Shellhead
Well-Known Member
I love coming to this forum to see the amazing talent and fantastic costumes. I'm no where near the calibre of the sculptors here but I was certainly inspired to try my first sculpt on a custume idea my buddy and I had for Dragoncon this year.
Between Wolverine, Batman Begins Scarecrow and some other Simon Pegg and Nick Frost costumes we'll be doing (i.e. Spaced) we decided to tackle this little scene from Paul:
View attachment 63896
At first, I was going to go the papermache route--I mean, what do I know about casting?? But then a buddy of mine who's very afluent in the field decided to show me how to do it.
I had already wrapped a hat mannequins' head with tape to a desired size and constructed a base body out of pvc piping. I added sculpting clay to the head and details using some Paul photos I got online.
again--I really didn't have the proper tools to do this --the most important would have been a base to keep the head upright while i worked--but I made do with what I had in my budget:
View attachment 63889 View attachment 63890 View attachment 63891 View attachment 63892 View attachment 63893
View attachment 63894 View attachment 63895
Moving on to the body, I used and wrapped pillow stuffing around the piping for a little girth. didn't have to look pretty knowing he'll be clothed. I then went to Goodwill and purchased children, sized jeans, shirt and boots of which I would stuff some more. Made hip joints and thighs with the pvc to have some weight to the movement of his legs
View attachment 63897 View attachment 63898 View attachment 63899
I stumbled across a child sized cowboy vest and chaps at a local antique store--needless to say, I didn't hesitate to purchase them!
As this fella is going to be a 'semi' puppet I thought about how on Earth were we going to make him walk(?). We decided on a clear acrylic that would extend from both sides of Pauls boots that would attach to our feet and make him 'walk' as we walked. I attached the acrylic to the underside of the boot by screwing it in and left a velcro strap on the other end for our shoes.
View attachment 63900
Added more stuffing to the jeans and shirt, attached them with some hidden safety pins and his body is beginning to take shape.
View attachment 63901 View attachment 63911 View attachment 63912 View attachment 63902 View attachment 63903 View attachment 63904
Going back to the head, it cracked in a few areas (dried out) but nothing a little touch up clay couldn't fix. My friend had me build a seperator and then we began the casting process. We went back over it a few days later with a wrapping of plaster and burlap. As of last night, we repeated the process with the back side of his head.
View attachment 63905 View attachment 63906 View attachment 63907
During this time, my Empire Strikes Back T-Shirt (as worn by Pegg in the film) came in
View attachment 63910
With a few short weeks left, I know time is running short on this one. I am crossing my fingers the mold will come out ok and, if it does, painitng Paul will be another item to tackle once the latex head comes out. I need to extend his hands a little bit so that his arms aren't all 'gloves' and add some wiring to bend his fingers.
I'll certainly add more pics when more progress has been made but I thought I'd share this project with you good folks.
Take care, thanks for taking the time to view and wish us luck!!
Thanks Foe and B...this is gonna be a HOOT!
Between Wolverine, Batman Begins Scarecrow and some other Simon Pegg and Nick Frost costumes we'll be doing (i.e. Spaced) we decided to tackle this little scene from Paul:
View attachment 63896
At first, I was going to go the papermache route--I mean, what do I know about casting?? But then a buddy of mine who's very afluent in the field decided to show me how to do it.
I had already wrapped a hat mannequins' head with tape to a desired size and constructed a base body out of pvc piping. I added sculpting clay to the head and details using some Paul photos I got online.
again--I really didn't have the proper tools to do this --the most important would have been a base to keep the head upright while i worked--but I made do with what I had in my budget:
View attachment 63889 View attachment 63890 View attachment 63891 View attachment 63892 View attachment 63893
View attachment 63894 View attachment 63895
Moving on to the body, I used and wrapped pillow stuffing around the piping for a little girth. didn't have to look pretty knowing he'll be clothed. I then went to Goodwill and purchased children, sized jeans, shirt and boots of which I would stuff some more. Made hip joints and thighs with the pvc to have some weight to the movement of his legs
View attachment 63897 View attachment 63898 View attachment 63899
I stumbled across a child sized cowboy vest and chaps at a local antique store--needless to say, I didn't hesitate to purchase them!
As this fella is going to be a 'semi' puppet I thought about how on Earth were we going to make him walk(?). We decided on a clear acrylic that would extend from both sides of Pauls boots that would attach to our feet and make him 'walk' as we walked. I attached the acrylic to the underside of the boot by screwing it in and left a velcro strap on the other end for our shoes.
View attachment 63900
Added more stuffing to the jeans and shirt, attached them with some hidden safety pins and his body is beginning to take shape.
View attachment 63901 View attachment 63911 View attachment 63912 View attachment 63902 View attachment 63903 View attachment 63904
Going back to the head, it cracked in a few areas (dried out) but nothing a little touch up clay couldn't fix. My friend had me build a seperator and then we began the casting process. We went back over it a few days later with a wrapping of plaster and burlap. As of last night, we repeated the process with the back side of his head.
View attachment 63905 View attachment 63906 View attachment 63907
During this time, my Empire Strikes Back T-Shirt (as worn by Pegg in the film) came in
View attachment 63910
With a few short weeks left, I know time is running short on this one. I am crossing my fingers the mold will come out ok and, if it does, painitng Paul will be another item to tackle once the latex head comes out. I need to extend his hands a little bit so that his arms aren't all 'gloves' and add some wiring to bend his fingers.
I'll certainly add more pics when more progress has been made but I thought I'd share this project with you good folks.
Take care, thanks for taking the time to view and wish us luck!!
Thanks Foe and B...this is gonna be a HOOT!
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