The start of a new figure

I normally don't have a clear idea of how a figure will look when finished, or if I do it often changes dramatically during the making process. I often have an idea for a head (or sometimes feet!) and just start making. In the photo you can see some bits and pieces for 2 figures. A hose made from wire wrapped around a piece of dowl, covered in masking tape and pva and then squeezed to give a concertina effect. This looks great when attached to plastic nozzles or oxygen bottles.

There are two heads. For the first I had an idea for a character with a top hat, I'll add goggles to his hat later. Not sure about the rest of him but I fancy a victorian looking officer/pilot.

The second was originally going to be a Plague Doctor, I'd seen one in a film recently and they look great but I couldn't seem to get the beak to work with all the steam punk bits so now he will have a leather mask with breathing tubes and weird googles.

Steam Punk figures

At the moment I'm exploring the theme of Steam Punk, which is Victorianesque Sci-fi, think Jules Verne's Nautilus. Lots of leather and brass which is a great source of rich colours and textures. It has become a popular style, The Doctor's Tardis has been done up in a steam punk style for it's last two incarnations. I normally work in card wire and modeling clay so I've been adding bits of found plastic (from The Scrapstore) to create goggles and other bits of mechanical paraphanalia.
In the photo you can see a nearly complete spaceman (if you look closely you can see the head is based on an archetyple British officer, complete with handlebar moustache)

Steam Punk Aviator

I've given this chap aviator goggles made from bits of plastic and moving wings. He is holding a large pistol also made form bits of plastic. Leather effects are created by staining the model with burnt umber and black acrylic and then varnished with PVA. Split pins add touches of brass.