OOAK.biz Blog » people

Working on another figure

Admin — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:00:43 +0000

I started work on another figure. I’m still working on the little House Elf fellow, I just got to the point where I don’t have anything else to do with clay on him, and working with the clay helps relax my fingers after a long day of typing, so I started another figure to help me ease the tension out of my fingers.

I’m not sure what the new figure is going to be. I had started out with a plan in mind, however, when I began trying to make the face it did not look right. Nose too long. Scrap and rebuild. Mouth too low. Scrap and rebuild. Eyes too close together and too high. Scrap and rebuild.

The figure is in the basic layers stage now, preceding when I begin applying the clay to build the features, so I am taking a little time to think about what I want the figure to look like before I try this one more time. If it fails to look right this time I am just going to forget the predefined figure idea and go with whatever it is that the clay is trying to force me to make instead. Might be interesting.

Figure I’m working on

Admin — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:08:53 +0000

My little figure is coming along quite nicely. He’s all fired and half dressed. I did end up deciding the hair I used was too florescent of a red color, so after having carefully rooted it all in I ended up cutting it outta the figure and attaching a more golden blond red color of hair. It looks MUCH better than the bright red color I had used, so I am very happy I made the change. Now I just wish I had my camera working so I could take pictures of the thing to share what he is looking like.

Hands

Admin — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:28:46 +0000

I’m working on the hands for my first house elf figure. I don’t like having to make hands, but at least with the large size of this figure it is easier to work on the hands than it is for a smaller size that I usually work with. Still, they are going to drive me batty as my perfectionist side tries to get perfect looking hands. I think I am going to have to do what I’ve heard many painters do – abandon the project rather than finish it. Leave it as good enough and avoid the temptation to strive for perfect.

Fabrics for dolls

Admin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:10:16 +0000

I picked up some lovely fabrics in town today for the dolls I am working on, and some for a book that I want to bind. The fabrics are pretty brocade type fabrics with lovely decorative trim work on the edges. I’m going to be using them to make kind of a gypsy doll out of, it should look really really kewl when I get the doll made.

House Elf

Admin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:21:06 +0000

My mischief maker house elf is starting to look really good. I will be finishing off the clay on his body soon, just a foundation on which I will be building up the actual body from and putting the clothing, then I plan to start work on the hands so I can fire them in the last firing before I start painting.

I’m still not sure just what he will be wearing, but so far the figure seems to be very expressive and I have no doubt he till let me know what he should be wearing when the time comes to create his costume. So far I do know that he needs to have red hair. His expression is just… he needs red hair. The personality won’t allow any other choice.

House Elves

Admin — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:32:28 +0000

I have decided that I am going to make some house elves to help me raise money for saving my parents’ house. These are going to be a limited edition collectible series of figures that will be sold with the sole purpose of raising money to go toward the saving of my parents house. I’ve already started work on the first house elf, a playful little fellow that likes to sneak about and pick up baubles, and key chains, that he sneaks back to his hiding place to stash.

I’ve got him set in a pose that will allow him to be set at the edge of a doorway or bookshelf or piece of furniture so that it looks like he is peeking out to make sure the coast is clear before he makes his quick dash through the open and back to his hiding hole with his collected treasures.

I’ll share pictures as soon as I get my desktop computer fixed and can get the images off the camera and onto the computer.

Working on my first baby OOAK scuplture

Admin — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:59:24 +0000

I bought a wonderful tutorial on making OOAK babies last night. “LEARN HOW TO SCULPT A POLYMER CLAY OOAK BABY FAIRY” by Goddess-Dreams. I was highly impressed by the tutorial and have already got a really good start on making my own little baby. No snickering, I’ve never tried to make a baby before, I know it sucks right now, but I’m only a few hours into working on it.

I was not sure just what pose to use for the fellow, since I have never made a baby figure before, so I went for trying to make it look like the baby was either just starting to get up or had just fallen while chasing a butterfly.

I really like how the face turned out, since I could not find the tools when I decided I wanted to work on this figure so I ended up using my fingernails and a small knitting needle tool that I was able to find. I have since located the box with my tools in it, so should be able to get to get the baby looking right as I go along.

I’m using a mixture of Caucasian toned ProSculpt and translucent Sculpey on this figure.

To find the how to sculpt a baby in polymer clay tutorial by Goddess-Dreams click here for eBay and search for “LEARN HOW TO SCULPT A POLYMER CLAY OOAK BABY FAIRY”

Remember “Legs too short”?

Admin — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:51:19 +0000

Remember my little “legs too short” fellow I was working on? Well, I have finished the figure and will be making a brief tutorial type guide to how he evolved from a short legged doll into a handsome Neanderthal youth with a curious find. Here is a look at the nearly finished doll – I’ll get better pictures of him later on to share when I take pictures of the now finished doll for the brief tutorial on how he evolved.

I have named him U’Takay (oo’tah-kay), why? I dunno, just felt right as a name when I was looking at the figure after he was all finished.

The old witch survived!

Admin — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:21:48 +0000

Well, I am happy to say that the old witch survived. I just took her out of the convection oven that I use to bake my figures now and she is in very good shape. I had removed her working dress before baking her and cooked her on 225 F for 10 minutes – just long enough to set the clay her hair was rooted into. She came back out in perfect shape.

At the same time I fired the old witch I did the first firing on the other figure, getting it ready for more detailed clay work to be done on it. Now the figure is pre-baked and ready to have the layers of clay that will transform it into a figure applied.

The old witch

Admin — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 06:21:19 +0000

I made this lady to be facing off taming the wyvern that I had entered in the State Fair, but she was not finished in time to be entered with him (I think he did okay alone ) , anyway, I have decided that I will just make her a stand alone figure rather than adding her to the wyvern as she had been intended to be doing.

I finished adding the mohair hair tonight and am about to find out if she can be baked *after* the hair is on. :::closes eyes and hides::: Just in case she can’t – this is the “before firing” way she looked in her work dress.

The work dress is a basic garment used just to give a idea on how eventual clothing will make her look, it is not the finished attire.

Wish her luck, she’s about to be fired…