Finishing Up the Miniature Skull Island Trees

I thought I'd post some photographs of my finishing work on the miniature Skull Island tree project. The palm trees are about 26" high while the other trees are roughly 20" tall.

 I sacrificed the log from my spider pit scene to create the armature for this tree trunk :    http://blacknick-sculpture.blogspot.com/2011/10/kong-spider-pit-finished.html 

                       Here I'm wrapping the wire with cotton twine to build up the limbs.

                              Adding cotton & liquid latex to the tree limb.

                                   The first coat of acrylic on the large tree.

                                      The finished tree decked out with foliage.

                                               The smaller of the two trees.

                                                  The two finished palm trees.

 Since the trees are destined for a King Kong set for a stop motion film I thought it would be fun to photograph them in B&W to see how they'd look.

It was a fun project but I'll probably be sweeping and vacuuming up moss for the next month!

Making Miniature Trees Part Three

I started working on two leafy type trees recently for a miniature Skull Island jungle film set. They both are around 20 inches high. They are made to scale for the  King Kong stop motion puppet that will be used in the film.

After building the trunk armature up I covered it in a paper mache mixture. The top layer was covered in paper cloth impregnated with mache.

                After covering the tree in the paper cloth I gave it a roughened bark texture.

 Here is one of the wrapped wire tree limbs with a covering of cotton and liquid latex. The wood block on the end will  attach to a slot in the main trunk.

                             Applying a mixture of tinted liquid latex to the branch.

                                            The finished branch after it has dried.

                      The main trunk with the slot I mentioned earlier to accommodate the branch.

The birch wood block base of the larger tree, I added some roots into the Apoxie clay base before it cured.

Aluminum wire forms the upper tree branches. Apoxie clay is added at the base of each branch to   firmly secure it to trunk section of the tree.                                                                                                                                                                   

After painting a coat of liquid latex on the wire I wrapped it with cotton twine to build it up.

                                 Cotton and additional liquid latex was applied to form the branch.

                          The base of the trunk with Aluminum wire and Apoxie clay roots.   

                                       Covering the wire root with cotton & liquid latex.

                      Some smaller roots made with tinted liquid latex over floral wire.

                   Adding the thinner roots to the main root section. This week I look forward to begin creating the leafy foliage for the tree tops!

King Kong Auction

I'm selling my bust of Kong mauling a skull island native on eBay. I hate parting with him but I need the space for new work.

"This is a handmade, one of a kind sculpture of King Kong for sale. Inspired by the 1933 horror film this bust depicts Kong chewing on a Skull Island native. It would make an eye catching addition to any collection! The bust is an impressively sized piece measuring 19" L X 15 1/2" H X 11" W and is sculpted in Apoxie Sculpt clay. Apoxie Sculpt is a two part epoxy type clay that when set is extremely hard and durable. Adding to the realism of the sculpture is the actual grass skirt and real miniature necklace the native wears".

Anyone looking for an interesting one of a kind piece for your collection stop by eBay and check out my auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120829836053

The Art of The Diorama

A few readers have emailed me asking how I learned to make dioramas. Well most of what I do has come about by and trial and error. I'm also always on the lookout for books or articles on techniques and new materials that can help take my work to a new level.

One such book is The Art of The Diorama by Ray Anderson : Amazon.com: The Art of The Diorama (9780890240922): Ray Anderson, Roland Patterson: Books

To say Ray Anderson is a master craftsman is an understatement! His attention to detail is amazing! If your a fan of miniatures and dioramas you can see some examples of his work here: Model Makers—Ray Anderson

Another book I have found useful in my work is Terrain Modelling by Richard Windrow. Just the section on building trees was worth the purchase price to me!

While on the subject of dioramas I thought I'd share a few pictures with you. I've made some progress on my Skull Island spider pit diorama this week.

Here is a wire mesh frame stapled to a wood base. It is going to be a cave in the ravine cliff face.

Using sections of burlap impregnated with mache I covered the wire frame.

After the cave dried overnight in front of an electric fan I primed it and painted the interior. Then I installed the cave into the frame that will form one of the ravine walls.

