𝐌𝐫. 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 | 𝐒𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲

During a recent period of artist block, I was inspired to get up to a bit of sculpting a troll head with polymer clay. Meet Mr. Render, an underworld enforcer troll-like character that I created. I’ve often had a fondness for period gangster film and television like Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” as well as “Peaky Blinders”. While I also enjoy American period crime drama, I really enjoy stories of the cockney accented London east enders. The idea for Mr. Render “The Ender” was sparked by such media as well as tough-man turned actor Lenny “The Guv’nor” McLean who was cast as Barry “The Baptist” in Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock”. McLean was not only cast in such roles, but also was something of that in real life in addition to being a champion in illegal bare knuckle boxing. There’s a documentary on him on Amazon Prime called “The Guv’nor” that I’d recently watched.

Watch Mr. Render | Sculpting a Troll Head with Polymer Clay

Sketching-out some design ideas for the troll.

The armature of this troll bust is just some crumpled up tin-foil that I built-up a Sculpey polymer clay form up around. Once the basic shape’s formed it’s then a matter of adding bits of clay here and there and refining the details with clay tools- steel tools, color shapers, and ball styluses as well as my fingers. I wanted to give this creature a very characterful face that recalls the look of the elongated snouts of storybook trolls. I also have a tendency to enjoy depicting characters with large noses and beady eyes (in this case, made from actual beads), which I didn’t fail to deliver on with this sculpt.

Eye, Mouth, Nose Placement

Here I’m just looking to put markings for the eyes, nose, and mouth and using a steel tool to do so.

Refining Around the Mouth

I’m using a color shaper to help refine the form of the mouth, adding in little wrinkles to create some texture.

Texturing & Detailing

I’m going around the face and adding in details that help reinforce this character as being rugged, rough-and-tumble.

One of my favorite costuming references, “Historic Costume in Pictures”

The sculpture’s only a bust, but I decided I wanted to add some fabric costuming. For that I turned to one of my favorite resources to page through, “Historic Costume in Pictures” for inspiration. Using some white fabric with some added ruffles and a grey fabric, I implied a fashionable gentlemanly suit. I generally find I can accomplish what I want with the simple whip and running stitches, which is great because I’m by no means an amazing tailor. The ruffles were made with some Fabri-Tac seams, accordion folding the pieces (I went over them with an iron to help reinforce the folds), and then using a gathering stitch to attach each progressively shorter layer to the one underneath.

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Mr. Render isn’t exactly a troll. In this fantasy world I’ve been building, I kind of see most humanoid creatures as individuals with their own unique characteristics and sometimes abilities. I’m mostly breaking with the fantasy trope of races of creatures that all have X characteristics like elves or goblins or whatever. I think of all of that stuff as a pretty modern conception that’s sort of been ingrained in us through pop culture, genre writing, role-playing games, video games, that sort of stuff, but terms like fairy, elf, spirit, and goblin were used pretty interchangeably throughout mythology and folklore to just refer to some thing not of this world.

I’m considering the idea of doing a silicone mold and resin casting him and hand sewing on clothes Mr. Rend. For this reason I filled in some gaps in his sharp teeth with some Apoxie Sculpt so they wouldn’t get caught in the silicone while molding. Doing a silicone mold would let me paint different colorations of this creature and I could use different fabrics to create variations. For example, he could be in a simple cloak- maybe with a hood.

Here’s an idea of what the troll bust would look like with a simple cloak.

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

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𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 | 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐒𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

Recently I made the acquaintance of a new species within the Dream Syndicate, wander stones. Wander stones are nomadic, elemental beings that travel in small herds known as a ruckus or larger, more dangerous herds that are called a calamity. The process for designing these resin fantasy sculptures wasn’t without it’s challenges- I had over a dozen setbacks before the wander stones were fully brought to life!

A trio of wander stones.

Watch Wander Stone | Process for Designing a Resin Fantasy Sculpture

As many things so often do, these earth elemental creatures began as vague sketches in my sketchbook that I refined and from there I sculpted a full-grown wander stone. I have it mind to an image with over a dozen of these creatures, but thought I might start with molding and resin casting a sculpture of a wander stone. I’d originally thought I was going to make a planter of an adult creature, but settled on making a younger, cuter wander stone.

Wander stones reproduce in a strange way.  A new wander stone is brought into the world during auspicious occasions when a herd is gathered. Members of a herd chant in their rolling, gravelly baritones rhythmically drumming on the ground, their bodies, and stamping their feet while a few find the rocks within the area that have the right resonances, sculpting and refining them. Finally a rune is carved on the forehead depicting some significant event occurring during the birth of this being, this could be an eclipse, a volcanic eruption, or the sprouting of a blade of grass, summoning an earth spirit that becomes a wander stone.

