You don’t know Jack

Jack O’Lantern sculpture.

Another project finished and, as it’s that time of year, I have finished another of the now traditional Halloween sculptures. One of the blogs I follow is Yog-blogsoth by Michael Bukowski. The illustrations are all based on different parts of the Lovecraft Mythos and its refreshing to see a Mythos blog which doesn’t just repeat the same trio of Cthulhu, Dagon and deep ones. Several months ago he posted a picture which caught my tiny mind. It’s one of the aspects of Nyarlathotep who I have a soft spot for in the Mythos and I’ve already posted that I thought Steve Jobs was Nyarlathotep and I’ve come close to sculpting him before in the Pharaoh form he is more widely known for (Nyarlathotep, not Steve Jobs). So with the subject picked, I thought I’d try something new which this time was using greenstuff to sculpt the Jack /Nyarlathotep character.

Build

Usual start, wire frame, milliput over the top and then green stuff which I’ve not used properly before so it was an experience. The first few passes turned out ok but I wasn’t feeling the love properly. Its nice stuff for getting details but I was struggling with the stickyness of it and how floppy it can be when its set. I did find a few interesting tips online, one is it can be mixed with milliput to make it firmer. This does have the minor side effect of making it even stickier so best only to use in smallish amounts.

Another useful tip is not to use metal tools, the greenstuff sticks to them, as well as anything else it touches except silicone tools.

I also found it’s best not to stop on an area and come back to it the next day, its hard to get soft greenstuff to blend over firm greenstuff so lines and gaps can be hard to get rid of. I ended up picking up some liquid greenstuff from Games Workshop which works but is a bit unsmooth as you have to brush it on so a little bit of wet and dry helps once it has set.

One last one, which could be seen as bit icky, smoothing greenstuff seems to be an artform. There are all kinds of suggestions from water (didn’t seem to work too well with me), vaseline which has to be cleaned off before the next layer is added or it won’t stick, but the best one I’ve found is the oil which collects on the nose and forehead. Rub the tools in it, rub your fingers in it, even rub the greenstuff on your face before working with it. Damned if it doesn’t work a treat. Yes, I smoothed the final few passes on this with my own blood, sweat and tears. Well, sort of. I’m trying out a couple of other things but at a pinch it works well.

Jack had his final paint job with Games Workshop paints after a few coats of Halfords finest filler primer.

Links:
Google gallery of the build

Yog-blogsoth