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The whim of fate never ceases to amaze me , moreso when it concerns my creative endeavors . I have often felt compelled by some muse when it comes to artwork that I create that transcends my usual work and grows my skills sometimes to that point where I feel like a real artist . My latest 1:6 custom is a good case point being that she is a doll that is not one that I had actually planned yet has quickly become one of what I consider my " signature " works . . . those dolls that seem to embody a very tangible " Gorby-ness " to them . Hester came into being simply due to the Men With Dolls October Custom Kitbash Contest , and my perusing of the " pink aisle " as I sought brain fodder to get my creative juices flowing during a break from my " planned " entry for the contest , she was an accident waiting to happen so to speak ; a decidedly happy accident . What makes " Hester " even more of a landmark figure for me is she is the first extreme makeover " face repaint " I have as yet undertaken that I honestly find breathtaking in her appearance , and accompanied by some rather novel jewelry design work and custom body work . Her creation is somewhat bemusing to me , being that I have decided that she is a vampire and I have a habitual dislike for vampiric characters , the old " been there done that " routine and having a decidedly gothic slant to her look which again , for me is such an overused and overdone motif it's kind of banal . That said , the muse sometimes overwhelms your conscious predilections and you just need to go with the flow . In any event she will look great alongside my Bela Lugosi , Vincent Price , Luther Crowe and Whisper figures .  Hester is practically finished as I have begun work on this section of Geeb-O-Rama , and as a custom kitbash most of her costuming and accoutrements were already in existence ; just not quite in the form they have taken as concerns her creation . One aspect of her that needed to be completely scratchbuilt were her hands , since there are few female hands available in 1:6 scale that are not only free of adornment ( namely gloves ) but which also possess that particular spidery grace with which I tend to approach Lady Vampire hands . As an artist , one of the earliest things that I remember being taught in art history was the importance Michelangelo placed upon the rendering of the human hand ( or inhuman hand as the case may be ) due to the amount of unspoken communication that the hand can convey . Thus , when I undertook the creation of Hester's hands foremost in my mind was how to portray a wide range of expression in what would in fact be but two CG style hand sculpts , hands that needed to be not only feminine but monstrous as well or at the least diabolic that could convey not only sexual come hither eroticism but also fear . Concerning the CG style hand , and what medium to use to create a set was an important issue . Most of these type dolls have slightly flexible hands a vital consideration when dealing with holding weapons , but since Hester would doubtful ever need to pack an AK-47 I decided to pass on the obvious choice of Kneadatite and instead opted for the much more expedient though far less flexible medium of Sculpey . Hands , as you most likely know , have fingers and a thumb and these digits require the use of an underlying skeletal structure to not only give them form but a rigid strength also ; all the more important when dealing with action figure hands since they are going to need to stand up to a lot of handling and moving . A wire armature could work , but the flexibility of wire would also mean less stability and strength in the finished sculpture , so rather than use a wire armature I created the base skelton of Hester's hands from sheet brass . Using sheet brass allowed me to basically just cut out a tracing of the whole hand shape which I then bent to shape and pose , being one solid piece of brass that form has the right amount of both flex and strength . That brass form was then covered in polymer clay and sculpted . A Note about the wrist joints : The original brass armature for the hands was much like the hand as you see with the CG wrist joint pin , but instead of the CG wrist it was a tongue of brass that I held onto while sculpting the hand . After the hand had been sculpted and baked , I then cut away about 1/4 inch of the hand and then snipped off the underlying brass form . I then stuck a ball of sculpey at the bottom of the hand and pushed the CG wrist pin into the sculpey , resculpting the ball of the hand around the CG wrist joint , the hand was then cured again via immersing the fresh putty in a bowl of boiling water . Hester's hands required around 3 to 4 hours work each , which includes cutting the brass form , sculpting , sanding and painting , and this leads into another important consideration : how much realism is needed ?  During her production , I temporarily placed 21st Century's Jacqueline hands on Hester because they roughly approximated the pose of the hands I wanted . Jaq's hands are nicely sculpted and very realistic and while I certainly could have opted to handle the new hand sculpts in a similar fashion what really struck in my mind was " Was it really necessary to go to that extent ? " Truth be told , no , it was not . The reason for this is very simple , CG hands are much more graceful and attractive than Jaq's hands , they are also much more simply sculpted , once you start putting tendons and knuckles and skin wrinkles the hand begins to lose that simple grace and beauty and since I was going to make Hester's hands rather spidery and clawlike anyway were I to start putting in an extreme level of detail to them they would become far too monstrous looking . Hester's hands are therefore rather simply stylized . I did however make them slightly larger than normal hands and exaggerated the length of her fingers . Part of this exaggeration was also done due to the length of the sleeves of her gown so that her hands would not be completely lost were her arms down at her sides .  