The stand

I am making a very basic environment for the robot to be set in. From Amanita's design I really like the pattern of the floor that the robot is on. I have decided to make a circular base of this design to display the character sat in his wheelchair. Part of the appeal for me of Machinarium, is the sketchy appearance of the environments. With the base I am making I really want to try and incorporate this sketched illustrative look into it. I plan to do this by actually shading adding the detail of things like the cracks by hand using pencils. So far I have given the base a basic cellulose base of stone colour and have painted one coat of the pattern in a mint green colour.

The wheelchair

I have created the basic structure of the robot's wheelchair from chemiwood. I heat bent the top of the seat to give the back of the chair a sloping back. I now plan to pad the seat and back with a layer of foam and then cover in leather. However I am still unsure as of yet to which leather effect I want to use.

The wheels I have created through laser cutting the basic pieces, sticking them together and using milliput to sculpt detail on them to make them look more authentic as wheels with spokes that flare out as they join the outside wheel, like the image of the train wheel below.

The moulding process

To mould the head and body of the character I built styrene boxes around them in preparation to pour silicone over them. For the head mould I used wooden dowel extended from the eye sockets of the robot to create the pour holes. There is one bleed hole created from another piece of dowel holding the weight of the head upright from the recess I created on the underside.

For the body I created a pour hole by extending the neck of the robot, and I have made two bleed holes from wire rod extending out of the recesses where the legs will slot into.

Moulding Difficulties

I finished sculpting my character early last week and have also moulded it. However when it came to deciding how I was going to go about moulding it I had a bit of difficulty. I had sculpted my figure as one piece on the armature. As I wanted the final cast to also have the armature within it to give the character the same movement it has now it required the head and body to be moulded and cast separately and then have the armature drilled into them. As I had sculpted the robot as one I had to pull the head apart from the body, which actually happened more easily than I thought it would! I also had to create a recess in the underside of the robot's head for the armature of the ball and socket joint to sit into once cast.