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DerynifanK

March 17, 2024, 03:48:44 PM
Happy St Patrick's Day. Enjoy the one day of the year when the whole world is Irish.

Re: Work In Progress--Deryni Action Figure Project (was Duncan Action Figure)

Started by Evie, March 11, 2012, 08:52:30 PM

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Evie

Because Annie seemed so distressed to see Mini-Jakey in a "dress," I've lent him the McLain plaid:



Got home late tonight and haven't had a chance to see if Duncan's original head is compatible with this body or if it would just look silly.  While Ken's roughly built on a 1:6 scale, the Ken head sculpt is more idealized than anatomically correct, and it's proportionately larger compared to its body than this one is.  So I guess that will be something to check out later this weekend.



Here's a closer view of the new articulated figure with his synthetic "skin" torso. 

So, he's Arilan, you all say?  Well, I guess we'll have to see if the game of "musical heads" works out and this one can fit on the Viking body (with or without an added neck joint).  As it happens, I seem to have accidentally acquired two of these heads rather than just one, so once I've had some practice doing repaints on heads it won't make me cry to ruin, I might try doing both a black-haired/violet eyed version and a blond/gray eyed one (assuming I end up keeping the original Duncan head, that is), and see which one you like best.  That would definitely have to wait until I can find a magnifying visor, as I can barely see well enough to repaint a (much bigger) Ken doll's iris and pupil, much less an anatomically correct 1:6 scale eye with an iris about the size of the letter "o" on my screen and a pupil about as big as the period/full stop at the end of this sentence.  However, one thing I've discovered in studying other people's doll/action figure repaints is that even when you are redoing the same head sculpt, the end results can look drastically different from each other when they're given new paint jobs, so just because I'd be using the same head sculpt, they wouldn't necessarily turn out looking just like the same guy with different hair dye.  Though of course there'd be some resemblance.  It would probably make more sense to have Alaric and Duncan sharing a bit of "family resemblance" than Alaric and Arilan.  That would just be so wrong!   :D

Hopefully at least one of the new jointed bodies (this one or the Viking one) will eventually work well with the original Duncan head, but if not, there are fully compatible Fashionista Kens out now that also have jointed arms and legs, albeit rather skinny ones with hands that won't hold a sword.   :-\  (Oh, that's the other thing I meant to take a photo of but forgot!  This new figure comes with interchangeable hands, so there's the relaxed set he's currently wearing and a set with fingers curled to hold weapons.  And the fingers on both sets are fully separate as well, so if I can make this body work for Duncan, eventually he'll get a proper bishop's ring.)

And you want new vestments already, Shiral?  Bite your tongue, woman!   ;D

Alkari, unfortunately there are very few head sculpts out there with hair of any color that would look suitable for an Alaric (believe me, I've checked!), so unless I'm forced to go with another blond Ken doll, the only other ones I've seen so far that I could envision converting to an Alaric face (all with copious modifications in coloring, of course!) would be the Tom Welling sculpt (young Superman from the TV show "Smallville"), one or two of the Tom Cruise sculpts (from his "Top Gun" days, not his jumping-on-chairs days), or...no, I'm pretty much drawing a blank on any others who look young enough, don't have facial hair, have the right facial structure for his ethnicity, and/or don't look like they've been whacked repeatedly in the face with a chair.   :D  Maybe if someone ever creates an affordable 1:6 scale Jaime Lannister action figure from Game of Thrones, I'll find a head sculpt that will hit your happy place.
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

Evie

It's nearly 3:00 am and here I am still playing with action figures.  Yes, I'm mental, I truly am.   ;D



Who hasn't entertained the occasional fantasy about popping Arilan's head off his shoulders?  Duncan may be a priest, but even a bishop isn't immune to temptation!  :D 

Seriously, I decided to go ahead and try swapping out the heads tonight.  Duncan's hair was in dire need of a shampoo anyhow, as that dratted Sharpie marker keeps rubbing off on his clothes and forehead, and I'm worried his head may have become irreparably damaged by it already.   :(  So while I was soaking his neck in hot running water to soften the neck joint, I soaped up his hair and tried to wash as much of the remaining Sharpie ink out of it as I could.  Granted, enough ink has remained on the synthetic hair to permanently dye it (which is a good thing, since having him go back to golden blond would be disconcerting!), but if his hair seems lighter in this photo, that's one reason why.  The flash makes it look a bit lighter than it actually ended up, though.  Despite the second shampooing, he's still got medium-light brown hair, not dingy blond hair.