The sculpture is largely made from Sculpey polymer clay with a few Apoxie Sculpt touch-ups. Once the sculpting was complete, constructed a mold box from large Lego bricks and a baseplate, laid down a thin layer of plastilina clay, and alternated between building up the height of the mold box, and refining the bed of clay around the sculpture. I initially ran afoul on this project by not buying enough silicone Mold Star 15 Slow- I tried to cheap-out with the smaller sized containers of it when I should have just bought the larger buckets of the material. As a result, I didn’t have enough silicone to finish the first pour leaving me with a partially embedded sculpture. This required surgery to not only cut the wander stone sculpt out of the silicone, but I also had a breakage on the fingers and toes, so those had to be re-sculpted.

These young earthen spirits are cast in resin, using SmoothCast 66D, and I’m using a process called slush casting (aka roto-casting). There are various contraptions and simple machines for this, but with the method I’m using, I filled the larger front half of the two part silicone mold, secure the two halves together with several rubber bands, and slowly turn the mold in various practically random directions over the course of about 40 minutes. As you turn the mold in your hands, you can feel the liquid resin sliding along the walls inside of the mold. I try to manage the curing material inside in such a way that a bit more settles along the bottom so that the bottom is heavier. The reason for casting them in such a manner, making them hollow, is otherwise, they would be quite heavy and use an awful lot of material, making them fairly expensive to produce.

After the resin sculptures are cast, I refine them with files and sandpaper as well as sculpt some additional details onto each piece to make it unique and a glyph is also carved onto the forehead of these young wander stones. The glyph on the wander stone’s forehead relates to some auspicious event that was occurring as they were being imbued with life.

The fantasy sculptures are then primed and hand-painted with acrylic paints. Finally, once the paint has dried, the wander stones are sprayed with a couple of coats of varnish and the eyes are glued into their sockets with some Crafter’s Pick glue. And when the glue’s set, the eyes are polished with a little rubbing alcohol applied on a q tip.

Wander stones are available through my web store.

Wander stones are drawn to the same resonances that cause other beings to live places which when enough of them gather, can be quite perilous. A small group of wander stones is called a ruckus and outside of the occasional nuisance of a few of them rolling or a sudden crash, isn’t anything to be concerned about.  As these boulderous creatures gather, they tend to form themselves into piles when stationary, readjusting from time-to-time. Now, when wander stones congregate in greater numbers, 20-50 or more, they are referred to as a calamity, which has the potential to cause injury or death or could even cause a rockslide that flattens buildings or even entire villages. Some individuals take up the profession of a rock herd or a stone shepherd to drive a ruckus or calamity to more remote areas with the aid of a tuning-fork that they strike in certain pitches and rhythms that lures the beasts away.

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

Want to be the first to know about new happenings in the Dream Syndicate? Sign-up for my newsletter below!

𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐏 | 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐅𝐀𝐄 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 | 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝-𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥

I recently spent some time documenting some terrible, malevolent, dark fae, the redcap. These nasty, blood-thirsty creatures make their homes in castle ruins or sites of gruesome battles and prey upon any who enter their domain. Redcaps are described as red-eyed old men with long, greasy beards, carrying pike staffs or scythes, and renown for wearing heavy iron shod boots and despite their ungainly footwear, move with preternatural speed. What really gives them their name are the red hats on their heads. The red is no mere ornamentation, it is actually soaked in blood and must remain so, for if a redcap’s hat ever runs dry of the crimson ichor, the creature will perish.

Watch me make the Redcap Art Doll here:

While the lore tends to describe the evil fae creatures as having a stout build, I tend to like spindly creatures. This poseable art doll was made in my typical mixed-mixed media style, beginning with sketches and ending with a finished dimensional-illustration. I made his fleshtone a sort of minty green hue because I thought it would coordinate well with the red cap on his head. One direction I decided to take on the design of this art doll was to make his hat resemble a mushroom- surprisingly, not many artists had made this character design decision. It made perfect sense to me, there are all manner of benevolent fae seen wearing mushroom hats and given that their are a good number of mushrooms that can seriously harm or kill a person and the redcap fae creature is menacing it’s self, it almost seemed like an obvious choice.

The art doll has a Sculpey polymer clay sculpted head, poseable wire armature body, fabric clothing, and his accessories are made from a variety of mediums. I particularly love some of the dingy little details of this malevolent creature like his spiked armguards and shoulder pad made from upcycled materials. His whole outfit was meant to have a rough-hewn, thrown together quality to it as if this creature doesn’t spend much thought to how he looks at any given time.

Sketching the design of the redcap art doll

The art doll has a Sculpey polymer clay sculpted head, poseable wire armature body, fabric clothing, and his accessories are made from a variety of mediums. I particularly love some of the dingy little details of this malevolent creature like his spiked armguards and shoulder pad made from upcycled materials. His whole outfit was meant to have a rough-hewn, thrown together quality to it as if this creature doesn’t spend much thought to how he looks at any given time.

