Dan

Dan's World Portfolio Pages 1 Intro 2Starting out 3 You and me together again at last 4Product Design 5Rubber mold 6 Be a Sculptor 7 Marbleizing 8 Getting Ahead 9Paint techniques 10 Foam carving	Dan's World Product design pg4 "Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza." Dave Barry How to Get a Product Designed, Marketed and Produced *These are the steps you will need to take to transform your idea from a figment of your imagination into a three dimensional product.* This is the part of the story where it gets tricky. This is where you find out about the magic. By some strange power ideas that are no more solid than smoke in the wind are brought into the material world where folks like you and me can admire them. How is this done? (Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.) Let's say, "you have this really nifty idea you would like to get into production." ( Did you say it, because I didn't hear anything?) O.K., I admit it. Nifty wasn't the best choice of words. I guess it's so retro it's only for squares anyway. Now that you mention it I guess squares isn't cool either. Cool is still in, right? Awesome! I can dg it. I mean I'm down with that. OK, I feel better now. My medication is kicking in. Whew! That was a close one. Enough of this Tom foolery. Tom never had an overabundance of discipline anyway and we need to stay focused. Let's get back to the program. As I remember it we were going to proceed on the assumption that you are here because you have an idea you want to get into three dimensional form. Either that or all your friends are out of town, your TV is broke and your sock drawer doesn't need rearranging. Be that as it may your search has led you down the yellow brick road of Dan's World and it has been delegated to me to make you the most successful entrepreneur that you can be. This may take considerable effort on both our parts. Let's give it a whirl. Let the Battle Begin I shall endeavor to guide you past the waving fields of scarlet poppies and flocks of flying monkeys that might waylay you on your journey. Make no mistake about it, those flying hairy monsters are all over the place just waiting to squelch your dreams. I have done battle with the unholy monkey demons many times. Sometimes I won. Sometimes they won. The lessons are hard come by. But fear not my monkey battling friend. You do not have to go through the same struggles. With the information from the plaster Master website safely imprinted in your memory banks you will be equipped to defeat the forces of evil and bring your project and lifelong dreams to reality. Though you may stumble as have all others before you I have the greatest confidence that with persistence you will succeed. Move ahead into that great unknown with the intent to be all that you can be. Here is what Theodore Roosevelt had to say in that regard. *"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how* the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Look at it this way. You are a special person. You were clever enough to find this web site and stick with it. That proves you have brains, courage and big heart. The Scarecrow, Lion and Tin man don't even come close to matching your skills. Since you are not wearing ruby slippers ( God! Please tell me you are not wearing ruby slippers! ) and can not wish a product into existence, I have drawn up an outline of how an idea could be developed into an actual three dimensional product that someone could buy off the shelf. Where to Start *Dan, I have a great idea. I know it can make money. How do we get started making my product?* The steps in getting an idea from your brain to an actual product that you can look at, hold and drool over. 1.Have an Idea 2. Have a drawing made of the idea 3.Have a model made 4.Have a mold made of the model. 5 Have samples made from the mold Why would anyone want to torture themselves with the hassles of developing a product of their own? One reason is that there are only so many hours in a day. I believe 24 is the current official daily number. Each of those hours must produce at optimum efficiency in order to earn a substantial living. A bunch of those hours get crossed off the list right off the get go because you tend to fall flat on your face if you don't sleep a few of them. I know I've tried. It's a temporary solution at best. You end up nervous and jerky. (I'm not nervous any more. Thank you. ) If you earn the maximum you can earn in those productive hours whether it's $20 dollars an hour or $200 dollars an hour you can only earn so much in a day. If you have a product in the marketplace and you are lucky, it will be flying off the shelves whether you are sleeping, scratching your elbow or working on your next product. That's a good thing. Right? OK, you're one of the movers and shakers of the new age and would like to try this uppity new fangled notion. Having a product in the marketplace sounds like it's right up your alley. And the icing on the cake is you have a sure fire winner right there in your brain but what the heck do you do with it. Life is short and you want to start living the good life as soon as possible. I don't blame you. Go for it! To receive a quote on a job you may e-mail or call me at 610 391 9277 Ok, take the pencil out of your ear and get ready to take notes. Now that you have a clear picture in your mind of what it is you want to make I'll need to see what that idea of yours is supposed to look like. I know modern technology has come a long way but short of doing a brain scan I don't see how I am going to be able to look inside your head and see what this thing is supposed to look like. You're going to have to do some drawings. Now don't go gettin' all flustered they don't have to be all that fancy. Just do the best you can I'll probably be able to make some sense of it. If you absolutely can't draw the thing you can hire me to do sketches of your idea. My drawing skills have been gettin' a little rusty anyway. Once I have the drawing I can make a model or prototype of the item. The model is a three dimensional representation of the idea that was floating around in your head. Most people