The Re-making of Aragorn (Step 5)

Welcome once again to "The Re-making of Aragorn", the on-going series of my complete re-sculpting of my Aragorn model because I just didn't like the original one very much. Nope. Not at all. But this one is turning out very cool!

In my last post, I got the beginning of the travel coat started and I had removed the arm stubs. I will now stamp my "key" into the arm socket. This is a method that I used on most of the earlier models and is designed to help me align the cast resin parts when gluing.


The key is just a hardened piece of Sculpey that I have carved into the shape of a key. Look... it is shaped like a key!






And when removed from the arm socket, leaves a nice key-socket. I will build a matching "male" socket once I have hardened the body Sculpey.





I then added the coat-tail; making sure to keep in mind how it will be cast in the mold. It needed to be constructed to look cool, but in such a way that I could easily make a 2 piece mold.







Here's the coat-tail from the side.










Still thinking in clothing layers, I begin to buildup the travel gear which overlay the coat and the rest of the clothing, but which must lay under Aragorn's hair on the left (his left) shoulder.

When I am attaching large areas of Sculpey, I will sometimes pierce through the added clay all the way into the model below to help the new clay to permanenetly adhere to the clay below. I do this with a toothpick and a little twisting doesn't hurt to mix the layers of clay together.


I then roll-up small tubes of clay to insert (mash) into the holes and smooth out the seams. This is like making clay nails (when the clay hardens).





I add the necessary details to the blanket that Aragorn has tied around him. This is part of the travel gear that Aragorn is wearing during the timeframe that my models take place (near the beginning of the journey).







And seen from the back, you will notice that I have also mashed three small registration holes just under the blanket. I do this, because Aragorn will be wearing a bow, quiver, and a bedroll which I plan to cast as separate pieces because I want them to have some separation (space) from the model and that would be near impossible to cast. The blanket, however, is very close to the body and wraps around him. This make it necessary to sculpt/cast it as part of the body.

Whew! Nearly done with the body. All that remains is the hair and the final trimming/touchups after I harden the Sculpey.