Prints of the dimensional-illustrations made with the redcap art doll are available here:

Open Edition Prints

“Redcap’s Rage” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-rage-evil-fae-fantasy-art/

”Redcap’s Rest” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-rest-evil-fae-fantasy-illustration/

“Redcap’s Reaping” https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/redcaps-reaping-wicked-fae-fantasy-art/

Redcap's Rage

Redcap's Rest

Redcap's Reaping

Color studies for the various dimensional-illustrations made with the fae art doll.

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐖𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 | 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝-𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 →

Much like dharklings, I’ve made another more nefarious aspect of my world, Lord Bledwall (you can learn more about how he arrived at his powers further below). He’s one of my world’s Manifest, wizard caste beings who have power far above and beyond what most inhabitants of The Dream Syndicate possess. He’s an evil wizard figure who has the ability to manipulate these bladed, vine-like growths that accompany him, known as The Bleedwall. The mixed-media poseable art doll’s meant to be imposing, menacing, with his sharp, angular features and withered appearance.

Watch the Making of Lord Bledwall, a Poseable Evil Wizard Art Doll | Timelapse Mixed-Media Art Doll Tutorial

As an adolescent, I’ve always been fond of the design of villains and I can see much of that fondness echoed in this character. When drawing the mouth of the poseable art doll’s design, I was thinking of the toothy maw of a crocodile. Some more obvious features to jump-out at you would be the look of “The Lord of the Rings” ring wraiths (even before the Peter Jackson’s films, many artist’s renderings of these creatures had much in common) and the look of Shredder from various iterations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In much the same way that these villains are encased and adorned in metal, so is the warlord figure of Lord Bledwall. The substance of the Bleedwall that he commands is an ever-expanding, invasive species that will either corrupt, harm, or kill whatever it comes into contact with.

Open edition prints of "Lord Bledwall” are available here.

Prints of “Lord Bledwall” are available here:

Open edition print: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/lord-bledwall-wizard-fine-art-print/

The more the wall hungered
The more that the enemy bled
The more that the enemy bled
The more the wall hungered

Lord Bledwall rules a land that was at war with a neighboring kingdom and he loses his son to the conflict. In his anger and grief, he happens upon a large, strange seed that calls to him. He nurtures it with his hatred and desire for revenge and day by day, month by month, it grows into this bladed and barbed barrier along his lands that comes to be called The Bleedwall.

The wall hungers and attacks friend and foe alike, maiming or killing anyone that comes within it’s lethal, sinuous reach. The Bleedwall ever expands and Lord Bledwall ever becomes concerned with assuaging it’s bottomless hunger. This caused the majority of his kingdom’s subjects to flee and how Lord Bledwall got his name, to be forever associated with that accursed wall.

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

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WEBSITE: www.thedreamsyndarts.com/

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐅𝐚𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥

Meet the latest addition to the world I’m building, a dharkling. These dark faerie creatures are more your spooky fae spirits of old, along the lines of being strictly on the malicious side. Their wicked blades stab at dreams and they’ve certainly been known to carry out the abduction or two. But we shouldn’t hold it against them too much, it’s in their nature.

Watch the Crafting a Dark Faerie Creature with Polymer Clay

I played around with the design for this fantasy art doll in my sketchbook and I imagine them as a sort of race of dark faerie creatures. They might vary a bit and height and proportions, but they all have a similar look about them and even wear the same drab clothes. The dark upper part of the head was inspired by one of my favorite fantasy artists growing-up, Brom, though I hope I added enough of a twist with giving it a sort of dripping look. I also enjoyed this idea of the hair being these wispy tendrils that constantly languidly drift behind them. I imagine them having this unchanging neutral expression on their faces and they may not even speak at all. One element that I’m thrilled about is his dagger. I often end-up with a sharps container that little by little gets full of X-acto blades that I’ll have to eventually have to dispose of… but I figured I could make them the blades of tiny daggers, so now I can upcycle them into mini weaponry!

Darklings are said to be comprised of malignant shadows and spiteful dust. They are the Sleeping Emperor’s knives of the eventide. Though others might speculate that their under the sway of the nefarious and secretive Dream Syndicate. With their hateful blades they come and cut away at your dreams if they live you living at all. They come stepping out of shadows and are gone in a whisper. Their faces the most unnerving of all as they gaze at you with a soulless, remorseless visage. Be wary traveler of the shadow that looks as though it is following you!

Shadows Wake

Shadows bide and shadows lied

Shadows lurk and shadows slink

Shadows stride and shadows hide

Shadows trick and shadows prick

Shadows take and shadows wake

-Efraen Children’s Rhyme

Prints of “Dharkling” are available here:

Open edition printhttps://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/dharkling-dark-faerie/

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!