04 June 2017

Harley Quinn (B) - Prepwork

As I am going great guns with the Clown Prince of Crime, I decided to resurrect a project last touched nearly 6 1/2 years ago: a bust of Harley Quinn! You can get all the background infor- mation, etc. by clicking on the subject tag at the foot of the posting. . .

As I indicated back then, I was not overjoyed with the design of the head/jester's cap. This was the work of a sculptor who was not a miniaturist--and it shows! So, time to re-engineer the cap and head. . .

The first thing I did was to peg the head to satisfy myself with the alignment and lightly glued the head to the guimpe along the [lower] edge of the collar. That done, I glued the right "horn" to the cap, and the bobble to the collar, emulating the left horn; I then carefully removed the horn from the bobble. Finally, I removed the head along the upper edge of the collar, giving the bust two distinct pieces: head and torso.

More to follow. . .

FOLLOW-UP. . . I carefully pegged the right bobble in place, drilling through it into the torso and inserting a length of  large "non-skid" paper clip. I also smoothed the neck opening to have it ready to receive the to-be-modeled neck stump; and filled-in a few of the errant air voids men- tioned in the review of the piece.

UPDATE 05.06.17. . . The neck stump has been modelled and fitted; and the tips of the horns fitted into their respective bobbles.  The bust is now in the oven curing. . . 

UPDATE 07.06.17. . . My initial intention was to set-up this bust as a torso with a "plug-in" head. But after careful consideration--and much dry-fitting(!), I decided to to proceed with a one-piece bust, if only because the advantages of a separate head did not warrant a two-piece approach. 

The fully-assembled bust is now before me. There a a few minor putty sessions awaiting me, but otherwise it's just a matter of general clean-up and final finishing. With any luck at all, she'll be ready for priming by next weekend! 

When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

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