This is his original head on the new body.  If you look at the top of his neckline, you can see a marked skin color difference between his face/upper neck skin and his body's skin.  The difference in head sizes isn't too great--most of that difference is hair, although as you can see, Duncan's eyes and lips are drawn a little larger than proto-Arilan's.  His head doesn't have the same sort of ball joint that the proto-Arilan head does, so the neck fits loosely inside Duncan's head without really being latched to anything.  This is a common issue when using heads with bodies of a different brand, and is usually fixed by just sticking a bit of poster putty (that modeling clay looking stuff used to stick posters to a wall in a non-permanent way) inside the head so that it sits more securely on the neck's ball joint and can still be repositioned at will.  (Or one can simply glue the head in place, but there's little sense in buying a body especially for its great articulation and then rendering his head immobile!)

If you look at the top of Duncan's head, you might be able to see some of the marker staining on his forehead, along with the original dye staining from when I first tried to use real hair dye on him.  I'm beginning to worry that the damage there is permanent, and that I might eventually have to find another Duncan head, even if it's from the same model of Ken doll.  But I'm still hoping I can salvage this one somehow, or at least prevent the staining from growing any worse.  With the harder vinyl head sculpts like the proto-Arilan's, a full facial repaint is possible, but from what I've seen of Barbie/Ken repaints, that seems less advisable on that softer vinyl.  (Paint is more likely to crack on such flexible heads, for one thing, especially if you're painting areas of the face that are thinner and not the areas where paint normally goes on.)  But maybe there's some way to do that safely if it comes down to needing that.

I tried to see if the proto-Arilan head can go on the (also articulated, but hard plastic) Viking body, but I will definitely need to purchase a neck joint to make that work, as otherwise the head sits directly on the shoulders...and boy, does that ever look weird!   :D  Also, there's an even more pronounced color difference between the flesh tone of that head and the Viking body than there is between Duncan's head and his new body.  One is a more neutral-matte, rubbery flesh color, and the other one is a high-gloss, almost orange-ish, hard plastic flesh tone.  And painting hard plastic bodies doesn't work; you only end up with a huge mess.  So if I go that route, the resulting figure will need to stick to high necked clothes--preferably long robes--with long sleeves.  (Fortunately the hands are more rubbery and a little closer to the head's color than the rest of the body.)  Of course, a bishop's cassock fits that description pretty well, so that might not be too much of an issue once the body is clothed.
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

AnnieUK

Jaime Lannister and Jakey in a kilt all in one post. *thud*

Alkari

QuoteJaime Lannister and Jakey in a kilt all in one post. *thud*
ROFL.

QuoteMaybe if someone ever creates an affordable 1:6 scale Jaime Lannister action figure from Game of Thrones, I'll find a head sculpt that will hit your happy place.
*dreamy sigh*  One can only hope ....

Evie

Quote from: AnnieUK on April 14, 2012, 03:21:50 AM
Jaime Lannister and Jakey in a kilt all in one post. *thud*

Evidently I've put Annie in her happy place....  :D
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

derynifanatic64

Definitely coming along great!  And this post ties this thread with "The Casting Call"!
We will never forget the events of 9-11!!  USA!! USA!!

Evie

Been busy doing non-Deryni-related stuff today, but here's a brief update:



Helena gets a new Court gown.  It's still unfinished; it needs to be hemmed and trimmed out.  Sleeves are wide-cut, so I've partially lined them with scrap bits of Alkari's ivory silk.



A closer look at the gown.  Helena's "shiral" necklace is actually my favorite amber bracelet.  One that "chunky" must have cost her a small fortune, though; maybe I should eventually replace it with a more modest one that only has one or two smaller amber-colored beads?  (I doubt I'd find real amber in beads smaller than those, unfortunately.  I just happened to get lucky and find that bracelet in a con dealer room for a steal.)  Or maybe someone at Court was really, really generous to Helena....   :D
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

Evie

Oh noes, there are TWO!



I decided to try darkening Arilan's hair today, using a wash of black acrylic paint mixed with a little bit of dark brown and diluted with water.  I added brown to the mix because Caucasian hair is almost never a true black, and I didn't want him coming out looking like a comic book character.  (Keep in mind that I'm half Filipina, so I tend to think of "black" hair as being the color my mother's was when she was younger--with highlights in the sunlight that were more bluish than dark brown or auburn.  And now that she's older, even she can't get away with using a true black hair dye to get rid of her grays because black dye looks too harsh and unnatural for her now even though it once was her natural hair color.)



