Modern Mini-Deryni Adventures: At Evening's End

[Evie]

I received a bunch of really cool goodies in the mail from Laurna for the modern Mini-Deryni today!  I'll show some close up photos of the items in the main action figure project thread, since they really deserve a closer look, but I couldn't resist putting together a quick photostory to show off a few of the items, so here you go.  One major change that I'll go ahead and show you here before I post the story is that Morgan has had a makeover.  Several weeks ago, I had seen a photo of an action figure head with Morgan Haldane's signature smirk, and being highly amused by it (even though his hair and eye color were all wrong), I sent a photo of it to Laurna.  To my surprise, when I opened today's box of goodies, one of the items in it was that head, along with a body to go with it!  He needed a bit of customizing to give him Morgan Haldane's sandy brown-blond hair and pale green eyes, but I think I've managed to make it work. The hair style isn't the same, but people change hair styles. They don't normally change facial features, and this face is about as close as I'm going to find to the original inspiration picture, I think.


Here is Morgan's inspiration photo


Here is what I pulled out of the box this morning, and....


A few coats of paint later.    I may still go back tomorrow and add just a bit more light brown if I can, to tone down the blond a bit and make it look just a little less yellow, especially when I need to use flash photography, which unfortunately makes it more French's Mustard Yellow than blond. The paint hasn't been sealed yet, so I can even wash it all off and start over if I need to.

The box also contained a black leather jacket for Morgan and some gryphon appliques and patterns, some lovely gowns for my ladies, and a very nice suit jacket which Father Devlin is currently using, though it will fit Morgan's new body as well. There were some other goodies in the box too, but those are the ones you'll see featured in this photostory.  The action figure body is far more poseable than the Ken body I was using. Even though that one was very nicely articulated for a Ken, even the best Kens on the market can't compare with some of the articulated Barbies (especially the Made to Move body Sophia is using) for poseability--the poor guy can't even sit up totally straight because of how his legs are attached to his torso!--so it's wonderful to have him on a more versatile body.

Enjoy!











(Oh, and I also changed the web comic page background for this photostory, since these littles aren't in the Middle Ages, so I wanted to try something different from the usual parchment colored background.)

It's way late, so I think I'll wait for tomorrow to show off the other goodies from the package in the Action Figure thread, and I'll also throw in a few gratuitous shots of Morgan with his bike and the green gryphon on the back of his jacket. 

[Laurna]

LOL! So glad everything fits. The ladies look happy to be dressed up.  I had a feeling Jen would get the blue gown and Eilonwy the bronze one. Sophia looks great.  Even Morgan's looking good; Nice and casual in his new duds and you found him a pair of shoes that fit. Good, because every thing I had were for small ken feet. lol. (Jerusha, just saying Morgan does not have small feet).
Evie, it just occurred to me, perhaps you could style a bit of clay or something to give Morgan a few strands of bangs over the forehead. That would make him look just like his picture. I like his lighter colored hair.

[Evie]

While some people do have the talent to sculpt new hair with Sculpey or a two part epoxy medium, unfortunately it's not as simple as adding a few strands in front because you have to consider the direction of the hair growth and styling. If his hair were already combed forward from his crown, adding a few extra strands here and there might be less of an issue, but with the way the rest of his hair is combed up and back, any strands coming forward from that obvious back-comb risk looking more like he's got some sort of weird horns or tentacles growing from his hairline in the opposite direction from his hair. Either that or he parts his hair above the forehead very oddly in a style that must be a Gwyneddan innovation. I've seen a molded hair restyle done quite successfully, but it involves using a craft knife to shave off all the existing hair down to scalp level (while being careful not to trim off too much and cause a gaping hole in the head), then using the Sculpey to create a new hair style from scratch, paying special attention to making sure the direction of hair growth looks natural. Since the heads can't be baked, the Sculpey has to be heat set in boiling water, which works but not as well. So the resulting hair might look more like the style in the inspiration photo if I do all that, but it's a bit beyond my skill set (read: I'd be terrified! ), and even after boil hardening the hair I wouldn't trust it to be strong enough to play with. Sculpey is somewhat fragile and needs to be handled with care, and the figures I've seen this done with were meant for display, not for hard play in a habitat with cats who like to "help" rearrange things.

[Jerusha]

Nicely done, Evie, and wonderful finds, Laurna!  It's OK that Morgan's feet are not small so long as no one believes they are cloven hooves as was rumoured in High Deryni.   

[Laurna]

Oh dear me,  Keep all craft knives away from the face.  And no boiling in hot water either. E-gads!  I guess it would not look right if you took a few strands of very short blond ken doll hair and glued them forward to look like they had escaped the back hair comb.  That would not be GQ enough for His Grace.    I had been concerned that the head sculpt's tanned complexion but I see that the way the camera picks up the light, he has good facial definition and he does not look washed out like some of the Ken dolls can in flash photography.  Can you give his hair a couple of gold/red highlights before your seal it?

Oh, and don't forget to show off those Calvin Kline's. You have got to love those.    I thought those were cool,    LOL!

[Laurna]

Nicely done, Evie, and wonderful finds, Laurna!  It's OK that Morgan's feet are not small so long as no one believes they are cloven hooves as was rumoured in High Deryni.   

ROFL!   An inheritable trait, I fear!  LOL

[revanne]

Am interested in the suggestion that Morgan could have horns as well as cloven hooves

[Evie]

No horns, sorry.  I'm not Michelangelo trying to sculpt Moses and suffering from a bad translation from ancient Hebrew. 

Laurna, the oddly dark, even graying, color of those action figures usually looks better and more natural in photos than regular "flesh tone" doll bodies, and I suspect they are made that way specifically for that reason.  My personal theory is that the dusky undertone replicates the natural undertones of human skin, only we tend not to notice those undertones unless we are looking at our flesh color with an artist's eye.  But a camera sees those action figure skintones as more human-like.  I actually try not to use flash photography in most of my doll photos, except if I am trying to highlight the figure and have the background disappear into darkness (sometimes that vignette effect is exactly what's wanted, but not often).  Usually when taking doll photos (or any sort of indoor photography, actually, but especially miniatures), it's a much better strategy to flood the area with spot lighting if possible, and putting up a white or reflective surface just off screen to bounce light back also helps a great deal, and then take the photos with the flash off.  Or, if it's daytime and there's a window handy, natural lighting is usually best.  None of the photos above were taken with the flash on, and unfortunately I didn't have good spot-lighting, just the overhead light, which is why some photos ended up with a bit too much shadow, but let's just pretend that's because it was late at night in the Adams' residence.    I do use a bright "daylight" bulb in the craft room, however, so that helps when it comes to taking clear photos, especially at night. That room is the brightest area of my house!

I can verify that none of the Morgans has cloven hooves.  Morgan Haldane, however, has hinged feet, if that counts.  LOL!  And Alaric's feet are even bigger.  He and Duncan have trouble finding shoes their size even in action figure sizes.