Eye of Agamotto Build

[FoamSmith]

Be kind. It is my first build thread.

I've started this thread to detail my build of the Eye of Agamotto from the forthcoming Marvel Doctor Strange movie. It will be not be done in real time as the prop is completed and delivered. It's primary purpose is to document how I did mine and the mistakes I made so that someone can do a better one.


I was commissioned by a friend on April 28th to build an Eye and it was needed by A-Kon 27 which was today June 4th. He provided source material and specific requirements. Great! For those aspiring prop makes who want to do this for a living, here is where the first mistake was made. Price was not set. Why did I make this mistake? Well, it really wasn't a mistake for me as I have done work for him before and he was always paid well for my services. It worked out perfectly fine but this is the second mistake many prop makes make. (The first being not charging to begin with. )


We discussed possible options such as an LED effect and I set the clear understanding that I would focus on the base model instead of a luxury one if it came down to delivering or not delivering. We also agreed upon weekly updates. Communication is the key to any customer delivery experience.

Next: On to the Research!

 

[FoamSmith]

Research

The provided source material were a couple of low resolution shots from filming and the Entertainment Weekly shots we've all seen. That will just will not do. To borrow a phrade from Mister Holmes, "Data Data Date. One cannot make bricks without clay."

So off to wield my Google-fu I went. I found a rather helpful Tumbler account that had collected quite a few shots from the filming with many being very high quality. http://http://falson2.tumblr.com/ Searched for tags #Doctor Strange. My research led me to conclude that there are three different versions of this darn thing.

There is a hero prop used on the EW cover and it has an open and closed version. The open version may in fact be Photoshop sorcery. There is a stunt version used in all the filming shots and there seem to be two different version of that one. Each had subtle differences from one another that I had to reconcile. Based on the picture at the link below, I realize that the eye is inside a hollow box with a symbol of Vishna on the face (that octothorpe shape) The bottom bump is in fact a hinge and the top button is a clasp.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124448598@N07/26126658722/in/dateposted/

Next: Design Decisions

 

[FoamSmith]

Design Decisions

First decision is how big to make it. This was not an easy task as there are no scaling references in the pictures. So I decided to scale it to my customer. I sent drawings back and forth to my customer until we found a size that fit his frame. Gere is another mistake i made. Do not send .jpgs because if the are printed straight from the viewer they can get scaled up. Send a document instead so that doesn't happen. Remember to pad dimensions very slightly because as you start shaping the parts they will get reduced after the sanding. Here are the dimensions we agreed upon.



Next, are some of the details. In all of the pictures, there seems to be some sort of mechanism inside the eye. It seems a little more substantial than just a detail. It is also non-symmetrical and possible could function. Not sure how/if it actually worked. I left it out and scaled the center eye up some.



Last was to determine how many components to break this down into. I chose 4; front, back, center eye and "grill".

Next: Front piece sculpt.

 

[FoamSmith]

Front Piece sculpt

I decided to sculpt the front piece as 3/4's of the total thickness. This allowed me to avoid getting two halves to match perfectly in the center considering the decorative edge around the whole thing. Sculpting a perfect circle is almost impossible by hand. I chose to sculpt mine around a 1/3 measuring cup I found at the dollar store. It was 3/4 inches tall which later caused me to increase the thickness of pieces some because I though 1 inch thick was a little bit on the small side.



Since clay is not the best medium for extremely fine detail, I decided to create a sacrificial / throw away mold. This would give me piece I could contour, sand, and add details too. I used Mold Max 40 but didn't take a picture considering most of us have seen enough of mint green silicone. Why Mold Max 40? Tin cure silicone is cheaper than platinum and I'd be a fool to waste the good stuff on a sacrificial mold.

Next: Back piece and more mistakes.

 

[FoamSmith]

Back Piece

I cheated a bit and didn't sculpt a back piece but instead pulled a 1/2 full piece from the front piece mold. I had planned on sanding it down and making it mate the front piece. But then mistakes happened.

1) Don't use left over resin that's been on the shelf for who knows how long.
2) When it says "Shake Well before using", do indeed shake it well.
3) Don't immediately measure off a large amount of hardener that has been shaken well or you'll get a crap-ton of bubbles.
4) Only use tints for the resin you are using. Do not use another brand tint. I used Smooth-on's Super Strong tint in another companies resin.

Somewhere in the above series of mistakes I got a white part that was super soft and a grey part with an oily reside to which nothing would stick. It was a good 3 days before the grey part stopped oozing oil like a teenager with acne. Naturally I had to recast the parts. (You'll notice that the back piece changes to white later on.)



And to finish off the day, I dropped my out of production miniature belt sander resulting in shattered motor mounts. It was great for plastics and foams but little else. RIP little buddy.

