Wednesday 30 January 2013

Unicorn Progress - Construction Begins!

This is a bit of a big update as it comprises almost two weeks worth of work. I missed two days last week and today in fact as I've been choked up with a cold (like most people I know at the moment, lol) so I would probably have done most of this sooner had I managed to get in. Regardless, I've done a lot more than I thought I would in the time.

The last time you saw this little guy he was still unfinished; his mane woefully untextured and sausage-like. Now, he sits pride of place on a shelf, watching me work.

Finished Maquette

Photos of him were taken from the side and front and then enlarged to the size the of the final model as I would be using them as a scale reference. Once printed, I traced the basic outlines and had those copied and scaled too, then the profile was double-sided to a sheet of MDF which I cut out on the bandsaw. The notch at the top is to allow for the horn to be inserted. (assuming I actually get round to making my mind up on what I want it to look like! lol)

MDF base

It is very small, and if I'd realised how tiny it was going to turn out I would probably have re-sized it there and then but never mind. I always imagine Unicorns as being rather petite anyway so it's fine. :P



MDF was glued at the base of the neck at the widest part so I knew where to sculpt to and then I began to add the blue foam. If I'd had my way (and loads of money for resources!) then I'd have wanted to sculpt it freehand from clay and cast it buuuuut that wasn't an option so blue foam it was!

Foam WIP

Here it looks like he's wearing some kind of Art Deco turtleneck jumper or bizarre scarf but it's just a selection of foam chunks hot-glued into place. I was a little apprehensive as it's one thing to carve a relief into foam, like what I did at the start of the year with the fossil, but quite another to excise a three dimensional creature out of it!

Foam WIPFoam WIP

The muzzle started to take shape quickly using a hacksaw blade and some files. I drew on the eyes and rough cheek outlines with a sharpie so I didn't lose track of where things were. (even then I still managed to draw one on squint!)

Foam WIPFoam WIP

Having the images there to refer to was a huge help in getting all the angles right but I found getting the nose narrow enough was tricky. I'd get one side looking good only to find I was off by rather too many millimetres for my liking!

Foam WIPFoam WIP

I think this was the stage where Simon told me he looked fat. XD

Foam WIP

Foam WIP

I think he looks oddly contented there - strange when you think he can't see or hear for his lack of eyes and ears!


Foam WIP

Argh, so WONKY! D: D:

I'll be doing some actual sculpting around the eyes and mouth later on with epoxy so I can sort out the worst of the squint bits hopefully.

Foam WIP


Foam WIP


That's how I left him yesterday after a whole day's work. I still need to add to his neck at the bottom and tweak his eyes a bit but aside from that I think he's ready for a layer of plaster and then I can add in his eyes and hair him.

Speaking of eyes...

Blank eyes

I bought a set of blank glass eyes from www.glasseyes.com as I had a very specific look in mind and I couldn't find anything suitable online. I wanted them to be blue with a horizontal pupil, like a goat or sheep but the only blue or grey ones I could find I didn't like as they were too plain so I thought I'd have a go at painting them myself. This was harder than I'd anticipated as the exact shade of blue I thought I had...I didn't. In the end they turned out different to how I'd intended but it was a good sort of different so I don't mind.

During our Developmental Drawing on Monday I sat with one of the eyes and tried to see what the finished thing would look like by placing the blank over it.

'Eye-deas'

'Eye-deas''Eye-deas'


In the end they turned out a lot darker as I didn't have the right blue. I did however, possess some rather nice metallic poster paint that I've had since I was about nine and most of which are still in full working order. As I was painting from the back, I used them first as they catch the light rather beautifully as you can see on the big smudge of it on my finger here. XD

IMG_3497Eyes


As I was at home today I thought I'd make a start on another integral part of the Unicorn - his ears!

I made a rough ear from tinfoil, covered it in doublesided tape and then wrapped a piece of felt around it to make a pattern.

Ears WIPEars WIP


I then traced the pattern onto some white leather and cut out the ear shapes. I'd dyed some very short pile fur fabric with strong tea earlier on to take away the bright whiteness of it and make it look a little more natural so once it had dried I glued the leather ears to it - the 'fuzzy' side of the leather becoming the inside of the ear.

Ears WIP

While the glue was drying I painted the insides with watered down acrylics, getting darker at the bottom where the ear would fold up.

Ears WIP


Once everything was dried and whatnot, I began to add some mohair. I'd toyed with the idea of just leaving them hairless like that but really, that was just boring and besides, I wanted to make it look like a piece of taxidermy so fuzzy ears were a must!

I teased out some creamy coloured mohair and glued it at the sides - any glue still showing afterwards would be hidden by the remainder of the fur fabric I would fold over.

Ears WIP

Finished ears

Finished ears

Finished ears

(Excuse the odd location for photography - it was the only place in the house I wasn't casting a shadow over them! lol)


Aaaaaand of course, the obligatory looking-stupid-wearing-unicorn-ears-whilst-looking-stupidly-at-the-camera self portrait.

How could I resist? :P


...

Yes well, I just had to didn't I? :P


Progress will continue on Monday!

EG out!

Thursday 24 January 2013

1/12th scale 'working' Fridge!

