Ladies and Gents! I don't know if you have been doing the math... but, if you ARE counting you realize that Munny #26 marks the exact half-way point of my Munny A Week 2011 project. To be honest, I wasn't sure that I would have made it this far. It seemed like everyone that had tread this path before me had failed (cough cough munnyaweek.com cough cough) I am happy to announce that I am not even close to giving up and with your help can finish this project strong... So, what are you waiting for? Send me those Munny customization ideas already! (gbowdler@gmail.com)
The great Betsy (you may remember her being mentioned in the week 7 blog post) had recently suggested that I pull back the wizard's curtain and reveal the process I go through to bring you one of the weekly Munnys. I thought I'd give it a shot. (What is to follow is not picture heavy... I tend to work fast and loose... so documentation isn't a strong point)
I'm not a huge fan of the accessories I've been receiving with my orders of KidRobot MiniMunnys... I have ordered them in bulk all from the most recent addition and therefore have dozens of the same accessories ranging from fedoras to baseball bats. I haven't found them very inspiring and haven't used them for the most part during this project. However, when I opened up this Munny with my first shipment I knew that I wanted to make a Statue of Liberty inspired Munny... from there it became more of a waiting game for an appropriate week to unleash it... What better week than 4th of July weekend? So, lets get started.
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The first step was to affix what I imagine was designed and intended to be some sort of spike mohawk on the Munny sideways. I did this with Loctite Heavy Duty Epoxy (The one with a 5 minute cure time) I've use this epoxy every time I affix something to the Munny that isn't clay. (or clay that has broken off after the initial baking) I've also used this product to simulate glass for the goggles for Pool-side Petey.
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When I originally conceptualized making a Statue of Liberty Munny I knew that I wanted to make the torch functional. I knew I would need some sort of lighting system and battery pack to pull it off. In order to make it work, I had to hollow out a path from the hand to the foot so that the light could be outside of the Munny and the battery pack could be hidden inside. You can see, in this picture, the hole in the hand and the hollowed out foot. What you cannot see was that i hollowed out the socket where the detachable hand meets the body.
I used a cheap-o LED book light I purchased from the Dollar Tree for the torch. I removed the casing and fed the wires through the arm and with some rudimentary wire twisting (my soldering iron wasn't working) I completed the circuit through a switch. I then covered the super bright white LED with some of the yellow plastic from the book light. (You can see the result of this electrical work in the picture below)
As far as working with clay goes, I don't have very much to say. I add clay until the object looks like what I think it is suppose to. haha. I use two, sometimes three types of Sculpey brand modeling clay when working on Munnys:
Super Sculpey (stays soft, maybe too soft, before baking. I used it for bulk areas and anything that doesn't need to be super detailed... for this project I used this for the draping gown and the hair)
PREMO! Sculpey (a bit firmer, I use this for all faces and more detailed work... for this project, the face, torch and book) The third product I sometimes use is
Super Sculpey Firm (this stays rediculously firm even while sculpting. I use it on thin objects that would surely break if I used anything else. an example would be the scarf blowing in the wind on "Fly me to the Munn.") In the image below you can see the lighting system as well as the clay-covered Munny out of the oven and sanded a bit.
Once all of the clay has been sculpted and baked, it is time for priming and painting. Normally I prime in white and then start painting color, but seeing this Munny was going to all be in the same color range, I decided to prime it in the bluish green you see below. I use some combination of FolkArt, Apple Barrel and Liquitex Basics brand acrylic paint for my Munny work. Its relatively cheap and seeing art stores have been closing in Tampa like it is in style, they are relatively accessible at big chain retail stores with craft departments. So, below is the primed Munny with all of the torch guts tucked up inside the leg.
Tah Dah! Here is the finished Munny. This is after some detailed painting to add fake hi-lights, shadows, and blackened windows. I then covered the whole thing with Delta Ceramcoat's Matte Varnish to protect the paint and put my McDonalds ice cream cone making experience to good use creating the torch flame using hot glue. and there you go... a finished Munny!
Oh yeah... Did I mention it lights up!? ;)
Well, there you go folks. Week 26's Statue of Munnerty.
- Greg
