I’ve been developing a new line of modular art toys and wanted to share the workflow and a specific hurdle I’m hitting.

# Sculpting and Mold Prep

I sculpted the original masters in **Monster Clay**. For the mold setup, I used **wooden dowels** as sprues to create the pour and vent channels. The molds were made using **tin-cure silicone**, which did a great job of capturing the details from the clay.

# Casting: Epoxy vs. Urethane

I’ve been testing both types of resin for these:

* **Urethane:** The fast cure time is tough. It is difficult to get the resin into the pressure pot before it starts to set.
* **Epoxy:** This is the better choice so far. The longer open time gives me plenty of room to get the pieces into the pressure pot to clear out the bubbles. These green versions were done with epoxy and mica powder.

# The Socket Problem

The goal is for these to be modular, but I’m still struggling with the fit between the head and the body. Resin shrinkage and mold tolerances make it hard to get a snug friction fit. For now, I’m super-gluing the heads on so I can see the finished look, but that obviously defeats the fun of the modular design.

# Critical Thinking / Advice Wanted

If you have designed ball-and-socket or peg joints for resin, how do you account for shrinkage? I am considering over-sizing the ball and sanding it down, or perhaps using separate plastic peg inserts, but I am concerned about the resin being too brittle for repeated swaps.

# Where to find them

Once I get the socket issue sorted, these will be available at [**BistroSinistro.com**](http://BistroSinistro.com) along with my other figurines. I'll probably package them as kits (2 heads and a body) and release more heads and bodies as I sculpt them.

Process: creating modular resin figurines (clay-to-mold-to-cast)