Reducing a Logo using a 'millefiori' technique *PIC HEAVY!*

[joemichaels70]

Like all of us do, normally when I need a logo on a figure, I either print one on the computer, or try to steadily paint one on. My usual results include a printed logo that has lost too much detail, or a painted sloppy mess. For the last NJC (BPRD) I wanted to make small belt-buckle BPRD logos for my figures, and thought I'd try something new -- at least new for me & customizing joes -- millefiori.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millefiori

Here was my setup, including: aluminum foil, pasta maker, polymer clay, x-acto knife, paper logos, cardboard cutting surface, and of course, not shown: damp paper towel

The polymer clay I used was Fimo, from Michaels. I went with basic black, but for the red, I found this clay with glitter in it. Since the buckles on the film versions of the figures were metallic, I thought this clay would add something special. Now, I'm not so sure that it did, but the stuff sure bled red all over my hands...

This picture shows the amount of clay I used from each block:

03-Clay.gif (77.51 KiB) Viewed 1746 times

[joemichaels70]

After kneading the chunks into malleable balls, I ran them through the pasta maker, which is just an over-priced machine (IMO) that makes even-thickness pieces. If you're not into beading, or any other clay work, I would guess that a rolling pin or a D-cell battery would do the same... It has different thickness settings between 1 and 9, with 9 being the 'fattest' --
this was done to 7.

I then sandwiched my clay slabs between aluminum foil, and put my paper logo on top. I then cut through all layers, following all the outlines in the logo -- here's what the top layer looked like:

05-cut-logo-1.gif (66.12 KiB) Viewed 1738 times

Not too bad... until I tried to unstack all the layers -- this is what i wound up with:

-more-

[joemichaels70]

So, I tetris-ed all the pieces back together, trying to utilize the black logo pieces in their correct location. When it was all put together, I saw too much daylight through the logo --

1st sign of trouble:

07-too-skinny.gif (94.94 KiB) Viewed 1730 times

The trick (in my experience) to doing this type of clay manipulation is in the 'reduction' or pinching, of the large clay logo in to a smaller clay logo, then into a 'log' for rolling to the desired end circumference. My large logo was too skinny (thin), and while reducing it to the log stage, had more warping than compressing. Once in the log stage, I was getting way too many runners.

2nd sign of trouble:

08-oh-oh.gif (26.66 KiB) Viewed 1729 times

Once the log is rolled to the desired circumference, it is then sliced perpedicularly, with the ends of the log being mostly sacrificial, and if done correctly, the inner parts becoming a scale representation (even cleaner) of the larger design. In my case, I got a mess.

trouble (anybody see a trace of the logo?)

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[joemichaels70]

So, after wasting a good hour to get those crappy results, and ready to pack it in, I figured I went through all the trouble to buy the stuff, I should at least give it one more shot. I knew my main issue was the thickness of the large logo, so I figured I would make an adjustment there. I did another press where I only went through at '9' which was almost 1/2" thick. My second issue was trying to fit black and red puzzle pieces together that clearly didn't want to go together, yet stuck to each other, and warped all over. To combat this, I just ran the black through down to '5' (about 1/8") and then cut it to 1/2" wide strips to use as outlines for the red pieces:

The new thick logo:

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I then was able to compress the clay much more easily than before, and create my rolling log -- about half-way to the desired circumference, I cut it to check progress -- Score!

13-mid-point-check!.gif (82.04 KiB) Viewed 1719 times

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[joemichaels70]

I then rolled on down to various belt-buckle and other sizes, and then cut -- kind of like cookie dough. I then pressed the end of my x-acto into the clay to flatten further, as my slices were a little thick:

15-size-example.gif (37.52 KiB) Viewed 1714 times

I put the slices (well, flicked) onto a piece of foil on a baking sheet.

14-ready-for-baking.gif (117.28 KiB) Viewed 1715 times

After about 40 minutes @ 230 degrees, they were done -- Note: they may still feel soft or pliable, but they harden up quickly when cooling down. Don't make the mistake of burning the clay -- it gets really smelly...

Finished result:

Some of the logos worked out better than others, and all are unique. This technique produces quite a bit of waste product, and definitely more than I needed. But the logos are super crisp and legible at a tiny fraction of the size it started, and way better than I could ever do with a printer or a brush. I might try this with the Cobra sigil next.

Note: If anybody needs one of these, I have a few extra...

Wow. That is so inventive. And it looks complicated!

Your Hellboy was impressive as well.

Very cool, though not sure it's something I'd want to try myself. No pasta maker for one... But I'd be interested in a couple of those buckles if you've still got some.

very cool. Still a little confused with the compression and log method, but I love the result.

[joemichaels70]

very cool. Still a little confused with the compression and log method, but I love the result.

hm. i should have taken some tween pics..

what it basically amounts to is:

imagine making an "OK" sign with your index finger and thumb.
now imagine that the logo/clay to be compressed is inside that circle.

slowly, carefully roll the logo in the circle, applying pressure to compress the clay, making the "OK" shape smaller.
I actually had best results doing a 'squeeze, turn, squeeze, turn' type of pattern -- the goal is to compress on all sides
equally, as to not warp or distort your desired image too much -- some is ok, as it *should* get resolved by the time it's fully compressed --

by default, the clay needs somewhere to go while compressing the circumference, so it naturally turns into a tube shape.

once the clay has 'tubed' enough that it can be rolled on your work surface, lay it on it's side and begin
to roll it back and forth, exerting downward force --

like rolling a snake out of sculpey or play-dough --

roll the snake, or log, to the desired circumference, and then make the cross cuts

helpful?

ah, gotcha. I can see how much trial and effort this could take.

very cool. Still a little confused with the compression and log method, but I love the result.

hm. i should have taken some tween pics..

what it basically amounts to is:

imagine making an "OK" sign with your index finger and thumb.
now imagine that the logo/clay to be compressed is inside that circle.

slowly, carefully roll the logo in the circle, applying pressure to compress the clay, making the "OK" shape smaller.
I actually had best results doing a 'squeeze, turn, squeeze, turn' type of pattern -- the goal is to compress on all sides
equally, as to not warp or distort your desired image too much -- some is ok, as it *should* get resolved by the time it's fully compressed --

by default, the clay needs somewhere to go while compressing the circumference, so it naturally turns into a tube shape.

once the clay has 'tubed' enough that it can be rolled on your work surface, lay it on it's side and begin
to roll it back and forth, exerting downward force --

like rolling a snake out of sculpey or play-dough --

roll the snake, or log, to the desired circumference, and then make the cross cuts

helpful?

[pluv]

I watched one of thsoe Discovery channel "How they make things" epsiodes about taffy candy and they did the smae thing with a Christmas tree. The Taffy log started off about the size of a flag pole and they rolled and stretched it until the log was about the size of a role of quarters and then sliced.

This is the first time I've ever seen the technique used for customs. It looks good, but also overly complicated for something that a printer can do pretty quickly. I've never had the problem with the distorted images using most photshop type programs. Things like MS photo viewer and paint programs do distort things a lot though. On things where I'm especially concerned about the color, I like to print a clear label with my black outline and place it over my base color I want to show through.

The flash kind of killed the details but in person the badge looks pretty sharp.
The necklace here is just a white address label.
The t-shirt logohere is a clear label on the white t-shirt.