"Things" in jars (Pt. 2)

[Mr Addams]

Thanks for "Bumping" this topic Superbill22, I tried to find it before posting My collection of things in jars, HERE.

At the risk of duplicating my post , here are some edited highlights.



   



(More pictures on my post.)

Superbill, How did you make the 'Flaking dead skin' look on your creations? It is something that I wanted to achieve on my models, but I was unable to figure out.
 

[superbill22]

These are my favorite kinds of 'Things'. The ones that look like realistic lumps of unidentifiable lumps of flesh. Really well done!

Thank you! I'm getting quite a bit of practice out of these. I'm really trying to go for the non-descript and believable look.

I'd suggest flower shops for interesting jars and vases.

But I hope to make more soon, and you're all so inspiring.

That's a great idea, I hadn't thought of flower shops. I have quite a few nearby I could check out.

You should definitely make more. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Thanks for "Bumping" this topic Superbill22, I tried to find it before posting My collection of things in jars, HERE.

Superbill, How did you make the 'Flaking dead skin' look on your creations? It is something that I wanted to achieve on my models, but I was unable to figure out.
 

No problem!
I'm loving what you've come up with, especially the parasite.
For the skin and floating "lacy" tissue I've been using bits of plastic grocery bag lightly melted with a lighter or heat gun.

[Herbert West]

My favorite source is Goodwill, or Michael's. Both a re good source of plain bottles and empty scented candle jars. In a pinch, and if you're going to cover the lid with wax, and/or canvas and twine, you can just use regular pickle or sauce jars. Of course, filling standard mason canning jars with unspeakable lumps can be disturbing in their own right.

[superbill22]

My favorite source is Goodwill, or Michael's. Both a re good source of plain bottles and empty scented candle jars. In a pinch, and if you're going to cover the lid with wax, and/or canvas and twine,you can just use regular jars from the store. Of course, filling standard mason canning jars to hold unspeakable lumps can be disturbing in their own right.

I agree. I spend a lot of time at the various Goodwill stores near me. As you can probably tell, I've been using regular canning jars. It's tough to find them without the standard raised logo in the glass. As much as they are reviled, Walmart stores carry the ones I use (Mainstays brand) that are plain all the way around.

[superbill22]

This little guy has made a couple appearances but I wanted to show off my labels...



also, this is the first steampunk item that I've sold! hooray for milestones!

[Herbert West]

This little guy has made a couple appearances but I wanted to show off my labels...



also, this is the first steampunk item that I've sold! hooray for milestones!

Mmmmmm Kimchi....

Looks good my friend, and congrats on the sale. Its a good feeling isn't it?

[superbill22]

Looks good my friend, and congrats on the sale. Its a good feeling isn't it?

Thanks Mr. West! It is, I've sold my other art works before but it's nice to have some of my more steamy works get a little validation.

[bicyclebuilder]

Our daughter is at my parents, it's the last days of vacation, I'm at home, weather is moderate, so I pulled out the fimo klay to make a "thing" in a jar. I've got 44 teeth in the oven right now for my deep sea creature. Plan is to use the next bake for a skull/skeleton base, followed by a third bake to create the semi-transparent skin. After the bakes, I'm going to use transparant plastic bags to create the tail and flippers. That way, the deep sea fish will move a bit when it's in the jar.
I've got a straight forward, cilyndric 700ml jar to house the creature.
Pics will follow.

O, almost forgot to mention. Teeth are glow-in-dark. 

[bicyclebuilder]

Teeth


sideview with tin foil


frontview unwrapped


This species is getting way to big for the 700ml jar and I haven't got enough for a full skin body. I'm thinking about making a marbled glow-in-the-dark/skull colour to make the skeleton. The body isn't going to be that big. Just about the same size as the head. Tapered towards the tail.

I'm thinking, since the species is getting bigger then expected, I could make internal organs like hart and guts. First one out of fimo, second out of colored water in a plastic see-thru bag. Everything held into place with another plastic bag.

After the complete build, I'm going to have to find a bigger jar. Or ask TOWMBO to sacrifice one of her vases.

[Herbert West]

Whoa! Now that's a face! Keep us updated.

I actually like the drying teeth. The wires make it look like some sort of alien fungus.

[Owen Mortimer]

I want to say angler fish, but I'll go with kermit the frog's disgruntled cousins the Deep Ones?

[superbill22]

BicycleBuilder, looking good so far. I'm eager to see how it turns out!

[bicyclebuilder]

thanks. The wires on the teeth are actually a way to keep them into place.
The angler fish has been an inspiration for this creature, but I'm not sure I want to do the angler. If I do, I think the "bait" has to be different than the usual.
I want to make two shoulder plates with a spine in bitween. My wife is not fond of the see-thru belly with plastic bags. I have to find a way to keep everything into place, something like a thin wire mesh. My wife wants the whole thing made from fimo.
Pics and updates later.

[Uncle Arthur]

An excellent start! A truly ferocious looking creature!

[Aleister Crow]

Teeth


sideview with tin foil


frontview unwrapped


This species is getting way to big for the 700ml jar and I haven't got enough for a full skin body. I'm thinking about making a marbled glow-in-the-dark/skull colour to make the skeleton. The body isn't going to be that big. Just about the same size as the head. Tapered towards the tail.

I'm thinking, since the species is getting bigger then expected, I could make internal organs like hart and guts. First one out of fimo, second out of colored water in a plastic see-thru bag. Everything held into place with another plastic bag.

After the complete build, I'm going to have to find a bigger jar. Or ask TOWMBO to sacrifice one of her vases.

Not something I'd want to see anywhere near my toes while swimming, that's for sure.

