No pictures this post.... Well, no real updates either. I mean, aside from the fact that I GRADUATED!!! But nothing really big or anything.

So I do plan on posting now that I have more free time to actually work on my personal project, and I'm not having an emotional breakdown because the indigo paint didn't mix right with the orange to create an almost black color (no, seriously, this has happened). I'm gonna post, and I'm gonna finish my projects.

To close out this very short update, I'd like to say, I haven't forgotten or abandoned the pub and I'm going to keep posting. Secondly, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year (just encase I forget).

Today, I want to talk about miniatures. I'm thinking about making this a weekly/bi-weekly bit where I let everyone know that I'm not dead, by posting about crafty people that inspire me.

Classes have been keeping me from my paper-y love, and I do need to keep on this site.

For anyone that doesn't know, it's almost impossible to find accessories for action figures in the 1/12th scale. I have a fairly large collection of 6" action figures, but barely any accessories, save for the ones they came with.

This is a problem.

....Or it was until I got on YouTube.

Myfroggystuff. Probably one of the most resourceful/crafty YouTubers I've seen so far. She uses common items that you can find around your house to make some pretty darn good looking accessories.

Here's what I did from the tutorials I watched of hers....

ALCOHOL!

Yes, I made little wine bottles for my action figures (thus the reason my blog is the Papertoy Pub, and not something classy, or professional). I found the labels online and shrunk them as needed.

Her miniatures are more.... Child friendly, and can easily be modified..... As you can see. 

She also does tutorials on miniature foods. And I don't mean just pie or cake, she does food tutorials. And a lot of them.

But, my figures aren't concerned about a healthy diet, especially when there's pumpkin pie to be had.

For those looking for more adventurous items, she's made telescopes, tents, and bows and arrows. 

All in all, if you're looking for a quick prop or something for your kid (or kid relative), or something to do with your kid on the cheap. I'd recommend you check her out.

I was not paid to promote, I just like to promote people that do things well and could possibly be an inspiration or aide to someone else.

Next time, paper figure stuff, I promise.

PART 2

And so it begins.

It took a little longer to post than I expected, but here it is the promised part 2.

What does it cover? The torso.

Let us begin

First of course, you want to build the frame, in this case I left a little extra on the top, lengthened the neck, and added an additional tube of paper to the hips, to act as the stomach, hide the joint that will eventually be there, and to add a little more height.

Also, you can see the head from the previous post. I did both of them at about the same time, it just took a lot of extra layers to fill her out.

I like to begin this part, by putting down one long piece, like you see in the above pictures. This acts as a placement for her breasts, and also let me know in this case that they were saggy because I didn't account for the added height. Oops. 

Also at this point, glue a thin base layer around the waist cone. It helps secure it, and blend it.

Please enjoy a step by step on how I build paper breasts.

Glue, glue is very good. Use it at your discretion. I like a little bit more for this part of the process. It bleeds out the sides of the napkin and blends the edges to the surrounding material.... Probably because it's pulp at that point. But it works.

Simply repeat the process. Over and over and over........

Now, about this point I'm pretty happy with the basic profile for the chest. It's small and can be built on, if I so choose.

Now, if the chest is good enough for now, it's time to move on down. Personally, I like to balance the hips against the chest, so I do the hips.... And the butt, after the chest.

As I hope you can see, there's a slight division, I try to make sure that it's always there. Every so often I add a piece of paper in between.

As you can see below, I've added more on the lower portion of the butt, I'll blend it into the back in a bit. This is usually how it goes.

I'd also like to point out that the hips have now been blended to the tube.

I like to turn the figure as I go so I can decide if the silhouette looks good.

Now, same thing with the head and the chest, you repeat the process until you're happy.

This is about where I was happy.

So that's "sculpting" the head and torso. I hope you enjoyed it, sorry it took so long to post them.

If anyone has any QUESTIONS as to how I do things, I'd be happy to answer them as best as I can.

I would also like to take a moment to appreciate the versatility of paper. Below is an image of all the different characters I started working on using the same base model. I love paper.

Until next post, Fare well.

PART 1

As promised, here is the first part of the post I said I'd do yesterday when I spammed all of you readers with wonderful paper lips (Say what you will, they're gorgeous).

So since I had food poisoning last week, I thought I'd capitalize on the new time slot in my day, and the fact that I felt like I was going to die, by working on my Goddess of Death character. I should add that I have, like, five or six other characters to work on........ But too late now.

As most of you readers may know (and for those who don't), this is generally how a paper model looks when you start out. It's flat. You could also say, paper thin. As you can see, there are little white tabs surrounding the face, those allow you to connect the parts and have them hold together. If you've never built a paper model, the tabs can be very effective, if you don't drown them in glue. Possibly speaking from experience on that one.

Next of course, you cut it out and build it. It's pretty straight forward, like a connect the dots, minus the numbers and the dots. I dunno, they just make sense to me. So now we have a head, lets sculpt.

