure her feet by. she'll fit in fairyland shoes no problem, but i don't want to pay the overseas shipping atm. X3

I'm excited to announce that Lagoon here will be ready for pre-order about mid to late June!

she'll be the first of my dolls cast through j-pop and will be up for pre-order on their site.

the finished dolls will come with a face-up and without eyes and wigs or clothes. When it gets closer to time for pre-order and release i'll have more solid information, although the face-up will definitely be available.

I'll have some better pictures soon I hope!


In Machina news, i'm hoping to get the boys ready for casting next. I'm looking to have a pre-order for them sometime early fall. :3

Since this is my first time casting I don't know how long the turn around time will be, so i'm sorry i can't give you all any more solid information!

*kermit flail* YAAAAAAAAAAY!! Doooollls!! :D :D :D

New dolls, armor, and heads on Etsy!

Hey guys!

Updates are here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/batchix

Like I said before, I'm going to be casting my latest doll, Lagoon.  In order to bankroll her production, I'm having a fire sale.  I've rounded up all the junk parts I can and made a few casts from my ruined resin stash.  All proceeds are going to Lagoon.

In turn, i have a few questions for you guys.

Would you rather I continue to list my dolls on Etsy as a first come first serve basis, or switch to auctions on ebay?  I've had a few complaints that people are getting frustrated trying to grab the dolls before they sell out.  The weather is warming up and drying out and hopefully I can start doing some good quality casts soon.  These will run probably around $300 base price.

However.

After Lagoon is cast, I will use the money from her to pay for the molding and casting of Gamma.  He will finally, fingers crossed here, get pro-cast.  I still worry that he's jinxed and can't be cast!  So "Lord willing and the creek don't rise," in about 4-6 months there will hopefully be a pre-order where you can get the doll.  Unfortunately, since they will be a custom color(Probably white, grey or blue depending on what the company can do), they will cost a little more than my personal casts, probably around $350-400... at that point I will stop producing the boys myself and they will only be available through ordering periods.

Give me your opinions, please.  Just send me an email to batchix at gmail dot com or leave a message here.  It's important to me to know what you think!

still trying to release some machina girls and the mini-machinas sometime!  Still working on the little goobers!

Three Machina Gammas up for sale on Etsy!

I've got three imperfect casts up for sale on my etsy! :D  Man, it took me forever to get these guys together.  i kept stringing them wrong.  I'd only gotten a few hours of sleep the other night so I blame that.  Anyway, thanks so much!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/batchix

In other exciting news... I'm looking into getting Lagoon pro-cast!  She'll be the guinea pig and depending on how that goes i may get the machinas done as well. :D


the reason she's going first is many fold.


First off she's a more traditional doll, just a girl not a robot.  She's also got the least amount of work required for me to get her ready to be cast, just some basic cleaning.  Third is she hasn't been cast by anyone but me before.  I had so much trouble trying to get Gamma done that I decided to hold on to him for a bit before I send him out into the world again.  I guess it feels like he got a bit jinxed.  Last is that I feel like a machina  with a lot of imperfections still has potential to be a finished since you can dye, paint or play with a dinged up robot.  Not so for a little girl!


At any rate, I'll keep everyone posted about how it goes!  I'm extremely excited!

New Machina up for sale!

Get him while he's hot!

Hey guys! Sorry i've been so quiet as of late! I had intended to really start cranking out dolls, but inclement weather has prevented me from making any real progress. I did discover that i have to keep the humidity down below 30% to not get the little bubbles, so at least now i know that much!

I did, however, turn my hand to some painting when I received back one of my dolls from the gal doing my sanding! He was just something to test out what i could do- until the earthquake and tsunami hit. My best friend and her husband are over in Japan right now teaching english and one of my other best friends is set to go over there at the end of the month for the same thing.

In light of all this, i decided to auction off the doll on ebay. 50% of the sale will go to Global Giving. Depending on how much he goes for I'll donate more.

You can check him out here:

[link]

If you can pass around the link, that's great!

