Polynesian Cthulhu Relic

 I just realized that I'd completely abandoned this blog, I haven't updated it since December of last year - and maybe no one really gives a shit anyway, so this is all just for me. BUT, I felt it was time for a quick update as I've finally done a new Cthulhu piece. Inspired by the collectable relics from FarCry 3.

What you're seeing here is Polynesian Cthulhu #1 specifically.

Each one will look a little different, some minor discolouration, maybe some chips, flaws or air bubbles - these are all meant to be by design, making each one slightly unique by itself. They're not meant to be perfect, flawless statues.

I will be doing these a lot differently than how I used to, just as an experiment for now. These are not limited edition, but they are all numbered. I will be making no more than 3 per week, and only making more when the current three have sold and shipped - just so I don't need to make space in my already overcrowded workshop and keep a steadier more reliable, easier to work with production schedule.

They are made from a quick setting concrete and so far appear to be quite durable. Almost 3 inches across at the base. 3 1/4 inches tall. Around 430 grams, the weight varies slightly from statue to statue by around 10 grams it seems so far.

I'm selling them just through Etsy for now, 3 listings added on a Sunday or Monday depending on my time and then I'll wait until all three sell out and make three more and list them for the next coming Sunday or Monday, and on and on until I simply have no time or I go mad, whichever comes first.

They will all be listed separately, so you can see the exact version you're buying, all the flaws and discoloured spots are pictured so if you don't like some aspect of that element, check out the next available listing, or wait until the next round. I won't be doing custom orders or bulk orders or anything outside of this schedule.

This is the plan for the foreseeable future, and might change depending on the number of sales, but this is it for now.

You can visit my Etsy shop to find them, if you don't see them, they're already sold, so wait for the next round.

Buddha Cthulhu

Not really sure if I should call it a Cthulhu Buddha or a Buddha Cthulhu. Either way it's a little awesome.

I just have three for right now, I need to  redo the mould and then they'll be up for a limited online retail run of 50 at $35 each. 3 inches tall, cast in resin with a faux brass look and given a hard gloss coating to protect the finish. I might adjust the faux brass look with a base coat of brown rather than black. I tried a patina on it and wasn't really happy with it, it lightened it up too much.

 The three I have are currently for sale, I'll be posting them on Etsy, but you don't have to go through that site if you don't want to. Shipping is as low as $15 in Canada, 9 days or $18 for 3 days on average. $13 to the US, 6-10 days, other options are available though. And overseas $21, 6-10 days - on average.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/234557008/buddha-cthulhu?ref=shop_home_active_1

4 Days to go...

The clock is kind of winding down on me these days as the date I take off for the Canadian Haunted Attractions Conference looms closer and closer. I've still got a huge pile of work to do and I'm slightly behind schedule on a couple items. It wouldn't have been so bad had a few freelance things not popped up - but money is money, so things went a little off schedule.

Just got 2 items left to mould, one I should get done today, the other probably by Saturday it'll be ready to go and then I just have to make sure I have enough. That's been my ever flip-flopping concern about this, it's either "Am I making too much stuff?" or "Am I making enough stuff?" I reckon too much isn't that big a deal in the long run, what doesn't sell simple becomes stock - which is great for the resin props since they don't have a shelf life, they're pretty much permanent. If they don't sell next weekend, then they'll be around until they do, so nothing's wasted really.

Been taking a look at the list of items I wanted to make vs the items I did make. I made 3 foam weapons/tools, intended to do 5 but there wasn't time or materials. 17 props/Demonic Antiquities, ranging from a couple Cthulhu variations, the Cyclops Fingerbone Dagger, Shrunken Demon Heads, a Golem Icon and even (still working on it) a Calcified Vampire Heart. And there were 6 or 7 items I just didn't have time for.

I'd also hoped to make about 7 latex masks, 3 full 4 just a face. Never had a chance to even think about it those. But they're on the agenda for when I get back.

In total, I did make 20 totally new items for the shop in the last couple months, that's not too bad. Got a few ideas for some new stuff. And while I intend to keep doing the prosthetics, now that the book is done I'll be letting that slide for a little while, just producing them from the moulds I've got rather then cranking out new ones constantly.

