Knob Shining; or A lil' ONtopic market research: Shift Knobs

[Hellfish]

My brother is an artist and I've been trying to encourage him to put his skills to use and make some cool car stuff, like shift knobs. I'm a little tired of seeing the same skulls, dice, etc all the time. He's finally worked up some prototypes and will probably do them in very limited quantities. I wanted some HAMB opinions on how well you think they'd sell. He has a bunch of cool ideas, these are just the first to materialize: a clown and a jack o'lantern. Do you think they'd sell better cast in hard resin or a softer material, like a rubber mallet?
(artistic copyrights apply, so please no idea stealing!) http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

http://tigger.uic.edu/~jwisla1/pmpkin1.jpg
http://tigger.uic.edu/~jwisla1/protoclown2.jpg

[Johnny Ace]

Hellfish,
I see he is using what looks like Plastilina or some other oil-based clay.....has he tried polymers?

It will be damned hard to cast from a clay prototype..not impossible....but easier from a hard proto...
both resin and hard urethane shift knob castings would be possible from a hard original as well....
PM us if we can help....

[DrJ]

They wouldn't be very paintable if they were soft. paint might pop off easy...

I like the "Quark" face!