The Le: Can you discuss the molding process?

James: Basically when a figure is sculpted it goes to the mold maker. Some figures are molded in resin molds and some are vulcanized in rubber molds, it all depends on the process the copmpany is using. The mold maker makes a master mold of the figure from which they cast up multiple copies, usually 10 to 12. These copies are then placed in another mold which becomes the production mold. Now the production mold can be spun in a spin casting machine or plastic injection mold and mass produced. Rubber molds are pressed and heated until the rubber melts around the figures and then the rubber cures and leaves a cavity once you take out the figures. This creates a mold that can be castin a casting machine by pouring molten metal into it. Plastic molds are machined like a die and basically when they are done you have a mold that liquid plastic can be injected into.

The Le: Of the high-profile figures you created, which ones did you get to choose the pose, and which ones did Wizkids specify the pose?

James: Most I chose. Some were comic specific, such as the Death of Supergirl figure from Crisis. The World's Finest was chosen by Wizkids. It differed greatly, sometimes someone from Wizkids liked a particular character and you would get a specific description and it was all posed out in the description, they definately wanted them a certain way for some. Often if it was a more obscure character there would be no guidelines whatsoever. They were always pretty flexable though, it you wanted to go in a certain direction they would let you. Production concerns would also dictate the pose, if they wanted the figure to be one piece for molding purposes you had to make it that way.

The Le: What do you mean "for molding purposes?" Are there some things that specifically cannot be done with sculpts because of the manufacturing process?

James: Basically the more elaborate the pose, the more parts the figure has to be cut up into to mold it. This in turn increases the cost of production, so certain figures were designated as "one piece" figures so they only had to make one mold for it. Usually the rares were multiple part so we could get better poses, while the commons were restricted to one part figures. So if you were working on a one part figure there was less things you could do with the pose because they had to be essentially "flat" or all of their appendages had to run along the same axis.