Lit Brothers Enchanted Colonial Village
...( Heads & Figures)
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So welcome to the village. Someone suggested taking all the heads off so they could be compared when resculpting which really Really helped ...the village went through a previous restoration (resculpt) which got things "presentable" but until you actually compare the heads you don`t realize how faaar off everything is. Basically every head has at least 'one' double (most have 2 or 3) which helps alot in deciphering what the original shape once was. |
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This was the day to day work for a while ... The first step is usually to re-soften any deformed areas with a heat-gun (duplicating the conditions storage conditions that caused some of the problems in the first place) and re-shape the latex as much as possible...then back any damaged areas with epoxy and other materials...the fill-in any gaps with fillers and putties then start resulpting using any other heads from the same mould as guides to get an accurate match of the original shape. |
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This is a good example of the state alot of the heads
were in. They`ed pass as long as the collars were way up and nobody minded that they were all giving a Questioning tilted-head look. |
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There were alot of broken necks, arms that had fixes of bondo and fiberglass around the Outside which added a 1/4-inch to some of their sizes. |
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It`s a little hard to see but with the angle of the actual neck the head should be looking up about 45% ..when you adjust the cables the way they`re suppOsed to be the chin is way down against the chest. |
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Editors note: I just looked down at the desk and saw the heads looking at each other and had to get this shot. You can see the watchmaker's neck is a little straightened out with the help of the heat gun. |
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( Primer Coat ) Here`s a quick shot of the beginning of the painting process. Surfaces of latex, bondo, wood-filler, epoxy and the old matt enamels getting a primer coat. |
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 final paint-job on the heads & hands. |
This is the stairwell where I`ve been airbrushing the
skintones etc. We started with a white basecoat of 'Createx' brand white to act as a primer-coat ..which seemes to adhere well to the various materials that are making up the heads at the moment. A little more sanding since the white shows-up all the little gaps or imperfections etc. After that we airbrushed acrylic fleshtones...then a coat of spray-gloss-enamel to give everything a nice tough finish ..then a matt spray to take off the gloss shine etc. |
Resurrecting the Enchanted
Colonial Village (Philadelphia, PA, 2008)
Written by: Chris Hillman
© c40179@aol.com
