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

[Evie]

OK, so I've wanted to make a Duncan action figure for quite a while, but hadn't found the ideal doll or action figure to base it on.  There was a decent looking Anakin Skywalker 12" action figure that looked like it could be modified to look Duncan-like, and it had nice articulated joints suitable for action poses. It was, alas, $65 at the very cheapest, and I wasn't quite that obsessed with having a dress-up Duncan McLain!  

So this weekend, I found a Ken doll on clearance at Walmart.  At only $10, I figured if I messed it up, I wouldn't be too heartbroken.  The hair color was all wrong, but hopefully it can be dyed darker, and the eye color is right.


Long view


Close up

Yes, it's an "Ultimate Boyfriend Ken."  Yeah, go ahead and laugh.  I certainly did!  

There was a brown-haired male doll on clearance as well, but it from the Bratz Doll series, I think, with an oversized head that put me more in mind of a Bobblehead, and dark eyes that might have been vaguely blueish, but certainly not the "striking blue" mentioned in KK's books.  So Ultimate Boyfriend Ken it was, especially once I realized that he talks!  Yes, he's got this heart-shaped button in his chest that you can push to record a 5-second phrase, and then if you push one of three buttons on his back, he will parrot it back in either your own voice, a deeper "male-sounding" voice, or a high-pitched child's voice.  Yeah, guess who spent the morning recording Latin phrases and playing them back at all three pitches?  

OK, so once he was home and out of the box, it was time for the makeover to begin, because really, who wants a cheesy looking Ken doll on their Deryni shelf?  I found my sewing kit and some leftover fabric from my Servants of Saint Camber costume, and began work on a tiny T-tunic that could serve as either an undertunic or an alb.  And while rummaging through my supplies, I also found some ivory ribbon, so that and a small metal ring became a belt.


Tunic/alb and belt


Wearing tunic and belt


Closer view

The tunic goes to just below the knee, which makes it a perfect length to wear either under a shorter dress tunic (probably paired with some hose or trews once I get a chance to make any) or else under some gray Camberian robes.  If I make two white tunics, I will probably use some narrow ribbon to make sleeve trim on one of them, as I found several lovely shades of ribbon that are too narrow to do much of anything else with but which would work admirably as trim for a miniature tunic.  Or if/when I get around to making full bishop's kit for Duncan, a plain white tunic could double as an alb worn over the cassock and under the chasuble and other regalia.  I don't currently have any fabric suitable for trews or chausses, so for now he's stuck with the "indigo-dyed trews" he came with.  I suppose I could cross-garter them with ribbon for a more period look, though he really needs a pair of boots instead of plastic loafers.  If I can find some scraps of thin leather and/or leather-look fabric, that might be the next accessory on the list.

Once he had some decent starter clothing, it was time to work on the hair a bit.  When he came out of the box, his hair had been shaped and was coated with something that made it rather helmet-like and...um...crunchy?  It was like he'd had it heavily hair-sprayed.  Since I plan on trying to dye it brown, I wanted to see if I could wash out whatever it was that was holding the hair in place, and hopefully fluff it out a bit so that the dye could get between the individual strands better.   Once I did, he looked like this:



OK, that was a little bit of an improvement, but still, the haircut looks too modern.  Should I try cutting the bangs (aka "fringe," for those of you across the ocean) before I dye it?  Of course, if I mess up the haircut, it won't grow back out again!  Decisions, decisions....  But upon careful inspection, it does look like that modern fringe could be clipped back just a tad to resemble a more medieval-looking bowl haircut.  But I don't want to overdo it, because I'm really not a fan of that over-shorn Norman look, never mind how apropos it is for the 12th Century!

Will post more pictures once I've tried modding the hair.   In the meantime, not pictured are a spiffy new leather belt made from a piece of leather bootlace and a brass jewelry finding, and also some twine I'm soaking in red and blue food coloring in hopes that I can make a Servants of Saint Camber cincture for his Schola robes.  I'll take a picture of both and upload them here once I get a chance, but as the subject line says, this is an ongoing project.  