find it pretty exciting to see something that was just in their imagination become real. If possible this model should be the exact size and look of the finished product. I have specialized in making these three dimensional models for over 35 years. Examples of models I have made for others are used in the article below. Getting a Product Made The steps in depth 1. It all starts with an Idea Ideas are what drives business. In fact they are the heart and soul of new product design and development. Every sculpture, toy, concrete lawn ornament or three dimensional item out there started as an idea. The problem is there is nothing solid in dreams or ideas to grab onto and hold up for all the world to see. They are as intangible as smoke in the wind. In order to explain your product to people you may end up jumping around and waving your arms in the air like you're putting on a dog and pony show. That's fine at the circus or at home in the bedroom but at a board meeting it just don't do to look like a clown. As humans it is our nature to distrust what we can not see or feel. It's no wonder most ideas never get off the ground. For every product on the shelves there had to be a first one made. What you need is a three dimensional model or prototype you can hold up to show prospective buyers, to obtain financing or to do market testing. I have been doing this as a business for over 34 years. In the years before that I was still doing it it's just that no one was paying me for it. That's more years in total than I care to admit to these days but time does give you the benefit of experience. Out of that experience I have distilled the basic elements that can help you ease into the process of developing your own product. If you were to come to me with your idea here's the procedure I would suggest for taking it from your brain to a real life product by which we can all be duly amazed. 2. Next you need a drawing. The very first thing we need after the light bulb has come on in your head for this fantastic idea is a drawing. This will help you firm up the idea in your mind and make it clear to me exactly what it is you need. Some people provide their own drawings: Dan, I run a bird farm. I want to do an exotic bird wall plaque. I have enclosed a drawing. Can you help me? Thanks, Jill *Sometimes the drawings need a little touching up.* I give them a slight tweaking to bring them into focus: Jill, Something like this Might be nice What do you think? Dan 3. the Model After all the concerns of the drawing have been appropriately addressed, the model making can start. We will need to discuss of what material the final product will be made. The sculpting will have to be done with that material in mind. I design products for plaster casting, concrete, urethane resin, poly-ester resin, ceramics, foam and metal casting. Each of these mediums may require a different sculpting technique. A figure for resin casting may be sculpted thinner and more delicately than one for a medium such as concrete. A figurine for ceramic production must be free of all undercuts, whereas one for plaster casting may not have to meet those same requirements. These are some of the details that we will need to talk about at this stage. Here I am out in the back yard enjoying a fine summer day while sculpting a plastiline model of a dragon. This plastiline model is designed to be a concrete statue when it is done. For a model this size I sculpt in Roma Plastilina #1 or # 2. Plastiline is a marvelous material to sculpt original models. It holds fine detail. It shapes easily and retains it's form. Here's the catch. Plastiline is a temporary, material. It is only meant to be an intermediary step to the finished model stage. Plastiline is not durable enough for the extensive mold work that will be needed to bring the model to the production level. For that we will need a hard model. Plastiline models usually require an extra mold making step to get them to the hard model stage. I am carving this dragon's head model out of urethane foam. Since this model is not made of plastiline the intermediary mold step of bringing it to a hard model will not be necessary. A fiberglass mold or a rubber mold can be made directly off the urethane foam model. Not all models can be carved out of foam. Some of them have to be modeled out of plastiline. 4. The Mold Converting a Plastiline Model to a Hard Model through the use of a mold. This is a soft plastiline model of Big Foot. In order to convert the soft plastiline model into a hard model a mold must be made. This mold may be a plaster mold (called a waste mold because the mold will be discarded after one use.) or a rubber mold depending on whether the model has undercuts or not. Have you noticed that I seem to get a lot of requests for the unusual. Not that I'm complaining. Life in normal reality is probably boring. Here in the skewed perspective of fantasy land you have the freedom to break the rules of proportion and symmetry. This plastiline model of Bigfoot is not the perfectly proportioned, graceful figure of a Greek god. It has its own power. Just like Beauty and the Beast, King Cong or Frankenstein the monster has the charm and fascination of the noble savage. They are pure of heart. Often with the innocence of a child. They are the star of the film not the fair hearted maiden. The above plastiline model of Big Foot is 12 inches high and has considerable detail. It is a prime candidate for a rubber mold. The twists and turns and undercuts of the body would make plaster mold making a true challenge. On the other hand we have this fairly straight forward plastiline model of a turtle stepping stone. It is approximately 18" x 18" and would be a very easy model of which to make a plaster mold. In the picture I am preparing the model with an application of mold soap. Let's look at what it takes to turn one of these simpler soft plastiline models into a hard plaster model with which we may continue the mold making processes. Next Page Dan's World pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Back Call or e-mail for quotes Dan Kijak 4308 Shankweiler Rd. Orefield PA 18069 610-391-9277

