Magnetic Poets: a Commissioned Project From Way Back

Sometime last year I was contacted by a producer for a group called Magnetic Poets.  The way he explained it to me, they were building a "transmedia" production, a coordinated release with live concerts, online videos, and impromptu street performances that would involve some pretty impressive logstical and technical choreography.

Central to the production were the Magnetic Poets themselves, a pair of 7-foot tall characters named "IO" and "Projektor."  Built into their respective costumes were all manner of audio and visual electronic wizardry.  IO had a variety of electronic musical instruments and speakers integrated into his outfit and Projektor was rigged with a variety of display screens, lasers, and video projectors.

While the bulk of the costumes and integrated electronics had already been sourced, they were having trouble finding anyone who could make a pair of helmets to their specifications.  That's where I came in.

Before I get into the details of the fabrication, here's a video showing finished pieces in action:


Here's a close-up shot of the Projektor helmet:


If you want to see how the helmets were made, read on...

.50cal Machine Gun Gnome

I've got a batch of these guys in the works right now:
 
It'll still be a while before I post any of them for sale online, but for now I'm hoping to have a handful of them painted up in time for the Bazaar Bizaare this weekend. See details of the event here: http://www.facebook.com/bazaarbizarresf

Kali Costume Part 3: PROPS

I've already written a couple of articles about building the Kali costume for Hi-Rez Studios multiplayer game SMITE.

Part 1: Building the Rack of a Goddess
Part 2: It's Hard to Find a Model with Four Arms

Since she now has four arms, it's time to give her something to hold onto.  In most traditional depictions, Kali is shown carrying a sword or trident, a severed head representing the human ego, and a skull-cup or "Kapala" to catch the blood draining from the head.  Here's the way she looks in SMITE:

If you'd like to see how I went about making the swords, the cup, and the severed head, read on.

Combat Garden Gnome Minesweeper

After months of putting it off, I've finally finished the latest addition to the Department of Gnomeland Security, the minesweeper:


Armed with nothing more than a metal detector and grim determination, this little combat engineer moves into the minefield ahead of the other troops, often under enemy fire, to ensure the way ahead is safe for his fellow gnomes:


Naturally, his occupation causes him some concern:
Worried about landmines in your yard or garden? You can get your own Minesweeper Gnome in my Etsy shop in a couple of weeks.  

In the meantime, I'll have a batch of them at my Bazaar Bizarre booth in San Francisco during the first weekend in December.  You can read more details about the event HERE. 

 

The best part: Square Wallet is doing a special promotion to offer $10 off your first purchase of the day using the Square Wallet app.  That, plus the fact that you won't have to pay for shipping, means that this will be the lowest price you can possibly find for a Combat Garden Gnome.

Recent UFO Sightings in the Workshop

Here's the latest collection of UnFinished Objects I've been working on in the shop...

First up, I've decided to make myself a replica of the Ironman Mk2 and Mk3 costumes as seen in the first Ironman movie.  Most of the work is being done by Lopez the Robot Whittler and Jarvis, my new Objet 30 Pro 3D printer.  Here's the right shin and boot parts:


While the robots are making my Ironman parts, I've pulled out some spare parts I had lying around and started working on another character from Red vs. Blue, Agent Washington.  I've been taking tons of pictures of this build along the way, so expect a very detailed step-by-step description of the assembly process soon.  For now, here's the helmet in it's base color:


In between more serious projects, Jenny from the dock has been stopping by from time to time to help tinker in the workshop.  Somewhere along the way, we decided to encase her in carbonite.  Here's a shot of the project in progress:


While all of that's been going on, I've also been working on more Combat Garden Gnomes to add to the lineup.  Here's the Heavy Machine Gunner sculpt that I finished the other day:


The gun in question is the M2HB .50cal machine gun, which I printed out on the 3D printer:


On the subject of Combat Gnomes, I've finished the first Minesweeper gnome.


I'll be writing about all of these projects separately over the next several days, so stay tuned...