Courtly-Dancing Mal & Inara (December 2006)

For those unfamiliar with customising, the pale pink stuff is the colour of the 'super sculpey' sculpting clay that I put over the plastic figures. It can be translucent, so you can often see the original colour of the figure underneath. Once I've finished sculpting, I always completely repaint the whole figure.

I was commissioned to make Mal & Inara from the ballroom scene in Firefly's "Shindig" episode.

Sculpting

Thanks to Moore Action Collectibles and Diamond Select Toys for the parts.

I used a Mal figure and a Wedding Anya figure with a Princess Cordy head.

This was the very first stage. I trimmed away unwanted bits of plastic and filled in the basic shape of Inara's dress. I just put them into position to see how they work as a pair.

When sculpting elaborate clothing, I usually work from the feet up, sculpting each section and boiling in between to harden.

For Mal, I sculpted his trousers and shirt, then his waistcoat and neck tie, then his sleeves, then his shoulders and coat, then the collars and buttons. I filled in his forehead a little, because the DST figure's forehead seemed slightly deformed. I then sculpted his hair.

For Inara, I sculpted the front of her skirt, using rolls of sculpey, then the back, then her bosom, then the bodice, the necklace and the gloves, then the shoulders and sleeves. I sculpted her mouth closed, smoothed her forehead and sculpted her hair and tiara.

Painting

I painted Mal looking slightly confused by the dance and Inara trying not to laugh at him. I made the set using 2 DST back drops with 4 stands. I made the column out of a vitamin bottle and some sculpey. I used paint and pens for the metallic effects on the dress, jewellery, waistcoat and column.