[11/7/19] Eurocalypse: Mediterran Mega Update pt. 4 of 4(!)

OMG, Che of Arabia is looking fantastic -- well, they both are! I was not expecting the headdresses, but they look really awesome. I really do love the texture of those grandma's stockings you are using, lol, I need to find me some of those.

And 'Jiaou snakes'...lmao.

Some really interesting adjustments and upgrades. You’re really on a roll for this group.

Che of Arabia... well played Sir, well played. But if you are going to go so far south and east for cultural inspiration, you might have to cover up all that exposed skin (yes, I know, belly dancers -- but those were only for the interior of the harem).

The additional details, items, and transformations are all excellent (Milla's sideways shell hat is positively high fashion!), but I am still recovering from that Laibach video.

skywalkersaga wrote:OMG, Che of Arabia is looking fantastic -- well, they both are! I was not expecting the headdresses, but they look really awesome. I really do love the texture of those grandma's stockings you are using, lol, I need to find me some of those.

And 'Jiaou snakes'...lmao.

Thanks a lot! And I also didn't plan headdresses of that kind, but 80% of the Shell People is experimenting I guess.

I think I found a cheap way to acquire the grandma stocking material - I bought new shoes today and noticed the material of those disposable try-on socks they had there is very similar. A bit shorter, of course. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0084DWAQW/ref=cts_sh_2_vtp?ie=UTF8&pi=SL110&dpPl=1&dpID=51hAY6HVbLL

And yes, very excited snakes. I don't know what to do with all of those, maybe give them bright funny colours and let the Cargonites use them as blunt weapons.

Stryker2011 wrote:Some really interesting adjustments and upgrades. You’re really on a roll for this group.

Thank you!

GubernatorFan wrote:Che of Arabia... well played Sir, well played. But if you are going to go so far south and east for cultural inspiration, you might have to cover up all that exposed skin (yes, I know, belly dancers -- but those were only for the interior of the harem).

The additional details, items, and transformations are all excellent (Milla's sideways shell hat is positively high fashion!), but I am still recovering from that Laibach video.

Thanks a lot, and you are right, that cruel mask is surprisingly fashionable!
I don't know yet if or how I will include the people of the Middle East. At least the forest dwellers will be very covered up by cultural and historical reasons I will elaborate on in...some weeks maybe. xD
But the Northern Africans won't be very covered up. While the m36 body will come in very handy for that project, where are the dark skinned females? I didn't finde a single headsculpt, not even African American superstars? And I guess I will have to use those oil pastels for a body.

And I am not sure yet about religions. Islam might be strong enough to survive the apocalypse in some way, but I think it will be local, ethnic religions mostly. The sea spirits and the tree ghosts, roughly. And for the Cargonites, a crazy materialistic mix of Eastern Orthodox Church, feminism, Marian devotion, advertising and pop culture.

And about Laibach....I know that video for some years now and still haven't recovered from it!
Also, I don't know if North Korea will ever recover from Laibach, here is an interesting, absurd article about North Korea's first Rock concert:
https://www.huckmag.com/art-and-culture/film-2/north-korea-laibach/

And now some outdoor test shots. I went to Corsica for a short weekend trip as you can see.



Some nice little shells here and there...


There was an Art project going on there, they built a gigantic black window to make the coast look like a picture in a calender!


...this was planned. To get sand on his chest for more realism.

LOL. Well... where do I begin? Laibach might explain some things about North Korea... those poor people (Galaxy Quest reference). There are more reasons than religious propriety to cover up bodies in North Africa or whatever other part of the Middle East you are referencing -- like heat and sunburn (that is why traditional Arab bedouin garb is usually white and so extensive in its coverage). I think your Corsica vacation claim collapsed on you (not to mention it was actually Catalonia, not Corsica!)... as for sand on his chest, it does add realism (I wonder if that would be a good way to get hair on his chest, too?). Did you notice how much sand loves TBLeague bodies and how little they love it back? By the way, the photos turned out great, as did your characters.

What a great idea for a photoshoot, Ovy! The lighting is beautiful, too. Your figures look right at home in these!

GubernatorFan wrote: Did you notice how much sand loves TBLeague bodies and how little they love it back?

Now you got me thinking of your shirtless beach-bum Anakin again...