Your description kind of makes me thing of a mutated Gulper Eel:

Gulper eel

A suggestion for a bigger jar- if you have them there, go to a bulk foods store and look for the "economy sized" jars of pickles.

[bicyclebuilder]

with the last bake (shoulderplates and spine) the head came off and nocked out a few teeth. 
I think I can fix it, although a few nocked out teeth look mean.
The creature has got a 12cm diameter head and is about 24cm long right now. This thing is huge! Most economy size pickle jars here have a smaller diameter lid. A small size aquarium might be the right size.

That gulper eel is something I don't want to see in my bathtub. 
Deepsea creatures are one of the few unfound creatures. We haven't been able to explore this harsh enviroment, at least not well enough to have seen all creatures. A creative interpetation of such a creature looks real. Due to the fact that it just might be a real, unfound species.

For now, I love this build. Even with the scale problem and the broken teeth.

[Aleister Crow]

Passing this along for our US thing-in-a-jar builders. Joann Fabrics has all their Sculpey bricks on sale at half off; this is both in-store and on their website, until August 11th.

[Lt. Thomas Corvidae]

This little guy has made a couple appearances but I wanted to show off my labels...



also, this is the first steampunk item that I've sold! hooray for milestones!

Mr. Superbill22,

May I ask, what is this fella made out of? I have had an idea for a thing in a jar for a while, but have always liked it when the thing takes up most of the space in the jar. I have a jar ready and waiting (right now its holding an assortment of dice) and am in need of a neat little project such as this. Enjoying everyone's jarred specimens!

[superbill22]

May I ask, what is this fella made out of?

Certainly! The main body of the thing is made from Super Sculpey polymer clay (mostly from "living doll" and a little translucent for the eye lids) the actual eyeballs are blue glass marbles under the sculpey. The floating fleshy tissue is made from plastic grocery bags, twisted and partially melted with a heat gun.

[Lt. Thomas Corvidae]

Ah cool. I like the use of the bags in that. Do you, or anyone else on this discussion, know of any rubbery/elastic material that would work for something like this? I know a few of you have mentioned the degradation of latex after a while in fluid type stuff. I may not even need any of the "preservation fluid" if the thing is crammed into the bottle. There may not even be room for anything else.

[superbill22]

Do you, or anyone else on this discussion, know of any rubbery/elastic material that would work for something like this?

You could lay out a thin layer of silicon caulk let that dry and then attach it to your creature. After all, it's main purpose is to resist water and it comes in a lot of different colors.

[Mr Addams]

Do you, or anyone else on this discussion, know of any rubbery/elastic material that would work for something like this?

You could lay out a thin layer of silicon caulk let that dry and then attach it to your creature. After all, it's main purpose is to resist water and it comes in a lot of different colors.

Part of the problem with using Oven Bake clay like Fimo or Sculpey is making sure that any inserts or additions will survive the baking.
Latex rubber will Vulcanize if baked, so it is a useable material.

I am working on an eyeball at the moment, and I intend using latex to build up the flesh, and give a bit of texture that cant be achieved by clay alone.

I shall let yiu know how I get on.

[Lt. Thomas Corvidae]

Do you, or anyone else on this discussion, know of any rubbery/elastic material that would work for something like this?

You could lay out a thin layer of silicon caulk let that dry and then attach it to your creature. After all, it's main purpose is to resist water and it comes in a lot of different colors.

Part of the problem with using Oven Bake clay like Fimo or Sculpey is making sure that any inserts or additions will survive the baking.
Latex rubber will Vulcanize if baked, so it is a useable material.

I am working on an eyeball at the moment, and I intend using latex to build up the flesh, and give a bit of texture that cant be achieved by clay alone.

I shall let yiu know how I get on.

Great! Thanks! I may just try to get a moldable rubber substance that I can color and such and play around with it. I would like to do is make a mold of the creature (It is slug-like so a mold would be very easy to make for it) and squish it into its container, see how that looks. Maybe with some tinted resin as a "stasis medium." If it ever gets off the ground I shall post the pictures (I have a bad habit of too many ideas and then getting none of them done)!

[Aleister Crow]

Throwing my first paltry efforts into the ring:




The liquid doesn't look quite so murky in person. Hindsight being a wonderful thing, I should have taken a pic of the creepy before stuffing it in and sealing it. Admittedly, I wasn't completely happy with how the critter turned out- too much green sculpey in the mix with the transparent, and I should have gave it a mouth instead of an eyeball (a fiber optic glass bead- great idea, next time I'll put it where it actually can be seen ).

The end result, on the other hand, suits me just fine. It's just murky enough to hide the things I think I screwed up, and the label from Propnomicon makes a great finishing touch. Right now I'm waiting for the label's glue to completely dry, then I'll age it a bit, and take more pictures. Preferably better ones.

[Propnomicon]

If I could make one suggestion...

When photographing bottled specimens don't be afraid to use light to your advantage.  When I take pictures of my own work I use two reflectors made from basic white paper to make sure the interior is illuminated.

The first goes under the jar.  Just trim the paper to the shape of the jar's bottom, put the trimmed paper on your table surface, and set the jar on top of it.  This will reflect light up and into the bottle.

The second is a simple reflector set behind the jar.  Just take a length of paper as wide as the jar and twice as high, fold it in half crosswise, and set it in back of the jar.  As long as it's roughly the same width as the jar it will simply fade into the background because of the distortion caused by the glass. 

I've found this to be a relatively easy way to show off specimens.   You'll still have reflections from the glass, as you can see below, but all that light bouncing around inside the jar really brings out the small details.  I try to recreate the textures you see in electron microscope pictures of hideous little beasties and this is the only way I've found to make it visible in photographs.  The "mouth" structure in the second shot below is just over an inch across including the teeth.