escargot

some of the masters that i vaccuformed over and
a few molds for one-off pieces

study for the monster head

the rider. rough. not his disposition. just the state he's in
now

claws. i crapped these out in 1 night. the clay part that is.
will polish them up but they really aren't that visible on the finished model

the starfish squid's lil chair

butt cheeks

vacuuformed  leg parts.

footsies. note the beige epoxy cast pieces for the foot
details. i sculpted one  tread then smooshed 12 impressions in
clay as a impromptu mold. it worked ok

pre vacuuformed parts

crude armature for the rider in my monster rider challenge

leg pieces

i filled the back of the leg with bondo to make the inner
surface. bondo doesn't like styrene so i added the little
squares( green). each square has a bevelled edge facing towards
the outside making mini fasteners for the bondo to wrap around and grab

steel load bearing section of leg with  shells taped up for inspection

the steel armature was glued to the leg and then covered over with the bondo

steel secured. little wood block filler

and thankfully the steel support holds up the shell's weight. see the bondo. i'll add more
and give it cleaner edges

glad it worked

biggest piece of monster rider challenge  sculpt
fired.    That weird purply gross color. don't squint at this photo. it
looks like something else

bad idea: christmas dinosaur

ok. so we had a contest at work for our christmas
party. tacky sweaters. i went...retarded.
i had a mental image of a candycane striped dinosaur frill...sigh

best shows the length. the candycane bit is about 20".

it hurts to wear. where it meets my forehead feels like a
headache after five minutes. the wires that run to the back were cut
too short . i couldn't sit. D frikin batteries to boot.

it's made of card board, burlap, and matt board covered
in caulk . the lower half of the flap is canvas

i used pieces of a wreath for the furry feathery bits. i hate what i did with the forehead
below the wreathy part. it was a dud. did not debut at party

mash em up

a gift for a friend. the idea came from
this cool artist who makes "Battle Babies"
that are incredible figures made from old toys  reworked into coolness

he is made of a toy jeep, a 12" ninja, some
fischer price mondo sized little people and
some kind of space rover thing( the 6 arms)

primed with krylon primer for plastic.
it peeled in places but i kept on painting.
the finished coats are craft acrylics and house paint.
high class

the little guy inside is made of the ninja head with the arms and legs
 of the soldier that came with the jeep.. the whole thing is held
together with one screw that runs the jeep , ninja, and buggy together.
the rest , hot glue. so much hot glue.  i added pipe cleaner around his face
and it looks like he's wearing a jacket

spare tires. the yellow white thing is a
christmas ornament

plaster master

the legs will be vacuum formed plastic assembled over an armature. these
 master shapes are foam covered in plaster that will be
carved down to the right shape than vacuformed over.
i used to use foam with a thin layer of spackle as surface to vac over but
 the hot plastic sheet would always warp some part of the foam.
this has 1/8th to 1/4 inch of plaster. warp these(gestures towards crotch). i
also found using a jig saw with blade removed shakes the air right out if
applied to the bottom of your mixing container. i think it set up faster too.

shell game

"shell game"..get it. it's a ..shell... sorry for the stupid titles

my spiral is whack but i'll fix it.

where i currently stand. the awkward "lip" or " mouth"
of the shell is a "rubber" seal pressed around the opening
like an astronaut gasket thingy. there'll be clamps and a helmet too.

humble beginnings -monster rider 2012 challenge

 my crustacean beast is a go-go. i love this part of the
process. all hope and high expectations. check blog 3 weeks from
now for moping and defeat

nope it's not a space croissant. i'll get some sketches up later. the hot glue
burns still sting

Dragon Sculpt

New dragon sculpture. Finally finished the armature and attached it to the base. It still needs a lot of support. Might have to anchor the tail down.

take 2 on mr elite

the yellow straps are temporary. wearing these i'm 6'5". add on
the helmet and i could be right at 7 feet tall.

the bungie cord in between the toes pull the toes together
when you lift your foot. the block in the front is angled to spread
 the toes out when they meet the ground. the wires on the rear top of the toes keeps them from
sagging completely down and trippin my ass.  more of a natural walk like a bird-lift foot-
droop some, together. spread when the touch down.
 i'll put little wheels or casters on the underside ends of the toes so when they
connect with terra firma  they won' t catch

break your neck. the leg frame is the
biggest concession to the design. you will see
the back of my knee  through the suit. screw digitgrade
stilts. not walking in  a crowd with those. this keeps my foot relatively
flat. i'll add an ankle support so as not to twist my leg
in a fall. 

Predator looking dude...sort of

Here's a sketch from tonight. It'd be nice if I could finish it.

SHAI' HALUD!!!!!!!!!!

clay model. tiny'halud. gift for joey and rachel. you know who you
are. move back to sc.

clay and foam master for cliff backdrop. this was destroyed along with the mold.
only one shot at that

armature of  maker. hardware cloth is very
pokey. sore fingers often.

you could almost drink your coffee from that. it had to have a throat.

target provided the ball. i'll be damned if i could sculpt a non-crooked
half dome cutaway scoop of arrakis

that thing's operational!

jaws of spice. that's super sculpey mixed with firm sculpey. nice
color and consistency. the inside needed to be softer for ease of
sculpting due to space constraints so it's plain old super sculpey

eventually i cut the back 2/3rds of worm off. it didn't match the sand
 half dome curvature enough

mold of cliffs. lost forever

about 15-20 glops of bondo pressed into the now departed mold

foam backing the plaster "sand" pieces i cast from the ball mold.
i glued the plaster shells to the foam with gorilla glue.
there was also burlap on the inner surface of the shells to grab the glue
a little better

baked worm. ass end removed.

looks nasty and inflamed. used shiftlett bros process of slow baking
at low temps. hard as rock. darkened in thinner areas without bubbling

worm body out of bondo
note small cut out at bottom. it's cave where
the fremen would catch water. not really in any finished
photo here. 

the green is miliput for the edge details

the  burlap was added to grab the plaster better

tiny peoplesss. thin wire with tin foil  torso. layers of acrylic extra heavy
gel.

finished.

the teeth are dollops  of acrylic gel mixed with wood
flour. yes, rachel. they are pearlescent as a unicorn's tear ducts

3/8th inch tall people. paul and jessica? joey and rachel?
one is a girl (standing) there are tiny boobs

the water cave at bottom had multiple layers of modge podge for water.. my least favorite part
of the whole thing. not very visible thank god