GubernatorFan wrote:LOL. Well... where do I begin? Laibach might explain some things about North Korea... those poor people (Galaxy Quest reference). There are more reasons than religious propriety to cover up bodies in North Africa or whatever other part of the Middle East you are referencing -- like heat and sunburn (that is why traditional Arab bedouin garb is usually white and so extensive in its coverage). I think your Corsica vacation claim collapsed on you (not to mention it was actually Catalonia, not Corsica!)... as for sand on his chest, it does add realism (I wonder if that would be a good way to get hair on his chest, too?). Did you notice how much sand loves TBLeague bodies and how little they love it back? By the way, the photos turned out great, as did your characters.

Thank you. Well, I might not have been to Corsica, but the photo really was Corsica. The calendar only flipped from October to September if you look closely.

skywalkersaga wrote:What a great idea for a photoshoot, Ovy! The lighting is beautiful, too. Your figures look right at home in these!

GubernatorFan wrote: Did you notice how much sand loves TBLeague bodies and how little they love it back?

Now you got me thinking of your shirtless beach-bum Anakin again...

Thank you! And that sand gets everywhere. And it's coarse.

Well, some shellpeople upgrades. Glorified docu shots without sand or daylight.
Reworked all the strapping on the shoulders and lots of tiny details, like the pearls.


He still needs a name. The -kos is non negotiable:

Zrakos
Bajkos
Bashkos
Drikos
Artakos
Gjinkos
Kreshnikos
Shabankos
Tomorkos
............kos?


Forgot the crab pincher in all the other pics somehow. New wristbands!


The crab mask with straps in all the variations.












The shield is also in the process of being reworked.




Teaser for another mask. It's finished now but I  too tired to post more.

Great work on your figure. I am impressed. I like "Zrakos" which admittedly, sounds better than "Sea Shell Che Guevara."

So much cool work on all of these characters. It seems the more layers and different materials, the cooler the characters look.

Ooh, I like this a lot — my fave version is the one with the beads on the band around his head ( both with and without the mask).

‘Zrakos’ sounds perfect!

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:Great work on your figure.  I am impressed.  I like "Zrakos" which admittedly, sounds better than "Sea Shell Che Guevara."  

Hah, thanks! Yes, Zrakos it is.

Stryker2011 wrote:So much cool work on all of these characters. It seems the more layers and different materials, the cooler the characters look.

Thanks a lot! That's why it it's so much fun working after the apocalypse, you can finish figures fast, but adding stuff later is always an option.

skywalkersaga wrote:Ooh, I like this a lot — my fave version is the one with the beads on the band around his head ( both with and without the mask).

‘Zrakos’ sounds perfect!

Yeah you are right. The Urchin is fancy, but I think it's nothing one wears all the time, more suited for rituals or festivities. And combat - Zrakos actually crashed his face after the last photo. The Crab mask was broken into 7 pieces. I glued it back together. Both Urchin and Crabskull are very thin, I wonder how the mask could be supported. Maybe layers of superglue or resin on the inside?

And thanks for the name opinion, it was my favourite too. His name is supposed to sound like something from Greece and Albania, or other countries of the eastern Adriatic sea. But hundreds of years in the future with a lot of language evolution in-between.

Some bead upgrades on the shields of the bearded silent sad guy. He could need more stuff, but the look works already. I don't know if he needs any shoulder plates with those giant shields.


He needs a name too. Something Catalanian and/or Spanish, maybe a little Portuguese, as his ancestors are from those areas. First ideas:
Benevaro
Bernatono
Jordiquim
Quimvaro
Jordivaro
....


Hello ladies.





So, now the mask. You might need a big hammer if you wand to break it. Had to file off a big chunk so he could wear it. It looked like a face before I changed anything. Finally found the courage to drill holes into this beautiful shell.  You can see his eyes when using a flash, but the black holes are much cooler I think.


A little creepy, a little funny, just like the real mask wearing people.











And a little update for 'her'. While experimenting with sun protection, her sculpted hair fell off (there are two versions) and I put it on wrong. Looks like an 'after the dive' hairstyle. But only from the front. But it works with the headscarf.
And she needs a name too. The Adriatic Sea is her place of origin too. Croatia, maybe some Italy.

Not sure about the Val- , still.
Valbona
Valjiena
Valzenka
Valcija
Valsminka
Valija

-gira
-onza
-enzia
-sencia



The slinger character is being reworked. I am annoyed a bit by that hot toys Alice body now that I know the metal skeleton seamless ones. But I want to keep it as there are non that look like that. It came with boots, shell people don't wear boots. None of the bare feet that came with the other bodies do fit, the holes are too small. Any suggestions? I don't know a lot about that.