I have, still, two unfinished dolls that are in need of finishing. however, at the moment i'm really, really sick. I almost passed out taking the photos the other day. i'm doing much better today tho!

Hopefully the humidity will go down and I can cast the last pieces these two need to go out(they both need helmets!).

thanks again everyone!

New dolls for sale soon and updates!

I've been super busy with work and other projects the past month or so.

I've found that it's just too humid for me to cast right now too. I need to have no more than 30% humidity or the molds get bubbles. Right now it's still the rainy season in NorCal, so no casting.

I DO have two casts that are nearly done, however. One will be around $300 and the other, who is bubbled, will be around $250 maybe less.

The major problem is they both have some bubbles in their faces. Since I can't cast new heads for them right now, they're just going to have to go out like that since I don't want them sitting around. Pieces get lost that way. What i'll probably do is give the recipients a voucher for another head to be cast later this summer if they want one.

I also got one of my sanded dolls back from my friend, Tiffany, who does the sanding for me. I've been painting him and he looks amazing if I do say so myself. I'm calling him a Scarab for now... It's certainly his coloring!


I've had quite a few questions about the girls as well. I'm still hoping to remold them this summer so i can start casting them as well.

I'm still working on the mini-machina as well. I actually hooked up her hip joints the other day and started the parts for her shoulder balls. that's going to be interesting since the design calls for them to be perfectly round, something i haven't done before.


I will leave you with a preview of Scarab so far!

Junk Cast Raffle winner!

Congrats to Rainbow_warrior who was lucky #70! I used the random.org to generate the number. Sorry it took me a bit to do the raffle today, but i'm pretty swamped with work at my day job!


thank you so much to everyone who entered! I had exactly 100 people enter! so exciting!


i hope to get back to casting tomorrow and have another boy ready for home soon. I switched back to the polytek so most likely he's going to be an off-white or very light gray machina!

Junk Cast Raffle take 2!

Okay!  Since i can't take cash for raffle tickets, i'm going to ask something else of you!
in order to be entered in a drawing for the junk cast just email me at batchix at yahoo dot with "I WANT A MACHINA!" in the title and tell me:

A) Who is your favorite transformer or giant robot and why?
   this doesn't need to be an essay... just let me know!

B) If you don't have a favorite transformer or robot... just tell me who's your favorite cartoon or comic character and why!


Answers can be like, "I love batman because he has a great outfit."  or "I like Optimus Prime because there are moments he sounds creepily like John Wayne." or even "I like my OC because she can wipe the floor with you, then bake a cake!"

I'll put all the emails into a file and number them, then use a random number generator to come up with the winner!  Or i might print them all, cut them up and draw them by hand.  but that depends on how much time i have. XD


CUT OFF DATE IS MONDAY, January 31st!

Winner gets the doll, who will be strung but uncleaned and have no eyeballs or wig or accessories, and both heads.  He has a lot of pinholes, bubbles and a few chunks missing.  One face has colored swirlies all over it where the resin dye didn't get mixed.  Paint and apoxy sculpt will fix all of this, however I'm just not up to doing that and I don't want yet another unfinished bot sitting around looking forlornly at me! X3

Please only enter once and play fair!  I will do this again later this year... granted that person is going to have one red thigh and one green thigh so maybe i'll save that till christmas! 


Winner must pay shipping!  


The doll is free to the winner, but shipping will have to be paid.
US shipping is $12
Overseas shipping will be determined by location.  Usually it's around $20 usd.

Thanks guys!  Good luck! :D
feel free to link to this or repost if you feel like it!

Working on a new doll

I'm sure i'll think of a name when she's done.

I think the first two i cast will be called Bit and Byte. XD


Might get started on sculpting next week.  really happy with her front design.  I wanted to give her granny panties as her part there.  Kind of want to not give her even an indication of breasts... but we'll see. 

I looked at Bubblegum Crisis, Roll from Megaman, Samurai Pizza cats and this person's art: http://extvia.deviantart.com/  for inspiration.  As well as all the misc little robot girls i have floating around on my HD, but giant mechs and sexy transformers are much more numerous. XD;;

There's a lot of the old sanrio animation style from Unico and Winds of Change in there too. 

