April 1st, 2010
Look at the faces on some of these characters. Demon of the Harvest. Crookneck. Jack the Ripper. Even little Alice, concealing silverware as she awaits Humpty Dumpty’s fall. The characters look so
happy, and they’re all obviously so
nasty.
Welcome to the worlds of Robert Blair, a sculptor who knows our childhood fantasies are only a breath away from our childhood nightmares.
A craftsman shapes wood into a boy, and that creation magically comes to life. Would this child be the sweet but musically mischievous rascal Walt Disney envisioned, or would he be Robert Blair’s creaky, splintery, grasping monster? I liked the cartoon version when I was younger, but now I get a bigger kick out of the chiller Robert calls Gepetto’s Nightmare.
Robert’s work is so familiar, yet so different. His Garden Gnome has the beard, tall hat and outfit you expect, but this little guy is dangerous. His Nosferatu shares the bald pate, long nails and robe of all Max Schrek figures, but it creaks with extra age, malice, and long, weird arms. You
wish his Cheshire Cat would turn invisible so you wouldn’t have to look at that nasty, wrinkled thing.
Robert Blair, 53, lives in Aylmer, Quebec, a small town just outside Ottawa. He worked as a hairstylist for 32 years, but retired from that. In addition to sculpting, he molds and casts, and produces his works, available to fans through his website,
blairsculpture.ca. He has also painted most of his own pieces.
To…
Read the rest Filed under Comics, Historial, Monsters, Resin, Sculptors | Tags: blair, crookneck, jack the ripper, through the looking glass | 1 Comment » |
March 15th, 2010
Garage kits have been a fascination for me since 2001. In 2006, I made my first attempt at producing a kit of my own, a bust of Ben from “Night of the Living Dead”, sculpted by Chris Wooten. It was a fun project and I’m glad I did it, but I had a lot to learn and not enough time to learn it.
Lots of things have changed in the last four years. With my wife’s encouragement, I decided to take another, more professional shot at producing a kit. To my great surprise and joy, I got an opportunity to work with William Paquet, one of the very best. The result is Alma, inspired by the work of Dick Smith. Phil Sera was the first to put paint on the bust.
I hope this is the first of many kits from Dedham Pond.
Read more about it.
Filed under Dedham Pond Designs, Hobby news, Monsters, Resin | Tags: dedham pond, Paquet | 1 Comment » |
February 1st, 2010
Words from another Clubhouse co-founder: The one person I credit for the existence of the Clubhouse is Mark. He was the person that put in the hard work and dedication to create this community that survived these long nine years. He set the standards that allowed the Clubhouse to stand the test of time. He fought the battles and the Clubhouse stands as a testament to his determination. Everyone in the community owes a debt of thanks to this man. There would be a lot less styrene and resin in the world if not for Mark Mitchell. He is a generous soul. He has been and always shall be my friend.
— Harry “Spock”
“Friend” has taken on a new, sometimes peculiar meaning in the 21st century. How many of those people sharing game scores through their Facebook pages do you really know? Some of them, yes, and maybe all of them strike you as folks who’d be interesting if you could just take a little time to acquaint yourselves … which is probably never gonna happen.
Lots of people who call Mark Mitchell “friend” have never seen his face in person, never heard his voice, might not know him if they passed each other on the street. But they’re friends just the same, and they share more of their lives with each other than many of us do with our next-door neighbors.
I consider Mark my friend, part of a special group of people with whom I’ve…
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Filed under Painters | Tags: clubhouse, model citizens, washington | 7 Comments » |
January 1st, 2010
Some people like pro football, so they pay attention to NFL players, and not just when the players are on the field. Same goes for fans of every other sport, or movies, books, daytime television … whatever. If something interests us we study it, and the people involved, with more enthusiasm than anything our social studies teachers could have dragged out of us.
I like model kits and have learned a lot about the people who make them. One fellow I’ve always wondered about is George Stephenson, founder and former owner of GEOmetric Design.
GEO was one of the first big garage-kit companies I became aware of after re-entering the hobby in late 2001 and its models quickly captured my attention. They were wonderful, affordable kits sculpted by some of the most talented people in the hobby, including William Paquet, Mike Hill, Jeff Yagher, Joe Simon, Thomas Kuntz and Takayuki Takeya.
It didn’t take long to figure out George was the man who ran GEOmetric. It also didn’t take long to figure out George was quitting the business and slowly shutting down GEO.
Bad, bad news for this budding middle-aged hobbyist. It was a relief when Phoenix Comics owner Al Matrone made a deal to buy GEOmetric in 2003 and continue the company.
In the years since, I’ve crossed paths with many of the creative people involved in GEOmetric and have interviewed some of them for Resin the Barbarian. George … well, I briefly met him twice, once at Imagine-Nation…
Read the rest Filed under Monsters, Producers, Resin, Sci-Fi, Swashbucklers and buccaneers | 4 Comments » |
December 2nd, 2009
Pasted below is a message from Cortlandt Hull and Dennis Vincent, whose interview with James Bama was the subject of Resin the Barbarian’s October entry.
Our new documentary, “LEGENDS OF FILM & FANTASY”, will now be a multi-part series, this we just decided less than a month ago. Our very first volume will be “THE AURORA MONSTERS – THE MODEL CRAZE THAT GRIPPED THE WORLD!” (co written & co-directed by Dennis Vincent & Cortlandt Hull). The DVD should be ready this spring. It will make it’s official premiere at “Wonderfest” in Louisville, KY., on May 15 to 16, in 2010.
We re-thought our documentary, originally it was planned to be a four-hour, two-disc film, covering way too much material. Plus, we have almost 50 interviews, it seemed a shame to waste it, as the raw footage of each interview ran well over an hour for each guest. So, we are planning to produce two themed documentaries a year, but shorter – between 60 to 90 min. and about $10.00 each. The series will all be under the banner of “Legends Of Film & Fantasy”. This way, we can use more of the material we have shot. Mainly, this new format allows us to concentrate on each subject, rather than just a brief over-view. Dennis & I are very excited about our new series. We just put a write up on the “Home” page of our website – www.preservehollywood.org
(Pictured here) is our mock-up for the DVD cover. Zacherley is also doing…
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Filed under Hobby news, Movie makers | Comments Off |