Dan's World Portfolio Pages

1 Intro
2Starting out
3 You and me together again at last
4Product Design
5Rubber mold
6 Be a Sculptor
7 Marbleizing
8 Getting Ahead
9Paint techniques
10 Foam carving

Dan's World Product design pg4

"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."
Dave Barry

How to Get a Product Designed, Marketed and Produced

These are the steps you will need to take to transform your idea from a figment of your imagination into a three dimensional product.

This is the part of the story where it gets tricky. This is where you find out about the magic. By some strange power ideas that are no more solid than smoke in the wind are brought into the material world where folks like you and me can admire them. How is this done? (Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.)

Let's say, "you have this really nifty idea you would like to get into production." ( Did you say it, because I didn't hear anything?) O.K., I admit it. Nifty wasn't the best choice of words. I guess it's so retro it's only for squares anyway. Now that you mention it I guess squares isn't cool either. Cool is still in, right? Awesome! I can dg it. I mean I'm down with that.

OK, I feel better now. My medication is kicking in. Whew! That was a close one. Enough of this Tom foolery. Tom never had an overabundance of discipline anyway and we need to stay focused. Let's get back to the program. As I remember it we were going to proceed on the assumption that you are here because you have an idea you want to get into three dimensional form. Either that or all your friends are out of town, your TV is broke and your sock drawer doesn't need rearranging. Be that as it may your search has led you down the yellow brick road of Dan's World and it has been delegated to me to make you the most successful entrepreneur that you can be. This may take considerable effort on both our parts. Let's give it a whirl.

Let the Battle Begin

I shall endeavor to guide you past the waving fields of scarlet poppies and flocks of flying monkeys that might waylay you on your journey. Make no mistake about it, those flying hairy monsters are all over the place just waiting to squelch your dreams. I have done battle with the unholy monkey demons many times. Sometimes I won. Sometimes they won. The lessons are hard come by. But fear not my monkey battling friend. You do not have to go through the same struggles. With the information from the plaster Master website safely imprinted in your memory banks you will be equipped to defeat the forces of evil and bring your project and lifelong dreams to reality.

Though you may stumble as have all others before you I have the greatest confidence that with persistence you will succeed. Move ahead into that great unknown with the intent to be all that you can be. Here is what Theodore Roosevelt had to say in that regard.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Look at it this way. You are a special person. You were clever enough to find this web site and stick with it. That proves you have brains, courage and big heart. The Scarecrow, Lion and Tin man don't even come close to matching your skills.
Since you are not wearing ruby slippers ( God! Please tell me you are not wearing ruby slippers! ) and can not wish a product into existence, I have drawn up an outline of how an idea could be developed into an actual three dimensional product that someone could buy off the shelf.

Where to Start

Dan, I have a great idea. I know it can make money. How do we get started making my product?

The steps in getting an idea from your brain to an actual product that you can look at, hold and drool over.

1.Have an Idea 2. Have a drawing made of the idea 3.Have a model made 4.Have a mold made of the model. 5 Have samples made from the mold

Why would anyone want to torture themselves with the hassles of developing a product of their own? One reason is that there are only so many hours in a day. I believe 24 is the current official daily number. Each of those hours must produce at optimum efficiency in order to earn a substantial living. A bunch of those hours get crossed off the list right off the get go because you tend to fall flat on your face if you don't sleep a few of them. I know I've tried. It's a temporary solution at best. You end up nervous and jerky. (I'm not nervous any more. Thank you. )
If you earn the maximum you can earn in those productive hours whether it's $20 dollars an hour or $200 dollars an hour you can only earn so much in a day. If you have a product in the marketplace and you are lucky, it will be flying off the shelves whether you are sleeping, scratching your elbow or working on your next product. That's a good thing. Right?

OK, you're one of the movers and shakers of the new age and would like to try this uppity new fangled notion. Having a product in the marketplace sounds like it's right up your alley. And the icing on the cake is you have a sure fire winner right there in your brain but what the heck do you do with it.
Life is short and you want to start living the good life as soon as possible. I don't blame you. Go for it!

To receive a quote on a job you may e-mail or call me at 610 391 9277
Ok, take the pencil out of your ear and get ready to take notes.

Now that you have a clear picture in your mind of what it is you want to make I'll need to see what that idea of yours is supposed to look like. I know modern technology has come a long way but short of doing a brain scan I don't see how I am going to be able to look inside your head and see what this thing is supposed to look like. You're going to have to do some drawings. Now don't go gettin' all flustered they don't have to be all that fancy. Just do the best you can I'll probably be able to make some sense of it. If you absolutely can't draw the thing you can hire me to do sketches of your idea. My drawing skills have been gettin' a little rusty anyway.

