This week I’m sending off one of my ball joint dolls, the Robot gynoid, the fifth of the series.
Its always sad to see them go, but I’m glad she found a good home, and I will be casting a new round of dolls very soon.
This was available through the Zerofriends store, where more will be posted early next month. See more photos in the full gallery; here;
You can see my work in progress ball joint dolls in the flickr Gallery gallery here;
I’m excited to announce that I’ve finished a new series of sculptures and toys for the upcoming Zero Friends group show! As is the case with the majority of my work these days, all sales will go towards my Drab Future project. Full details about the show are at the bottom, but first I’d like to show off some selections of the new work.
Full gallery of work here
I’ve finished twelve new small annexbots. Each one custom, with sculpted faces and unique details, all hand painted.
These guys are based on one of my older designs for the Annexbot chess set. These characters were designed to be a small collectible platform to customize, and I’ve made many of them now. I’ve been toying with some rules that would use these guys in table-top game, but its still a long way off…
Voltron Guy
I started with one of my Richards and a few annexbot parts, and came up with something unexpected.
This guy is more of a kitbash/toy mod than my usual work. I generally have a rule for myself againsed using existing parts. It feels like cheating to not take something out of context and completely re-imagine it.
So I tried to fight it when I set this Richard bot down in the bits box and he lined up with some Voltron parts I tried to fight it. In the end it was just too cool not to do.
Robot Gynoid
The newest edition to my Gynoid dolls This robot shows his age. I wanted to use many exposed parts, to show it in a state of disassembly.
I dug into some of my jars of parts and gathered watch bateries and hardware, radio tubes and wire and weathered with layers of mixed pigment and rust
The radio tube-head is a slight nod to Christopher De Leon. I picked up one of his scetches from a gallery near my studio. He has got some great work and character designs;( http://truevisuals.tumblr.com/ )
All this work will be on display at Zero friends starting on Friday for the First Friday Art Murmur July 6th, with a special Artist’s reception on Saturdya July 7th.
Zero friends
489 25th St.
Oakland, CA. 94612
510-735-9405
The newest edition to my Gynoid dolls which I am selling to help fund the production of my Drab Future series This robot shows his age. I wanted to use many exposed parts, to show it in a state of disassembly.
I dug into some of my jars of parts and gathered watch bateries and hardware, radio tubes and wire and weathered with layers of mixed pigment and rust
To complete the base I also mounted the flywheel from an antique steam engine.
This doll will be on display at the Zero Friends group show
The process of creating my Puppet Richard left me inspired to create something more elaborate. I just love the Ball-joint dolls put out by Volks and other similar companies, and wanted a modular action figure-like platform, where I could swap out parts and create different characters.
I started where I’d left off, with a complete cast resin Richard. Looking at them I figured out what I liked and didn’t, what was working and not. I actually learned a lot in the process of making them. I definitely liked the posability, but the string method wasn’t working for me. They have a tendency to hang lifeless and their joints gap. I knew I wanted something tighter. While I love the amount of detail I managed to get in the casts, the stranded muscle and wrinkled skin wasn’t something I wanted for every figure I made, it was too unique to him.
I took a clean casting and started breaking it down. I drew lines in the places I wanted to cut to create new articulation, and used the belt sander to grind down the upper thighs for the joints at the hips;
I also started planning how I could fit in new parts, female hips, chest, and a more the more refined doll face from my Bianca.
After each part was cut and the points of articulation worked out, I started adding plastic spheres to form the ‘ball’ of the joints. The sockets I created from magic sculpt, pressing the ball in place.