New boy is up for sale!

I put him up on my etsy and i'll be doing that from now on. :3

Anyway!  Check him out here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/65282360/gamma-machina-paperwhite-imperfect

He is imperfect, so the price is lowered to $210.  Normally I wouldn't lower the price this much but there's a chance he could be serious impaired. 

Just copy pasta-ing what i wrote there about his condition:

Here's what happened:

After I finished casting this boy, I found out in the later color casts that the cups I was using to mix the resin in had trace amounts of moisture in them! This caused small sprays of bubbles in random places in the doll. In the white resin it is nearly impossible to see the bubbles, so I don't know if he's okay or not.

Why it matters: The bubbles are lurking just below the surface, so if you sand your doll at all, it could uncover them. If you put a face-up on the doll, the paints and pastels will collect in the bubbles when you remove the face-up and be almost impossible to remove. If you dyed the doll, as this resin should dye pretty well, the dye may collect darker in the bubbles. The bubbles don't affect structural stability in the least bit and I'm fairly certain if you did a whole body paint job, like some of my example dolls, the bubble would be covered and invisible.

Here's what the bubbles look like after i've sanded and rubbed pastels and then removed the pastels from a tan head: http://g36.net/ocdesigns/photos/Sculpting/BubbleHead.jpg

Other than that, he is a perfectly normal machina! He has some filled places where there were normal pinholes(these happen with every doll that is made without a vacuum chamber or other pressure system). most specifically i also filled behind his upper abdomen(you will most likely never see this area) for added strength.

OW.

So I cut myself the other night... badly enough that i had to go to the emergency room!  A tetanus shot and some liquid stitches later, I am recovering but I can't work on any dolls in the meantime. :<  i've got a new boy done except for cleaning his sprues.  I hope to get back to work after christmas! 

Woo!

Finally got my resin last night!  There was a mistake on the address which led to me waiting all day wednesday, thursday and friday for the delivery and having several heated discussions with their hotline.  It ended last night at 8pm with me almost literally chasing down the delivery guy.

But last night another boy was successfully brought into the world!  Just gotta recast one hand, then I'll go through and shore up any small bubbles.  He is a pure, paper white and very pretty if I do say so myself.  Hopefully he'll go up for sale next week.


I thought I'd give you some random facts about my process so you get an idea of what it's like to cast.

• It takes me about an hour to set all the molds up for casting.  Each mold has to be powdered with talc on the inside- this encourages a smooth fill and a matte surface.  I also pre-pour my resin so that hopefully even the tiniest of bubbles will rise to the surface and pop.
• Once set up, the casting takes me about an hour, sometimes two.  If there are any parts that didn't come out to my satisfaction I have to start the process all over for that mold.
• I can only cast one complete doll every few days even working at my fastest.  because...
• I am allergic to the hardner in the resin.  Too much exposure and I break out in hives all over my arms.  I cast with a respirator, gloves, and long sleeves.  When the cast is complete I leave the room and leave the window open to ensure the fumes dissipate.  Most people are not nearly so sensitive as I am.
• The resin I use has a work time of about three minutes before it turns to a gel state and heats up.  I have to work very fast.  It's sort of stressful because I hate wasting resin.  If I hesitate at all, there's a good chance I won't get to use all the resin I just mixed!
• In some resins, like Smooth-on, adding color can cause the resin to set up faster and not give up it's bubbles so easily.  For some reason I don't have this problem with Alumilite or Polytek.
• I have to remove the casts from their molds before they fully harden.  If they're too soft they'll warp, but if they're too hard they can damage the molds and the sprues are harder to remove.  
• The little star-burst shaped marks you see sometimes on the casts are where a sprue was removed. I usually sand them out, but sometimes I miss a few.
• While I don't sand the entire doll, I will often run a 400 grit paper over any seams that seem sharp to me.  I have actually cut myself on the seams sometimes.
• The process for the doll goes: Casting, filling any minor imperfections(which sometimes involves mixing up a matching color of apoxy sculpt), drilling the hands and feet, cutting and filing down the bars for the hands and feet, stringing the doll, and then gluing the bars and magnets in place.  This takes a lot longer than it sounds. XD

That's all i can think of right now.  :3

Sold!