Vampires are vain creatures , and as such love jewelry . Hester needed the traditional signet ring that all powerful Vampires possess ( Dracula had one , Barnabas Collins had one , and dammit Hester wanted one TOO ! ) I did not want to take the easy way out and just sculpt a ring onto her hand , since I thought such cheap fakery would clash with the real jewelry she is wearing . Now I was faced with the dilema of creating a 1:6 scale ring , and not just a plain and simple band either but a jeweled signet . The secret here is using actual jewelry , namely a bead conector with the loops cut off . Next I needed a cabochon , a really really small one , and nope , they don't come THIS small ! My solution here was taking a clear decorating clip ( Command Strips by 3M ) and trimming off the clip nub with my X-Acto knife . A little dab of gloss red enamel on the flat bottom surface and I have a gleaming crimson cabochon , which is then glued onto the metal bead connector . The band of the ring is a thin strip of aluminum bent circular which is then fitted over the ring finger . The band is shaped like an " L " with a very long stem ( which is the band itself ) and a short foot ( which serves as the contact point for the gem fitting ) The band is a close fitting open loop which allowed me to pass it over Hester's knuckle and the natural spring tension in the aluminum snaps it back tight over the finger . Creating Hester's ring was only a minor pain in the keister , and the end result was worth the trouble .   A Beauty So Dark Not Even The Grave Could Dimish It . . .
Once I had completed Hester's face repaint I knew I had a signature custom on my hands ; never before had I executed a repaint that so closely matched my more traditional 2D painted girl art , and I was infatuated with her . Vampires are a subject I've handled on many occasions , so much so that I find them rather mundane , but there was such a exquisitely victorian elegance to her face that I decided a vampire was pretty much her fate right off the bat ( excuse the truly bad pun ) ! I already had the beginnings for a suitable burial gown for her , the altered Miss Fear dress from my abandoned Gothic Elf custom since it really just needed a few additional costuming elements to achieve a period look . I devoted almost as much time to not rushing through this custom as I did actually working on it , purposely choosing points to stop in order to continue fresh and full of vigor , which is rather atypical for me since I tend to work full force until a piece is done . The Wicked Witch of the West  Hester's headsculpt was the serendipity I mentioned at the start of this section , discovering Mattel's Barbie version of The Wizard of Oz' " Wicked Witch of the West " at the local TRU , a headsculpt I had long admired as one of their best . The fact that the Barbie head is cast in green vinyl was only a moderate worry for me , since I had seen some rather extreme head repaints that amply displayed that covering an odd skin tone was not an impossibility ; nor was I intimidated by the fact that I had never tried to do such an extreme makeover prior to this . I really had not expected it to turn out so perfectly on my initial attempt with only one minor glitch when working on her eyelashes . I was able to fix her lash dilemna on my second attempt . I kept her original brow paints , just overpainting them to thin them out and to alter their arch . I liked the fact that she had a beauty mark on her chin so I kept that , using a colored pencil to draw it on . I also liked the fact that the original paint op had used glitter for eyeshadow so once the eyes were done I applied several coats of an opalesque glitter paint to her lids . All modesty aside , I think she's just awesomely drop dead gorgeous !  The very last aspects of my Hester custom completed were her hand sculpts , which were fairly simple to create and even easier to paint . I did very little modelling in the paint up , a base coat of the flesh tone paint with some blushing added in places achieved by adding magenta to the flesh color , all done while the paint was wet . After the flesh was dry I added some highlighting by hitting the high points with the side of a chalk pastel and then bending it in with a paint brush . I used an arylic gloss for her nail varnish after having sealed the paint with a matte finish fixatif .  Aside from her signet ring , which was scratchbuilt , Hester's jewelry is all store bought jewelry . Her earrings are from , but of course , earrings ; two bangles actually with earring posts cemented to the backs and pushed through the ear lobes of the headsculpt . I first made a pilot hole through the lobe with a straightpin . Her necklace is a piece of jewelry chain from the local Michaels and the pendant for it is the main bangle from the set of earrings from which her earrings were made . To complete her gown , I picked up some victorian lace , 1/2 inch wide from which I fashioned her lace choker and then using acrylic paint , drybrushed that same lace to make the embroidery on her sleeves ( which serves to cover the point where I joined the sleeves from Triad's Gothic lolita costume to the Miss Fear gown ) . It was not a really necessary addition but it does serve to add some more decorative interest to the gown and helps add some more color that also ties in with her jewelry and makeup . Her corset is from the Wicked Witch of The West costume and I thought that helped with the victorian look of her gown , plus it had that nifty little pouch on it too , another accent that added visual interest to the dress . To complete the look , I cut the Wicked Witch's dress at the waist , used Sobo glue to seam it and stop fraying of the silk and placed it under the Miss Fear gown , thus adding a double skirt look to the gown .     
