Author: Claude Raymond Design

I was able to recover my website after the offensive link hack after about a week and a half…boy howdy was that some kinda fun. After getting that fixed I was able to get back to work…

The warmer weather also brings in outside projects like this fire pit the wife and I decided we needed..

 

It’s the simplest build and the least expensive kit they sell ..and it works great for us.

 

I had a good May Oddmall and sold some things I didn’t expect to sell at all. As I mentioned in the last post The Bably Beholder found a new home and is now known as Bob the Beholder and is the office mascot for Jim at The Malted Meeple. So glad he found a home…

Some other builds found homes as well. My Cyclops Trophy mount found a home.. Which goes to show me.. .keep your experiments and test builds and the right person will come along and take one home.

 

The Brainy Smurf with his Book Trophy Mount sold at the show as well.. so I cooked up another one… these guys are all hand made so there are no molds involved.. so each build is unique even if it’s a second Brainy Smurf he’s still unique… right? This is the second build.. It is waiting to be attached to the wall plaque.

 

I’m making a plaque for the Malted Meeple that will be using QR Codes so folks can scan the code to find my facebook page or shoot me an email. I’m also building 3 new wood sprites one of which will be “holding” the frame in the picture below. Those are his feet and some early dragon teeth builds in photo as well.

Origins took place down in Columbus the first week of June and as a surprise I cooked up some Farscape communicators for the group I play an invite only game with.. They are a little thinner that the ones on the show but I think they turned out quite nice.

I have to get back to finishing of my baby Intellect Devourer. My wife did the wood burning on the base for me this past weekend. The basic form is there and i need to jump into the detail work on this sculpt….The wards on the base will keep this baby from taking control of your mind and then nesting in your skull… hopefully..at least the local wizards guild said they “should” work.

The Baby Dragon Trophy Mount is almost skinned and ready to be painted. I ended up using Apoxie Clay and cloth and glue for the hide.. its turning out well and if all goes as planned he will be up on a wall at the Malted Meeple in Hudson.

 

And lastly my Unicorn Trophy Mount is just about completed. I put the mane on this past week and will soon put on his beard and eye lashes.. Then its time for some more trimming and shaping and a little more touch up painting… plus I have a collar I need to make for him.

This is the first Unicorn Mount I have made and with some lessons I’ve learned on this build I’ll have an easier time with the next one.

 

The horn is out being molded and cast. I will also be selling castings of the unicorn horn on their own with display stands. This is the basic wooden stand and I have plans for a wall mounted “Iron” stand and table top one as well.

 

 

That’s it for now…

 

As always please visit my facebook page and store and feel free to ask me any questions you may have about my work.

Steve aka Claude Raymond Design.

Thanks to everyone that stopped by my booth this past weekend for the first Oddmall of the year. I’ll be back again for the October 31^st and November 1^st Oddmall. I’ll also be at the Con on the Cob in November. Don’t spend you nest egg for your make it back to my corner. If you have event you would like to see me at contact me and point me at it.

 

My Baby Beholder found himself a new home with the folks at the Malted Meeple and RavenWood Castle. I’m so glad he found a home! For one it frees up my time.. I was going to spend I have no idea how many hours making a back pack rig to float him around me at Origins this year. And two, (which really should be number one) somebody really appreciated him and wanted to have him at their home/office/store.. Thanks Jim.

 

I had lots of great feedback and met lots of great folks.. I’m working on my “interpersonal communication” skills…so sorry if I come off kind of oddish. I’m not a social butter fly so I’m working on that.

 

If you’re finding this post after the show and have a question about a piece please feel free to contact me. I’ll be taking some pictures of some items and posting them to the site and to Etsy. I will not have everything listed that I have at my table so if you have some interest in a piece let me know what you’re looking for.

 

I have some higher price tag builds I’m working on but I’m also going to try and cook up something with a quick build time so that a young one can spend $10 bucks on something…  One of the hardest things as a Creator and Builder is pricing your items for time and materials….

 

Thanks again and be sure to visit me on Facebook.. I’ll update there when I have items posted.
Steve

I’ll be taking this Stone Elemental Hand to the May Oddmall and seeing if I can find it a new home.

Each one of these builds is considered OOAK or if you hate letters instead of words like I do they are “One Of A Kind”. I don’t mold and cast things at this time, but I may some day in the future.

This Stone Elemental Hand is my second build of this type and this Stone Elemental Hand was made with 4 fingers and a thumb making it look a little more human than the first build. It also has a slightly larger “Palm Planter”.