Also I'll have some of the books, The Secret Lives of Demons, for sale and some DVD of some movies. And I'm hoping to have some prototype T-Shirts I'll be taking order for should anyone be interested and I'll even be showing off my silicone mask I made. I've never put that online for sale, mainly because it was being hidden away for a project that's now never happening, so it's going to see a little more daylight now. I want to see what the reactions to it will be, I've put it through some major abuse so I know what the problem spots are - so I'm hoping a few folks might be interested in one at the low price of $300 (most silicone masks are $600 and the material cost alone is pretty steep).

Now I just have to see how much more I can make. I'll either run out of time or supplies, whatever comes first.

The Golem Icon

Got yet another little prop for the shop done today. It's a Golem Icon, you can't see it from this angle (because I was too lazy to turn it around and take another picture apparently) but it has the Hebrew word "emet" (truth) on its back. Why? If you're aware of Golem lore (and in cause you're confused why this looks nothing like the skinny little fellow in Lord of the Rings), the Golem had the word "emet" on its forehead and removing or destroying the first letter left the word "met" meaning death, which would deactivate the Golem.

There's a variety of legends, but some have it that Golems could be reactivated by writing a specific series of letters on parchment and placing the paper in a golem's mouth. In this little fellow's case, the legend has it that a Golem required a heart, in order to prevent some problems encountered with previous carnations of the creatures, which usually ended with them turning on their creators. This one, requiring a heart allows the Golem more freedom and more intelligence - thus making for less Golem Creators deaths.

The Golem Icon, specifically is a deactivated or dead Golem. Once the heart has been removed, the creature shrinks to a harmless size, unable to reinsert a full sized heart it remains deactivated although retaining some measure of its original protective aura - for which Golems are normally created. So it is in effect some minor form of protection against those who would do the bearer harm.

These will be for sale online by mid-April. Although if you're incredibly impatient and simple must have one right now, get in touch at foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com and let me know. This is a prototype and was cast in a grey resin, a coat of black paint was added to darken the details and the overall colour, red was the dry brushed on. The final version will be cast in a red resin and the black added after, darkening it. I'm not sure what the final price will be, but I'm starting around $15. It measures 3 3/4" tall.

Creating Cthulhu, Part Six - The Last Part

Once the sculpt was done, I just hot glued it to a plastic foam board base.

It's looking a little shiny here, that's because the first coat of DragonSkin silicone has been applied. It was brushed on to make sure it got into all the little nooks and divots and whatnot.

The 2nd coat, a little thicker. It's normally clear, but I tinted each layer to better see what was going on. The first was slightly green and this one was obviously a little more tinted and yellow.

Using Thivex I thickened the ssilicone so it wouldn't run, I was able to trowel it on, filling in all the undercuts and deeper indents.

A few more thinner and thicker coats and we're left with this after several hours. I think there were 6 coats in total, I lost count.

Then I made a two part support shell. A wall was made with regular old clay.

Here's a view of the cleaned off first half. It's a little messy because I tend to cut corners.

Both halves of the support shell. This is made from a material called Plasti-Paste II, pretty simple and quick to work with. It's a little ragged looking still, I will be cleaning it up soon though.

And here's the mould freshly freed from the shell.

And the original sculpt, totally intact freed from the silicone glove mould. It's inverted in this picture, looks kind funky.

Then using some SmoothCast ( I forget what number it was) and some Urefil 3 to extend the volume of the resin, I poured it all in. First though, I used a black version of the SmoothCast, called Onyx, to do a thin surface coat that would be solid black, the other resin was used to fill the whole thing.

And not too long after I pulled this from the mould, here it is alongside the original sculpt.

And it's finally done. I'm not sure if I'm going to do anymore with it or what. The picture is a little brightened, the actual piece is somewhat darker. Still looks pretty awesome though.

And that's done. I'm hoping to do a couple more, work out a few kinks in the process and have them online for sale by next week. They'll also be going on eBay for sale as well. Not sure of the price just yet, it's pretty expensive making something this size out of solid resin, so I'm thinking in the neighborhood of $80 and I debating doing it in a finish or even different colours, not sure yet.

And just for some additional information. The sculpt was done with Monster Makers Premium Clay, from Monster Makers. The moulding and final casting materials all came from Smooth-On, purchased here in Canada from Sculpture Supply and Sial.

Creating Cthulhu, Part 5...and other stuff.

The sculpture has been done for awhile now. I ran out of steam updating about it specifically and now I'm just waiting on some silicone to come in to make a mould of it and off we go again.