Once I have the drawing I can make a model or prototype of the item. The model is a three dimensional representation of the idea that was floating around in your head. Most people find it pretty exciting to see something that was just in their imagination become real. If possible this model should be the exact size and look of the finished product. I have specialized in making these three dimensional models for over 35 years. Examples of models I have made for others are used in the article below.

Getting a Product Made

The steps in depth

1. It all starts with an Idea

Ideas are what drives business. In fact they are the heart and soul of new product design and development. Every sculpture, toy, concrete lawn ornament or three dimensional item out there started as an idea. The problem is there is nothing solid in dreams or ideas to grab onto and hold up for all the world to see. They are as intangible as smoke in the wind. In order to explain your product to people you may end up jumping around and waving your arms in the air like you're putting on a dog and pony show. That's fine at the circus or at home in the bedroom but at a board meeting it just don't do to look like a clown. As humans it is our nature to distrust what we can not see or feel. It's no wonder most ideas never get off the ground. For every product on the shelves there had to be a first one made. What you need is a three dimensional model or prototype you can hold up to show prospective buyers, to obtain financing or to do market testing.
I have been doing this as a business for over 34 years. In the years before that I was still doing it it's just that no one was paying me for it. That's more years in total than I care to admit to these days but time does give you the benefit of experience. Out of that experience I have distilled the basic elements that can help you ease into the process of developing your own product. If you were to come to me with your idea here's the procedure I would suggest for taking it from your brain to a real life product by which we can all be duly amazed.

2. Next you need a drawing.

The very first thing we need after the light bulb has come on in your head for this fantastic idea is a drawing. This will help you firm up the idea in your mind and make it clear to me exactly what it is you need.

Some people provide their own drawings:
Dan,
I run a bird farm. I want to do an exotic bird wall plaque. I have enclosed a drawing. Can you help me?
Thanks,
Jill

Sometimes the drawings need a little touching up.

I give them a slight tweaking to bring them into focus:

Jill,
Something like this Might be nice
What do you think?

Dan

3. the Model
After all the concerns of the drawing have been appropriately addressed, the model making can start. We will need to discuss of what material the final product will be made. The sculpting will have to be done with that material in mind. I design products for plaster casting, concrete, urethane resin, poly-ester resin, ceramics, foam and metal casting. Each of these mediums may require a different sculpting technique. A figure for resin casting may be sculpted thinner and more delicately than one for a medium such as concrete. A figurine for ceramic production must be free of all undercuts, whereas one for plaster casting may not have to meet those same requirements. These are some of the details that we will need to talk about at this stage.

Here I am out in the back yard enjoying a fine summer day while sculpting a plastiline model of a dragon. This plastiline model is designed to be a concrete statue when it is done. For a model this size I sculpt in Roma Plastilina #1 or # 2. Plastiline is a marvelous material to sculpt original models. It holds fine detail. It shapes easily and retains it's form. Here's the catch. Plastiline is a temporary, material. It is only meant to be an intermediary step to the finished model stage. Plastiline is not durable enough for the extensive mold work that will be needed to bring the model to the production level. For that we will need a hard model. Plastiline models usually require an extra mold making step to get them to the hard model stage.

I am carving this dragon's head model out of urethane foam. Since this model is not made of plastiline the intermediary mold step of bringing it to a hard model will not be necessary. A fiberglass mold or a rubber mold can be made directly off the urethane foam model. Not all models can be carved out of foam. Some of them have to be modeled out of plastiline.

4. The Mold

Converting a Plastiline Model to a Hard Model through the use of a mold.

This is a soft plastiline model of Big Foot. In order to convert the soft plastiline model into a hard model a mold must be made. This mold may be a plaster mold (called a waste mold because the mold will be discarded after one use.) or a rubber mold depending on whether the model has undercuts or not.

Have you noticed that I seem to get a lot of requests for the unusual. Not that I'm complaining. Life in normal reality is probably boring. Here in the skewed perspective of fantasy land you have the freedom to break the rules of proportion and symmetry. This plastiline model of Bigfoot is not the perfectly proportioned, graceful figure of a Greek god. It has its own power. Just like Beauty and the Beast, King Cong or Frankenstein the monster has the charm and fascination of the noble savage. They are pure of heart. Often with the innocence of a child. They are the star of the film not the fair hearted maiden.

The above plastiline model of Big Foot is 12 inches high and has considerable detail. It is a prime candidate for a rubber mold. The twists and turns and undercuts of the body would make plaster mold making a true challenge.

On the other hand we have this fairly straight forward plastiline model of a turtle stepping stone. It is approximately 18" x 18" and would be a very easy model of which to make a plaster mold. In the picture I am preparing the model with an application of mold soap.
Let's look at what it takes to turn one of these simpler soft plastiline models into a hard plaster model with which we may continue the mold making processes.

Dan's World pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Back

Call or e-mail for quotes

Dan Kijak 4308 Shankweiler Rd. Orefield PA 18069

610-391-9277