Yet another collection of things in Jars. - WIP

[Mr Addams]

Things in jars seem to be a popular topic in these pages. With this in mind I have been collecting suitable jars, and last week I finally bought a load of Fimo oven bake clay (I Couldn't find Sculpey), and I spent a happy Saturday making strange creatures.

This is my first attempt at sculpting in any medium, so it was a very steep learning curve for me, but this first attempt has given me the confidence to keep on trying.

In the long run, I intend to create around a dozen jars, and i don't intend to attempt the seals or the labels until I have finished with the models, but here are my first attempts.

My first offering is a bit of a cheat, it is a toy rubber lizard that I saw in a toy shop, and bought after reading the first "Things In Jars" topic, but I am including it because it was always destined for the jar, and I wouldn't want it to feel left out.

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This is my first attempt at sculpting, I regard it as a bit of a failure, I badly misjudged the size and shape relative to the jar, and it ended up being scrunched up.
I may well revisit this creature design when I have a bit more experience.

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I chose the pink Fimo modelling clay as the base, because I wanted to go for the un-pigmented intestinal parasite look. This next one is something that you definitely would not want to find in your large intestine.

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Because the colored fimo clay is so soft, I had a problem maintaining the shape of the teeth, but I have since figured out that I can pre-bake small parts that would otherwise be too delicate to incorporate into a model.

I call these next little blighters Squidlets, but in fact they are intended to represent a sort of advanced parasitic flatworm.

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By this time, I was getting a bit bored with the pink, so I decided to try and introduce a bit of color into proceedings, This creature is inspired by a sea slug, but with a bit of an alien twist unfortunately I found it difficult to get a good picture.

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Finally I made a job lot of eight wormie things with red tendrils. This time, I pre-baked the tendrils and the mouth parts.

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As I mentioned above, I am about half way through this project, I have several ideas, and i have bought a number of parts on ebay to incorporate into the next builds. So I shall have to wait for their arrival before I can Progress.
I shall post pictures as new creatures emerge.

[Major Twangy Rubber]

Nice work! I don't think that #2 looks cramped at all.

[Uncle Arthur]

COOLNESS!

[Capt James Salt]

Very good !!

Excellent work !

( I have been on the computer for almost an hour now.  These pictures just reminded me, I have not had breakfast yet. )



 

[Boston Jones]

The cramped part is probably the best, makes it look more authentic

[Herbert West]

Nicely done sir.

[Simon Electrum]

Excellent work!

Large tentacled-beasties have no option but to be cramped in a jar (if you imagine the size of jar required for an average sized octopus to be contained, uncramped, it would be a very large jar).

Love the parasite/squid ones 

[Herbert West]

Indeed. crumpled up tentacles tend to hide the shape of the creature and make them seem more otherworldly.

I think my only criticism is the eyes. Maybe consider sculpting them in 3d, or invest in some glass doll/taxidermy eyes so they don't look quite as painted on?  Or maybe just paint them with a couple coats of clearcoat, or thinned oil paint to make them look milky.

[Mr Addams]

The eyes on the "Squidlets" are in fact glass 'eye' beads set into the Fimo clay. The problem with oven bake clay is that the options for inserts is limited, as any added item has to be able to withstand the 'cooking' process, I am going to do a number of test runs to see what is suitable, but of course failure will result in the destruction of the part. I will look at glass taxidermy eyes, but they will push the cost up, and I am on a very tight budget.
I made the black eyes of the wormie things deliberately ambiguous, they could be eyes, or some other marking or organ. by a happy chance. by placing four "eyes" on each head, there are always two facing the viewer, whatever the orientation ob the jar, which subconsciously reinforces the idea that they are eyes.  

[Herbert West]

I hope I'm not sounding critical. Just hoping to offer some suggestions.

One idea. Maybe press the 'eyes' intothe clay to leave an impression, take them out before you bake, then afterwards glue them in place with a bit of clear bathtub silicon?

But I hear you as far as 'budgets' are concerned. I had to learn a lot of money-saving tricks myself. Check out http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/ if you haven't already.Its a treasure trove of useful do-it-yourself horrors.

[Mr Addams]

No offense taken, as I mentioned above, this is my first attempt at anything like this, and my resources were somewhat limited.
I am grateful for any advice or suggestions, and hopefully my work will improve as I try new things.

[Wheelturner]

A simple and inexpensive yet effective way I found to make eyes/eyeballs is to make them separately but of the same material.

Roll Fimo/Sculpey balls in the right size, and bake them. If your paints withstand the heat of baking (test!) without flaking/changing color, paint them now(a bit easier to do than painting them afterwards).

Otherwise set them into the sockets and finish the sculpt and bake, and paint afterwards.

A good technique for eyes(with the intention of humanoid look) is layering.
First a layer of solid white.
Then several thin, watered down layers of color for the iris(depending on how small you can go regarding brush-size, steadiness of hand etc., you can even try to make the brush strokes similar to the structures of the iris) .
Then the black dot for the pupil.
Finally a layer of clear glossy coat.

Hope that helps 

[Wheelturner]

And I really like the squidlets and the slug 

[Mr Addams]

Wheelturner, thanks for the suggestion, I figured out about half way through making the above, that I could pre-bake some of the parts, and this will help me out with future items.
I am not much of an artist, so I shall have to practice painting. I have thought about using paint to add details, but I don't know much about this. What sort of paint would you suggest for bakeable clay?