Thank you!  He is now sold.

Hope to get another doll finished sometime this week. :D  yay!

-----


Woo!

About this doll:

This is a default Machina Gamma in ivory.  I am switching resin so the next one will be pure white, so if you're wanting ivory, get him while you can!

Like all my dolls he is hand made without the aid of pressure pots or vaccum chambers.  Possible defects include pin holes, specs of color, vent marks, and seams.  Any holes larger than a pencil dot are filled with Apoxy Sculpt and are not present on stress bearing parts or on the face.

Accessories:  Gamma head and helmet (no eyes or wig)

Wig size: 5
Eye size: 12mm

Face up: I will do a simple face-up if asked, however it will not be custom.  It will be an additional $25

Line Painting: Painting the lines in the color of your choice- $50  Please remember the lines and dolls are not perfect and neither am I.   

Full paints:  I offer full paints for an additional $100.  Sample here: http://g36.net/ocdesigns/photos/twins/cy_05.jpg  Please be aware that dolls painted in such a way are hot glue suede to help prevent damage to paint, however, careful play is recommended.  Wait time for this is 1-2 months. 

Price: $300

Shipping is $7 US, please contact me for shipping prices outside the US.

In order to keep cost down, I do not use custom boxes or pillows.  The doll will come wrapped in bubble wrap and inside a priority box.

Eventually I hope to be able to offer wigs and eyes on my etsy, but at the moment I'm out of everything!

Please feel free to ask questions here or email me at batchix at google dot com to lay in a claim!  I will be receiving my new shipment of resin this week, so hopefully I'll get another boy done before christmas!

I require feedback on either DOA, Etsy or Ebay!  

You can find feedback for me on those sites as well(ebay is kodachi_batchix)

Well, i finally have some news!

The bad news is that due to problems with casting I won't be using a professional casting service at this time. What this means for you is that I can't produce as high quality of doll or the volume a casting service can meet. It also means no pre-orders, dolls will be sold as they come available. This insures that I don't get burned out and that you get your doll in a timely fashion. Dolls that are not sold will be put up on my Etsy site when I get it up. :3

The GOOD news is I'm going forward and casting them myself. I just got my originals back about ten minutes ago and I'll be starting the new molds for them later this afternoon! Depending on how things pan out I may have a doll done by monday!

Due to me making these dolls from home they won't have a set release schedule. I have to cast around my full time job and other various obligations. I hope to make at least one doll a month, but it depends on how the molds turn out. As I said, they won't be as high quality since I don't have access to vacuum chambers or pressure pots. What this means is the dolls will have minor surface variations and pin holes, especially along seams and at the rim of joints. I'm taking that into consideration and I'm lowering the price accordingly. Also to keep cost down the dolls will be mailed in simple priority boxes carefully wrapped. Right now the dolls should be around $300 a piece without eyes, sanding or painting.

As soon as these molds are done I'll be starting work on new helmet, hand and armor designs. I've already got a chest armor piece ready! Epsilon, who has a larger chest and longer legs as well as different face and helmet, will hopefully be available at some point as well. Since I'm casting these myself I'll also be able to offer individual parts for sale, so you can get different helmets, heads, and armor parts as they come available!

I can't tell you all enough HOW EXCITED I am to finally get the ball rolling on the boys! I can't wait till I see what everyone does with them!

I'm not sure about sanding services since that's extremely hard on my wrists, but I'll be exploring some options on that as well as with full paint. Face-ups are available for an additional fee and if you've got a specific type of line painting you'd like on their face(see the original Alpha doll for an example) I am happy to carve or paint that on for you.

Next time I write I hope to have the first doll ready for you! Wish me luck!


Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for sticking this out with me!

-Batchix