Looking for TINY customizable action figures
Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 10:57 amI'm working on a new 1/6 scale photo-story, and assembling the cast -- but there's a particular series of props the story demands (they are important to the plot), and I'm trying to think of the best way to approach making them.
I need to create or find marionettes or poseable figures that are in-scale for a 1/6 scale puppeteer. This means poseable figures averaging between 2-3 inches in height, that can be customized to resemble specific characters. (One of the characters in the story is a maker of marionettes, and he creates a marionette to resemble every person in the story. This includes their clothing and hairstyles, at least close enough so you can tell at a glance who they're supposed to be. In the original story, they were extraordinarily good likenesses, but given the scale I'm working in, I'll settle for crude but recognizable...
)
I have a feeling I'm going to end up having to make them from scratch -- I've been toying with using wooden beads strung on twine or wire, pipe cleaners, or building pieces out of sculpey or epoxy and stringing those together like beads. I've been debating whether I need to have faces on them or whether I will be better off adding facial details in photoshop (given that I have trouble doing faces even on 1/6 scale, I suspect that may be the way I have to go). I can use either saran (I have plenty) or embroidery floss for hair (I've done that before). I can glue or stitch tiny scraps of costumes together.
But I thought I'd throw this out there, because there might be some other option out there I just don't know about, that would make this easier -- I do recall sometime in the past seeing photos of very small action figures that were somewhat customizable, but I think that was on the 13dolls site that died....
These are the criteria:
-- approximately 2-3 inches in height, no more than 3 inches, given the puppeteer is only 23cm himself.
-- customizable -- so I can make them at least crudely resemble members of the cast.
-- free-standing and poseable. Mostly they appear either as strung marionettes, or as limp dolls in someone's hands, but there are two that get up and run around and have to be actual characters, at least for part of the story. So posing has to be an option. (And this may mean free-standing with hidden wires or strings supporting them, I realize...)
-- not too terribly expensive, as I need at least a dozen or two, even if most of them don't do very much but hang around like good little props usually do.
Anybody got any ideas or suggestions? Thanks for your help!
--Janet
I need to create or find marionettes or poseable figures that are in-scale for a 1/6 scale puppeteer. This means poseable figures averaging between 2-3 inches in height, that can be customized to resemble specific characters. (One of the characters in the story is a maker of marionettes, and he creates a marionette to resemble every person in the story. This includes their clothing and hairstyles, at least close enough so you can tell at a glance who they're supposed to be. In the original story, they were extraordinarily good likenesses, but given the scale I'm working in, I'll settle for crude but recognizable...
)I have a feeling I'm going to end up having to make them from scratch -- I've been toying with using wooden beads strung on twine or wire, pipe cleaners, or building pieces out of sculpey or epoxy and stringing those together like beads. I've been debating whether I need to have faces on them or whether I will be better off adding facial details in photoshop (given that I have trouble doing faces even on 1/6 scale, I suspect that may be the way I have to go). I can use either saran (I have plenty) or embroidery floss for hair (I've done that before). I can glue or stitch tiny scraps of costumes together.
But I thought I'd throw this out there, because there might be some other option out there I just don't know about, that would make this easier -- I do recall sometime in the past seeing photos of very small action figures that were somewhat customizable, but I think that was on the 13dolls site that died....
These are the criteria:
-- approximately 2-3 inches in height, no more than 3 inches, given the puppeteer is only 23cm himself.
-- customizable -- so I can make them at least crudely resemble members of the cast.
-- free-standing and poseable. Mostly they appear either as strung marionettes, or as limp dolls in someone's hands, but there are two that get up and run around and have to be actual characters, at least for part of the story. So posing has to be an option. (And this may mean free-standing with hidden wires or strings supporting them, I realize...)
-- not too terribly expensive, as I need at least a dozen or two, even if most of them don't do very much but hang around like good little props usually do.
Anybody got any ideas or suggestions? Thanks for your help!
--Janet
