PAGE ONE: THE MAKING OF MONDALE'S HENCHMAN, A PHOTO JOURNAL.
Using Padico's LaDoll series Premier stone clay, the basic head and features are sculpted and as it dries, I add and mold the clay to get the expression I'm after.
I use modeling clay for temp. hair to check the facial proportions. Once that is ok, I build a styrofoam coated aluminum armature with wooden connectors at the shoulders, hips and ankles.
The styrofoam blocks are carved to get the overall shape and proportions. Hands and feet are added. The lightweight armature can even stand on its own.
The entire body is coated in stone clay. Neckline is seamless. I continue tweaking the facial expression and finish sculpting the hands that are last to be attached.
The statue's overall shape and proportions are refined and ready for clothing. Pants are constructed following the pattern of dress pants. The fabric is not the shade of
off white I wanted, but after a week of scrounging the fabric shops I give up and settle for this shade of khaki...
I'm determined to lighten the pants with bleach or fabric paints. I ran into another problem finding fine fabric and the shade of blue for his shirt. At this scale, sometimes I have to sand the fabric
just to get the correct fineness. I get my blue by dyeing fine fabric. I think it turned out, but I'm sure that fabric is somewhere out there.
I remember the crinkles on the inner elbows being really difficult to get it looking natural. It took some time before I could move on to the bowtie, suspenders and cufflinks. The suspender clips were a PAIN!
The dress shoes took a couple of tries to make. Vinyl, egg shell white acrylic paint and lots of polishing to get that weathered leather look. I tried to bleach the pants
but it turned out blotchy, but I was lucky to come across some off white fabric for the pants and made a new pair.
The hair piece required some brain surgery... I removed the top portion of his head above the forehead and hollowed it out like a bowl. Made an opening like a coin slot which will be the
parting in his hair. The fine doll hair is fed through slot in bunches and then trimmed and held in place with aluminum soft wire.
At least three attempts to get the correct length and styling of his hair. The bowtie was fabric painted to match the correct shade. Finished the hair styling and face paints along with damage effects. Something bugs me...
Don't hesitate to email me at martengo or via if you have any questions regarding my Mondale's Henchman PD statue or work process. Especially if you are following these steps as a guide to making your own statue.
