Clem's Dream

Have you ever had an experience where something happens in the real world and before you wake up, it happens in your dreams? Like before you realize your alarm clock is going off you somehow picture the music in your dream. I had this neat idea of making Clem (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) sleeping with all these cats on him and then above him have a dream of himself eating cats. In the show he is a demon that eats cats. So I thought it would be neat to create something with this in mind.

Here is what I planned. I had a plastic bed, it might be a Barbie thing I found at a junk shop. I covered the bottom with some FEMO clay. I was originally going to use a grave stone as a pillow but I ended up using two of Wesley's briefcases. I had to cut one in half and one corner out of another and sculpt clay around them so that they looked like the were being squished with the head resting on them. I also wanted an arm resting on the pillow so that is why I had to cut a corner out.

I have these Xander eye-patch heads and I was going to use one of those heads to sculpt over for Clem...but I figured it would be more work sculpting over that head. So I ended up using a cast of a D'hofferin head. I used scrap parts for the body of Clem. When I re-did my Giles figure (from the Primeval set) I had this body left over, so I used that. I was going to use his arms, but I came across some LOTR action figure's hands/arms which was bigger and that is what I wanted. Then I used some scrap arms and leg parts so that when I sculpted the blanket it gave the illusion of legs. I think I used a thigh part for a deluxe figure, a Master's leg, a LOTR lower leg and an arm joint from a Stargate figure.

Here are some pictures of what I was planning on (The second picture is more accurate to what I used.)

Then I drilled a hole in the D'hofferin head and attached that to the Giles body. I didn't attach the arm since that all was going to be covered by the sheet. I love how Clem's hand is up on the pillow and Willow's cat is playing with it.

I then sculpted over the head to give it more wrinkles. I also sculpted the ears, neck area and the top of the chest. It was rather easy to sculpt this character. He has many folds of skin and wrinkles. The hardest part with this was getting the clay to stick to the casted head. For some reason some of my casts turned out bad. I'm sure I mixed the plastic ratios wrong. So this clay doesn't' stick once it's boiled. But super glue is my friend!

I took a break at this point to start working on the Dream Clem. I had this Spike figure that had his mouth open and I thought it would be funny to have him eating a cat with only the tail left. I had to cut some of the vampire face off Spike since the eyebrow line had a mean look to it and I wanted to convey pleasure on Clem's face, so the eyebrows needed to be slanted upward. I also had to cut down the body/jacket so that I could attach it to a flat wall base. Here is what I used for starters...

This is a picture of a side by side comparison of the sculpted Clem and how the figure started out. I didn't actually use this Spike, it was one with the rubber coat figures, but you get the idea.

Now for the dream state I tossed around many ideas. I tried drying some scenic water with flakes of fake show in it. I liked how it turned out so I made more so it would be all around the Dream Clem. I then wanted to add some cotton fluff to make it have a smoky effect. Here is what I planned...

I did end up having to make a cat since I didn't have one that was sprawled out. I wanted a cat to be in his hands ready to be eaten after he finished the one he's got in his mouth. It turned out larger than I wanted, but I kept it. I also ended up using the Master's hands for this figure. They were big and they had the right look to them. The hardest part with this was having to make the cat separate from the end of the tail, the part in Clem's hand. I had to glue the parts together and it didn't quite fit together, but I had the cloud covering some of that part anyway, so it's ok. This Clem is attached to the base with a screw.

Here is the painted Clem. The eyes look bad here but you'll see later on he's looking down at the sleeping Clem so I took these pictures at a weird angle.

At this point I made the bed sheet. First time it was too small and I was piecing the clay parts together and it looked awful. I decided I had to roll out the clay with a rolling pin in some wax paper. As I was finishing up rolling the clay the underside wax paper got wrinkly and when I took it off the paper it had creases in it. I loved the effect. When I positioned the sheet I did make folds in the sheet. It's easy to see in this picture but later on when I painted the lines on the bed sheet it is harder to see the folds. I don't paint shades on my figures and I'm sure that would have improved the 3D look.

Now I wanted to not just have the cats all over Clem. I had this cage in my clutter pile so I decided to make it seem like the cage opened up and the cats got out. There is a litter box (part of Xander's tool box) and a bowl of food and water. One cat is left in the cage. I used a piece of wood floor for this separate piece and what was left over from a carpet piece I used in the Willow/Glory sculpture and the Willow/Tara sculpture.

I did end up repainting the cats. I wanted them to look more natural and have better looking eyes. I like how it all turned out. Now, here is the whole set together. I tried to take many angled shots to give my viewers the full visual of this piece. I do love how it all came together.

I don't take many liberties in my work, meaning I don't stray away from the normal movie/show sculptures but I'm glad I took this risk.