Adventure Time Sword

My son was invited to the birthday party of one of his friend.  His friend mentioned to him that he liked   the Adventure Time cartoon and would like to have the sword.  My son then told him that we could probably make it because we are always building stuff.

We looked it up on the web and since it's a simple shape I decided to give it a shot.  Using the hard wood from an old shelf we took down, I drew the rough dimensions on it

I then cut the rough shape using a skill saw and a jig saw

The guard was build with 2 pieces with grooves screwed and glued on both sides

This was the fun part where I sculpted all the notches and scratches followed by some sanding

It was then time for primer and painting.  The handle was done by hand using acrylic paint

This the final product after gold metallic paint and a clear acrylic coat.  The jewel was made with Super Sculpey and also painted using acrylic paint.

Action shot with my son

When not coding...

I once worked in the video game business. Hopefully, with time a medication, I'll get over the nightmares :). Jokes aside, I was there as a software developer and I was secretly dreaming about introducing (in that studio) the use of sculpting during the character design phase. Finally, around 2009, the timing was right and during the design of a new game, I started working on the main character of a dinosaur game, a T-Rex!


My goal was to have the T-Rex stand in a dynamic pose without the tail touching the ground.


Sadly the game was cancelled during design. I never had time to go beyond the basic shape. My next step would have been to add the front legs and skin details. It was fun while it lasted.

Creative Programming

Some time ago, I was asked to give a presentation about Creativity At Work. This was part of a series of presentations where people from different fields were asked to give there view on creativity. I wasn't very shocked (but a bit sad) to find out that most of the speakers were visual artists or designers and I was the only programmer. So, holding the fort, I started working on my presentation which mostly revolved around my personal view of creativity and my creation process. All the time, I was expecting some weird comments coming from non-programmers regarding the fact that a 'computer-guy' would have something to say about creativity but, to my surprise, most of the sarcasms came from other programmers. That'll teach me not to watch my back. Apparently, for some coders, no creativity was involved or needed when programming...

I was baffled, because I see coding as a medium. I use it to create, the same way I use paint or clay. I then decided to spend a good part of that presentation demystifying coding and showing it for what it really is: just another tool. Now, it's one of my favorite presentation to give. I love the reactions I get out of it.


Why would a person sitting at a piano be closer to creativity than a programmer at is keyboard? Playing the piano is pretty hard an not that many people can master it. But if they do, it can be used to invent and break new barriers. For me coding can be used that way too, whether the output is music, image, video, robotics or anything else that can be experienced by other people.

#define JAZZ printf(“Do de do, de do wha!\n”);

Milliput

One day I needed to make very organic shapes on a scratch-build model. I put together all the basic parts knowing that I would have to fill all sharp corners and round-off all hard edges using the only putty I knew at the time, Tamya Putty.

Stop laughing

I won a prize for that model. First place in the SciFi Vehicle category. Of course, after I explained my methods to the other guys, I could have also won first place in the Idiot's Method category. That's when I learned about Super Sculpey, Milliput and other sculpting medium that everybody was using, except me of course.
If you didn't get the joke: Tamya Putty is to fill small cracks only. To use it the way I did, it's like trying to extend a wall using wall putty.
One of the modeler, whose work I admired, was working with Milliput. That was all I needed to select it as my future medium. Ha Milliput! I could finally make any shapes I wanted. I started making figures sculpted entirely by hand. Nothing could stop me now... except Milliput!


The thing is, it's a two parts epoxy paste that, out of the box, as the consistency of a dried bubble gum. Here are the steps for using it:

1: Make sure you have at least one hour to invest in this. Milliput takes time to mix and stays soft for only forty five minutes. After that, it's as malleable as depleted uranium.
2: Keep a small bowl of water and a rag near you on the table.
3: Guesstimate as best as you can the exact volume of Milliput you will need and add 20%. This stuff is expensive and once it's mixed you have to use it or it will be lost. My best advice is to always have a rough area to fill-in where you can put the small excess you will have. Don't under estimate because it sucks to remix a small batch.
4: Cut equal amounts of material A and B using a strong blade. (Remember, this is really hard stuff)
5: Try mixing the two parts into a perfectly even material by pressing, bashing, slicing & stacking and mushing the batch with your thumbs. It must be even or you will have holes in your surface. This takes about five minutes but it feels like thirty. At the end your thumbs normally feel as if you've cut your nails way to short and it's sensitive every time you push on their tips.
6: Start using it! You only have forty five minutes and it will get harder every minute. If the Milliput start sticking to your fingers, keep them wet by dipping them in the bowl of water next to you. When it gets to messy use the rag.
7: The next morning, once it's dry, you can use any kind of carving methods to continue shaping your surface.
8: To complete the sculpture, repeat those steps about fifty times.

This is not a joke. I used this stuff for years (from 1996 to 2007) and I had to do that every time. Needless to say that it was an adventure.

By the way, I'm now using Castilene for the last two years.

A7LB

I sculpted this during an on-off period between 2000 and 2003. Most of it is made of Milliput, a really hard epoxy-base compound I will never work with again. The painting was done using acrylic.



The figure is about 1:10 scale and depicts Cdr Eugene Cernan during Apollo 17th and last moon landing mission.