I drilled completely through the limbs, to run a single cord through. This way I wouldn’t need to glue it, and I could cinch it as tightly as I needed to;
From here I started painting him with primer and sanding to even out some more of the surface detail. I also started thinking about props to tie him into character. The wig and juggling sphere really start to sell the idea that this one could be David Bowie’s character from the Labyrinth;
I started sewing some costume elements for him, trying to keep it simple, I also decided to drop some of the clear spheres into his eye sockets;
I pulled the costume back and laid basic tones down with the airbrush;
And gradually worked in more tones for his makeup, trying to keep it subtle and stylized and still keep with the character;
Once I was happy with the paint job, I removed the tape from his clothes and cleaned/polished off his eyes;
I decided to display him as a marionette, so tied strings to his limbs and suspended him from the ceiling;
As an added special touch I wired an LED with tiny batteries inside his head to illuminate the clear spheres…
Here he is on display in the gallery;
This was exhibited at “Dance Magic Dance” the Labyrinth themed group show at R&R gallery in Los Angeles
Dance Magic Dance
A Group art show
Inspired by the film LABYRINTH
Opening reception
Friday July 9th, 2010 7p – Midnight
Ongoing 10th – 17th by appointment
Featuring creations by
Austen Stanton, Ayami Kawashima, Brad Isdrab, Bryce Takara, Carrie Cottini, Chico Munson, Cody Comrie, CW, Damon Alcorn, Daniella White, Daphne Yap, Dave Correia, David Ra, Emily Hart Wood, Heather McMillen, Mike McQuade, Jason Moore, Jeben Berg, Jess Sluder, Jonathan Wayshak, Justin Fry, Kube, Lucien Shapiro, Patrick Hruby, Robert Bowen, Tony DeMille, Vic Back, Wendy Teague and more…
My first edition of marionette-style figures.
I needed a figure sculpt to start with. I chose my ‘Richard Simmons’ character, sculpted in Super Sculpy since I knew I’d be making a few of these guys for my ‘Crom’ sculpture and wanted a pose-able base to work from.
Once the figure was blocked out and mostly detailed, but before I cooked the clay I started cutting into it and dividing it up, that way I could plan how it would break down into parts. After I’d scored into the clay I cooked him and finished the cut all the way through the armature.
Disassembled the parts, and started clean up on them. I had to make sure it woulf fit back together and that the joins weren’t too jagged.
Next I sprued the parts to make molds. This is the process of attaching the parts to a board and to each other to allow them to be suspended in silicone for the mold. The thing to keep in mind at this stage was that I needed to pour the parts in a way that would minimize air bubbles, and allow the resin to flow through. This is one of the most tricky and intensive parts and I’ve learned a ton by trial and (expensive) error.
Pouring silicone molds;
Molds cut open and original parts removed;
I cast the parts in urethane resin,
Which gave me plenty to work with;
Each of these needed to be drilled and have string glued in one side at a time;
I’m particularly fond of the way I set up the rolling/shrugging shoulders, with string that feeds through the torso into the upper arm;
And here it is fully assembled.
Detail in the hands.
I made a few of these guys;
These were first made available at the Alternative Press Expo in 2008 and are currently sold out.
My Ball-joint dolls are completed and dropped off for the ‘Have and have not’ group show. I made three new figures total in various stages of weathering and character.
These will be available for purchase through the gallery; Varnish fine art, and the proceeds will go towards helping me to create Drab future
All three are fully pose able/articulated, made of hand-cast resin, and modeled in the style of Asian BJDs, such as Volks, but with my own twist.
Lots more images in my full Gallery on Flickr
If you can make it out to the reception I’d love to meet you all, and I’ve got some other surprises inbound for the show…
The Have and Have Not Group Show
curated by Lee Ballard
April 7 – April 28, 2012
ARTIST RECEPTION: Saturday April 7, 5-8pm
The Have and Have Not Group Show features fine artworks of various media by Jon Wayshak, Rick Berry, Robert Bowen, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, Brad Isdrab, Morning Breath/Doug Cunningham, Scott Cambell, Lucien Shapiro, Barron Storey, Sam Keith, Lee Ballard, Ian Ameling, John Watkiss, and Rogelio Martinez.
Varnish Fine Art
16 Jessie Street, #C120
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 433-4400
Update – Completed Dolls here
I’ve been busy making more of my resin dolls, these ones will be exhibited at Varnish gallery in San Francisco April 7th in the Have and Have not show
I’ll be posting more as I get them closer…
Work in Progress gallery on Flickr
The Have and Have Not Group Show
curated by Lee Ballard
April 7 – April 28, 2012
ARTIST RECEPTION: Saturday April 7, 5-8pm
The Have and Have Not Group Show features fine artworks of various media by Jon Wayshak, Rick Berry, Robert Bowen, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, Brad Isdrab, Morning Breath/Doug Cunningham, Scott Cambell, Lucien Shapiro, Barron Storey, Sam Keith, Lee Ballard, Ian Ameling, John Watkiss, and Rogelio Martinez.
Varnish Fine Art
16 Jessie Street, #C120
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 433-4400
varnishfineart.com
