Crafty

Another custom? Bring it on! So here’s the beginnings. Another mini munny for iNom. Based on another character from “One Piece”.

I’ve not made one yet with the head turned round to face upwards, however looking closely at this character and working out how to convert him into a munny has thrown up an idea – backwards head it is. This character, “Franky” has really strong lines which run round his chin, jawline and hair. Again he’s a challenge as he’s so bananaman shaped, and a munny really isn’t! It will work though… honest

Started out by sculpting a chin and a pit of a hairline – I have grand plans for the hair, to be revealed later.

Wow! been a while huh? Well, here’s an update. Franky keeps glaring at me from the work table, I think he knows he’s not quite finished now, but is oh so close. So, “where’s he at?” I hear you ask.

He next got a good spray coating of black acrylic.

This, as it usually does, made the slight wibbly bits in the sculpting, so out came the sandpaper to smooth him over before respraying and then cracking on with the fun stuff. HAIR! an extra little hairline sculpting and the beginnings of painting.

Here he is! A bit of a jump in pics I’m afraid, seems I was mostly working on him on non-daylight hours. So, the next step were to paint him up, building thin layers of acrylic to try and get an even coating. The last touches were varnishing select areas – his metallic nose, star tattoos, chain round his neck and his accessories. I had a bit of trouble with the glasses, trying to get the arms to stay rigid and not be flimsy at the joints. After a few attempts and different glues and different materials I got there. Plasticard tubes and a flat bit for the lenses, welded with plastic glue.

So here he is, complete with cola bottle (a modified dollshouse accessory) and removable glasses.

Commission ahoy! This was a fun one.

Introducing Hunter S Thompson:

Here’s the current custom I’m working on, a mini munny custom for iNom, based on the Brooks character from “one piece”.

A little bit of a challenge; turning a long tall character into one of short and squat proportions. So, thought I’d post a work in progress post and update it when I’ve made progress.

This is Brooks:

And here’s the beginnings, sculpted Milliput face and blank mini munny ready to go. Waiting for the face to dry / set before the next step.

New update below:

The next step was to trim off the ears. Easy with a sharp craft knife and a bit of heat to warm up the vinyl.

To get the face onto the munny took a little time – I trimmed off the front of the munny head so that the face would protrude less from the head, I filled the hole with some milliput and used the ear holes to sculpt the face into place from the back. Then I molded the detail round the neck / torso.

After letting the above dry fully, I added another layer of milliput around the face to ensure a clean seam between the face and the munny head. After this, I added the lapels on the side of the head and filled in the earholes. I stuffed the head with tissue paper to give a base for the second ear.

Here’s a new update:

Since the sculpting is all sorted, I started painting this mini munny. First, a nice coat of undercoat (Games Workshop black spray paint). I disassembled the mini munny before spray painting.

Then started with some colour. Face, hands, lapels and a bit on the body to start. Again, using GW acrylic paints.

Here it is, the next update!

So – I painted in the bits that needed painting, putting a few black outlines here and there to accentuate the cartoon style. Also highlighting his jacket, trousers and shoes. Hair? This dude really needed hair! So, after a bit of debating, I decided to model his afro using pipecleaners. Interestingly (or not so – but as an aside anyway,) the Early Learning Centre no longer sells pipecleaners as they are deemed dangerous for small children. After sourcing, then trimming lots of 1-3cm strips of black pipecleaner and twirling them into spirals, I superglued them onto Brooks’ head. This afro is going nowhere and is still textured and bristling. The last little bit on this stage of the mini munny was adding in varnish in his eye sockets, nose hole, mouth and covering his shoes. Mmmm – shiny.

He’s not quite finished yet – needs a bit of touching up and of course, he has no accessory yet…

And he’s finished!

Made him a cane / covered sword from some miliput and plastic tubing and a bit of left over pipecleaner… painted in GW paints with posca to finish. He’s been touched up a little and is now ready for the journey to his new owner!