I added burlap and wood putty around the cave entrance and left it to dry. Tomorrow I hope to get the entire frame covered in a first coat of burlap/wood putty!

WIP Skull Island Spider Pit Diorama

I thought I'd share a few work in progress photos. This past week I've been concentrating on finishing up the fallen log that bridges the spider pit chasm.

Here I am drilling a hole in the Apoxie Sculpt clay "bark" of the tree.

After drilling the holes I glued in my roots which were coat hanger wire covered in foil and then wrapped with floral wire. The floral wire helps the clay stay in place as you model it.

This is the first layer of clay. After it cures a second layer of clay will be applied which I'll texture to match the bark on the rest of the log.

Here is the snapped off top section of the log which I made by hot gluing Styrofoam over a cardboard tube. You can see the finished trunk section of the log primed grey in the background.

After using a rasp to shape the Styrofoam I coated it in wood putty.

The smaller roots of the log trunk were formed using aluminum and floral wire.

Here is the root nearing completion. It is covered in cotton and tinted liquid latex.

Next post I'll show the roots added to the log and go about painting and detailing it.

Seeing Light At The End Of The Tunnel

I'm pleased to say I'm approaching the finish line on my Skull Island cavern project.

One of the remaining tasks to complete was creating some loose rocks for the interior.

Whenever I'm working with Apoxie clay, mache or wood putty I will always make up rocks with any surplus material.

The collection of these rocks in the above photo on the left are textured to look like marine rocks. The batch to the right are more like ordinary rocks. Sometimes I'll add a stick into the rock as a handle for when it comes time to paint them. For my skull island rocks I cobbled together a few of these leftovers, added some carved styrofoam and finished molding them with Apoxie Sculpt clay.

By modeling these rocks by hand using the same technique to texture the clay that I had on the cavern I achieved a good match.

Here are the finished rocks painted and sprayed with Dullcote.

I thought I'd celebrate nearing completion on this project by having a nice seafood dinner!

After picking my wife up at work we drove to the nautical mile in Freeport.

The Nautical Mile Fish Markets

My favorite fish market on the mile is Capt. Ben's. While there I bought some salmon fillets, shrimp and a dozen Little Neck clams.

For our dinner I made salmon cakes, spaghetti with white clam sauce and garlic shrimp. My wife made a green salad and a toasted garlic bread with melted mozzarella cheese. That bread was soooo good!

Cavern Work In Progress

Now that I had created my cavern ceiling using resin and chopped fiberglas cloth it was time to begin covering it in Apoxie Sculpt clay.

After mixing up a batch of parts A & B of the clay I apply a thin veneer of it to the cavern ceiling working it down onto the walls of the cave.

I can't work too large of an area at a time because I have to impart a rocky texture to the clay before it begins to set up.

This photo is of the entrance to the cavern. It is made of hardware cloth and styrofoam board.

After adding a layer of mache I covered it in Apoxie Sculpt clay. I find the mache closes the pores of the styrofoam board otherwise I keep getting loose particles of styrofoam as I apply the Apoxie.

An added benefit is it bulks up the piece without the added weight ( and expense ) of a thick layer of Apoxie clay.

This photo shows the finished cave entrance painted with acrylics and placed in its position on the plywood base. I now begin building up the rest of the cliff face which will eventually be joined to the entrance.

Here is one of the supports for the interior of the cave. It shows the wood frame, styrofoam board and veneer of Apoxie Sculpt.

This is a close up photo of the rock texture of one of the supports.

I hope to get a great deal of work done today before the heat and humidity return later in the week!

The Completed Styracosaurus Sculpture

Working on the Styracosaurus was enjoyable. It was an interesting challenge to sculpt something that had to have movable parts for stop motion animation. Eric Kessler has since completed filming the sequence where the raptors are feeding on the dead Styracosaur.

He was kind enough to give me a sneak preview and the scene came out great! It isn't often I get to see one of my creations come to life in a film. What made it even more exciting for a Kong fan like me was it is featured in a stop motion King Kong film.

If you haven't seen any of Kessler's animation of Kong and the other inhabitants of Skull Island you should check out his work on Youtube. Here is a link to one of my favorite clips:YouTube - Kong vs. Pack of Raptors