[Jerusha]

Would Duncan have done the bowl cut, or the "Roman" cut that has been mentioned in the books that I believe Morgan would have worn?  With the little tonsure in the back?

[Evie]

It's going to be closer to the Roman cut, now that I've had a closer look at it.  There is actually more hair rooted on one side than the other to give it that modern cut's shaping, and when I started to trim the bangs (very carefully, only a millimeter or so at a time), I discovered that there is no way to cut directly across from the shortest section of one side to the shortest section of the other without making it far too short over the forehead.  It would be so thick on one side  that it would stick straight out at an unnatural angle.  So instead I simply shortened the bangs just a little bit.

As for the tonsure, we discussed that in chat tonight.  He's got rooted hair, so if I tried to actually shave or otherwise remove hair from a spot, he'd have ugly holes in his scalp.  So instead I'll be making him little skullcap style hats to match his wardrobe, and you can pretend he's got a tonsure underneath.  Either that, or I could paint a thumb tack in a matching flesh tone (or cover it with flesh-colored Sculpey) and stick it into that little spot at the back of his head where his hair naturally forms a tiny "cowlick"....  :-D  Unless someone has a better suggestion?  I'll take pictures of the back of his head once it's dyed and dried.  (Assuming, of course, that the dye actually takes.)

[Elkhound]

Remember a few years ago when they said that Barbie & Ken wouldn't be marketed as a couple any more?

There was a joke going around that Ken and GI Joe had bought an old Victorian farmhouse in the mountains that they were going to fix up and run as a bed & breakfast.

[Evie]

Believe me, if I could have found a GI Joe with the right coloring to mod, I'd have gone that route.    My daughter used to have some sort of skateboarder action figure who would have been perfect, only she accidentally left him outside one day and he became a dog toy.  

Speaking of daughters, mine is making Action Figure Duncan meow right now....

So, on to the hair.  The bad news is, plastic hair doesn't take hair dye very well.  In a way, plastic not taking dye well is also the good news, since that also means that any dye that got on his "skin" wiped off right away with a wet cotton swab and a bit of soap, so there's no chance of Duncan ending up looking like Rasoul.  But this means that the dye effect is hardly noticeable in his hair, even though I was using "Darkest Brown" hair coloring (this being my own shade--yes, we dyed our hair together tonight!).  Even with the coloring mousse left in his hair after I had already showered mine out (I'm estimating it was left on him at least 30-45 minutes?), it looked like it was starting to darken nicely, but once I rinsed out the brown mousse his actual hair was only slightly darker than it was originally.  I can tell a slight difference, but it's not as brown as I'd hoped it would turn out.  Fortunately I've always envisioned Duncan as having hair on the lighter end of the brown spectrum, since I think it's about as dark as I'm going to be able to get it with hair dye.

I'll post pictures, but due to the flash, they actually came out looking slightly blonder than he looks if you saw him in person.  As my daughter put it, "So he's gone from being a golden blond to being dirty dishwater blond?"  The back of the hair also ended up getting some paler streaks in with the darker bits, so it looks like he's got some natural highlights.  Maybe it's summertime and he's been out riding a lot.  


Front view.  You might be able to tell from this shot that it's a slight bit darker than the bright golden blonde it used to be.  Or you might not.  Le sigh.


Right side of hair.  The original hairstyle was very short on this side and then suddenly turned into "floppy fringe."  I just trimmed the front part a bit so that the angle would be a bit less drastic and his hair wouldn't flop over his eyes.


Left side of hair.  This was originally a little longer than the right side, although fairly short in the section in front of the sideburn before it suddenly swept down into a sort of "V" shaped fringe.  I basically just clipped off the base of the "V" and tried to blend it in with the shorter side hair a bit more, but I couldn't go too short with it because of how it curves out from the scalp and because the hair is actually thicker on the left (Duncan's left, that is...the viewer's right).  If I cut it too much shorter, what was left would have stuck out from his head like a diving board, so I tried to avoid doing anything too drastic.


Top rear view.  See the little 'cowlick' that would make a great spot for a tonsure if only it were a little bigger?

