See, I said I'd keep up with posts! ...Well, until school starts, then we'll probably switch to my favorite brand of toothpicks (It's the Family Dollar ones, just for those interested).

But in all seriousness, I said I'd talk about the neck toothpick, and my tools.

Firstly, tools. Because I only took one picture.

Here they are! I was gonna describe everything, then it occurred to me that I have no idea what the actual names are for most of these. So I'll post how I use them as I go.... And if anyone has questions as to what a tool is in this, I'll try and find out the official name.

So to start, here's the torso so far with the neck toothpick. So what is it for? Asked no one. Well, first let's go on the process and see if anyone can guess along the way.

Step one: Raid your paper remnant bin. Now, I like to use scissors to cut things. It's a very scientific process, that all those years of schooling prepared me for.

Cut a really long triangle.

Like this one. 

Then we move on to the more tedious part that's also laden in copious amounts of glue. So I don't have any pictures of it because I couldn't touch my phone.

Now, it you looked at the picture of my preferred tools, there was a tan cylinder looking tool with a flat end and a metal toothpick end. I take the wide end of the paper triangle and wrap it slowly, and tightly around that tool, gluing as I go, and making sure it doesn't get glued to the metal. The end result is below.

Having finished the little paper.... Ball-bearing? Jam that little thing on to the neck toothpick. And glue it down. Tah-Dah! Neck joint. Though it only works so well, next is the attachment for the head.

If you can look to the top right corner at the forlorn rectangular piece of paper, that is will become the point of insertion for the bearing. Take it, and roll it into a cylinder, making sure it fits on the DRIED ball bearing. Once you're sure, pluck it off and glue it into the head, preferably at the point where the head and neck connect.

With luck, it has a really good range of motion. And I mean luck because none of the stuff is measured. 

Would you look at that, a new post!

After a stint of finals fever, I have finished my semester and I am on my one week of summer vacation. So now is the time to make things.

This is the chest piece for my Halfling character, Dwyn (we're just gonna use her name, it's so much easier).

As is, I started posts with her, and now I have time to continue posts about her process. So today, we start with the chest piece.

Now, as per my usual, I have no progress shots from actually starting the "sculpting" process. Opps... But I did take pictures of the.... Solidifying process...? I don't know... I'll figure out a name for that later. Anyway, on my earlier builds, I ran into issues where the tabs, for whatever reason, would not stay together. They'd separate at the seams, and not even in the easy to fix way sometimes. On top of that, I encountered what I like to call, "Paper-rot" for those that don't know, it's when the paper just starts to turn brittle and crumbly. 

There had to be a way around it.

Now, there may be an easier way to solve the problem, but I like my solution. If you look closely at the pictures above, you can see thin paper strips running between her breasts. This locks the sculpting in place and helps to smooth it out. This also means that the base is more accepting of paint and other mediums. Plus, like I said, it's nice and smooth.

It also means, that it's stronger. The sculpting alone makes it a little sturdier (I've smashed my hand on it to test this) and the paper strips help to reinforce it, especially in places where it wouldn't be too logical to have mass amounts of sculpting.

Plus as an added bonus, it sounds like plastic if you drop it.

So all that being said, I'm going to end this post here. I'm gonna try and max out posts this upcoming week before school starts back up. Next time, I'll cover the purpose of the toothpick and maybe some of my helpful tools... More than that I'm sure, but that's what comes to mind right now.

Now, as I said in the second post, which I corrected, sort of. I couldn't remember the name/location of the figure that I use primarily as a base. Now, I have the information and I wanted to share it.

The site where the figure came from is: http://tcfgaming.com/

I use the "Paper Protagonist" (specifically the female one: The models and textures are © 2011 Sean Kelly. I found the copyright info, yay!!!) as a base to sculpt on. It's really nice and balances quite well without adjustments... So long as you put it together right. I also upsized it for my own personal use.

I will be posting more of my paper figures updates, progress and all that jazz once I finish with my finals. They have become something of a reward for completion of homework.

For those that started following, thank you for subscribing! I appreciate your support!


In the meantime, if you want to check out some way more advanced and well engineered paper figures, and one of my inspirations for what I do. Follow the link:

http://jnorad.blogspot.com/?m=1
(You might have to go back a few years.....)

Check it out! More cellphotography! Amazing isn't it?

Anyway, picture aside, this is a different character, and so a different figure. This character is a half ogre (my design for her). 

So being a half ogre, she has to be about 6" or taller (I collect and work in about 6" or smaller). As well as that, she has to have more well defined muscles. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, her thighs:

I started them today, and that is her Rectus femoris muscle. Well, the start of it anyway. I still have to build it out, as you can see in the image below.

Geez, sorry this blog is taking so long to flesh out (hehehe... Flesh out). I hope you guys enjoy this stuff as I go.