Centaur making

[DollyKim]

Most pictures are on the blog http://dolfielittles.typepad.com/ look for posts marked Making Roger 2 as the first one is off to the glue factory, there are lots, but here's a few. I made a horsey!
Tape straws to a toilet paper tube.

Add Rigid Wrap plaster cloth strips

Make a torso out of another tp tube, half for the body half for the chest, folded and taped in place. Add More Rigid Wrap and shape slightly.

Allow to dry for a couple of days.

Threw a layer of air dry on him except for his tummy. This will give him a harder skin than the Rigid Wrap (my arse) The tummy doesn't have any clay on it yet as I need to look at one of my sister's horsey books and make sure he's going in the right direction. Allow to dry until the air dry is completely white and not cool to the touch. A bit of drying time and patience is the key.

[DollyKim]

Ended up cutting his rear end off, taking a good half inch off the length of the body, and reshaping reattaching the rear end for a more horse like look.

[DollyKim]

Horsy patootie

Clay has been added to the buns, some of the crotch carved out, and some general building up of the form.

The front has been built up, a neck added, some general shaping done.

Next will be some carving and sanding. The previous Roger got too big as I kept adding to smooth out his lumps instead of sanding them down. The lower hind legs will need to be angles differently, so it looks like they may come off soon and get reattached. He will need to dry first.

On the irritating side he is starting to crack here and there, as some parts dry faster than others, and tends to fall over if the table is bumped. A feet solution will need to be worked on. I am seriously thinking about making him a solid statue at this rate so I have a finished figure. If so I will definitely chop those lower legs off and reset them.

[DollyKim]

Some sanding and shaping, some leg breaking and resetting.

The back legs need to be shaped, the backs scooped out and so on. Hooves come soon.

I've decided not to joint Roger but I'm unsure is I'll make it so he can change heads or not. Joints are beyond my understanding at the moment I didn't feel like testing on this fellow and having to make Roger 3 because of it.

[zirconmermaid]

He looks like he's coming along nicely. I look forward to seeing more. Maybe once you finish him you can do one that does have joints? I am really enjoying your step-by-step on this. I haven't wanted to interrupt, but I really wanted to squee on you!

[DollyKim]

I'll need to do a critter with test joints. Roger 1 was jointed but I didn't engineer him right. The back legs were cut wrong and wouldn't have supported him nor could he be put back together and recut. Once this centaur is done it will be easier to make a modeling clay copy, my brain works best when it can see something.

Looking at several jointed toy horses it seems each has a different way to do it. A skeleton, like an Obitsu, may be the best way to go.

[DollyKim]

~remembers how Roger 1 was too big~

Well, it looks like someone will now get a bigger horse's arse. And he doesn't have a head. I'm aiming for about 27cm tall as the real Roger is only around 5'6", about the height of many of the custom gals. Pumping him up a bit won't be that hard, it'll help keep those legs together. And I was just sanding his knees down.

[DollyKim]

Neeeeever ever ever I swear will I do one of these again unless I have much better equipment or get enough money.



Just trying to finish, not caring too much about scale but making him workable with the other Littles. He's roughly classified as a heavy horse because I need to compensate for those knobby ankles, especially the one that keeps breaking, thus no joints. Roger is starting to suck joy out of me so want to finish him soon, it's not his fault, except for the leg that keeps breaking.

[DollyKim]

Someone's turning chocolate


Had to remember to treat him like a head and do some of the surfacing tricks I do to them. But I'm still not completely satisfied. He gets his hooves next. I am searching my container collection for one to mold the horse end and cast it in plaster to see if I can be happy with the surface on that. It will have to happen before I do his human half or never so if it gets done it will be soon.

[victoriavictrix]

DK, the centaurs I see in most peoples' art are all tall and Arab or Andalusian in type. Slender. But the Greek centaurs were all based on the "cob" type horse, barely bigger than a pony and very, very chunky.





This guy has his handler with him, he is BIG for a cob, and he and his handler are the same height





See how short they are?





Look how heavy their legs and ankles are (without all that Gypsy Cob hair)