The Palm Planters on my Stone Elemental Hands are rubber coated and water tight. I also seal the palm to prevent water damage over time to the model. The Stone Elemental hands are meant for indoor display and should never be left outside for the Elements to damage them. The Stone Elemental Hand is meant to have a live house plant growing in its palm. Or if you don’t have a green thumb at all you can put some fake plants into the palm, but I really think the person that gives this hand a spot on their table or shelf should give the live plant a shot first.

The Stone Elemental Hand starts of as Papier-mâché balls that are attached together to form the shape I want. They measure roughly 15 to 16 inches from fingertip to wrist and 9 inches across at the palm. I then use a product from Aves Studio called ClayShay to coat and shape my Papier-mâché balls. Once I’m happy with the look and it’s dried for a couple days I’ll give the Stone Elemental Hand a little sanding.

     

My next step is to add some more texture and get a base primer coat onto the model followed up by an acrylic base coat and dry brushing.

    

In the end the hands look some like this….

   

The three finger Earth Elemental Hand has some Chicks and Hens growing in the palm and is off at its owner’s home now. The four fingered hand is being displayed with a fake flower and Ivy in the palm planter. I will have this hand with me at the May Oddmall and I will also have an herb seed planter for the new owner to plant and grow in the palm planter.

 

As always if you have any questions please feel free to shoot me an email and be sure to visit my facebook page for other project build pictures.
Steve

The Baby Beholder is moving along well. The eyes should be completed this week and hopefully the complete base coat as well

I’m also hopeful that I will get the Stone Elemental hand completed this weekend.. The rubber coat has dried and the textured coats have been added afterwards as well. It should turn out very nicely.

I’m using several peoples paper mache concepts and ideas to make my own “concept” and using it to make a couple of small Dragon head Trophy mounts… the “cloth mache” that Gourmet Paper Mache uses is a great idea. I will be using the Avis Studios Clayche on this build as well. This is as far as I have gotten on the build.

    

 

I tore my knee up so walking up and down the steps is a pain.. So I sat around this past Sunday with the dogs and after a little while I decided to make some small trophy head mounts.. Starting with a Smurf..I have no idea how my brain works but I decide to make a little 3 apple tall Smurf head… well that means he is really only one apple tall. My Smurf Head is a version of the movie Smurfs.. I decided to also make a couple other Fairy type critter trophy heads as well. So if you want a Smurf Trophy head mount they should end up at the odd mall in May.

      

I’m not sure what other trophy head ideas i have stuck in my mellon…we shall see what else shakes loose…

as always if you have any questions feel free to contact me.

 

 

 

It’s February and I’m slacking at doing bi-weekly posts. So here goes my verbal/written diarrhea and poor writing skills.

I’m getting ready for the May OddMall and starting to look at the options of doing other shows. I’d love to start up some sort of Goblin Market Craft show in Cleveland….there is the written diarrhea…words just flowing out…but I would..how does one start a new craft show from scratch?

I have lots of critter builds going on. Let’s do a quick run through

The Baby Beholder is coming along well. I expect to have his base layer done by the end of this week. Here is how he started and where he is at right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once his base coat is done I’m going to give him the classic 1975 beholder hide. I’m not a fan of the eye layout so I changed that up. I have it designed so he can be screwed onto an acrylic rod base or the future owner will be able to hang him up in the house with some fishing line.

I’m just about done with my beta test Stone Elemental Hand. It is a paper mache build with some other media mixed in there. The palm of the hand will have a “pot” in it so the owner can put a small house plant in the palm. Don’t you worry, I’m a thinker.. The area of the pot is going to have a rubber coating on it so the water won’t cause any issues…. After I finish off the beta test I’ll be building one to take to the oddmall.

Also showing up at the Oddmall if things go as planned will be a Stone Elemental Head. He will have a light inside his melon so that the eyes will glow. I think I’m also going to see about making some light come out of the mouth and perhaps make some cracks in the back of the head that will make some interesting light/shadows against a wall behind the head.  I have lots of paper mache work to get to.

   

I’m doing some Paper Mache Dragon building as well… I’m not sure how it will all work out in the end but there is a chance I will have a couple of small dragon Trophy heads at the Oddmall

The two sets of weeping angels are being finished off. One set will be attached to some round bases while the others will be attached to some bookends. I’ll post some finished photos shortly.

This guy was made as a test on some materials and oven temps.. The sign on him is only temporary. I’m still working on what I’ll put there.

I will also have 2 new Bonsai Tree Ents at the Oddmall. One will have a little tea light fairie light on his base the other is made to hold a pen or other such item in his arms.

