A's animal sculptures

[A.Garcia]

It is diorama season, so I think it is well past time () for me to share more pictures of my handmade figures that I used in my Prairie Town diorama last year. These are the first miniature animals I've sculpted to fit with other figurines. They are ~1:10 scale. While the mammals are on the "cute" side, I'm mostly satisfied with the balance between realism and personality. First are the black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus):

























Here they are with similarly scaled friends:



and here's a dusky outdoor portrait:



They'll need a few more relatives someday to make a better "town".

[A.Garcia]

Next is the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes):

[A.Garcia]

Now, the plains garter snake (Thamnophis radix):








"Ms. Prairie Dog, do you have any vacancies?"

[Newt]

Very nice! Great poses and details on all. I particularly like the paint job on the garter snake.


I admit I had to suppress my reflexive hatred of prairie dogs in order to appreciate your sculptures (a friend's pet prairie dog gave me a nasty bite several years ago).

[A.Garcia]

Thank you, Newt. These particular prairie dogs are perfectly harmless.

[sbell]

Those are great little figures, well done.

Do you make moulds of them or anything like that?

[Jetoar]

Terrific!, you did a wonderful work with this sculptures  .

[A.Garcia]

Okay, here are the last pictures for now- the burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia). While the other animals were baked as single pieces of polymer clay, I had to do the owls' legs first in order to balance the body sculpts on them. I'm quite pleased with these little birds.

















and together:

[A.Garcia]

Thank you, S.Bell and Jetoar! In the case of these animals, I just wanted them in my collection. I'd love to make copies of sculptures for others, but currently I don't have the skills, supplies, or set-up to do so.   If someone is more knowledgeable than me, I wonder if tiny features like the owl feet could be made into copies? I need to look for online resources about making moulds/casts.

[Newt]

This massive, detailed thread about sculpting and casting a Nile crocodile figure may be helpful: http://theclubhouse1.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=97351&hilit=crocodile


The book Pop Sculpture focuses on human figures, but has excellent molding and casting instructions.


I bet you would find good information on working at your smaller scale on wargaming sites.

[A.Garcia]

Thanks much, Newt, I will look into this.

[widukind]

Yeah, very good figurines!!