Portal-Closing-Sacrifice Buffy (March 2007)

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 made this custom for entry into CustomCon 16.

I saw a multi-coloured Lumin Disk on eBay and it struck me how much it looked like the trans-dimensional portal/vortex thingy, into which Buffy makes her sacrificial leap in "The Gift". I was inspired to make a custom of Buffy and the vortex.

Sculpt

Thanks to Moore Action Collectibles & Diamon Select Toys for the parts.

I used a Buffy head with a Dark Witch Willow body. I wanted to use a single body with tight-fitting joints to give support to the figure. That way there would be no risk of the limbs breaking off, despite the delicate pose.

I swapped the arms and hands over to get them into an anatomically correct position. I sanded down the coat and sculpted her throat, forearms and jumper. I made her trousers more flared and altered her feet to be pointed. I sculpted her hair flowing up and back from her leap.

I drilled a hole in her thigh for the supporting rod.

Trans-Dimensional Portal/Vortex Thingy

The Lumin Disk has a glass top and the instructions say that you can touch the disk to attract the plasma lightening bolts. I assumed that meant that the surface didn't get hot and it was safe to glue things onto it.

I built up a small base of clear plastic, drilled a hole into it and attached a support bar. I then glued the base to the middle of the Lumin Disk. I cut up some clear Scenic Water into chunks of gel and glued it all over the disk.

Warning: I did find that the gel amplified the current slightly. Touching the gel or support bar while the lights were on sometimes gave me a pinch, similar to static. Not painful but not pleasant. I warned the buyer to avoid touching the gel or support bar when the lights are on. The figure itself doesn't seem to conduct the current.

I made a black plastic cover to hide the base of the Lumin Disk.

Paint

I painted Buffy's face looking determined. I used gold highlights in her hair.

I added some pink and light blue paint to the gel, so that it would still look interesting with the lights off. When the lights are turned on, you can't really see the paint.

The photo of the base on its own (at the top of this page) shows the closest to the actual colours. The pink/green/blue colours show up even more brightly in the dark. Conversely, the camera doesn't pick them up at all and it just looks turquoise.