Next: Grill

 

[FoamSmith]

Grill
While trying to find a replacement sander, I had to keep the project moving so I decided to start on the grill. Using the top from a thermos bottle from Walmart, I laid out my design and then sacrificed the jumpers from my bread board kit to compete the overlapping bars. There is a technology aspect to all of the details. I then used an awl to punch holes in the plastic and then cut / inserted each end into the hols and into the clay beneath. Last but not least, I sculpted a simple ring around the edge.




Once again, I created a single part sacrificial block mold which in hind sight should have been a two part mold. (I'm having a fire sale on mistakes. ) After I poured resin into the mold I realized that there was a lot of excess resin that needed to be removed for me to create the next master. Dremel took care of that and files did all the detail work.


Next: Back to the back.

 

[FoamSmith]

Back to the back.

Well finally decided to get a bench top sander to replace my little buddy. This allowed me to finally smooth the back and join the two pieces using carpet double sided tape. This allowed me to sand the profiles on both pieces at once so they mated properly. Alas this would be the last time they mated this well.




I cut a circle from 2mm styrene and used it to mark the edge on the back. I then cut a lip on the inside circle so that I could glue the circle into it. The circle will act as the base for center piece or eye. Remember the bubbles comment? The orange filler putty helps take care of those uncovered during sanding.



Next: Sculpting the Eye center piece.

 

[FoamSmith]

Eye center piece
I sculpted the center eye from clay on the disk cut previously and made the center dome using a red measuring spoon. Again, I chose to make a throw away mold, Can anyone spot my heresy?




Here is a better picture of the mold.




Next: The four horsemen

 

[FoamSmith]

Four horseman and the Devil

The next two images show my four prototype masters and how they fit together. It was at this point that I noticed some discrepancies in the previously perfect fit between the front and back. Not sure was what was going on and with a deadline looming I pressed on. I realize now that the original front piece was still curing and had shrunk slightly.



Next steps were to add the details to create the final masters. Here are the center eye and the front piece. A word on the front piece. To add all of the details on central ridge that runs through center of the front piece, you need a very hard carve-able plastic or complete section of Apoxie sculpt. I had neither in that the original front piece was too soft. and there was only a thin section of Apoxie sculpt. Details were very difficult to add and to keep precise. Next time I would possibly add each detail with very small pieces of styrene. Insane? Yes, but much cleaner.

 

[Effigey]

You are doing an amazing job.

 

[FoamSmith]

Thanks Effigey!


Molding and casting

My original plan was to create 2 part molds for all of the parts but the center eye. More specifically, my clever plan included using the sprue that filled the vent holes as alignment pins to connect the front and back pieces as well as connecting the grill to the front piece. As what typically happens to the best laid plans of mice and men, they typically get cheesed. In this case, my calculations showed that I wouldn't have enough silicone to do all of them, With only a day to go before the deadline, I wouldn't have time to get some in and have time for the casts to cure. So I made a decision to proceed with single part molds. Not all casts were successful. I made the mistake and didn't use enough resin.



Once the mods were done, I started my cold casting using brass powder. I was particularly proud of the grill in that I used aluminum and brass powders at the same time. It required precise deposition using a very tine brush to drop the powder along a fine line. Naturally as deadlines loom, the pictures get forgotten. Here are the images for the eye and front piece with grill before final clean up and polish. When I fitted the front and back together I did have to fill small gaps with super glue and brass powder to hide them.



Next: And we are done.

 

[FoamSmith]

And we are done!


Here are my final pictures. I did manage to create an LED effect per m y customers request. Since the LED was so close to the gem piece, I could not get it diffused enough, It just looked like an LED so I recommended to the customer to go with the more accurate central eye. I sent him an e-mail with the picture so he could choose. Once he did I glued in the central eye. I added the cord necklace and bronze bushing supports and delivered it to the customer.






Thanks everyone for their time and patience.

 

[Soulinertia]

Turned out real nice. Good job! :thumbsup

 

[FoamSmith]

Thank you Soulinertia!

 

[JKKS]

And we are done!


Here are my final pictures. I did manage to create an LED effect per m y customers request. Since the LED was so close to the gem piece, I could not get it diffused enough, It just looked like an LED so I recommended to the customer to go with the more accurate central eye. I sent him an e-mail with the picture so he could choose. Once he did I glued in the central eye. I added the cord necklace and bronze bushing supports and delivered it to the customer.

View attachment 632518 View attachment 632519




Thanks everyone for their time and patience.

Amazing job. And with so little references. Looks really great.

 

[Kylash]

Way more accurate than any of the chinese ones on ebay!

 

[Ein]

Something that might work in future - if you get a matte clear coat, you should be able to spray it on clear surfaces like that crystal to make it a bit frosted, which would diffuse the lighting.

 

[sonicfreak04]

amazing work, would you sell copies? if so for how much?

 

[collidingcanvas]

That is absolutely amazing!! I may just have to make one myself!

 

[reididtenroc]

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/2016...B8HlRX&detailNewVersion=&categoryId=200000162