I don't know if you can see it, but I added little pencil lines where I want the features. Normally I don't bother, but this character has a very unique set of features and I wanted to make sure that I captured them. Also, her face needed to be longer, hence her... Beard? Anyway, you usually want to cut that off. Just saying.

First things first, I like to start with the nose . It's a fairly noticeable feature and it tends to stick out farther than the forehead, at least in most cases. Once the nose is placed, using a piece of your choice of top notch, high quality, sculpting material; in this case bathroom paper towel, the kind that takes paint off of walls (I'm trying to cut back on coffee). Move on to the "cheekbones"

Depending on the character, you might choose to build out the Zygomatic bone, doing that for a few layers can give it some really good strong definition. This character doesn't need definition. So that being said, I just took tiny squares and placed them where I wanted them.

Also, when you're doing this, DO NOT CUT THE SCULPTING MATERIAL. Tear it gently and slowly. The reason being, it blends a lot easier with the base, and other layers. Any abnormalities with the tear can be sorted out with careful manuvering of the material with a fine tool, dental tools work swimmingly. Cut paper has a hard edge. The only time its okay to cut it, is on the first layer it'll get covered and the harse edges hidden. So again, DO NOT CUT THE SCULPTING MATERIAL.

Now, we move on to the long part, there isn't too much to say up ahead since it just comes down to layers, lots of layers. So enjoy my pictures.

Now, as you can tell, at least I hope you can, I haven't started on the lips yet. I haven't started them yet because I don't want to mess them up. Lips are tedious and unique, and require special attention. So I've been focusing on building up everything else. When you do, you need to vary the shape/size of pieces you put down... Otherwise you could end up with box face.

Now we start on the lips. I'll be honest, I didn't get a lot of pictures for this step... Mostly because I was focused and I didn't want my phone covered in glue. But it's the same process, lay down thin strips of paper and shape them. I highly recommend dental tools for this step since it is very delicate, and tedious.

I hope everyone enjoyed this post, part two will be on the torso and all the joys of layers. This head was pretty fun, one of my new favorites too. 

LOOK AT THOSE LIPS!

Those, are some pretty satisfactory lips, if I do say so myself. 

This isn't a full post, mostly because I have a big post coming that covers the sculpting of the head and torso... It'll probably be a two parter. I just wanted to let all of you loyal readers out there know that I wasn't dead. Just poisoned and stressed. 

BIG POST COMING SOON!

(I just had to post about those lips, they're just so darn pleasant to look at!)

Now, I believe I talked about talking about the hip joint or the thigh? Or was it something pointless, that I was promising to discuss?

I dunno, we'll say it was the hip joint and thigh (it probably was, I don't reread my posts). I've decided to do a combined post on this because I forgot to take enough pictures.

Starting with the image of what we accomplished last time:

If you read the neck post, then you know what the toothpick is for. For anyone now joining us, the toothpick acts as a post for articulation. So, much like the neck, you have to create another paper "ball-bearing." Same process, and I'll add the images down here.

So as you can see, it's the same thing. Now, in this case, I still haven't glued down the ballies, or the toothpick. I haven't cut the toothpick to fit either. That comes after the thighs.

That being said, on to the thighs.

Now, I apologize, because my photos of these steps are... Incomplete and inconsistent. So, please, bear with me.

Now, we start with the base thigh, in this case it's a rather nice little cone-like shape. This is a good shape for a base, it gives a nice, natural look whether you sculpt onto it or not. For Dwyn, I didn't sculpt anything on to it.

For this, your gonna want to put the top part of the thigh up next to the toothpick and cut a tiny divet into it where you want it to connect. I've also taken to cutting a portion of the back of the knee out, at an upward angle to allow for slightly better articulation. Then, cut a little rectangle.

Then, roll it and make a little cylinder.

Then, make another one, one that's just a little smaller than the one before.

Next you smash the cylinder into the top part of the thigh.

Like so.

It should look something like this. I should also mention that I cut the same divet into the cylinder as I do the thigh. Glue the tube into place. 

That being said, I'm going to include these pictures of Marta, because I used a slightly different method for making her things.

Ball joints, cone shapes, and toothpick; all the same. Only difference here is I chose to leave on a little extra on the top of the cone, partially because I wanted her to be taller, and because I wanted a more seamless method of connection for the ballie.

As you can see the top shape is a bit different, it still needs the cylinder, just for added reinforcement. Now to explain the purpose of the extra paper, that acts as a casing for the ballie, the socket, if you will. I usually make it a simple rectangular strip of paper, and I cut a divet into it too, as well as I curve the edges of it once it's glued down. 

I apologize, because this is the part where I failed to take photos of the process.

This is the finished image of Dwyn's thigh, the one above sort of shows the socket set up.

Now, if you're following along at home, you may notice that the tube doesn't fit at the top. Simple solution, put some glue in the empty space and on the outer wall of the cylinder, stuff it. Stuff it with toilet paper, or napkins, or tissues. Take your pick.

As for the next post, I'm not sure. I have plenty of things I can still explain/expand on, but I'd like to know if you readers out there had any questions that could be covered in the next post. If not, I'll just continue on my merry way.