Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Sofubi paint masks

Most sofubi is done free spray, but a lot of makers also have masks made to spray certain areas of their figures. Masks allow for very precise paint work as well as complex designs. The downside is they're very expensive, costing hundreds of dollars for even very small masks.

Here are a few masks used by Luke Rook (Grody Shogun Lulubell).

Masks for Betty Hairy Honey:

Note there are 3 masks just for the eyes!


More after the jump:

Masks for the Lulubell x Real Head mini Fortune Cat:
The character ("love") is so complex that two masks are used (one after the other) to spray the same area.

From the inside. Each mask fits its toy perfectly.


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10 comments:

  1. milesJanuary 18, 2012 at 10:09 AM

    Hey Andy what are the masks made out of? Metal?

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  2. snakepunchesfoxJanuary 18, 2012 at 10:55 AM

    I was wondering the same thing. Looks like a little copper is showing through on a few. Do they use lasers to make the cut outs?

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  3. UnknownJanuary 18, 2012 at 3:42 PM

    they're often hand-cut brass sheets...copper would make sense as well.

    thanks for this article, there's so little info out there about this part of the process...!

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  4. andy bJanuary 18, 2012 at 11:06 PM

    Yep, the masks are hand cut metal. I'm looking into the materials. My guess is copper, since that's used for toy molds in Japan. I'll find out more and do a follow up post.

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  5. connellJanuary 19, 2012 at 12:48 AM

    I would be curious if there is any information on sofubi masks as collectables?

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  6. milesJanuary 20, 2012 at 1:33 AM

    Makes sense for the high cost then. Seems like Vacuformed masks would work too and be cheaper.
    thanks for the info

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  7. andy bJanuary 20, 2012 at 10:56 PM

    I'd think the only masks one could collect would be for retired figures or those that, for whatever reason, had new masks made.

    But it seems to me there's very little interest in the modern indy sofubi world for provenance related collectibles (perhaps because most of the makers have only been at it a few years). I imagine there must be a collector or two avidly pursuing proto and development pieces related to vintage figures.

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  8. andy bJanuary 20, 2012 at 10:57 PM

    Miles: what's a vacuformed mask?

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  9. milesJanuary 21, 2012 at 1:49 AM

    Its a process of heating up plastic sheets and suction forming them over an item.

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  10. andy bJanuary 24, 2012 at 2:54 AM

    Nice, thanks for the info! I'm gathering more material about the masks and am planning a follow-up post hopefully pretty soon.

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