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

[Evie]

Right now he's wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, although he's still shirtless.     My daughter got a good laugh when she found him with his hands protectively cupped over his privates, and asked me to find him something suitable to cover up with.  I didn't want to risk pulling clothing over his hair yet until it's had more time to thoroughly dry, so he settled on trousers instead.   

[Evie]

Excuse me, what are you two up to? by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

So this is what happens when I leave the mini-Deryni unsupervised for too long?  It's segregated doll carriers from here on out, you two!  If this is what my staunchly celibate Duncan's got up to, I shudder to think what Sextus has been doing in my absence.... 

All jokes aside, I am happy to report that Duncan's hair has dyed very nicely, and when I rubbed it with a white tissue, none of the pigment came off on the tissue, which means hopefully the heat-setting worked and I can pull white or light-colored clothing over his head without risk of staining it (or, for that matter, his forehead).  So that's a vast improvement over my attempt to color the original head's hair with the Sharpie marker.

Now I'd better get proper clothing on these two and stow them away in separate bins, lest Duncan have a confession to make tomorrow morning that's guaranteed to make poor Archbishop Cardiel's hair curl.   

[Evie]

Replacement Dhugal by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Meet the young man who will be replacing my poor, mistreated Viking II figure as Dhugal.  He needs his hair color changed, and the beard may end up coming off (though I'll leave the mustache), and his eyes will need just a little bit of paint enhancement to give them the proper amber color, but all of those changes should be easily enough done, I think.  The hardest part is likely going to be tinting that brown hair to a lighter copper-bronze--the brown turns out to be a little darker than it appeared in the various photos of this figure that I saw online--but the new acrylic paint "dye" technique I've learned is supposed to work even on dark hair, although it might take two or three applications of it to get the right shade.  If anything, I'm more worried about mixing the paint colors to the right hue, though with a bit of trial and error I'm sure I'll be able to come up with a color that's at least close to the doll hair I've purchased for the braid.


Ducal ring band? by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

He came with a ring molded and painted on, but that's fine because I can just embellish it with a jewel and/or a bit of Friendly Plastic and turn it into a ducal signet ring or something. 


Side view by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

The hair at the nape of his neck is longer than I thought it would be, but that might end up being a good thing.  If I pull the bottom row or two of hair from the back of his head in order to re-root it with longer hair, the longer layers above those rows will help to camouflage any mistakes I might make.  Or I might just create a row of holes below the current lowest row of hair plugs and add the longer hair to that, since the new row would be well concealed.  The one drawback is that his hair is fairly thick back there, and I don't know if I'll be able to incorporate the ends of the existing hair into the cord wrapping that will secure the double braid once I add the longer hair and braid it.  The finished effect might look more like he's got layered hair over a braid (since that's exactly what it would be) instead of long hair that's all pulled back and braided.  But I'll keep pondering ways that I might be able to camouflage that.

[Evie]

Funny shaped horse by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

See, New-Dhugal hasn't even had his makeover yet, and already he's stepping into the role!


Dhugal, Kitteh Tamer by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Now if only Luke had a saddle and the proper tack....   

[Evie]

Last update of the evening:


Slight highlighting by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

In hopes of getting a slightly closer match to the "Kaptivating Brown" color that KK selected for Duncan from the color chart at http://www.dollyhair.com/kanekalonhair.htm, and also creating a few highlights such as one might see in sun-streaked hair, I decided to try an experiment.  Starting with the test head, I picked selected sections of hair that I wanted to highlight and wiped them with a cotton pad dampened in non-acetone nail polish remover.  This ended up having mixed results. Instead of any immediately noticeable difference, the color of the hair appeared to remain unchanged, although when I inspected the pad, I could see that a little bit of brown (not nearly as much as I had expected) had been wiped off the hair strands.  I guess the heat setting was more effective than I had originally realized.

But since there was a little bit of brown coming up, I figured it wouldn't hurt to give the current Duncan head a bit of a wipe down as well, in hopes that I could make it marginally lighter overall.  So I started on that head as well.  

After a few minutes, I happened to glance over at the test head and noticed that there was a slight color difference to it after all.  Not the well defined highlights I had tried to achieve, but still, there was a slightly more golden shimmer to his hair than there had been originally, and some strands seemed to be a little lighter than others.  Could the polish remover have had some effect after all, despite the delayed reaction?  

After noticing that (and asking my daughter for her opinion to make sure I wasn't just imagining things), I went back to the current Duncan's hair and selected certain strands to go over a little more also.  Again, it took a little while for me to see a difference, but now his hair also seems to have a little bit more of a shimmer to it where it catches the light.

So here's the end result (or at least the "end result" as of the moment this photo was taken; I have no idea if the polish remover will continue to lighten the hair more as the dolls sit overnight, though I look forward to checking again in the morning).  I think I like how it turned out, even if it didn't end up quite as light or as noticeably sun-streaked as I originally imagined it turning out.  Again, though, the photography is deceptive.  I'm holding Duncan as I type this, and his actual hair is a little bit lighter than the hair in this photo looks on my screen, yet in another photo I took, the flash made it look much lighter than it is, so I'm uploading this one since it's the better match of the two to how he actually turned out.  To me, the actual shade looks somewhat closer to the "Cafe Latte Brown" at http://www.dollyhair.com/saranhair.htm, especially in the more shadowed part of that swatch.  Then again, I haven't had a chance to view it on broad daylight yet, and that's the best lighting for checking the true color.

OK, I'm off to bed!

[Alkari]

Love the Luke and Duncan pic! 

Warrior bishop rides giant war-cat into battle ... 

[Jerusha]

Or Dhugal and the magnificent cheetah from tQfSC. 