Here's a second look at the color difference between his original hair color and his new shade.  I didn't touch up his skin tone at all, just his eyebrows, and I hadn't noticed a difference in his complexion before I took these photos, so I don't know if the two heads had subtly different skin tones from the start or if it's the darker hair making his flesh color seem a bit more vibrant and less ashen.  Whatever the cause, I think it's an improvement.  I haven't used a matte sealer on the repainted areas yet because I haven't decided whether to try to go just a bit darker (closer to true black) or leave well enough alone.  What do you think?
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

Jerusha

Although I originally didn't see him as Arilan, now that his hair is darker, I agree.  I've always mentally pictured Arilan with closer to black hair, but never having attempted to repaint doll's heads, I would hesitate to advise.   :)

Love Helena's blue gown - such a rich shade of blue.  If Bishop Duncan was considering that expensive rug for Sophie, surely he wouldn't hesitate to splurge on the necklace for his favourite magistra!
From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggity beasties and things that go bump in the night...good Lord deliver us!

 -- Old English Litany

kirienne (RIP)

WOW! You've done amazing work here. Action Figure Bishop Duncan has some very spiffy Liturgical wear! :-)

Evie

Quote from: Jerusha on April 15, 2012, 01:09:13 PM

Love Helena's blue gown - such a rich shade of blue.  If Bishop Duncan was considering that expensive rug for Sophie, surely he wouldn't hesitate to splurge on the necklace for his favourite magistra!

Then again, remember that he was swiftly talked out of buying that carpet, because even though Sophie's both married and young enough to be his daughter, people might still make unwarranted assumptions about their relationship and spread gossip that could be ruinous to her reputation (not to mention his vocation).  So he'd probably hesitate even more to buy Helena an expensive gift, given that he is attracted to her in ways he doesn't struggle with where Sophie is concerned, and so he'd try extra hard to ensure that he does nothing even remotely questionable in his behavior towards her that might make them both objects of public speculation.

Of course, if he really wanted Helena to have it, there might be some more roundabout means of assuring that, such as dropping a hint to Richenda that it might make a really nice Twelfth Night gift for their mutual friend....   :D
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

Evie

Quote from: kirienne on April 15, 2012, 08:55:02 PM
WOW! You've done amazing work here. Action Figure Bishop Duncan has some very spiffy Liturgical wear! :-)

Thank you, Kirienne!  Coming from a non-liturgical faith tradition myself, I learned a lot while researching and making all that, and it turned out to be a very personally meaningful and contemplative Holy Week project for me, even if it hadn't been for the fact that I was making it all for Action Figure Duncan.  That was just the icing on the cake!  :D
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

Elkhound

Quote from: Shiral on April 14, 2012, 12:34:24 AM
Yup, that's Arilan.  So what's the next important feast day after Easter when we can expect another set of episcopal vestments?
;)
Melissa.

Either Ascenscion (40 days after Easter) or Whitsunday (ten days later) or Trinity (a week after Whitsunday.

Evie

Quote from: Elkhound on April 16, 2012, 12:17:37 PM
Quote from: Shiral on April 14, 2012, 12:34:24 AM
Yup, that's Arilan.  So what's the next important feast day after Easter when we can expect another set of episcopal vestments?
;)
Melissa.

Either Ascenscion (40 days after Easter) or Whitsunday (ten days later) or Trinity (a week after Whitsunday.

Or as soon as someone else makes them.  ;)
"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas."

--WARNING!!!--
I have a vocabulary in excess of 75,000 words, and I'm not afraid to use it!

Elkhound

Quote from: Evie on April 16, 2012, 01:01:25 PM
Quote from: Elkhound on April 16, 2012, 12:17:37 PM
Quote from: Shiral on April 14, 2012, 12:34:24 AM
Yup, that's Arilan.  So what's the next important feast day after Easter when we can expect another set of episcopal vestments?
;)
Melissa.

Either Ascenscion (40 days after Easter) or Whitsunday (ten days later) or Trinity (a week after Whitsunday.

Or as soon as someone else makes them.  ;)

Nothin major after than until St. John the Baptist in mid-June, and then Transfiguration in early August.