Lethe's-Bramble Willow (March 2004)

Lethe's-Bramble Willow from 'Once More with Feeling' was very popular with other customisers and won a competition at the BtVSFigs Forum, back in 2004.

Parts

I used Drusilla's body and Season 5 Smiley Willow's head.

Body

I added a very thin layer of Super Sculpey to the front of the dress to cover the existing pattern and bodice join. I also added sculpey to the back to show the fold of the material at her waist. I then used a wedge shaped sculpting tool to create the edges of the over-laps and the deeper creases. I used a pointy tool to detail the knot and shallow creases, and used some sculpey below the elbow to create Willow's sleeves.

Head

For the head, I removed all the hair from the Series Five Willow head and used a small lump of sculpey to join it to the body in the desired position. I then boiled the whole figure for 3 minutes to harden. Once the head was secure, I sculpted the hair. I smoothed the general shape on with my fingers, then used the wedge tool to make the hairline and the pointy tool for the hair. I made deep grooves for locks of hair then shallow grooves for the strands. Then I brushed it lightly with my finger to remove any stray lumps and smoothed it back down a bit. I then re-boiled.

Painting

After the second boiling, I painted the hair a chestnut brown colour, then used some red and bronze paint streaks. I also used a metallic bronze pen for a few highlights. I repainted Willow's face and eyes to make them more expressive. I also used a touch of metallic red pen on her lips.

Finally, I painted the dress in a beige/pink colour. I then mixed that colour with a tiny bit of flesh to do another layer on her arms. I mixed the original colour with a tiny bit of white to do another layer over the vest part of the torso and the whole skirt. I used brown paint for the tree pattern on the dress and bronze for the leaves. I then painted the necklace by adding a brown stripe and white dots.

Accessories

For the accessory, I tied one of Drusilla's roses in a knot and repainted it as Lethe's Bramble. For the base, I used Series Two Buffy's base, and removed the gravestone, replacing it with a small, sculpted, gray rock.