For this year's Halloween party, I wanted to make a big centre piece. I decided on the laughing deer from Evil Dead 2. I've bought a deer form (the rigid foam kind) and plan on skinning him with fake fur.
First, I'm going to need to sculpt the snout, open the mouth, and make him look a lot more deaditeified. I'm thinking of using non-crack air dry clay (I have Pebeo on hand) to bulk out (and pray this stuff really is non-crack because I've had plenty of disastrous results with the regular air dry stuff)
BUT... the deer is moulting on the snout, which means I'll have to punch the hair around the face to make it look more convincing. I'll be getting long pile fake fur, so I can trim some off the backing to use. Unfortunately I don't have the time or resources to make a silicone skin for the deer (which is what I've seen many people opt for when punching hair). Seeing as I'm not replicating a human where it's important for perfection to get out of the uncanny valley, and the fact that the original prop that was already hokey to begin with, I think I can get away with some shortcuts.
But the question is, how do I punch hair into clay? Would it have to be while it's still drying? I've heard of people punching hair into raw polymer clay and then wetting the hair when putting it in the oven to stop it singeing. But then that raises the question of how would I go about painting it afterwards when the clay has dried and the hair is set without getting paint all over the hair? Perhaps a layer of Fimo over the top in the correct colour which the hair can then be plugged into, but given the size and the foam, it wouldn't be practical to stick in the oven.
Any thoughts?
In the meantime, I've made the eyes. Clear plastic baubles trimmed to size and then I airbrushed the pinky border (since I'm going to add a slight lower eyelid out of clay, I brought the pink a little higher on the bottom of the eyes). Finally, I sprayed in the white. This was all done on the inside of the eye, meaning I had to paint everything in reverse, but it also means I get the nice shiny finish of the bauble and there's no risk of the paint running if I accidentally hit it with thinner when painting the rest. The plan is to install the eyes, then mask them off and add the clay. I'm only at the first step and it's already starting to take shape!
First, I'm going to need to sculpt the snout, open the mouth, and make him look a lot more deaditeified. I'm thinking of using non-crack air dry clay (I have Pebeo on hand) to bulk out (and pray this stuff really is non-crack because I've had plenty of disastrous results with the regular air dry stuff)
BUT... the deer is moulting on the snout, which means I'll have to punch the hair around the face to make it look more convincing. I'll be getting long pile fake fur, so I can trim some off the backing to use. Unfortunately I don't have the time or resources to make a silicone skin for the deer (which is what I've seen many people opt for when punching hair). Seeing as I'm not replicating a human where it's important for perfection to get out of the uncanny valley, and the fact that the original prop that was already hokey to begin with, I think I can get away with some shortcuts.
But the question is, how do I punch hair into clay? Would it have to be while it's still drying? I've heard of people punching hair into raw polymer clay and then wetting the hair when putting it in the oven to stop it singeing. But then that raises the question of how would I go about painting it afterwards when the clay has dried and the hair is set without getting paint all over the hair? Perhaps a layer of Fimo over the top in the correct colour which the hair can then be plugged into, but given the size and the foam, it wouldn't be practical to stick in the oven.
Any thoughts?
In the meantime, I've made the eyes. Clear plastic baubles trimmed to size and then I airbrushed the pinky border (since I'm going to add a slight lower eyelid out of clay, I brought the pink a little higher on the bottom of the eyes). Finally, I sprayed in the white. This was all done on the inside of the eye, meaning I had to paint everything in reverse, but it also means I get the nice shiny finish of the bauble and there's no risk of the paint running if I accidentally hit it with thinner when painting the rest. The plan is to install the eyes, then mask them off and add the clay. I'm only at the first step and it's already starting to take shape!
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