And yes, I was very careful not to have any water flowing over his torso, so his recording mechanism still works.  Now I just need to convince my daughter she needs to get him to meow in Latin.

Oh, as for the Servants of Saint Camber cincture cords I tried to dye with food coloring, I ended up having to try two dye baths, the second with more concentrated dye, but I still ended up with medium blue and pink rather than sapphire blue and crimson.  Oh well...maybe I can find some suitable cords at the crafts store.  I went ahead and tried twisting the newly dyed twine into a cincture cord anyway, just to see if I could get it to look right.  It's not too bad, aside from looking a bit more washed-out than I'd like.  More pictures later.

[Alkari]

Coming along nicely 

You might have to leave the dye in a lot longer than 40 mins, or perhaps just do repeat efforts every time you do yours, and let it go darker gradually.  I can't think of anything else apart from hair dye that would be easy to use and practical.  Maybe some dark henna powder mixed into a paste and left in for a few hours?

But now he's a bishop, a series of nice little skullcaps would be very appropriate.  Then you can start work on helmets or caps for when he is out hunting or travelling - or riding to the rescue of his lady love   

[Evie]

I'm a bit afraid to redye his hair, because after examining him closely in better light (natural sunlight), it seems he does have a slight bit of dark staining on portions of his skin now that I wasn't able to see last night, and I don't want to risk him getting a very unnatural looking "suntan"...especially since that tan would look more like a black walnut stain than a lot of sun exposure!     The thing is, I can't quite tell if the faint stain is due to not wiping the dye off part of his face and neck quickly or carefully enough, or if it's actually coming from the inside of his head.  My theory is that some of the dye got wicked up through the scalp holes and ended up inside his hollow little noggin, and that the faint bit of stain is showing through from the inside.  (This is not a problem I've ever had with dyeing my own hair!  )   And I haven't worked out yet if his head is the sort that I can safely pop off for a quick swabbing inside and then put back on again without any permanent damage to him, or if it's a bit more complicated than that and I ought to just leave well enough alone.

Oh well.  Since you've got to be in fairly bright light to notice the stain, I'll just leave it alone for now and concentrate on other stuff like getting that Schola robe sewn.  I think that will be my lunch hour project today.

I do have another idea for darkening Action Figure Duncan's hair, but it will have to wait until I've got the materials on hand and can test some less visible strands of hair to see if it would look at all decent or would just end up looking like a major mess.

[Evie]

But now he's a bishop, a series of nice little skullcaps would be very appropriate.  Then you can start work on helmets or caps for when he is out hunting or travelling - or riding to the rescue of his lady love   

I wish you hadn't mentioned helmets, because now I'm wondering if half a plastic Easter Egg would be the right size to affix a nasal to and decorate like a Sutton Hoo or Coppergate style helm, and what sort of primer I'd need to get a metallic colored paint to stick.  I'm sure with a bit of Sculpey I could come up with some suitable ornamentation to glue onto it....



Or with something fairly simple like this, the added bands could be thin cardstock and "rivets" made of spray-painted googly eyes.  (Why yes, I've been hanging around with my steampunk prop building husband far too much, why do you ask? )  If you're wondering what googly eyes are, they're these:



I could just leave them unpainted and call it a Magical Helmet of Argus....  OK, or maybe not.   

It's the bit of mail that would be a pain in the butt to make, though I suppose I could just settle for crocheted silver cord.  I know I'm not dedicated enough to make my own mini-mail from silver jewelry findings, although I know it's possible because I've seen it.  Someone out there's got better eyes, more steady hands, and a lot more patience than I've got!

[Evie]

OK, I got a little bit more done this morning.  Duncan now has a Servant of Saint Camber robe:



It's still unhemmed, and I will eventually need to make a new cincture for it in a truer red and deep blue, with enough length to tie it properly, but you can get the general idea.



