Corwyn Gryphon

[Laurna]

After seeing Evie's Morgan Haldane in a white tuxedo and pink bow tie, I purchased a leather jacket for Morgan from Ebay. I really want to put a green gryphon on the back of it. To that end, I took the Gryphon off the book cover of TKD  and I now have this:



I was hoping to digitize it for my embroidery machine, but alas, I can not get my old digitization program to function.

So I cut out the design on a green iron-on patch. I was not sure if this was good enough. So I thought I would try it on a new tunic for my own Deryni-Little Alaric.  After a mad search for good black fabric and I came up with an old beaded black sari I had purchased. Since yesterday, the Forth of July, was such a stressful holiday, I spent the day sewing for Alaric and Richenda. There are many errors in the sewing, so don't look to closely, but this is the results of yesterdays work.



So the question remains, do I cut out another one and iron it onto the Morgan Haldane's jacket? Evie, If you have a better Gryphon emblem I won't.  Let me know.

[Evie]

Oh, that is gorgeous!  I don't know if the  pleather (plastic leather) the jacket is undoubtedly made from is heat safe, so I can't recommend ironing it. The top layer may melt. I know it's definitely not washable (except maybe by gently blotting it with a barely damp cloth?). I  managed to ruin a bomber jacket because I tried to wash it. (The previous owner was a heavy smoker and I was trying to get the smell out.) I think the safest way to apply an appliqué to it would probably be fabric glue, with the possible addition of a thin line of fabric paint around the outline applied from a very thin-tipped bottle to seal the edge. I have both, so if you don't already have both items on hand, I could just add the appliqué once it gets here. Morgan is very excited about getting one; now I'll have to dig out his motorcycle from the basement shelves! He can't very well wear it to fancy dress occasions like charity balls or state dinners at Court, though, so I'll still need to figure out appropriate formal wear for him. (Don't worry, though, his bow tie is no longer pink!)

And no, I don't have a better gryphon. I have a small one (not sure if it's the right size) that's printed on thick iron-on patch fabric, but it would still need to be cut out and glued in place due to the reasons mentioned above, and it's not as pretty as yours. Nice job in adapting the gryphon from the book cover!

[revanne]

Gorgeous.

[DesertRose]

Lovely!

[Jerusha]

Fantastic! 

Now if I could just get one put on the roof of my MINI Cooper.... 

[Laurna]

Jerusha, cool idea!
I can so see an air brushed green gryphon on the hood of a mini cooper. Just like the fire-bird on the trans am. In my youth I so wanted a car with a fire-bird. Now I think a green gryphon would be awesome.

Thank you ladies for your support. Evie, I am cutting out two more gryphons. I will send them along with the jacket and let you decide what would be best. I nearly have your package ready to go but I am waiting on one more thing to arrive.  Can you PM me a good mailing address. I hope your going to like this. 

[revanne]

Confessions of covetous priest.

I so would like a Mini Cooper with or without a Gryphon.

Maybe Duncan can absolve me - I'm sure he was covetous of some of Alaric's stable.

[Jerusha]

I know this won't help, revanne, but it's the best car I've ever owned.  Even without the gryphon.

Mine it the Countryman version, though, with all wheel drive.  I need that up here in the far north.

And yes, I have been tempted to throw a blanket over it when it gets cold. 

[Evie]

Laurna, what type of body do you have your Alaric on?  I see he's wearing his ring.  Nice touch! 

[Laurna]

The ring is painted on the hand and came with the action figure, lol.  For all three of my men- Washburn, Muir, and Alaric- I had purchased Toy Biz Lord of the Ring Aragorn figures.  They come fairly inexpensive in the box.  I like the shape of the body, however the figures come with black smudges throughout the plastic. My guys will NOT be wearing their Calvin Klein's out in public.  .  Plus, Alaric has a scar on his neck where I broke the plastic the first time I tried to remove the scary Aragorn head. Since then, I learned to warm the plastic up first with a blow dryer first. However, I was thinking about getting a new Morgan body type to replace Alaric's.  Do you think the ken style head will fit the ZY body of Morgan Haldane? As for those Calvin Klein's... Alaric could have been given those during his three day adventure in modern Gwynedd when his portal in the green tower malfunctioned. Right?

[Evie]

The ring is painted on the hand and came with the action figure, lol.  For all three of my men- Washburn, Muir, and Alaric- I had purchased Toy Biz Lord of the Ring Aragorn figures.  They come fairly inexpensive in the box.  I like the shape of the body, however the figures come with black smudges throughout the plastic. My guys will NOT be wearing their Calvin Klien's out in public.  .  Plus, Alaric has a scar on his neck where I broke the plastic the first time I tried to remove the scary Aragorn head. Sense then, I learned to warm the plastic up first with a blow dryer first. However, I was thinking about getting a new Morgan body type to replace Alaric's.  Do you think the ken style head will fit the ZY body of Morgan Haldane? As for those Calvin Klien's... Alaric could have been given those during his three day adventure in modern Gwynedd when his portal in the green tower malfunctioned. Right?

I think the ball joint that fits into the Hot Toys heads is just a smidge too small for the neck joint opening in a Ken head  (and I am assuming all your Ken heads are the more recent sort, with the neck opening recessed in a round crater in his neck rather than jutting out, or you've got some major surgery to do), but most neck joints can be adapted with a little bit of creativity.  First,  try the head on the body. If it looks good there, but that joint is too loose, you can go to a hardware store to the plumbing section and look for clear plastic tubing  (like aquarium tubing). You will need one with an inside diameter  (the hole) that will fit snugly on your body's neck ball joint.  Buy a foot of that tubing. When you get home,  cut off about an inch of it (scissors should do) and push that small segment just over the ball joint, but not so far down that the bottom edge will impede range of motion. If the fit is tight, use a blow drier to help make the tube more flexible.  Then try putting the head over it (again, heating the head first if needed, though after frying my Alaric's hair, I'd advise caution if your drier runs very hot. I keep mine on warm rather than hot for doll heads now, and shelter their hair with my hand.)  You might find that you have to trim some of the tube down a bit more, and that's fine. The main thing is to make sure the ball joint itself is covered (which turns it into a wider joint that will fit snugly inside the head), and any remaining length just adds some stability but isn't really necessary for the joint itself to work.

Another, even easier trick, if you happen to find the sort of body (or get a compatible neck joint for that body) that has a cone-shaped joint at the top rather than a ball shape, is to go to Dollar Tree and buy a bunch of those decorative rubber grapes, pick a small grape off the bunch, pop it over that joint,  and ta-da! Instant ball joint!