Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Last week Nefarious was in the States visiting her mom (whose new boyfriend is a motocross guy so she got to play on an ATV which sounds like it was lots of fun) and of course I missed her a great deal so I made her some custom Lego minifig pieces. Following up that visit with a one-two punch, today Caitlin is off in the States visiting her mom, so I get no break from the missing of loved ones it seems. Anyway, let me share with you these Legos because I think they turned out nicely.

I made these using Apoxie Clay since it’s so much tougher than Sculpey and Fimo which I’m sure would break while being played with, and also would have been difficult to bake (Apoxie Clay air hardens) because of being mounted on the Lego bodies to ensure a perfect fit. Of course this mounting was preceded by coating the figures with lots of greasy mold-release, but even with that it was not easy to get the clay off in the morning! After it was hardened, I used a file to correct and perfect the shape and then painted them with Vallejo model paints and then sprayed them with a few coats of clear coat.

Lots more pictures (individual close-ups) continue after the break. Of course you can click on all these pictures and the one above to view them nice and big.

I made three new heads, starting with this fox. It was funny, when I searched for “fox” on Google image search that I was inundated with girls in bathing suits. Ah, the Internet, I love you and I hate you.

I knew that I needed to make her a unicorn. I admit it looks a little like a white donkey with a horn.

Finally, I also made a bear head.

I also made a mermaid tail, which can be used in place of normal Lego minifig legs. In addition to the fitting that attaches to the top half of the body, this piece also has attachments on the bottom so that it can click onto lego bases and blocks. This was easy to accomplish. Obviously I just pushed it onto a small 2×2 block (rather than a larger piece, so as to make it easier to keep the divets centered) and let it dry like that.

I also made four hats, starting with this turban with a couple feathers in it.

I also made a bit straw hat. I’m not 100% happy with the fit, as it sits a little low and comes close to covering up the face, and because it’s on an angle it can take a second before it’s obvious how to make it click into place.

It’s not obvious when you first look at it, but the wizard hat broke when I was taking it off the head it dried on. Originally it had a bit more of a rim that went down further, so now it sort of sits on top of the head rather than wrapping around it. All things considered though it’s just fine like that and has a decent fit.

Perhaps my favorite hat is this coonskin cap. It also completely broke apart, into four or five pieces, but I carefully superglued it back together and it seems solid, thankfully.

Well, that’s it. I’m happy to report that they were well received and that I’ve already received an “order” from her for more, in the form of a series of sketches of things she’d like me to make (including some additions to the above like mermaid hair and a fox tail). Making them was pretty quick, but what was time consuming was painting them. I’ve also discovered that my vision has changed a lot in the last month or two, and I now have to paint without my glasses on. If I have them on, my vision is blurry and I can’t focus, but when I take them off it’s crystal clear. I’m not sure if this is medication related, old age related, or due to my disease (which could eventually leave me blind, but I’m not sure by what mechanism or what the path to darkness is).

I’ve been sick and even though I slept most of the day I’m exhausted and am going to try to get to sleep now, so I apologize for any errors in grammar or speelling or whatever, because proof-reading for such things is going to slip off today’s to-do list. Feel free to leave snarky “did you mean to write…” comments below if that’s what gets you off I guess.