I think that’s it…..Other than my Unicorn Trophy wall mount that I’m building. I’m not sure if it will be ready or not for the May Oddmall. We shall see. It is based on the Unicorn from the “Hunt of the Unicorn” Tapestries. This means the horn will be really really long and it will be much smaller than the “movie” horse look that most folks have in their head.

I may for the first time Mold and cast something because the horn is something I don’t look forward to making more of by hand each time i make a Unicorn Bust… plus I can than perhaps simple sell you fine folks the horn.

We shall see.

Enjoy the Snow!

Steve.

 

The new year has started and I’m hoping to do more shows this year..

 

The only one I have booked so far is the May “Oddmall” at the Akron Convention Center.

 

You can find my work for sale here on the site and I also have several listings on Etsy. I big thanks to Kacie in Pa for being my first Non Networked Etsy sale. I hope her sister loves the Bonsai Tree Ent very much.

 

On to some completed Projects and some that are in the pipeline.

 

This past December I did a couple of “commissioned” pieces for friends. One wanted some Doctor Who style weeping angels for an xmas gift for his daughter and the other was a friend that wanted a Bonsai Tree Ent for her sister. The concept request for the Bonsai Tree Ent was to make it morbid. So I decided to go with making it diseased. This is the end product, a black plague is seeping into the tree from the corner of the pot. The leaves are starting to fall out and the Bonsai Tree Ent has the Black Death creeping over it as well.

      

 

My Friend Steve stumbled upon folks that DIY weeping angels from Barbie dolls and asked me if that was something I could do. After Googling it Doctor Who Weeping Angel Barbie (sorry I’m not a Doctor Whoer) and I saw the DIYs and found folks on Etsy selling them. Not happy with the DIYs and the look of the Etsy ones I took the concept and built upon it. I had to improve on the hair and hairband by sculpting it and I had to improve on the wings by doing a little more to it to get a good statue style wing quickly to keep the cost down.  The final result the final result turned out great… The Doctor Who Weeping Angel Barbie I made looks like they should weigh several pounds but are very very light.  I of course was also not happy with just making The Doctor Who Weeping Angle Barbie with her face covered. So I had to hack the arms and face apart more and rebuild it to make the screaming and reaching Doctor Who Weeping Angel as well. Here are the final results of the build and you can also visit the “sale Page” to scroll thru some other photos of the final product.

    

 

This second set will be mounted to book ends and for sale at my booth at shows this year. I will also have a third set done that will simply be on stands.

 

I completed another Bonsai Tree Ent. This little guy can hold a pen for you or anything else you might want to give him. I left the branches bare on this Bonsai Tree Ent so you can plop some air plants into them. This creates a wonderful “life like” look. The pot is ceramic so this one has a little more “weight” to it.

  

 

Here we have Violet giving me some input on the Bonsai Tree Ent build as I was working on it.

 

I found some tiny ceramic pots and decided to try and make some Bonsai Tree Ent twigs… There experiments but I may sell them off cheap at the Oddmall if anyone wants to rehome one. I also have a picture of my Twig Sprite hanging out in a hanging flower pot below.

         

 

I started this Zombie Elf On the Shelf last winter and had him in the ground for a year to see what that would do to him.. It didn’t do much at all so I had to do some ware and tare to the fella after I painted his face. I’ll be taking him to the Oddmall this May. I have some Zombie Pumpkins up on Etsy as well. I made these a few years back and decided to try and sell them rather than put them back in storage. Check out the Etsy listing for more information.

 

I have made Zombie Snow man displays in the past with Super Sculpey and Femo so I decided to give Apoxie sculpt a try. The result is a little to grey. I still may take him to Oddmall and see if anyone likes him enough to take him home.

On to tests and other builds

 

This Gargoyal was made out of Super Sculpey about 10 or more years ago and had been sitting in a box for a long time. He is a cone incense burner with the smoke coming out of his butt. Yeah I’m that kinda guy. I have to do a second base for him since the current one doesn’t allow for enough air flow to keep the incense lit.  I ended up doing some paint treatments to make him look like stone.

I decided that the “pocket display” I made last year for my display table needed to be changed up a little. So I’m going to add a couple other things to it.. this half pot and this wood pencil holder will be attached to the display. I wanted to show folks looking at the table that the Bobble Heads could be put into more places than just a pocket.

I’m working on a new eye build here are a couple test heads with the new eyes in place. I think I like the results..

Lastly I’m going to be messing around with making some Trophy wall mounts and Displays. I’ll be using paper mache on a lot of them.