And so far, I think that the Squidlets are my favorite too. 

[Wheelturner]

It's been some years since I dabbled in sculpting, and I am wracking my brains right now  - I think mostly I used the cheapest acrylic paint I could get, 1-2€ per tube of 150ml or so, and they went a long way. As for baking - I let the color dry for some time (mostly to get rid of at least part of any possible fumes) and then shoved it into the oven at the lowest temperature setting I could get away with.
As far as I know it could be different from brand to brand, some might hold up, while others might change color under heat. I'd suggest to get some kind of "starter set" where you have 8-15 or so colors (even the small tubes will last you a long time if you water down the paint) for a few pounds, slather some colors on a piece of light Fimo and do a test baking.

As for painting - a high-res picture of an eye will give you a good idea. I'd start trying out doing layers of thin strokes radiating from the center of the iris-to-be(and for small sizes this should be more than enough).
And you can go wild trying to achieve interesting textures for the rest dab on layers of different colors with a sponge to see which effect it generates, dry brush, anything to get strange and/or natural looking effects. Btw, you can do the same to make 3D-textures, press coarse fabric into the clay, stamp it with a fine grater, use stones or bark to get a natural pattern. (Only do a test piece first. I ruined more than one thingy when I was too enthusiastic with a "new approach")

Looking forward to your next things in jars. 

[Herbert West]

For a first time effort Mr Addams, I think they look great!

My favorite technique for making creepy eyes is to use dark grey hematite beads. You can get a bag for a couple bucks at most craft/fabric stores.

Here's a closeup of one of my projects from last year that shows an easy way to make eyes with Skulpy. Start by pressing the eyeballs into the clay, then rolll out two tiny snakes of clay, and lay then down in a curve both above and below the eyeball to form an almond shaped frame. Use a needle or small sculpting tool to form the corners of the eye, and mold the tips and edges of the snakes into the clay surface, then scratch a couple of 'eye crinkles' around the eyes.


Finished sculpt.



And after painting. Its not a jarred thing, but the techniques still apply.

[Mr Addams]

Thank you for this Mr West, I remember that charming little creation of yours. One of my my next ideas was going to be something very similar. either a blob, or some sort of fat worm like thing with dozens of eyes. I Have already bought a load of eye like beads on ebay, and am awaiting delivery, but since they are coming from Hong Kong, it may take a couple of weeks.

[von Corax]

Very nice work, Mr. Addams, but I can't help wondering why an intestinal parasite would even need eyes.

Those critters must have been misidentified!

[Mr Addams]

Whilst the starting point for the idea was intestinal parasites, I had taken a xenobiological twist on the idea, I was thinking in terms of the inhabitants of an intestinal environment as it were, with its own predators and prey. so whilst they would have evolved from parasites, they may not, strictly speaking, be true parasites any more.
To be honest, my starting point was the idea of what sort of intestinal fauna would you find in the gut of Cthulhu or some other vast otherworldly beast.

[Herbert West]

That's a good point. There has to be something wierd and unearthly about it. Otherwise your mythos creatures just  look like refugee's from a marine biology lab.

[Mr Addams]

Whilst I was waiting for the arrival of new parts, I decided to make something new for the collection.
This is a bit of a departure from the previous catalog.
Severed left hand of unknown hominid.

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This time, I took a few work in progress pictures.

I started out by building a tinfoil armature and covering it with Fimo clay.

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I used the usual pink clay, of which I have a large pack, but mixed in a fair bit of translucent white and yellow, and a small quantity of black, to give a grey tone to the color.

I Pre-baked the claws and the bone to make it easier to apply the delicate parts.

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Fore some reason, the bone marrow looks dark blue on my computer screen, it is in fact a mix of red and black, the color may vary from screen to screen, but on my computer, the color looks more correct in the next picture.

I then used red clay to attach the bone stubs to the armature before covering with the "skin".

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And here is a picture of the finished hand before it went into the jar.

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Unfortunately, the middle claw snapped during the cooking, so I had to rebuild it, the join too the finger is slightly less clean than on the other fingers.

My first idea was to try to make a six fingered human hand, but the lack of a suitable jar and the large amount of material that it would require made this unpractical.  

[Mr Addams]

After the severed hand, above, I decided that my things in jars collection needs more "Parts" as well as whole creatures.
So. Here for your approval is my next creation.
The label will read something along the lines of "Venomous Tentacle recovered after attack on the 1894 Congo expedition."

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[Mr Peter Harrow, Esq]

I like the hand, and aside from the missing finger, the proportions are just 'off' like a Chimpazee or Orangutan's hand to suggest that 'not one of us'  vibe but close enough to make you need to look twice.

The question is as regards hair, doing OddBods finger I had no option but to make it excessively hairy. Perhaps a hairy palm? Retitle it Unknown Teenage Male Hominid

[Mr Addams]

Thank you Mr Harrow, high praise indeed. Part of the thinking behind the hand was the possibility that it may be from an alien grey, hence the colour, the hairlessness and the missing finger.
I deliberately made the shape not-quite-right for this very reason

[santiagodunbar]

These are fantastic and fun! Great idea.