Floating-Wiccas Willow & Tara (September 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 this pair by Lee (aka BennyWilde) for his wife Lyn's birthday. Wayne (aka WillowsWarlock) did a great job with a floaty Willow/Tara project a few years back, so I wanted to do something a little different. The base has battery-powered fairy lights. I'm hoping it will add magic to the moment. And it's a little something extra from me to Lyn. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I drilled holes in The Bronze stand. I pushed through 10 fairy lights and one long screw, which goes into Willows right hip.

I remove the heels and parts of the shoes, then sculpted stockinged feet for Willow and flat sandals for Tara. I sculpted their skirts and joined the figures at the chest.

I closed Willow's mouth. I decided that I couldn't wrangle the arms into position, so I just used the hands. I sculpted the arms from scratch. It was very tricky getting the heads and hands into exactly the right position, but they do look anatomically correct from all angles.

I moved the lights around a bit so that there wasn't one right behind Willow's face. I also repainted the stand, tucked in the lights and drew more subtle wires.

After taking these photos, I sanded the dresses to smooth them a little before painting. I also noticed a couple of sculpting flaws, so I altered Tara's right elbow and reduced her left shoulder.

I used pen for hair highlights, the dress-patterns and Willow's fishnets.