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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Sideshow Collectibles 12" figures - mods project page

FAITH & WILLOW

project page one SCULPTING (this page)

project page two HAIR/PAINT

mini-project page - SHORTENING A FIGURE

Slayer? Witch Slayer? When last we left this project...

8/31/05 - Vampire Willow, human, canon Dopplegangland version, is all finished. The bodice has been well and truly altered as best I could. I redid the hair, am happy with it, so I'm counting this as a done project. [stamps with DONE! stamp]

8/13/05 - I was able to adapt one of my resin heads to the Sideshow neck joint using a plumbing washer, epoxy, and resin. It's a nice fit and I am pleased. It's a good thing, too, since I'm running out of DML bodies. I made a head for my version of Vampire Willow that I'm putting together. It's AU, so I can veer from canon VW's bodice/hairstyle. The other parts I'm using are straight out of my spare kitbash parts box--YAY! NO SEWING!

OLDER JOURNAL ENTRIES

SUPPLIES: Super Sculpey, Model Master Acryl grey primer, Bondo, Milliput
TOOLS: paintbrushes, oven (for curing Sculpey), sandpaper in coarse (60) to super fine (600) grits
OPTIONAL TOOLS & SUPPLIES: 11mm jewelry beads (optional), Dremel Moto-tool, airbrush and compressor, RTV silicone mold mix, Alumilite super-plastic
PLEASE NOTE, these are hazardous materials to work with, particularly the Bondo and the RTV silicone mold mix. I love myself and work only in well-ventilated areas and protect myself with the appropriate masks and rubber gloves.

PRELIMINARY/PREPARATORY ISSUES:

  1. Bodies. These heads will one day adorn female action figure bodies, and the eventual recipient body has to be worked out as soon as possible to plan the neck/head/body joint. In the realm of female bodies for customizing, there are unfortunately few options. There's the GI Jane classic collection, which is actually a very good body for customizing as it's very durable, and the head attachment quite simple. It's also naturally scaled for a 5'4" female, making it suitable for the great majority of Buffy's female characters. Articulation's not the greatest, though, and they're becoming scarce. There's also Dragon's super-articulated Eve, also with a neck-head joint that can easily receive custom heads. On the other hand I'm not fond of the wiggly tummy, and its ankle joints are not the best. Also, BBI/Takara's super-articulated Cy Girls, which have the advantage of being widely available as standalone figures, for all of a couple of years, at least. These figures also have ankle joint issues and also the limiting issue of being very very endowed (C cup and D cup only)--not good for a Willow figure, except maybe for some really weird AU fanfic photostory. Um, anyway... Finally, of course, is Sideshow's own body. They offer a short standalone nude figure as the Art S Buck artist's model figure, as well. The disadvantage is expense, loose joints and a difficult neck-head attachment. This one is strictly for Sideshow head transplants. In the end, I went with a head and neck combination sculpt which allows the most versatility for attachment to a recipient body, as it's easier to remove the neck than add one later if necessary. CLICK HERE FOR SOME COMPARISONS OF SOME OF THESE BODIES.
  2. Scale. I'm hoping these heads will come out good enough to display with the stock figures I'm happy with (Buffy, Angel, Spike), so much measuring of the figures already produced is a good idea. Sideshow's heads haven't been consistently sized even within the various licensed lines they produce, but for the most part, they're big. Maybe not quite Playmates Star Trek big, but bigger in general than Dragons and BBIs.
  3. Familiarity. These are intended to be portraits. I need as many pictures as possible of the subjects, at as many angles as possible. Using stills such as headshots, it's almost impossible to find profile pictures, especially if the subject is self-conscious about something (noses in particular seem to be a touchy subject to an extraordinary number of people). Profile shots are indispensable for some important features: jawline, browline, and the shape of the filtrum (extending out or in), placement of ears, how strong the chin is, etc. There's a really good stills gallery at Chosen Two, but watching the shows is actually the best source. Also, I am certainly not above referencing the work of others. The Sideshow headsculpts for Faith (Mat Falls) and Willow (Andy Bergholtz) provide insight as to what those artists saw as distinctive about the subjects they sculpted. After becoming stalker-like obsessed with the actors' pictures, you come to recognize those features which will most increase likeness::

Alyson Hannigan appeared in every single episode over the show's 7-year run, and her look varied quite a lot over the years. I remember wondering at one point if she had or has a thyroid issue what with her eyes sometimes bulging, her slight physique and her malleable appearance, but perhaps she is just one of those people who have extremely plastic, expressive faces (like Jim Carrey). It must come in handy for a comedic actor.