[derynifanatic64]

If I am remembering correctly, the cheetah's name was Kisah.

[Evie]

Yes, that was Dhugal posing with Luke (or will be once I'm done giving him a makeover), and I believe Kisah is the right name for the cheetah.  Though I think Luke looks a slight bit more tiger-like than cheetah-like, since he's got tabby stripes.   

And now for tonight's project:


Sextus makeover by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Since the hair for Dhugal's braid hasn't come in yet, I decided to give Sextus a touch-up instead.  Sextus Arilan's original hair was a dark chocolate brown, but it's supposed to be black, so I combed a black paint wash through it.  After drying, there is still just a tiny bit of brown showing through to catch the light.  I also went back over his eyes, adding a tiny bit more blue to my blue-violet mix, since when I originally painted his irises, they ended up more of a true violet than a blue-violet.  But once I painted the main part of the iris with the modified color, the outer edges needed a tiny bit more definition, so I used a dark violet for that.  The resulting eye color is slightly lighter than Denis's blue-violet eyes, but only by a little bit.

And now it's his turn to lounge around in blue jeans while his hair color sets overnight.   

[Evie]

A Saturday outing by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Well, all of the mini-Deryni except for my royal couple and Bishop Arilan decided to accompany me out and about this afternoon.  I think Kelson and Araxie had other plans.  They have heirs to produce, you know.  And Denis was probably busy in Dhassa.


Richenda, Alaric, and proto-Dhugal by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Dhugal's new border braid hair hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't dared to color his hair until I have the extra hair to match the color to.  But he still wanted to join in on the fun.

Richenda is wearing a new diamond bracelet I picked up today at Rue 21.  I think it's meant to be a toe ring, but I figured it might work for a bracelet.  Turns out it's actually just a tiny bit on the large size, but if she keeps her arm slightly bent or wears it as an arm band over a sleeve, it might still work as a bangle.  Or I could go buy a second one and turn them into jeweled trim on a very fancy gown's sleeve, as it's got a little bit of stretch to it.


Duncan, Helena, and Sextus by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Here you can see Duncan's and Sextus's newly recolored hair to good advantage in natural sunlight.  The color in this photo is accurate, unlike the ones taken indoors at night using flash photography and/or lamp lighting.

I really need to hurry up and make Helena's grey Servants of Saint Camber robes.  For a woman who would normally wear that habit daily except on special occasions, she pretty much everything else but that.  If you look carefully, you'll see she's wearing an aquamarine bracelet very similar to Duchess Richenda's diamond one.


Richenda and Alaric by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

The Duchess and Duke of Corwyn spend a relaxing afternoon without the children.  Easily enough done, given that I haven't made their children....    Alaric has a more natural sitting pose than Duncan and Sextus.  Something about the way the joints are designed on this slightly older model of Ken doll allows him to sit more upright when his legs are in a bent position.  Dhugal is also more poseable, like Alaric, but he's wearing a kilt, and I didn't want him to have a "wardrobe malfunction."  


A father and son moment by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Duncan spends some time getting better acquainted with his newfound son.

"What happened to your hair, son? I thought it was supposed to be copper-bronze."
"Yes, Father, but I think my Border braid has been lost in the post...."





Helena and Sextus spend a few moments commiserating with each other on the perils and pitfalls of being the non-canonical duo in the collection.  

[derynifanatic64]

Great group picture!!

[Jerusha]

A wonderful family outing.  But strangely, I don't see a flagon of fianna wine anywhere in site! 

[Evie]

Well, I do have a few goblets, but alas, no wine bottles just yet. 

[Evie]

Medieval game board in progress by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

I'm worried that the Mini-Deryni will get bored during the long road trip to Dragon*Con, so I am making them a traveling game set to pass the time.  Here is a board that can be used to play either Merelles or Fox and Geese.  I used a scrap of fabric from the KK Treasure Trove that was too small to be used for much else except for perhaps a tiny hat or a belt pouch.  Instead, I figured it was sturdy enough fabric to make a nice travel-suitable game board that could be rolled up and stashed away in a bag with the playing pieces when not in use.  The square pattern is only 3" x 3", making this the perfect size for my little people, although of course big people can use it just as well.  (At least I certainly hope they'll let me borrow it from time to time!)   I probably won't get too fancy with the embroidery on this, because after all, it's just meant to be a portable game board, not a room decoration.

[Evie]

More fun stuff by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

Look what showed up in today's mail!  All right, so the instrument on the left is just a wee bit too modern for my mini-Deryni, but only by a few centuries.  But I'm sure Dhugal would have loads of fun with an electric guitar, and if we modern folks can enjoy groups like the Society for Creative Anachronism, then maybe my little people enjoy going forward in time on their weekends.  OK, that's a bit of a stretch, but I have to admit that the idea of Dhugal and Kelson rocking out makes me giggle a bit.

I actually bought the pair of ornaments for the guitar on the right.  It still doesn't exactly match up to the "gittern" that I had Dhugal and Duncan playing at the end of Visionaries, as from the pictures I've seen of gitterns, they seem to be more like smaller, flat-backed lutes, so a modern mandolin might be a closer equivalent.  Our modern characteristic "guitar-shape" didn't come along until the 1600s or thereabouts, if I remember correctly.  But still, if musical tech in the Kingdom of Gwynedd is as advanced as their other tech, then maybe it's not too much of a stretch to hope that Duncan could somehow get his hands on an early proto-guitar?

As for the gameboard-in-progress, despite what I said about not planning on making it too fancy, I'm beginning to think that maybe some sort of motif in the central square might pretty it up just a little bit.  Perhaps a golden fleur-de-lys?