The partner to my previous make; this didn't evolve quite as smoothly as its predecessor!

While made nearly entirely from styrene, a few more interesting bits and pieces came into play as it went along.

1/12th scale 'working' Fridge


I made the main structure from normal white styrene but the shelves were composed of clear styrene with some nicely textured plastic from some rather delicious Dutch Waffles I had bought earlier that da - oh, this is amazing, I've just realised I can activate italics as I type by hitting Ctrl I. Italics on, italics off! Shiny. :D

Anyway, I dichlo'd the plastic on and although it went a bit opaque I really liked the effect.


I really fancied making some little drawers to go at the bottom for keeping salady stuff in them but in the end I didn't need to as I already had some ready made with very little alteration needed.

1/12th scale 'working' Fridge

Can you guess what they are yet?

No?

Photobucket

Pill boxes!

I got a couple of them from the pound shop a while ago and although you have to sacrifice a couple if you want individual boxes (they all share sides) they're the ideal size for keeping small things in and remarkably, fitted perfectly into the fridge first time!
I had already sanded one of them as I'd been intending to paint it and needed to give the paint something to adhere to so I gave the other a once over with sandpaper to match before cutting the lids off and giving them both cut-out 'handles' at the front. 

Alas, I became so engrossed in construction that I neglected to take any more photos of it in progress! Suffice to say, my attempt to make a glazed door failed in spectacular fashion to the point that I literally threw it across my desk in disgust and started again with a solid door. This one is a bit wonky and I know I should have really spent a little more time on it but it's only held on with double-sided tape so I can easily redo it if I feel like changing it.

I put in another LED which, although it doesn't light it up as much as the microwave's one did, it does give it a really nice cold glow which was exactly what I'd hoped. As before the 'switch' is activated by touching two wires together which doesn't look fantastic but I managed to hide most of it at the back and when the door's open you can't see any of it so it doesn't really matter.

1/12th scale 'working' Fridge1/12th scale 'working' Fridge


1/12th scale 'working' Fridge

1/12th scale 'working' Fridge

Ignore the massive wad of double-sided tape on the door - it's the only way I can get the damn thing to stay closed at the moment! XD

1/12th scale 'working' Fridge

Lisa's nice healthy salad contrasts somewhat with David's plate of leftover pizza...

The front is decorated with a few 'magnets' and photos along with a yearly calendar for putting all the show dates and holidays in so no one forgets.

1/12th scale 'working' Fridge

The two finished appliances.

1/12th scale 'working' kitchen appliances

So yeah, I'm pretty chuffed with both of them!

Any other suggestions for stuff?


Saturday 19 January 2013

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave!

Yes, I know, just a bit random when you're more used to me making horsey stuff but, in my defence, I've been meaning to make this for a good long while now and I was hit with a sudden burst of inspiration this morning, lol.

I intend to make another roombox at some point with a big tv, comfy sofa and a mini fridge/sink/microwave/kitchen area so that people can come in from the cold and have their lunch or watch the eventing when it's on etc and being able to reheat last night's cold pizza would be a godsend in winter! While I'm still no further forward on actually getting the roombox itself, I see no reason why I can't make things for it in advance! :P

To begin with I made the obligatory google image search for a suitable microwave to construct. in hindsight I could have probably just photographed the one in the kitchen but meh, lazyness. :P I printed it onto some nice shiny photo paper, cut it out and took away the window part as I would be replacing it with tracing paper afterwards.

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

Double-sided tape ftw! :D

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

After a moment of epic facepalming when I remembered that the door and buttons were supposed to be separate I started on construction. My styrene handling skills were VERY rusty and it took several attempts to make a box that actually had reasonably straight edges.

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

It was after this that I decided to take a risk and make it awesome.

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

LEDSSSSSSS!

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

I bought a box of 'flameless candles' from the £1 shop before Christmas with the intention of using the LEDs for something and this seemed to be the perfect thing as the space in the box that in the real thing would be full of electronic components was now filled with...slightly smaller electronic components. I used the battery it came with but completed the circuit with a length of very fine wire. I taped everything together as I wasn't sure if it'd still work if I glued it but the connection seems strong for now and as the eventual lid was just glued card I can easily remove it and fix it if it dies. The 'switch' is just the two ends of wire sticking out the sides that can be pushed together. I probably should have moved them to the back so they aren't visible but I honestly didn't think of that at the time!

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

I made the hinge joint out of double-sided tape which works well but could very well break in the future. I didn't have any actual hinges small enough and my attempts at making my own ended up in the bin so this will have to do for now.

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

The lovely interior texture came from an unlikely source - a Christmas card!

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

The handle was something of an afterthought when I realised that the door shut flush with the frame and I'd need something to open it with other than fingernails which ruined the finish. It's a piece of copper wire with the ends flattened and glued onto it. It's a little fragile but as it's not a prop I'll be using often and can be easily re-glued if necessary I think it'll be ok.

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

So you see, you put in your food...

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

...punch in the time and cook away!

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

...and just for the lulz...

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave

1/12th scale 'working' Microwave


Here it is working - it's looking a bit out of place there but I thought it could live beside the kettle for now. :P