And now a group shot of the three seamless ones. Cut short by an accident Zrakos had.







Finally, a little bonus. I received that nice friendly but a little boring head. I plan to transform her into a savage forest dweller one day. First I had to get rid of the puffy hair...


The body is for the 'Mirror' Project. Clothes are placeholder, except the hands.

I like "Jordivaro" and "Valzenka" myself. As for the face mask on Zrakos, realistically speaking, it would impair his breathing somewhat, which would limit his ability in hand to hand combat in which participants require enormous amounts of oxygen to keep going. IMHO, you are better off without it. Of course, it is your collection and you are the ultimate judge of how the figure should appear.

I know what you mean about the Hot Toys Alice body -- sometimes you have to use non-seamless ones because tbleague and/or jiaou don't have certain body types. 

And the shell mask with the creepy holes in it sort of reminded me of this prehistoric red deer antler headdress found at Star Carr, Yorkshire, now housed in the British Museum: 



While in this case, the holes are likely for attaching the antlers to the head, at first glance I always think they look like eyes. ;p

I absolutely love what you've been up to while I wasn't paying attention. The Che character is starting to look like Aladdin a little bit, so I was thinking Dinkos would be suitable; Zrakos sounds a little too Game of Thrones to me, and he is a couple of steps away from being Khal Drogo. I like the way the other figures are turning out too. How about Milenza for Milla Jovovic? And Guilfons for the shell mask guy (the shell mask is great, by the way)?

This thread is just super inspiring!
At first I thought the shells look a bit mundane and I thought you would just use the forms as a draft - or that you paint them to look like armour and not shells. But your vision is really great and it turned out very convincing with just the plain shells! Great!

I love the intricate detail of the beads and the unique shapes of the various shell pieces. Those necklaces look hard to make.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:I like "Jordivaro" and "Valzenka" myself. As for the face mask on Zrakos, realistically speaking, it would impair his breathing somewhat, which would limit his ability in hand to hand combat in which participants require enormous amounts of oxygen to keep going.  IMHO, you are better off without it.  Of course, it is your collection and you are the ultimate judge of how the figure should appear.

Thanks for your opinions! And you are right about the mask, of course. I aimed to use it as some sort of primitive breathing device for diving, which would require some sort of tubes I guess. But until then it's more style than anything.

skywalkersaga wrote:I know what you mean about the Hot Toys Alice body -- sometimes you have to use non-seamless ones because tbleague and/or jiaou don't have certain body types. 

And the shell mask with the creepy holes in it sort of reminded me of this prehistoric red deer antler headdress found at Star Carr, Yorkshire, now housed in the British Museum: 



While in this case, the holes are likely for attaching the antlers to the head, at first glance I always think they look like eyes. ;p

Yep the body comes closest to a s16, but still different. And Antler masks are great! Antlers in any way. I think I will have to craft them out of polymer clay. Of course my forest people chief will use antlers for his mask. All forest people wear masks, you know. But more of that some other time in another post. British Museum is in London? Man, they have many Museums. Only got to visit the Natural History museum on the one and a half days I was there, and than quickly ran through the Technical one

GubernatorFan wrote:I absolutely love what you've been up to while I wasn't paying attention. The Che character is starting to look like Aladdin a little bit, so I was thinking Dinkos would be suitable; Zrakos sounds a little too Game of Thrones to me, and he is a couple of steps away from being Khal Drogo. I like the way the other figures are turning out too. How about Milenza for Milla Jovovic? And Guilfons for the shell mask guy (the shell mask is great, by the way)?

What's Game of thronesey about Zrakos?
And I like your name suggestions, but haven't decided yet.

Antarion wrote:This thread is just super inspiring!
At first I thought the shells look a bit mundane and I thought you would just use the forms as a draft - or that you paint them to look like armour and not shells. But your vision is really great and it turned out very convincing with just the plain shells! Great!

Yep, Nature is much better at painting shells then I will ever be, so I just left them that way! And very happy to inspire.

MerylAkiba wrote:I love the intricate detail of the beads and the unique shapes of the various shell pieces. Those necklaces look hard to make.

Thank you! The hardest part in making those necklaces is deciding the order and color of the beads and length the of them. And if I use rubbery material or just thread. Drilling holes into beautiful little shells is hard, too, but more in an emotional kind of way. ^^

Little update, my first attempt at rooting hair. I wanted to play safe so I just made a wig.

