Well sorry to all you non-Pokéfans out there, but I am a big fan of Pokémon so I’ll probably do Poké-related posts every now and then. Here is such a one.
But first, my partner discovered a neat Australian product called ‘Plastimake’. She spontaneously bought a batch and we have had LOTS of fun with it. It’s a non-toxic plastic material that becomes sculptable when placed in boiling water. It also biodegrades into carbon dioxide and water (http://www.plastimake.com/). It sounds like I work for the company, but I was just surprised by its convenience.
We’ve used Plastimake for practical things, but I’ve made two Pokémon models with it too. Here is Electabuzz, an Electric-typed Pokémon. I don’t have any toys/models, but it is strangely rewarding to have a self-made Electabuzz. Because it is plastic there is no risk of breakage. In the Pokémon games, Electabuzz congregate around power plants so it’s fitting that it sits on our lamp.
Electabuzz, artwork by Ken Sugimori
On a more practical but still geeky note, I modelled a doorstop from another Pokémon species: Poliwhirl. Poliwhirl’s design is based off of the transition between tadpole and frog. I used a regular wooden doorstop on the interior and coated it with Plastimake. It does the job well.
That’s it for my Plastimake spruiking. I hope you enjoyed my toys, I know they were fun to create, if sometimes a little scaldy.