Our Dreamfinder Funko Pop!

John and I've been fiddling around with the final touches on this for far too long, so my apologies to those of you I've been cruelly teasing with sneak peeks over on Instagram. ;)

At long last, though, here's our latest custom Funko Pop:

Dreamfinder!

Here he is side-by-side with the official Figment:



And a look at just the figure:

Final Balrog Reveal!

The problem with posting crafts-in-progress is then you guys know how long it takes me to finish and write up each project. Which is a very long time. What can I say, I'm slow. And easily distracted. Heck, I will wander off this second if someone starts pulling a whoopie pie on a string past me. (MINE.)(::pounce::)

But!

I *do* finally have finished Balrog photos for you! Remember that one? Ages back? When John and I started jamming LEDs into poor Boggy's head?

 I've decided to name him Boggy, by the way. I find it helps distract from the fact that - at least at night -  Boggy looks like a Hell Beast Come To Claim Your Soul:

'SUP BOGGY?

Then again, that's kind of how the Balrog looks in Lord of the Rings, sooo... nailed it?

Since my first update we've finished the base, aged the existing paint job, added a few more lights to Boggy's head, and added some cotton "smoke" wisps from his eyes and mouth.

I did a lot of experimenting with different kinds of cotton for the smoke, as well as with coloring the cotton - dyes, powders, paints. In the end it turned out simple was best, since coloring the cotton blocked too much light and looked more fake, as you can see on the right here:

Of course it's also essential to "joosh" the cotton just right. That... is NOT right. 

This one's better:

I tried to get the cotton smoke to look good both lit and unlit, so there are only tiny shreds of it.

I ended up keeping the existing paint job, but I blacked out any too-bright red and orange areas. Then I aged down the red on his face, whip, and head flames:

For the base we used - get this - cheap kitty litter for stone gravel, followed up by some crushed walnut shells for the smaller crumbly bits. (The walnut shells are used to soak up spilled paint, so we already had some in the garage.) I attached it all with hot glue, then painted everything black.

I built up little piles of the gravel to hide the 3 LEDs embedded in the base - can you tell where they are? 

You can also see my aging better on the whip in that one. I like the black bits near the handle, reminds me of crusted-over magma.

Still loving those teeth; they're just so gross, ha. Again, all I did there was wipe off most of the factory brown paint with acetone, revealing the translucent yellow plastic underneath.

So that's Boggy during the day, with none of his lights on.

And here he is at night in John's room, all wired up:

You Light Up My Life, Balrog Funko Pop

I don't want to jinx it, gang, but this week's been kind of awesome so far. I went into last weekend full-throttle pre-menstrual, John and I buckling up for another ride on the Jen-Coaster-Of-Perpetual-Self-Examination-That-Never-Ends-Well, but instead I stumbled across that Geode cake thread and laughed my fool head off.

It was such a relief, you know? I mean, I'm not out of the woods yet, hormonally speaking, but when you're waiting to feel sad and instead get a jolt of unexpected glee, and then you get to share it and see OTHER people lifted up and making new friends, sharing their own jokes and silliness until the whole thing mushrooms (heyoooo) into this big happy THING... well heck, that's why I love writing this blog. You guys get a 5 or 10 minute read, but I get to obsess for hours and hours over all the silly, pretty, and just-plain-awesome things I post here. Best home-therapy a PMS-riddled agoraphobe could ask for.

 

Which is all a long-winded intro to one of our latest projects. It's not done yet, but I've been thinking I need to loosen my death grip on project posts, learn to show you guys the half-way points and mistakes and do-overs, not just the finished pieces. John and are constantly experimenting with new craft stuff, and most only see the inside of our trash can. Maybe that should change. (Remind me to show you our tests with silicone and resin next time - the silicone in particular has some fun possibilities.)

Plus, I don't know about you, but I freaking LOVE progress photos from the cosplayers & builders I follow. I get so much inspiration from those midway points, thinking what *I* would do next to finish things off. Here's hoping you guys are the same.

So let's get on to this $16 Balrog Pop we found at the mall:

...which you can get on Amazon for $13. (Dangit. lol)

I should point out the Pop isn't nearly as cool as the box art:

 I mean, it's OK, but it's hard to make paint look like flames.

So obviously we need to make it light up, right? 

RIGHT.

Getting the head off was hard: eventually it came down to John's brute strength:

Our back-up plan was to cut that neck peg with a dremel, since you can always glue the head back on with epoxy putty.

Popping the flames off the head took more finesse: I recommend patience and a small screwdriver for prying:

There's also a small panel under the head you'll need to pop off to get inside. (The head is hollow.) A craft blade helps to cut through the glue.

Next John cut out the eye sockets using a Dremel, while I cast new eyes out of resin and alcohol ink. Here's John holding one of the new eyes in place for a test run: