Season 3, Episode 22: Graduation Day: Part 2
Original Air Date: 13 July 1999

Buffy forces Angel to drink her own blood to rid his body of Faith's poison. With Buffy in a severely weakened state, the gang decides to rally the masses of Sunnydale High to defeat the Mayor once and for all.

I found this really cool skull head and it got me thinking about making the mayor when he transformed into the demon at the Sunnydale graduation. It was quite a fun piece to make but very time consuming. I used a plastic piece for the bottom of the demon and screwed that to a circular tube. I then screwed an arch piece that I had to the tube and also the top of the skull.

Here are some pictures of the parts I used for the demon.

I used so many random parts for this that I don't even recall. It was quite fun using parts that were basically useless. I then taped on cheese cloth. I didn't even want to imagine how much clay I would have to use for this so I opted to use Plaster of Paris. I used to have the stuff they use for casts (which is essentially the same thing) but I got rid of it. So I ended up cutting up strips of cheese cloth and dipping it in the plaster and then covering the parts. It was painful and messy and it took many days to complete. I am very happy with how the head turned out. I got the eye area looking very reptilian looking and the mouth area. It's quite impressive considering what I was working with and how quickly this stuff dries! For the eyes I cut a balloon (for the Prom Buffy) in half and then covered around it with cheese cloth/plaster. It has a see-through look to it and it is extremely creepy if you peer into it but I couldn't get a picture of this. Here are some in-progress photos.

Finished with the plaster of Paris, unpainted.

The demon stands about 17 inches high. I'm also a pretty detailed person and in the show the demon has these scales on the back. I originally started with scales on (as you may notice) but I decided it was not something I wanted to keep, plus it was hard to keep the pieces glued to the plaster. I also decided to add a snake-like tongue. I don't think there was a tongue in the show but I just decided to add it.

The scene that I decided to make was where the demon is getting ready to eat the principal. I wanted to make this scene since I've always wanted to make the principal and I just thought it was a cool part of the show. For the principal I used a X-Files Molder (?) body and a Nicki (?)from Heroes head. I used a screw for the neck and filled it in with clay. I was a bit worried using a female head for the old guy. Plus I had to sculpt ears which I'm still working on. I have to say I love how it turned out. There are no traces of female that I can see and the modifications I made to the head aged the head.

The base was a challenge but fun. I wanted to make the stage area (since that is where the show took place). I started off with a piece of foam board (but I should have used a thin piece of wood since I ended up screwing the demon to the base) and I mixed in some cut up cheese cloth to green paint for the grass. I added fine sand to grey paint to make the sidewalk and I had this cool brick material I used for the sidewalk. This is real to the show. Most of this is covered by the stage, however.

Here is the thing about the stage. In the show the demon does not crash through the stage. But for this huge thing to be on a tiny stage it would make sense for it to break. So I decided to make the stage look like the demon smashed through it and took the diploma table and podium with it. For the stage I used a large table (?) from maybe a Barbie thing. There are random bits of wood around the demon to make it look like it is busted stuff. I used a heat gun to melt the stage and the plastic (Iron) bars that hold up the stage. I'm not sure if you can see this in the pictures. I also had some really cool velvet paper that matches the library carpet so I covered the stage with that. I then used some plastic paper and made the decorations going around the stage. I cut up some cylinder items and put them in a box for all the diplomas.

Here is a picture of the stage.

From the show:

The demon was a digital cartoon in the show so it was very hard to try to paint it accurately. I painted the demon using greens, blacks, blues and then dry brushed with with a lighter green. It was my hope that it would pick up on the cheese cloth texture and appear to look like scales, and it did!

I also love how the principal turned out!

(Show picture of principal)

Here are the final pictures!

(Show picture of the demon)

Convictions--Eve

Season 5, Episode 1: Conviction
Original Air Date: 1 October 2003
Angel and the gang adjust to life at Wolfram & Hart, while Angel lets loose the shocking contents of a package from Sunnydale.

I originally saw a figure of Sydney Bristow from Alias on ebay and I thought it would make a great Eve head that no one has done before. When I got the figure I saw she was way too big and it sat around waiting to be turned into something. I decided to make this particular Eve figure for a challenge on the Buffy Figs Forum ( http://btvsfigs.proboards.com/index.cgi? ). I had all the spare parts I needed laying around and since this figure is about an inch taller than regular figures, she had to be in a set all by herself...so it all worked out.

For Eve I used the Sydney head, torso, arms, and one hand. I used another hand from a wrestling diva figure, and the legs from a Six figure from Battlestar Galactica.

I wanted to make the scene where we first saw Eve. Angel just took over the Wolfram & Hart office and he goes into his office and sees Eve. I like the part where she introduced herself as Eve and then tosses Angel the apple (a little Biblical irony). Here is Eve on the desk, most of my motivation for the scene I wanted to make.






I think the hardest part was trying to figure out how to get the legs to stay crossed without having to super glue them. I wanted them to be rather secure. I tried screwing them but each time the legs would shift and it wouldn't look right. I also had sculpted both legs but knew better to not boil the clay (or it would crack as I was screwing them in place). I did manage to get the legs screwed together, and then screwed into the body. Here are some pictures.

Here I was just seeing how I wanted to position the legs.

One leg is sculpted:

Legs. I did have to cut away a bit on that top leg (the bottom thigh) and then resculpt the bottom of the leg so it looked like it was being a bit smooshed when rested on the other leg.


I then sculpted her butt and molded a dress around that. This part worked out easier than I expected. The way she is leaning back, with legs crossed I had to think about how her butt would rest on the desk. I then sculpted the apple. I decided to not fight with her hand to make it look like she's holding it with a few fingers, but instead I put the apple in her hand (which did squish the apple some). Her other hand is glued to the bottom of the jacket and I sculpted a little of the wrist. I also sculpted her shoulders and hair.


I am very pleased how she turned out. This is one of my better paintings on a face. It was slightly easier since it was a 7 inch figure, not a 6 inch.



I had to make the desk. A 12:1 scale dollhouse desk would not be the correct size. I decided to use two plastic back walls base pieces. I got a mini saw from my dad which really help in my motivation in making this. In the past I would boil the plastic and cut it with a razor blade. This was so much nicer. Still hard to cut since heated plastic melts, but better. I also used a hockey player's stand for the top of the desk. I needed it to have that angle in it. The way I fit the piece together to make it look like seams was very cool. I then added some cardboard to the top to give it that edge look and also to the front so there would be like a panel in the front of the desk. I used 4 handles from an axe and glued that to the panel part. I also glued some nubs (actually plastic bone pieces from a game) to the bottom of the desk for the feet. Here are some before and after.

I painted the desk to have a wooden look which looked great. I then used scenic water to put a shiny coat over the desk. With this shine the pictures look really bad. It does not photograph well.




I also wanted to make some desk pieces to make the desk look official. First I used a Barbie chair for the office chair. I covered only the top part with clay to make it look like the expensive office chair. The rest is still pink and left undone. It is not meant to be seen from the back side so I didn't see the point in taking the time in making this look like a real chair (other than the top).


I also used a Cordelia box-like purse for a stand up piece. I used the bottom of a trophy and a piece from a weapon to make the pen holder. I also used a match box and another weapon piece to make another pen holder. For the lamp I used parts from the Kurt Kobain figure's mike stand and music stand for the lamps. I glued some bits together to make it look like lamps. I also used a piece of cardboard to make the place mat on the desk. Here are the final pictures.