Hedgehog Bookends

Back in December I made some bookends for some good friends of ours as a Christmas gift. I used a chunk of a pine branch I had laying around and sculpted some little hedgehogs to go on top.

I split the stump in half and sanded the sides flat. Then I carved up the top of the stumps to look more natural like a stump in the forest.

I wanted something to make them more than just a chunk of wood so I made a bunch of little mushrooms and fungus out of hot glue.

So I got a little dish full of ice water and my small hot glue gun and pretty much just squirted a bunch of strings into the water.

They formed kind of like noodles that I cut up in little sections for the stems of the mushrooms.

then i carefully put a little glob on the thinner end of the little stem and tapped the end of it into the mushroom cap shape with my finger that I had chilled in the ice water.

Then I dipped it in the ice water to solidify it.

once I had enough I glued them in a little cluster to the side of the log in a little crevice where the bark had chipped off.

For the shelf fungus I used the bottom of the water dish and made a half circle shape with the hot glue gun. Then I made layers underneath that of hot glue that got progressively smaller and smaller until they made a little upside-down peak. Once that set I popped it off and used the hot tip of the glue gun to melt some rings of texture in the top of the steps where it was stuck to the dish. Then I glued them in place.

After that was all in place I gave it a few coats of shellac to seal the wood.

I painted everything black first and then silver to make it look like metal.

The hedgehogs are not attached to the logs but I put small dots of hot glue on their feet so they can grip to the painted surface.

The silver really helps to make it all unified and fancy looking. 

I had some thin black leather that I cut out and glued them to the bottom with rubber cement so they don't scratch the surface they are put on.

Here they are with the hedgehogs posed on them.

Not bad for a nights work.

Beak Beak Plush Toy

So a long time ago when I was interning at Pencil Test I made this plush toy of Beak Beak from Armikrog as a Christmas gift for Mike and Ed. I recently rediscovered these pictures and decided to share them.

I always start out with a cardstock 3D duplicate when I do plush toys. 

My next step after I have the cardstock all taped together like a ghetto pepakura figure I cut it apart along seam lines and use newspaper to build a pattern for the fabric.

 There were a ton of curves that fit together in strange ways for Beaky's strange anatomy. The inside of the mouth has a piece of thin fun foam stitched into the inside to give it some strength.

Here is the body as I started stuffing it with fiberfill.

Here he is all completed. I put a bow around him to make him look like a Christmas present.

Last time I checked he was hanging out on the couch in Mike and Ed's office.

Crimson Corsair (finished)

So I finished my Crimson Corsair build just in time for the movie premiere. I am just going to post a few pictures of the last phases of the build and then show the final product because I am a little low on time.


So the back half of the mold didn't really turn out to say the least and so I just cast the front half and had to make the back half out of card board and then blend the two together.
Then I painted it all up with an acrylic/latex mix and it looked pretty good.

Then I started sewing the ruffles all over the shirt.

I also made the armor pieces out of foam.

I heat formed them and carved them with my Dremel then painted them black, then silver, and then did the weathering and details. Then I assembled them and put the buckles on.

Here are some shots of the final costume outside the theater before the movie.

I think I am happy with it overall. There are a few things that are a little off just because of a lack of reference, but it was really fun to build and I hope to see more of this character in future films.