Behold, Sinners! Mumm-Ra: THE EVER-LIVING!

EDIT: DONE GOT IT SOLD!

Yeeeeeee-ikes!

So it seems this "starving artist'' thing is a bit more difficult when you've got yourself new monthly car payments to make. I don't think I need to say more to tell you that I'm kinda in the pits right now.

Needing some money, as well as getting rid of some left over scrap from an undocumented (but completed) build of an old-fashioned labcoat, I decided to make a mummy figurine that I hope to sell. Not just some slapped together body wrapped in cloth. No. Fully detailed and THEN wrapped in detailed and aged fabric.

Mummy led to Mumm-Ra, which led to this:

Now, I never much cared for Thundercats, but like Skeletor in He-man or Dr. Doom in Fantastic Four, Mumm-Ra is just one of those interesting villains that have come from shitty titles.

 The thing is all built outta Sculpey and Apoxie Sculpt over a wire armature over a combined time of, what, two days? That sounds right. All I know is that this is the fastest thing I've ever sculpted and put together near completion.

The body sculpt was about a good six hours and the neck and head was was three more after that. Further detailing and other bits took four to five more hours on top of that.
 

 Hands were the only things in Apoxie Sculpt and that was done in so many hours and left to fully cure overnight.

 Once it was cured, I painted it to what I thought was appropriate. Keeping in mind that he's mummified, I made sure to keep his body in line with the character's color scheme but aged and colored as if it were mummified. No photo reference was used, everything was all from memory from what Mumm-Ra looked like and what I recall mummies to look like: brown, boney, shriveled husks.

 The hands came out really well, I think. I can't sculpt hands for shit, even worse is that Apoxie doesn't handle as well as Sculpey for handling detail. But, its difficultly lead to really good textures that it naturally gave the hands; making them look moldy and decrepit.

 Once painted to my liking, I sealed it with clear coating and left it to air out. In the meantime, I went to work on the bandages by taking the scraps, originally white, and staining it with coffee, red wine and, eventually, rubbed in dirt and given a slight soak in muddy water. Similarly, I did the same to some scrap red fleece for his cloak.

 Right now, I'm working on his base but here a teaser image to tide you over whilst in wait.

 Stay tuned, kiddies.

Fun Fact: Whilst making this, I kept chanting to myself "Mumm-Ra: the Ever-living!" in various different voices and manners. Don't ask me why.

Konahrik, Finito!

Well, technically, it's been done forever, but the shadow box the client wanted took a little time to do. No pics of the box while it was being worked on, unfortunately, but it was a very simple process (One I'm sure, that can be deduced through the photos). But here's a complete rundown of the process along with some pics:

But before we get to the box, here's the final mask in all of its glory. TA-DA!

Here's how it was colored: Brass spray paint with multiple layers of brown, black, and yellow on top. I dry brushed the dark colors on top of the brass first to dull the finish and after achieving the desired level of tarnish, I gave it several wet washes with brown-black and yellow to further give it more (and bring out more) detail. The underside of the thing was treated similarly before allowing to dry and applying a semi-gloss clear acrylic coating to protect it. On top of that, to give it an even more natural weathering job, I left it outside for a couple days so that the air and weather can batter it with its own craft and care. (To be honest, I don't think it actually adds anything else on top but id does do something for me psychologically, thinking that it did something.)

 A nice, detailed shot of some of the, well, details brought out by the paint, as well as in the initial sculpt.

So, here's some stuff about the box it came in and some pics showing off how proud I am with the outcome:

 

(A close up of the back of the shadow box to show the colors and detail repeated around the entire thing)

Despite how it looks, the wood is pretty much all new; the beaten look is all artificial and just topical. The wear-and-tear on the box is all done by hand (and hatchet) and assembled together with nails and wood glue. 

 To make sure it was sturdy, as I'm a terrible carpenter, I tossed it around, kicked it, beat it up, dropped it once it was put together to make sure it not only held up to my abuse, but to make sure that it was strong enough to endure the ages as well. As a result, it inherited some nicks and dings around the edges and corners that turned out a lot more pleasant than I could've hoped for. Other bonuses include, as a result of my terrible craftsmanship, those horribly misshapen nails. Some pierced through and boards, some split the wood, and some even lost their heads. The entire piece is strongly held together, I assure you, but that's story and character given you can't do on purpose!

From that point, the frame was made and installed and the entire piece was then aged with paint (rust included) to look like it's been around as long as the mask has (also to mimic the original idea I had of using driftwood to make the box out of) and given a nice, clear, matte, protective finish to keep in the paint, and withstand some more damage from the elements for further longevity. 

That being said, I did put it outside once it was done, to not only rid the smell of chemicals from the box, so it could "absorb some nature" to help further add texture to the material. After all, if I'm gonna make it look like it's been outside for some time, it therefore; should feel like it's been outside for some time.

My goal of the shadow box was to give the illusion that the mask looked like it was suspended in emptiness; hovering inside of it by some means of magic. The light allowed in would not give away depth but would pass in enough to reveal the mask and cast enough shadows to hide enough of the back to make it look like it was floating. Also, the mask had to be suspended in a way, where it could be easily removed if desired to and easily placed back in. My solution was simply a foam-dome that raised the masked 3 inches from the back and a nail wrapped in electrical tape (wouldn't want to scuff my paint-job, would we?) to suspend the mask in mid-air. 

The interior was then laid with some leftover fleece I had laying around; hot-glued in. I had an idea to use felt but I didn't bother going any further with that (I mean, I already had the material that would've done the job equally as well).

 Once that was done, the only thing left to do was the "glass" for the frame. In actuality, the "glass" is an 1/8th inch sheet of acrylic that was heavily butchered to fit not only on the frame, but overlap into the box as well. I wanted the frame to lay flush against the box and that was the only way I figured to do it.

The etching was done on the inside of the acrylic using a reversed screenshot pulled from the game, stenciled (meaning laboriously hand-cut) onto duct tape, via exacto-knife, that covered the area I wanted etched and then sand-blasted.

 I did the window first and then the top half of the stats, and they came out rather well, I think. 

Then, I got tired. 

The rest of the stats show that. 

Duct tape is a fuck to work with as the adhesive clumps underneath as you're trying to pull the cut bits off.

I'm not the happiest when it comes to the lettering, but that being said, it's good enough for me and the rest of the box is good enough that it's not that big of a bother. For me, anyway (if the owner wants to make it better, that's his worry now)...

...But I'm happy...

 

...And I hope the owner is, too. 

Even More Progress

 Plastic shell (plasti-paste) over the rubber mold.

Resin raw cast 

First layer of rubber on the tusks