Here you can see his crossed legs, little upturned feet, arms and face. This was all done on top of the Milliput base using green stuff; the Milliput was rock-hard by now, so it was quite easy to modify. I really like the stuff!
You might notice that his face is much longer now. I had to extend it with the green stuff, but I'm glad I had molded it too short with the Milliput -- it made making his snout much easier. I would have had to sanded back otherwise. It's nice when one learns a lesson without making a mistake.
And there are his hands. They look like they're different sizes, but they're not -- just differently positioned. However, the disparity, illusion or not, is pretty large, and it annoys me. If I do end up remaking this guy, his hands will get the most attention -- they were really difficult! I'll definitely be making them both at the same time; this time, I just made one, put it on, then started on the other.
And here you can see his scales. The dorsal line down his back is uneven; I later trimmed and sanded it, so it doesn't look like an afterthought. It's still hard to tell from this angle, but his right hand is in lotus position, with thumb and forefinger touching. That pose is a large part of why his hands ended up being so challenging -- I'm going to have to wait for the green stuff to harden next time before trying to mold it. That'll make keeping it in shape much less annoying.
Overall, I'm very pleased with my first scratch-built piece. However, I'm really annoyed at those hands!
Remember that base Tetto'Eko will sit on? Here it is, all sanded down. You can still see some divets and such; that's OK, it's supposed to be old and worn. Still, I'll have to tighten down on other pieces -- those weren't intentional flaws, ha ha.
This is a size comparison between Tetto'Eko, his palanquin, and the snake that'll be on the base. I said there'd be a significant size difference! Oh, and that's not mustard on the table -- it's half of the green stuff epoxy. Mixing that with its blue partner results in a green putty that's tacky, elastic and moldable; it hardens to unworkability in an hour or two. It's great for detail work, but it's so soft that it's constantly drooping.
Here's the palanquin with the glyphs added. Yes, the cornices are crooked! This was before sanding. I trimmed, sanded and repaired an area I'd smushed while working. (I keep smushing areas and leaving fingerprints everywhere, it's maddening. I imagine at least 15% of what separates amateurs from pros is knowing how to hold a work in progress.)
And here's a taste of what the floating palanquin will look like. Although the same-sized black bases were used to make the floating bit, it's now quite a bit wider than the base, so the whole piece looks a little top heavy; I'm not sure if I like that or not. I may switch over to a larger square base for aesthetic reasons. It'll make playing a game with ol' Tetto a little problematic, but them's the breaks.
There's no way I was going to leave that boring base alone. This got the same treatment as my slann base, but less detailed; I have a lot of snakes that will go on this one, so there was no reason to go overboard on the cracks and pores of the stones. When this is dry, I'll trim up the sides -- right now, it's really messy and green stuff is spilling over the edges -- then paint it. These bases are so quick to get color on that it's pointless to leave them bare. Oh, and that blue stuff is the other half of the green stuff epoxy.
Here's the second tier of the palanquin. It's hard to tell from this angle, but there's a lot of gaps and seams that need to be corrected before I can go forward from here. See how much cleaner the cornices are, though?
And here's the work so far! that palanquin base looks terribly uneven, but I think it's just the photo. It is a little uneven in real life, but not to this degree. The shadows make it worse, I swear! In any case, the next step -- adding backing to the palanquin and handlebars -- should offset it. I still need to add a few little toys to the piece; it'll be rather bare if I just stopped after making the chair. I'm going to have to put Tetto'Eko's staff on the chair somewhere, but I'm also thinking a bowl of ixti grubs for him to snack on. Can't fight chaos on an empty stomach!
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