Season 2, Episode 20: Go Fish
When several members of Sunnydale High swim team are mysteriously skinned alive, Buffy and the gang take it upon themselves to protect the remaining members, which results in Xander revealing a side of himself rarely seen.

I made Gage from the episode Go Fish. I've wanted to attempt a Wentworth Miller character and the particular scene when he rips off his skin was one that I've always liked. While junk shopping I came across a locker and this set my mind in motion to recreate this scene.

Here are two scenes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer:


The locker system was something I think from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I ripped out something inside which left a hole at the top. I decided to invert the lockers so the hole was on the bottom. It still worked. I glued a piece to the bottom of the locker so that I could screw it to the base. For the base I used a Lorn stage piece. I was originally going to use this cool tile looking floor (which you can see in some pictures) but after watching the show I noticed the floor was cement so I sadly had to scrap that idea (after having to cut up the tile piece to fit into the Lorn stage.)

I had this John Cena figure with the mouth open so I started with that. It was about a 7 inch figure so I knew it would be tricky to find other parts that would be in proportion to this figure's head. I went with a demon Giles body since it had that bumpy texture like the creature in the show. I also used the Leo's (from Charm) lower torso, legs and one arm. This was originally used to make my Grooslaugg figure. Since I redid that figure awhile back I recycled these parts. The size was what I needed. I started out using both of Leo's arms but I ran into some problems. I also used a Spike jacket and an alien's hand and a spider man hand.

Here are some before pics:

I had to cut away some of Gile's body and then I super glued that to the top of Leo's torso. I also drilled a hole in the top of Gile's body and used a plastic dowel to hold up the head. I tilted and angled it some to make him look at his hand. I used a lot of clay for the stomach to fill in the huge gaps. I then sculpted the stomach and the ripped open chest. Next I sculpted the legs. I am extremely happy how the folds in the jeans look. It's very real looking! I'm not sure if the detail is easily seen in the pictures.

I then sculpted the arms. Most of the forearm is the Leo arm. I took off the hand are replaced it with the demon hand. I sculpted around the arm to make it look like one piece. Then I super glued the Spider Man hand to the demon hand and sculpted that in place to appear as if the demon hand is ripping through his human hand. Here is a picture.

For the rest of the arm it didn't look right to have anything attached. I tried gluing parts of other upper arms but it looked too bulky. I decided to just sculpt the rest of the arm and the shirt. I am also very pleased how all the folds and how the rolled up sleeve turned out!

Then I was going to have his other hand supporting the ripped hand (like in the show) but every time I attempted the arm looked super long. For risk of it looking silly I had two options. One was to have his left hand hang down and rest on his leg...which looked great. Option 2 was to have his hand on his ripped open chest area. You can see what I decided was best. This one was super difficult to sculpt. Most of the arm is my own sculpting. I used a different hand (not Leo's) and part of Leo's forearm. The shirt was also tricky to sculpt but I love how it all turned out. The jacket I cut away a large chunk off the bottom to make it not hang so low. I cut away a large chunk from the shoulder areas and sculpted that in to make it appear less rigid and more real. Take a look!

Here are some finished locker pictures. I spray painted the lockers with a metallic silver paint and then sealed it with a matte spray which gave it a really cool look. I painted rust on the bottom. I used a Wesley jacket and an arm from a figure (minus the hand) for the jacket. I only did one side since I glued it to the top of the locker. I sculpted it to look like a letter jacket. I included a bag, cell phone, and shoes that were left over from another figure. I cut part of the blanket from a Spike figure and there is also a mirror glued inside.

Here is the finished painted piece. I do like how the flannel turned out. It was a learning experience how to paint flannel material. I think it looks good. I gave the jeans a textured look. I'm not totally sold on the facial likeness but I think it'll work. It was so darn hard painting Wentworth's eyes on a figure with squinting eyes. There is dirty sweat marks on his head and I used hot glue for the slimy strands on his new demon hand.

Dan C. Real Person

Dan is one of my on-line buddies that I met less than a year ago and as I was showing him my work he wondered if I could make him. He had many different pictures to choose from but he said he liked the one of him on the porch the best. I told him I'd make it for him.

Here is the picture I recreated:

The hardest part making this particular piece was the bench. I tried looking on ebay for benches but none really looked like the bench he was sitting on and I try to get as detailed as possible. This was tricky because I had to make it to the correct size so when the figure sat he wouldn't have dangling legs. The legs are still dangling a bit but it's not bad. For the sides of the bench (and legs) I used a plastic part from maybe a Barbie table. I had to cut that up a bit to get it to size. Then I used the plastic piece from the top of the table for the seat of the bench. I then glued Popsicle sticks to the top of that. I also used some smaller Popsicle sticks to make the back of the bench. It was quite a task to master! I then used some foam board for the decorative front of the bench. The bottom of the base is two floor boards from a Charmed set. I had to cut away some extra plastic pieces and fill in the gaps where walls were. You can see that in the pictures below. Originally it was going to be a wood floor but then Dan said it was actually on concrete so I painted it gray with some grit in the paint to give it a rough texture.

Here are the pieces I used to make Dan. I used a hockey player's head (Salo from the Oilers), A Harry Potter's torso, Claude's (from Heroes) legs , a Xander arm/hand (bent), and a Spike arm/hand (open).

I had to cut a lot off the top of Claude's lower torso to allow for the Harry Potter torso to fit on it. Then I had to figure out just how bent over it needed to be for the arms to rest on the legs and be able to reach up to the arm sockets. The arms were a bit short so I had to sculpt most of the upper arms/shoulders. Here is a picture without arms--torso not glued yet.

Then I sculpted around the legs. I had to cut a lot from the under thigh area. Plastic figures don't squish like real people so in order to make the figure look like it's sitting on the bench and not floating, I had to cut away the bottom of the thighs and then sculpt around it. You can see on some of the side shots where the pants are flat against the bench. I sculpted the crotch area to make it look more natural and I also sculpted over the knee joints. Here are some pictures.

When I attached the Harry Potter top torso there was an awkward gap in the back. I used a lot of clay to fill in that part. In order for the figure to look "normal" I made it so it looks like his shirt is hanging low in the back and his jacket is above it. It seemed to do the trick and cover any irregularities. You can't see that in these pictures.

For the head I had to sculpt the ears, hair, and beard. I am still trying to perfect my ear sculpting. It is not perfect but I think what I did is better than earlier attempts. I then sculpted over most of the Harry Potter torso. Then I sculpted on his jacket.

Finished sculpting:

The background is the wall. I glued Popsicle sticks at an angle on a piece of foam board. It was quite the task to cut and place the sticks but it was worth the effort. I do wish I had slightly wider sticks but it still worked.

And here are the final pictures!

I know the super sized version of these will look sooooo bad since you see every detail and the eyes looked messed up. I just wanted to show some close-ups of the face.