My first YouTube Video!

Please excuse the quality. This was shot with a point and shoot digicam, and I really need to invest in better lighting.

I want to say that again…

IT IS DONE!

I don’t remember if I began the project before moving to Austin but, I was certainly working on it in Austin. That would be two years ago. I think. The last few years are a little foggy. (You can’t really count the five months I was in El Paso.  I didn’t want to travel with knives and solvents and bits of metal and plastic.)

A few years ago, I was watching “the Mummy” on my father’s big screen TV.  I have always had an interest in how things work and that night took a particular interest in the Key to Hamunaptra.  I don’t recall now which took root first, the desire to make one for myself or the utter revulsion that hit me when I finally determined how the hero prop worked. I was convinced there had to be a more elegant solution. My father and I talked about several mechanisms and I took these ideas home with me and set about drawing some rough schematics. It was my conviction that any cleric or acolyte responsible for building this important box would have spent quite a while on it and would have used something more clever.

I had only a few criteria. The first is the mechanism would be invisible. Also, the device must open as in the movie, when the halves are counter-rotated.  Additionally the device must match the prop superficially, in scale and appearance. Fortunately for my sanity, we never see the box closed on screen. Thus, it was not critical that box close automatically as well.  I did extensive research on prop-making in general and the key specifically. I registered on a few forums and learned quite a bit about working with plastic card and a variety of tips, tricks and techniques. I also discovered that while a few intrepid artisans claimed to be working on a working prop, no one was particularly forthcoming with their findings. There were static props out there, available on eBay even, but no sign of any other working prop replicas.

There is one now. I have discovered a thousand ways that don’t work, but most importantly, I discovered a way that does work. Perfectly. Now, I say it is done, but it isn’t finished. Right now it is still raw plastic. I need to glue the two halves together and prime, polish and paint. This is all insignificant compared to working out the mechanism.

Two years. Several prototypes. Dogged research. It’s done. I will post pictures (and hopefully a video) soon.

(warning! NSFW!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZedQYcGOYkw

I’ve been watching a lengthy series of how-to/ demo videos produced by a now defunct Japanese TV station.  Generally, I have been watching with rapt attention, impressed and even humbled.  Tonight though… well I don’t want to judge because he’s not finished and there are another 6 parts coming but… this guys’ a hack! Wait, wait! This isn’t some kind of more-talented-than-thou trip! He has all the right tools, all the best materials… and he’s butchering it!  Instead of watching and thinking “Ooh, I gotta try that next time!” or “Oh, I gotta get one of those!” My thoughts have been more like, ” AUGH! Somebody stop him!”

I am a total tool fiend.  I strongly believe in having the right tool for the job if at all possible, and fabricating the right tool if you have too. I am impressed when people achieve peerless results with bodged together tools. My parents have a painting that I love, produced entirely with brushes made by chewing on the end of sticks. There is also something to be said, however, for having the right tool for a specific job.  With respect to the episodes tonight, I had almost forgotten that someone could have all the right tools, time, and materials… and still F it up! He had to have been someone’s cousin…

(OK, its two episodes later and I still want someone to burst onscreen and restrain him. I mean my god man, does the word ‘Scale’ mean nothing to you!?)

[sigh]

I unearthed my sketchbooks going back as far as I’ve been keeping them, looking for a character I was developing in High School. I didn’t find him. (By the way if we went to school together and I ever gave you a drawing of “Bunky,” please scan it and send it my way?) I saw a lot of images I liked and concepts that I wanted to revisit so I grabbed a fresh book and copied what I wanted to see again. This tour took the better part of an afternoon and I came away with a few observations.

• I can still draw and, I don’t know how, I’ve improved quite a bit since college. Maybe the caffeine was holding me back?
• I have (almost) never finished a sketchbook. I can’t answer why, but there was sometimes as much as a third of the book left when I moved on.
• I was a little … obsessed with girls. What? It’s not like they were all naked!

(Oh for crying out loud! put the Airbrush down and back away! WTH? That finished product doesn’t look anything like what he was working on!)

The Key to Hamunaptra is closer to completion today that it has been in the two or more years since I’ve been working on it. I am going to attach the last pieces tomorrow and while it remains to be seen if this one actually works…

(HA! See!? He couldn’t even fit the chassis back on!)

While it remains to be seen if this version, 3.. or is it 4 now, works, I am going to finish it up and paint it.  Naturally, I am already finding more ways to make my self insane, I think I want to make one out of brass and stainless steel next time, maybe even clockwork driven.

I rarely, and I mean almost never, paint my sculptures.  I always have a good reason [read: clever dodge] but sometimes you just have to suck it up.  My Mother has been graciously awaiting her birthday present, [*cough* Jan, 12th] and I am in the final stages of paint and seal. Of course, I got it into my head that it should have a high gloss. I’ve never done that before, with anything even approaching success! High gloss has to be on a flawless surface or you’re just wrapping neon lights around a turd. So I’ve been sanding, and painting, and sanding, and painting, and… The end result is actually one of the nicest finished pieces I’ve produced.

I still need to finsh the Moai, but that’s best left for warmer days. I don’t want to be up to my elbows in cold, wet, wallpaper paste in 65 temperatures. There might be a Tiki coming too. I think I might like to build a miniature Tardis. If I can find my notes, I want to make a “Bunky” action figure. At this rate… I will never die!