Closer image

The robes are a bit on the bulky side, but I had to make the overtunic large enough to fit over the undertunic properly (even so, the sleeves were almost too narrow), and the undertunic was sized large enough to fit over his head without requiring a back opening.  The way more fitted Ken and Barbie clothing is made requires a large back opening (or completely open back if it's a shirt or blouse without a front closure) that has a narrow Velcro strip to close it up once you put it on the doll.  I wanted to avoid using Velcro if possible, not just because it's not medieval, but also because it's a major pain in the butt to hand sew, and I don't want to have to drag out my sewing machine.  That accursed contraption hates me.

Also, Ken tends to run just a little bit smaller than other male action figures like GI Joe, the 12" Star Wars figures, and the like.  So if I happen to find one who is better suited as a Duncan action figure, hopefully the same clothes will still fit, but if I tailor them down too much to fit Ken's slim, muscle-less physique, I can forget ever squeezing a GI Joe or some other more "actiony" looking action figure into them!   

[Evie]

And because my co-worker is a genius, Duncan now has darker hair:





Brown Sharpie marker, applied to the underlayers of hair first, rubbed carefully with a tissue to remove any excess ink, then continuing upwards to the top layer, where it was carefully applied in streaks (sort of like highlighting, only adding shadows instead) following the natural hair contours.  I didn't want to risk getting too close to the face and risk giving him permanent brown splotches on his forehead and temples, so he'll likely have to keep some blond roots, but fortunately the rest of his hair curves over the hairline and hides those well enough that they're not easily spotted unless you are looking for them.  After marker-dyeing his hair completely, it got a final "burnishing" with a clean tissue to rub off any excess ink so hopefully it won't stain his clothing when I pull it off or on.

This was actually the idea I mentioned earlier that I had in mind once I got my hands on the right materials, but my colleague just happened to have a package of colored Sharpies on hand, so she saved me a trip to the store for a brown one.   

And since I was going to take a new photo anyway, I decided to show off the new leather belt.  As I mentioned before, the leather shoelace is a little too thick for the knot to lie flat properly as an actual leather belt does, but I might try another one later using a shoelace cut in half lengthwise to make it half as thick.

[Evie]

Today's update--a hood to go with the Schola robe!


Front view


Side view

The capelet or patte (the over-the-shoulders bit) could stand to be a bit longer on the front and sides, but I was guesstimating dimensions when I cut it out, and was more worried about getting the neck opening right.  As it was, the hood just barely fits over his head.  Maybe I'll do another version later, now that I've got the basic pattern worked out.  Also, I found a transparent amber-colored seed bead last night (those tiny kind that are only about 2mm or so across), so I strung it on some brown thread to make Maryse's shiral-on-a-leather-thong necklace.  Granted, by this time Dhugal would have that necklace, but Duncan needs one to give to his son, right?  

In doing a bit of research yesterday, I've discovered that the white alb worn with priestly vestments needs to go down to Duncan's ankles, since it's meant to cover his whole body, so that means I'll need to make him a longer white garment that can serve as an alb.  That's fine...it means the white undertunic I've already made can be decorated with trim, and I have just the perfect wine-colored ribbon that will look quite nice with it.  Granted, sewing trim onto sleeves that small is going to be a pain--if I'd known ahead of time, I'd have sewn the trim on first before closing up the underarm seams, but it can be done.  So it looks like that will be my next project, as well as a shorter overtunic for those occasions when Duncan wants to wear secular clothing rather than Schola robes or priestly vestments.

I'm glad I had lots of leftover linen scraps from my own Schola robe.  Maybe next Dragon*Con I can upload pictures of the two Schola magistri visiting Downtown Hotlanta together.  

[Alkari]

And of course, you need to make him some armour!  Or at least a brigandine, some sturdy trews and some boots ...

[Evie]

All of that might be forthcoming once I get my hands on some faux leather fabric.  Though I might make him some little braies first, or those trews are going to be awfully chafing....   

[Alkari]

Oh of course.  We would hate for poor Action Duncan to be chafed in such tender places ...     Though I am sure Healer Helena would be happy to minister to him.

[Evie]

She and Sister Therese could roll dice for the privilege. It could be the newest Schola gambling game.

Or not.