EXECUTION

1. The first sculpt was of the faces. These are just rough-outs. On Faith's face, I used the 11mm jewelry beads for the eyes, pushing them into the Super Sculpey and working the clay over the beads to create eye lids. This ensures a spherical eye, but does require extra care in making sure the two beads are symmetrically placed at the same depth and height and at the correct distance from each other. Willow's face was sculpted entirely from Sculpey. By doing only the face at first, I am able to minimize the amount of time in the oven - 35 minutes. After baking, I applied a very thincoat of primer which helps me identify the low/high spots in the rough out.

2. After a moderate to very light sanding to smoothen and also to reduce high spots, I added Sculpey to the low areas and also sculpted the back of the head and the neck. No ears at this time. After baking for an additional 35 minutes, before applying another coat of primer, I sanded the head to an approximation of the final head shape and size, paying particular attention to the jawline, which will affect the placement of the ears, and the shape of the forehead. Now if you know anything about Sculpey, you may be asking yourself, isn't it a bad idea to bake this in steps, especially since the face has already been baked for 35 minutes earlier, plus it's had a coat of primer? The answer is, it's okay! The Sculpey in the face already cured, and now has more or less the properties of ceramic. You can reheat it at the recommend 275 degrees without damaging it. I would not recommend boiling it unless boiling is just to "freeze" the Sculpey for momentary handling. If you really want the Sculpey to cure, it needs to be baked. The real issue is the primer, which might go glazy on you after being baked. Still, it will be sandable. The primer really becomes an issue when you've applied several coats to one area without sanding, so it's a good idea to sand a primed area down before putting on another coat of primer (or use primer washes). The primer is being used through these first few steps not to seal the baked clay, but merely to provide an even surface to reveal low/high spots.

3. The ears were added, and again, more Sculpey for too-low areas. Back into the oven for 15 minutes (no boiling for these touch-ups; boiling is not good for thin layers of Sculpey). Another primer wash goes on. From this point, I use an X-Acto curved blade and super-fine sanding to move closer to the finished sculpt. I ended up using Sculpey for touch-ups (final nose, fill-ins of cheek area, etc) a couple of times. 12-15 minute oven intervals after each Sculpey ap. The following pics of the Faith sculpt are just after the ears have been added. They have yet to be sanded, and there's touch up work required for the lips and eyes.

4. The final sculpting phase involves using Bondo and the super-fine sanding paper. Again, Bondo is toxic. I minimized my use of the Bondo by using Sculpey (also not the safest of materials, but Bondo is super-evil) whenever possible for touch ups, up until this final step.

5. Before applying a final primer coat to the finished head, I take very coarse sandpaper and score (not sand) the scalp of the head where the hair will be. This is so that when it comes time to attach hair, if it is sculpted hair, the Sculpey will have a texture to adhere to.

I made a RTV silicone rubber mold of the bald heads before proceeding with the first paint proof and hair experimentation. I am therefore able to use the resin casts for further tweaking. Here are the first painted artist proofs:

This first proofs revealed some problems areas that need to be tweaked a bit more before I can make a production mold. I shortened Faith's chin and nose, extended the filtrum and cleaned up her eye area and made the eyes more symmetrical. I also lengthened the forehead and flattened the eyebrows. On the Willow sculpt, I narrowed its nose at the nostrils and gave the tip more of an upturn. I redid the lips and cheeks, though it still needs a little more work. I also shrank her eyes and resculpted the ears for placement and shape. These adjustments were made on resin copies with Sculpey and Bondo and Milliput, in a process similar to that above. (second sculpts are in toasted orange; old in grey)

As with the first proto, the second version prompted yet more changes, sometimes moving back closer to the original sculpt. For example, on the Willow sculpt, I reversed the eye shrink and made the eyes more prominent and less deep in the face. I also did a bit more work with the bridge and tip of the nose. On Faith, I redid the nose almost from scratch, made the bottom lip fuller, and redid the chin/jaw. I also pulled her eyes out more and reinforced the roundness of the eyeballs while widening her cheeks at the eye sockets. The necks on both heads became smaller.

Faith Will Buff

CLICK HERE FOR PAGE 2, HAIR EXPERIMENTS

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