The Hot Toys Alice had has interchangable moulded hairpieces, so I used aluminium foil and sculpted the skull. I wasn't very precise, but it can be taken off and clipped on.


The only Tibet lamb stuff I have is that grey furniture cover rug thing. I dyed a part of it in dark brown.


Here you can see the wig, the hair is not fit yet.


And finally, soaked in water and cut to right length.


Still wet, but it fits her 'Hey I am diving here!' attitude.


It took me some time. I watched 'The Death of Stalin' while I worked, great movie, sad, horrible and very funny.

The one thing I did wrong was the parting in the hair. The gap I cut was not deep enough so the hair strands could not be pushed deep into it. Maybe I will just cut a slit in there an redo the parting. If that makes sense.

Wow. Excellent job on Milla's new skull and "real" hair. Great coloring -- you could also order some already in the right color from Morezmore, but I appreciate you did it yourself. I almost feel sad you didn't leave the gorgeous fuller/longer hair intact, although the final look works too. I notice you have fixed her minor damage from before.

As for Zrakos, it just reminds me of the silly names encountered by Daenerys in her silly adventures on Essos or whatever that Eurasia landmass to the east was called. Didn't someone with a long name starting somewhat like this try to marry her? To be honest, I didn't care much about that part and area of the plot -- or for that matter for anything that happened north of the Wall. I thought a less fantastical tale more focused on the murderous politics and plots of the Seven Kingdoms might have been far more fascinating, but that's just me.

Wow, her wig looks amazing .... I wish I were not such a wimp about attempting this myself ....

Nice hair job. She looks great like that.

GubernatorFan wrote:Wow. Excellent job on Milla's new skull and "real" hair. Great coloring -- you could also order some already in the right color from Morezmore, but I appreciate you did it yourself. I almost feel sad you didn't leave the gorgeous fuller/longer hair intact, although the final look works too. I notice you have fixed her minor damage from before.

As for Zrakos, it just reminds me of the silly names encountered by Daenerys in her silly adventures on Essos or whatever that Eurasia landmass to the east was called. Didn't someone with a long name starting somewhat like this try to marry her? To be honest, I didn't care much about that part and area of the plot -- or for that matter for anything that happened north of the Wall. I thought a less fantastical tale more focused on the murderous politics and plots of the Seven Kingdoms might have been far more fascinating, but that's just me.

Thanks. Shipping from Morezmore costs 15$ for me, so I have to pass. And maybe one day I will create a character with gorgeous long hair like Arnie, don't worry.
And the character I think you mean had a lot of Xs in his name. Xavos Xan Xoxos?

skywalkersaga wrote:Wow, her wig looks amazing .... I wish I were not such a wimp about attempting this myself ....

Thanks, and I totally understand you. Making that removable headpiece/wig was a good training, otherwise I would have been afraid destroying a good headsculpt. It was much easier than I thought.

Stryker2011 wrote:Nice hair job. She looks great like that.

Thank you!

A lot of time has passed since the last slinger update.
I reworked the shoulder pieces. It looks complicated. Maybe it was, but it is less complicated now. I guess.


The other piece is really less complicated.


New necklace and reworked the ropes.




All the old beads were shiny, when I got the new ones I experimented with color combinations. I mostly used transparent matte green beads, the rainbow colored matte beads and the brown ones for the slinger.


Most of the smaller braces went to the legs and arms.


And completely reworked the hip area, new skirt and belt with lots of dangling stuff.


One of the dangling things are shell bolas.


She still needs a name. She is from the region that was called Italy once, from the Thyrrenian Sea, maybe Campania/Naples. I think of naming her after one of the regions or islands there.
Maybe her nickname is Capri, for a much more complicated name like Capritirrenia or something. But I am always open for your creative suggestions

She turned out really cool. I like all the bits and bobs, and the bola is inspired. Her whole look is probably my favorite so far. Great job.

Quite simply amazing.

Excellent work on all these tiny details. She's coming along beautifully. How about the Latin for Capri, slightly Hellenized to make it work better for a female name: Capraia?

Still blown away by just the pure freshness of this faction. It's a really unique spin with such an original look. And it just WORKS. The materials for the main outfits are perfect, and the whole shell aesthetic just nails the vibe you're going for. The beads are perfect, and really pop. And so agree with Stryker, that bola is such a rad idea.

Stryker2011 wrote:She turned out really cool. I like all the bits and bobs, and the bola is inspired. Her whole look is probably my favorite so far. Great job.