Otherwise, I've been busy with "The Secret Lives of Demons" project, it's coming along really well. Just did my 45 photo shoot for the book today (that's a bit of an approximation, I lost track a long time ago). Just 5 more to go and this bad boy is done. As much as I've enjoyed, and still do enjoy, working on the book, I've got so many other things rattling around in my head I'd really like the time to focus on them - since there is something of a deadline looming.

Next week I'm hoping to get some new product prototypes out, such as the Cthulhu statue, the Mayan Cthulhu Totem, the Shamanistic Demon Head, a demon fetus in a jar specimen, another demonic antiquity that's just a charm of sorts (very simple looking and rushed for a photoshoot on Sunday) and I think that might be it. Otherwise I'm starting in on some Shrunken Demon Heads and a couple other minor little pieces and foam weapons.

Creating Cthulhu, Part 4

Close to finishing up. Just some little bits here and there to clean up, smooth out and add some detailing to. The spine area was just started in this first picture, got a bit of work to do to finish it up. I'm guessing I'll probably get to start moulding tomorrow or Wednesday.

Creating Cthulhu, Part 3

Had a couple hours to work on this again today. Got it mostly smoothed out to where I started doing some of the detail work. Got a long ways to go, but it's shaping up really well. There's a lot of detail already done that's not visible here. I'll probably wait until the final resin version is all done up to do more detail photos.

Creating Cthulhu, Part 2

I won't say it's been easier to do this then I thought, but it's still pretty damn tricky. I am pretty happy with how it's coming along. Most of this was done only a few hours after the first post about it, so really this is only 3, maybe 4, more hours work to get it to this state. Now comes the really hard stuff, smoothing it all out and getting the lines nice and clean.

Creating Cthulhu, part 1

Every sculptor (and I feel a little arrogant using that term) in the genre of where I'm interested, seems to have done a Cthulhu statue of some sort, at some time. The first one I came across was done by Richard Allen Poppe, who seems to have vanished from the internet. He did some really great stuff, sold mostly through eBay - but eventually his accounts (both eBay and PayPal) were shut down apparently from too much bad press. I had some minor communication with him, he seemed like a decent guy to me - but for whatever reason just wasn't able to keep up with the demand for this work and ultimately gave up. At least that's my impression of it, I could be completely wrong. While there are others who would love to bad mouth him, I won't do it here because I don't really know the truth.

This here is one of the few remaining images or mentions of him I could find online:
http://www.templeofdagon.com/artists/richard-allen-poppe/
http://in-tenebris-scriptus.blogspot.com/2007/12/richard-allen-poppe.html
http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/2010/11/cthulhu-fhtagn-poppe-edition.html
http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=4832

Of course there have been others, dozens and dozens of others, but his Cthulhu sculpture was the first one I really liked and the only I ever purchased - not to say the others sucked, but for whatever reason, his stuck out to me. Just do an image search for Cthulhu and you'll see what I mean, they range from fucking awesome, to a little crappy, from freakish to funny and everything in between.

So I felt it was about time to give it a try myself. A little while ago, just for fun, I did a Mayan inspired Cthulhu totem, very simplistic at best - but it served it purpose for what I wanted to do with it. But I still wanted to do a good attempt that would fit in with the countless others, so I started this week - with the intention of mass production (on a small scale of course) for sale online.

 

This here is a very rough blocking out of my version of Cthulhu, about 5-6 hours I guess at this point. The picture doesn't really do it justice, as seems to happen so often when I take pictures of things I've sculpted. I wanted the head to be rather massive and out of all the ones I've seen and mostly none of even tried to capture, is a bit of a sense of weight. Most of the times his tentacles just seem to float or be totally weightless, whether or not I succeed at this is another question - maybe there's a reason you don't see it, maybe it just doesn't work very well.

It's about 7 1/2 inches tall, might be slightly taller in the end. The final version will be mostly likely cast in resin, haven't decided on any sort of colouring or whatnot. I can say it won't be realistically painted, I'm making it as though it were a statue, not a real version of him.

I'm not going to do wings, most other variations have wings, the Poppe version I have doesn't have wings either and I kinda like it like that, less cluttered feeling I think.

I'm hoping to keep updating this, with less rambling, as I progress and even hope to get some pictures of the moulding and casting process. If I remember to do it.