The following is an instructional post on how I made the totems out of green stuff.
To start, I needed a pattern. This can be drawn on paper, though card stock will give you a little more support. I used an old movie ticket. You can use a ruler for sizing, but I just traced out a pair of my tweezers and added center marks.
This I followed up by cutting out the totems from the pattern and sticky them in place to see if things are the way I want them. (Sizing, spacing, etc)
Using a knife, I cut the stencil out, then flip it over. This' what becomes the actual working surface. First I round the edges, just pushing them down some.
The next part takes some time. I started with the eyes using lots of vertical cuts side by side to outline them. This lowers the surface around the eyes - instead of trying to build the eyes up.
I add the eye holes next, then make the eyes more prominent by using the edge of my knife to push down around them.
To finish them off I jab my knife into the surface over and over again, sometimes pulling down. This gets all blended together by cutting streaks down the whole thing.
The backs need to be done too, so first I peel / cut the paper off. I roll a thinnn layer of green stuff out and stick the totem to it.
I haven't gotten into the details of actually working with green stuff because I plan to later - but I'll note something here... green stuff is naturally sticky, enough that you don't need to glue it to surfaces. You have to wet it to stop it from sticking to your tools and be able to shape it better. Here, I have to wet one side a lot so it doesn't stick to the surface I'm rolling it on, use a wet tool to roll it out, THEN stick the totem on.
Finally, I cut them out and repeat the wood grain I did on the front to texture the backs.
As a finishing touch, I drill holes in the top center of each so that I can hang them from the chains.
And here we are, so far!
 | Take a look at my Step by Step page for the entire Hordebloods project. Here you will find each model broken down into links showing each step: Concept, Works in Progress, (for both modelling and painting) and Final Shots |
This is looking really good.
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