Identify Yourself, Pastry Genius

I found an image of a cupcake in the shape of Jabba the Hutt and decided to make a clay version. I think it came out more like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, which is very unfortunate. Hopefully once it's painted, it will more obviously resemble a Hutt. It also looks more like a muffin than a cupcake, bringing new meaning to the Aerosmith lyric "You ain't seen nothin' till you're down on the muffin."





I would credit the artist who created the original cupcake if I knew who he or she was. Identify yourself, pastry genius.

Do You Feel Confused Yet?

The clay output for this weekend has all been D&D related.

I've been wanting to make an umber hulk figure for a while, but rather than fight gravity I made this umber hulk flat. Those bulbous features with the circles on them are meant to be compound eyes. The combination of the compound and simple eyes (not to mention the cruel eyebrows and nasty mouthparts) is meant to have the effect of confusing the umber hulk's victims. Do you feel confused yet?




This is meant to be a wererat. Yes, it's traced, but not from the image to right. I think the finished product looks more like a werebunny than a wererat so far.




This season of Encounters requires a leprechaun. This is my attempt at rendering a leprechaun miniature in clay. I originally wanted him to be smoking a pipe, but I couldn't figure out where to put it. It didn't look right in his mouth. A breast pocket seemed out of place. If it put it in his (crudely rendered) hand, it looked too phallic. I'm firing the pipe anyway, but it's very small and likely to get lost. I made two leprechauns because it has the power to summon a False Presence, but upon reading the description more carefully, it can only summon the False Presence when it's invisible. So I probably only need one. Let the Lucky Charms references begin!

Evil Clown 3

If you should die before you wake...

Myconid Visitor

Apparently it's been damp enough to warrant a visit from the Myconid peoples that live under my yard.

Leftover Eyeballs

These are leftover eyeballs from making the Ustilagor.




Here they are on several random selections from my library.

Brown Lemurs

I made two new clay objects modeled on the brown lemur.




This is the flat lemur object I made in 2009.




This is the image I used as a model. It's from Wild Animals by Jane Burton

Spooky Sepulchral Girl Coin

I bought two resin statues from Michael's this year as part of my Halloween splurge. This coin is a test of the girl statue.





Here are the two Spooky Sepulchral resin statues from Michael's.

Edna and the Mudmen

All the recent flirtation with evil clown beds makes me want to construct more Simpsons objects. This is a hallucinatory image of Edna Krabapple from "El viaje misterioso de nuestro Jomer." I'm hoping to follow it up with other hallucinatory images from the same episode.




I'm starting the new season of D&D Encounters, Beyond the Crystal Cave, next week. I decided not to bother with the Xivorts/Xvarts (sinister, gnome-like beings with blue skin and big orange eyes) since they probably wouldn't get done in time. Instead, I'm looking at the mudmen.

I started out with three lumpy blobs...




... and moved on to three lumpy blobs with eerie doll-mold faces and arms.

Evil Clown 2

This is an Evil Clown flat sculpture/hanging based on Bart's bed from the Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word." I made a similar object in 2009, but I didn't think the available glazes were bright and tacky enough. I think acrylic paints worked better for the effect I wanted.




Evil Clown 1 from 2009:

Ustilagor

The ustilagor is a Dungeons & Dragons monster originally published in the first edition Monster Manual II. It was a psionic fungoid creature shaped like a human brain. The original concept had neither eyes, mouth, nor mouthparts (see below).







The original illustration of the ustilagor. Note lack of facial features, but what fun is a crawling brain without eyes and an orifice? It also had limbs with which to scurry across a dungeon floor, but I decided that, if I did try to provide it with limbs, they would probably be damaged during the firing process.




Later editions of D&D reimagined the ustilagor as a larval form of the intellect devourer, a dog-sized human brain on four legs which, yes, did its best to make you stupider.

Dogface Plaques

There was a plaguechanged hound in one of the last sessions of Lost Crown of Neverwinter, but I didn't get the molds made in time. Here they are, attached to the body of some bat-like creature.




The dogface molds are made from this charming toy depicting Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld of the Greeks.

Four Small Chamsas

Chamsas 44 - 47:

Replacement Giraluna

This is a replacement giraluna for the one that Calvin destroyed last night.

Giraluna Cat Casualty

This is the first clay casualty to the agent of chaos and destruction with whom I share my apartment.




Apparently this is the only photo I have of the intact giraluna, pre-Calvin.

The Clown Project

I've chosen the Clown Project over the Lemur Project. The lemurs (ringtailed lemur, aye-aye, indri) have complex organic looks and the clowns seem more rubbery and cartoonish.

Treif Chamsa Ceremony

Somewhere in Philadelphia, within a magical circle of light, the Treif Chamsa has officially found a home.

Lemurs and Clowns

Recently I looked at some work from 2009. I wanted to try the lemur and evil clown flat hanging sculptures again.




The lemur came out a little rough the first time. After two attempts to recreate it tonight, I like the rough original better. We also no longer have the glaze used for the golden highlights.




It's hard to see in the photo, but the original clown (based on Bart's scary clown bed from The Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word") got somewhat warped as it dried and doesn't lay flat.




Four small chamsas. It was a productive Saturday night at the studio.

Lesser Fire Elementals

These are lesser fire elementals for next week's session of Lost Crown of Neverwinter.