I'm Back: a Dinosaur's Story.

Howdy, friends! Sorry I’ve been away for so long, but I’ve been working on lots of exciting things, and contracted a very exciting stomach virus. I am now, however, back!

Since we last spoke, I’ve been working on finishing up the molds for the Krustiez, and you would not believe how many roadblocks and headaches I’ve had to deal with. The first go-round with the silicone went south on me, and I ended up with a box full of goop. That’s what I get for not making any molds for a year. Afterward, I made a bunch of molds for the bakery to help us with some stuff that we do, and when I was able to jump back into my project, I got sick. Now that I’m better and have ahd a refresher in Mold making 101, the Krustiez molds are all poured up and curing as we speak. We’ll know tomorrow if anything went really wrong.

In other news, this past Sunday I sculpted up a trio of little monsters about an inch and a half to two inches tall, just for the sheer hell of it. I like them fairly well, and plan to cast those also. Lots of exciting things happening here at the Command Center. I’ve posted the in-progress shots of the sculpts for the little monsters, and tomorrow I’ll show you how they looked finished.

Check it out!

So the molds are in the Monsterizer, and new molds are being made even as we speak. Now I really must jet. Ta!

Process Shots.

Here are some minty fresh shots from the day's work. If I may share some wisdom always do the thing the right way like you're supposed to or you'll have to do it twice, dummy. If I had just obeyed that rule.... regardless, it's done now. See what it took to get this did!







The beast himself is made of super sculpey, aluminum foil, aluminum wire, floral wire, and a couple of joints scavenged off another toy. I love that he's basically just a big mouth, because I have a lot of fun sculpting mouths. I like to make a handful of super sculpey teeth, bake them, and then when they are hard I set them into the as yet unbaked gums, and then cure the whole thing in the oven. then i add the lips, and the rest of the face, and build and bake as I go. The legs were made separately over wire, and then added to the bulk of the body with more super sculpey. They are not articulated, as the shape of the character wouldn't allow for very much hip movement, anyway. the arms were constructed from plumbers epoxy, aluminum wire, and floral wire, and then covered in super sculpey. They were then baked hard, and the whole thing was assembled carefully for the photograph, and taken apart again even more carefully.

Next step is the molds!

Vin, Fully Assembled.

So, here's Vin all assembled and with all of his component parts. I'll upload some images of the work in progress, too, so you can see what goes into a mess like this. Check it out!

Action Figure Prototype Sculpted!

So, after much wasting time, I have put together my first articulated action figure! Feature a whopping two points of articulation, I give you Vin, the first of a line of small monster action figures I am tentatively calling "Krustiez." These are inspired by the kind of gross-out toys I remember being fairly popular in the late eighties, early nineties.

The Krustiez are a bunch of tiny, nugget-bodied monsters that live in your basements and garbage, and take on some of the characteristics of whatever they encounter most often. Due to his prolonged exposure to rats as a youth, Vinegar Chesterfield Heatherington or "Vin," took on decidedly rodent-like traits. Like all of his kin, Vin suffers from delusions of regal breeding and nobility, as well as a decided lack of cognitive capability. That is to say, he's dumb as a post. And not a smart post. He still sees himself as the "idea man" of his clan of trash-dwellers, even though his plan to get all of the humans' food by gluing popsicle sticks to snails was, as could be guessed, not entirely successful. Never daunted, Vin and his best friend Pus are always on the lookout for new mischiefs and scams.

This was about a nine hour sculpt, and I'm mostly pleased with it. I'm hoping to get it cast this week so I can start pouring up the final resin pieces, which will be available for purchase as soon as I can figure out how to make an online store or something. You want one?

Vin is about three inches tall, and hopefully the first of several Krustiez which will be available. Up next is Pus, whom I shall show you a bit of later on this week.

What do you think, sirs?

I paint my pants on one leg at a time.

Here we go. Work in progress.  About an hour and a half into painting. Not even close to finished yet.  Well, maybe close-ish, yeah?  Still need to do his bowtie and jacket and whatnot.  I had myself a good chuckle when I realized that there's a picture of me wearing almost exactly this outfit. Gotta track that one down.  Good stuff. So tired. Must sleep.

Mamasaurus

Not really a monster, nor a work in progress, but I stopped by my parents' house today, and had almost forgotten that I'd even made this until I saw it. This was a gift to my Mom last year for her birthday. When I was a kid I was a dinosaur nut (still am, too) and my Mom used to pretend to have a favorite dinosaur so that we'd have something to talk about. For her birthday I wanted to make her something instead of buying a gift, so I dug back in the memory banks until I came up with Parasaurolophus, her favorite. Here it is, about five inches tall, sculpey over wire and aluminum on a wooden base. Check out the little trilobites and things that ring the bottom!

Monster in Progress

So, a few weeks ago I spent the weekend with a pug who enjoys the nickname "Har Har," for the snorting noises she makes when she breathes.  This is because pugs are a congenital birth defect that we (we here meaning human beings) have purposely, selectively bred in otherwise perfectly healthy animals.  Anyhouse, I kept staring at this freak monster's sausage face, and was inspired.  I sculpted up a thing that was heavily influenced by this grotesque nugget's puss, and it turned into kind of a professor.  I'm tentatively giving this one the name Harvard Harrigan, in honor of the Har Har.  Work in Progress.  Sculpey over wire. Check it out!