Thanks a lot! She annoyed me quite some time because her feet would not fit. They do now, after some drilling on the ball joints, which motivated me to rework the figure. She is the first of the shell people, after all.

Theboo-bomb wrote:Quite simply amazing.

Thanks, really appreciate it.

GubernatorFan wrote:Excellent work on all these tiny details. She's coming along beautifully. How about the Latin for Capri, slightly Hellenized to make it work better for a female name: Capraia?

Capraia sounds great, thank  you my Imperial Thinkanator!

ReverendSpooky wrote:Still blown away by just the pure freshness of this faction.  It's a really unique spin with such an original look.  And it just WORKS.  The materials for the main outfits are perfect, and the whole shell aesthetic just nails the vibe you're going for.  The beads are perfect, and really pop.  And so agree with Stryker, that bola is such a rad idea.

Yep, it works somehow! Nature did most of the work. And happy that I got into that bead crafting stuff. My niece likes it too. I actually made a creepy shell costume for one of her little baby toddler figures...I will takes photo if I find it again.

And news for you, when I browsed machinegun.fr I stumbled upon the blonde headsculpt you asked about. It's from Kimi Toys. Maybe mine from eBay was a bootleg, don't know.
https://www.machinegun-figures.com/female-headsculpt-p-23991

Regarding that particular head, I repainted it for forest people action. Her body has not arrived yet.

She seems nice...


...in her own special way. She made that facepaint out of a coal, blueberry and raspberry mush. And a special ingredient that repells insects. Now that I think of it, looks a bit like someone from AlkelAstras world, the face at least. ;D


Speaking of forest people, the only faction whitout their own thread....I experimented with Jeff's head. And I try out my favourite Scottish shell (acquired on Skye) on every head. Maybe that's how the Shell People of the Hebrides look like? It's a bit tougher up there, so more clothing. And it reminds me of a fishermans cap.


Do you hate it sometimes, that there are infinite possibilities? I think I will stay on the wooden path for him. But maybe I will represent Great Britain one day with a figure. It's Europe en miniature up there, forest people, cargo states and shell people are mixed more than on the continent. The biggest Cargonite settlement of GB is Southampton, connecting with Europe through Le Havre. I am thinking about Cargonites with 'modern' clothing mixed with shells, just like in the concept drawing. Hmmm....


Anyway, I rooted some gray hair. I stopped as I am not sure how far I want it to go. It might be enough but that is like, just my opinion, man.


Another test, chilling in Spain, staring at goats. The necklace is new, intended for our M33 Oysternator, Jordi.
With summer filter.

Great progress with Jeff! That last photo is very nice, even if he is ignoring the beautiful scenery on account of some goats. And the blonde forest lady does look (and sound) distantly related to what we have seen from AlkelAstra's world.

GubernatorFan wrote:Great progress with Jeff! That last photo is very nice, even if he is ignoring the beautiful scenery on account of some goats. And the blonde forest lady does look (and sound) distantly related to what we have seen from AlkelAstra's world.

Thanks!  I gave the necklace back to Jordi.

Speaking of Jordi.... Musical equipment or the Mediterraneans.

As base I used one of those big green oval shells Capraia fans know. It has a beautiful pearly shine inside. Then I cut some balsa wood like material from cheese packaging for the body, drilled (perforated..) a sound hole into it and sanded everything. A piece of driftwood served as neck, cut and sanded into form. The smaller bit got an angle and serves as headstock. There, I used little shells as tuning pegs. I made it simple, it's my very first shell based 1/6 scale post apocalyptic instrument I ever build, after all.


I thought about putting the pegs on the edges. Another time. Maybe. I also used only 4 strings.


Here the prototype product. I used sanded toothpicks and balsa wood for nut and bridge, cut 4 dents into the bridge. No frets, it's the Apocalypse after all. It's a mandolin, by the way. I first tried normal polyester strings, but then...well it escalated a little...


I used the brown elastic band I use for all those bracelets, split it into thinner threads and wrapped them around the tuning shells. I pulled them very long until they sounded nice and then superglued them. So now it is a working little instrument, not just a model, haha...
Hyperromantic instagrammic pic.


I gave it to Jordi.


Maybe Capraia can use it too.


I am still not sure what kind of musical genre I want to associate with the Mediterraneans.


I thought about stoner rock.


El Buho is nice, too.


But maybe someone has another idea.


Hello ladies.


Notice the shining inside of the mandolins body.

That is just brilliant! Well done!