Graduation Gift

I'm hoping my roommate doesn't look at this site because I'm going to post pictures of a gift I made for him. I'm not sure what he'll do with this--maybe he could use it for a good paper weight! It was a challenge for me to make because I had to make this in small steps when he wasn't home.

Here are the parts I used. Peter Parker (spider man head and legs from knees down) and Oz chest, arms, and legs to top of knee.

And here are the photos:

This is the base. I used two grass stands from the Darla figure. I made a cast of a stone looking hedge trim (outdoor landscaping trim). I filled in the gaps with clay. This piece I did bake in the oven. The glue I used to hold it together melted and it was quite the mess but after it dried and the clay hardened, I re-glued in the holes and it turned out quite nice!

Here is the figure. I made him wearing a University of Wisconsin sweatshirt that he likes.

And here is the finished photos. I found a picture of the campus and printed it off to fit on a plastic stand piece.

Hush

Season 4, Episode 10: Hush Original Air Date: 14 December 1999. The creepy demons "The Gentlemen" capture the voice of the population of Sunnydale, to steal human hearts without scream. Giles find that in accordance with a legend, the creatures will be destroyed if a lady screams, but Buffy's gang plus Riley must fight the monsters voiceless.

This is the last of my older pieces I've made that I need to blog. Future blogs will have newer or the newest things I've made...

I started out making this set because I had these Gentlemen action figures. I also had a Willow figure that wore the same outfit she wore in Hush, and I also had a Tara figure. I wanted to create something with these two girls to go along with the whole set. I plan on doing the background for the Buffy/Riley/Gentlemen scene better. I want it to look more like an old clock-tower with the parts of the clock showing. For now this scene is good.

I decided to make the scene where Willow tries to push the vending machine, hurts her leg in the process, falls to the ground, and Tara comes down next to her. Tara then slowly interlocks her fingers with Willow's fingers and together they push the machine with their magic power. This was the first glimpse we get at thinking something more is happening between Willow and Tara than just being friends. It was a nice scene to recreate.

I started off making the Tara figure. I used a Charmed figure and a cast of a Tara head. It was a cast I made out of clay and it wasn't the best for details. I also used a jacket from a Spike figure since she was wearing a coat over a sweatshirt. When I was done with the figure I didn't like how she was sitting and she looked HUGE with all the clothing.

The tricky part was trying to figure how how she was sitting on the floor (they didn't show her sitting in the show). She was in a squatting position but with one knee up. I actually had to get myself into this type of position to figure out how to sculpt it.

One I realized this figure was not going to work, I scrapped the whole thing and started over. I used a Faith body and arms (since the arms had sleeves that looked like a jacket. I used the same legs--just the bottom parts. I used a lot of clay to hold the legs into the position I wanted them then sculpted over that, the dress. I like how this figure turned out. She is sitting on one of her feet and in a crouching position. I used a cast of a Tara head this time which was a better idea. The jacket/sweatshirt still looks large on her but it looked big on her in the show. Here are some before pictures.

It was quite the challenge painting Tara. I really had a hard time figuring out how the bottom of the dress would look if was in this knealing position. I'm very satisfied how it turned out.

For Willow, I used the same figure the manufactures made. Since it was not a deluxe figure she could not sit without looking really silly, so I had to cut up her legs and re-sculpt them in a type of sitting position. I then repainted her pants, and shirt. I like how these things turned out. I could have switched a Willow head for a different one, but I decided to keep the smiling Willow head.

Here are finished pictures of the two girls. For the background I used two plastic bases and glued them to a tile. I added some bumps and dings to the plastic bases to give them a dented, old washing machine look. I painted them white and added some rust spots.

For the vending machine I used the three plastic blocks that came with each of the Charmed Warrior figures. I glued them together. I sculpted the coin slot. I had to cut out a square in the top of one of the boxes. I wanted to create the machine so light could shine through the top picture part. I took a picture of the vending machine from the show. I printed it out and laminated it in thick plastic. I then glued this to the opening I cut in the box. I had a small set of Christmas lights I glued inside this. When the lights are turned on, it looks like an actual vending machine. I don't think my pictures show this but it is really cool! Here are some pictures of the whole set.

For the next part, I made the scene where Buffy is held down by the Gentlemens' sidekicks and she is trying to tell Riley to smash the box to release their voices. Riley has his gun ready to smash the box.

All of the sidekicks are in a squatting position and I needed one to be standing up holding Buffy. I had the Master's legs as extra parts and they worked perfectly. They were made in this awkward standing position but it totally worked for this figure. I did have to sculpt some of the straight-jacket to cover up where the two parts were glued together. I then painted over that figure. It worked out nicely.

I don't have any finished close-ups of this.

For Buffy I mostly used the Buffy Bot figure (torso) and Cordelia legs (from the Slave Cordelia). I had to sculpt the jacket some, and under shit. I used a cast of a Buffy head from clay. I wasn't originally going to keep this figure. I was going to re-do it, but it didn't look so bad after it was painted.

Finished:

For Riley I used a Lord Of The Rings figure, I don't remember his name. I sculpted his army vest, hair, pants and shirt. I also sculpted the parts that are on his belt.

I made the jars on the table from a mold that I made. I put hot glue in the mold . Before I sealed the mold, I put in a painted heart.

Finished:

Here are the pieces together:

Here is the whole set together!