Here we have the start and parts for a couple of small dragon heads and the stones that will be used to make an Earth Elemental Hand. I’ll also be making the Head of a Stone Gollum/Earth elemental. The plan for that one is to have a light inside that will make the eyes glow.

And then there is this guy. The baby Beholder. He will be floating on a stand when completed.  So far his piece parts are coming together nicely. Also you got a peek of a naked Doctor Who Weeping Angel Barbie waiting in the back ground for her dress to be put on. Dirty.

Well I’m still looking into summer art shows to do in 2015. If you have any ideas feel free to send them on over my way.

I really need to take a week off and get the yard ready for winter.. nothing is worse than moving flower pots around in the mid 30s. Yet i put it off once again this weekend and instead did some model work.

This past week I started a couple of projects for holiday orders from friends and I started taking photos so I can get some things listed on my store.

I’m not good at all with custom camera settings but I’m giving it a shot. Hear are some test photos of my OOAK Caged Wood – Forest Fairy and one of my Caged Fairy Dragons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I picked up a couple of clearance pots that I can use for some OOAK Bonsai Tree Ents. This one is a special order for a friend.

 

 

I’m not sure yet if I’ll have a broken or chopped trunk that the larger OOAK Bonsai Tree Ent will be looking at next to him. After this Bonsai Tree Ent is completed I’ll move on to making one for the next pot.. These pots are ceramic and a lot heavier than the plastic starter pots I picked up on amazon for the first three I made. I’ll see what I come up with for other models.

The other custom order has to wait to get posted on the off chance that the intended recipient comes across my build photos.

 

I’m tooling around with a smaller OOAK Fairy Wood Sprite. This one will be smaller and called a Twig Sprite….

 

 

I’m looking at getting his hands, feet and upper body done this week.. and maybe the face build. I had to spend some time this weekend also making more eyes.. i ran out of the size i want to use on these models and since i make all my OOAK doll eyes by hand i had to spend some time on OOAK doll eye making before i got back to work on the build of the Twig Wood Fairy.

One of these days when things slow down i’ll write up a tutorial on how i make my OOAK doll Eyes… its a combination of other folks ideas and some things i found that work well for my fantasy eyes.

I’m also making some other OOAK Earth Elemental Pebble Sprite. I’m going to make some that can hold something other than a die. We shall see what my broken mind comes up with.

 

As always thanks for finding my site and spending some of your time browsing.

Steve (the product of Claude and Raymond)

Thanks to everyone that stopped by the booth at OddMall this past weekend.

 

I’m taking a semi break this week…. I have a couple of special order projects i’m working on for some friends before the holidays.. one shall remain unmentioned till after the holidays ..the other is a new Bonsai Tree Ent.

      

The pot on this one is ceramic and the inside dimensions are 5 x 9. This will make the base a little larger and I’m still figuring out what i will do with the extra “leg” room.

i’m also going to get some NON phone pictures taking this week down in my little photo booth so I can get some stuff listed in the Store Pages. I’ll also put a thing or two up on Etsy in the next week or so.

 

If you found me at the show and have some other Ohio Area shows recommendations please send them on over and if you have any questions feel free to send me a note as well.

Thanks for Visiting my site as always.

Steve (the product of Claude and Raymond)

 

Starting to finish off my models for the show so let’s see what we have so far.

I’ll have a small group of Pebble sprites and since a friend made a “Thing” comment I had to may an homage to the big orange lug.

There will also be 3 Bonsai Tree Ents sitting on the table.. Two have been completed and I’m looking to finish the 3^rd one of this week.

          

Next up we have 2 Tree Sprites for sale. These fellas would be about 10 inches tall if they were standing up on their feet… I’ll have a third one there that is for display only and holding my business cards.

     

I’ll have this little caged green forest fairy that is looking for handouts as well.

I’ll have several smaller sized Dragon eggs and a couple larger sized ones as well. In addition I’ll have the extra-large red dragon egg that has a little shaking motion going on. I’ll have “ask” written on it.. I don’t expect to sell it.

I’m hopeful that I will have a couple of fairy dragon cages ready for November 1^st as well. Right now I’m working on the “cage environments”.

I messed around with some fake flowers and putting flower faces on them.. I’ll have them there to add to the table “look/fee” and sell um if folks like them…

And lastly I’ll have a display of pocket bobble headed critters…The 6 pockets will be filled and I’ll have some on display stands…

I think that’s it.. I may have some goblin babies with me as well… we’ll see…plus the little beta test below will be hanging out on my shoulder