    Perhaps not as final as some might prefer , but the Lady Van Weiren did require a place to pass away the daylight hours and so I began work on a Serta Perfect Sleeper for vampires .  Combined with some 1:12 scale dollhouse architectural pieces made from basswood , some hobby cement and a piece of cut clear styrene plastic sheet .  Sadly no one makes 1:6 scale coffin hardware ( what , there really is that little demand for it ?!?! ) but I'll be using some pewter finish label holders from the scrapbooking aisle to initiate the plates for the handles . I still need to sort out how to construct the handles and I'm thinking about aluminum rods and beads . The hinging mechanism for these will be the most problematic I reckon . I also still need to design and purchase fabric for the interior lining . I'd like to find some appropriate silk or satin material and perhaps lace in order to complete the look of a lavish victorian style lady's coffin .  | Warrior Maiden | Femforce Customs | Jungle Woman | CopperheadPenny | CoolioGirls | WarriorMaidengallery2 | Race Bannon | sci-figal | biminirhodes | Catwoman | sorceress | Femforce Customs2 | A Mod Look | Jennifer Wetworks | OnnaBugei_sha | Gila Garnet | whisper | headsculpts | costume | Wigging It | Darth Fatalus | Swashbuckler | Finn O'malley | Darth Fatalus Diorama | streetfighter | MoonGirlRedux | dakota_montana | ZombieKillerBikerLesbos | Hair | Thaay Katar | halfbreed | princessofmars | HestervanWeiren | Autumn Bliss | BioSaber Ruby | | CoolGirlCustoms | WildRoses | CoolGirl Collection | CoolGirl Collection2 | CoolGirl Collection3 | TheToysmith | CoolGirl Collection4 | CoolGirl Collection 5 | CoolGirl Collection 6 | CoolGirl Collection 7 | CoolGirl Collection8 | Kill All Robots CyberHuntress | CoolGirl Collection 9 | CoolGirl Collection 10 | Bad Amy | Buckaroo Betty | SimpleDetails | CoolGirl Collection 11 | coolgirlHQ | Cool Girl Comics | Cool Girl collection 12 | KisaragiKustom | AlternativeCutey | coolgirl_collection9 | DX-Style Yuni | DX Style Sanchez | Triad Toys | Cool Girl _Akiko Fuji | CG Gallery | Samurai Figures | Cool Girl Collection13 | Cool Links | Triad_2 | Playscale ResourceCenter | Sword and Sorcery | | ReelArts Blue Bulleteer | Shocker Toys | Cool Girls | KiniKomix | KiniKomix2 | Custom Action Figures | eBay Auctions | AppleseedTribute | Macross Valkyrie | Planet of the Apes | Horse Sense | WeaversUpholsteryToo | ToyBiz_Iron Man | Dirty Pair | On Display | The OTHER Gorby | | Return Home | Updates | The Archive | Gorby Site Map | Geeb-O-Rama's Model Workshop | Geeb's Toy Box | Geeb-O-Rama Goodies | Movie Madness | World Of The Bizarre | Cool Beans | |
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