Telly Monster

It's been a little while since there was an update, hasn't it? Well, here's something new: A brand new Telly figure that is! My first Sesame Street figure of 2009. Since it's late right now, I'm only going to put up a few pictures, but I will try to add some more soon.

New McDonaldland set

Here is what I have been working on lately. As you can see, I have made duplicates of some characters. Some I will keep and the others will likely be sold. As you can see, there is a new merry-go-round in the works too. It is made out of a beautiful piece of oak that I could just not bring myself to paint over with a coat of green paint. I think I'll be going with wood stain with this one to preserve the nice look of the wood grain.
This set is far from finished. More characters are needed, as well as more play features beside just the merry-go-round. Hopefully when it's done I can find a good home for it (if I can bear to part with it myself)!

Hamburglar

This is the first Hamburglar figure that I have ever made. He is based not on the familiar modern version, but on the version that I remember when I was growing up in the 1970's and 80's.

A Work in Progress

Here's a shot of a work in progress. It's always a dusty job, but I enjoy it. Can you guess what I'm making there?
More completed toys will be posted soon, as I am currently working on a large batch.

Rowlf the Dog

Rowlf is the third Muppet Show character that I've made (the other two being Kermit and Fozzie). Rowlf is a figure that I remember wanting when I was little. Unfortunately there was no such figure!

Fry Guy

Fry Guy's are fun little McDonaldland characters aren't they! This little fellow is my very first Fry Guy, as well as being my first full bodied character. I decided that he needed to be full bodied since the skinny legs and big shoes are such an important part of the look of the character.

Mayor McCheese

I have already made several copies of Mayor McCheese, but this time around I thought I would try something new with him. It was a lot more work and I suffered a few injuries in the process, but in the end, I'm pleased with how he looks. However, this may be the last time that I make Mayor McCheese in this style!

McDonaldland

It was time to take another crack at making a merry-go-round, so this time I chose McDonaldland as the theme (the last merry-go-roun was a Sleepy Hollow/fall theme).

Most of this merry-go-round was made on the wood lathe, with the exception of the holes which were made by my new drill press. The base is made from a thin, but hard and smooth sheet of particle board, stained a dark walnut color with red felt on the bottom. It has a small peg sticking up in the middle that the platform balances on. The two levels are not fastened together and can be separated.

The platform level is made from a pine board that was turned round and smoothed out on the lathe. I wanted the platform to be green to resemble the lush green foliage of McDonaldland. Just like the green shrubery that the hamburgers grow on! First I painted the platform with an even coat of leaf green paint, applied a wash of dark green, and then a final wash of very watered down black.

For the middle post I wanted something a little more interesting than just a plain old column sticking up out of the middle, so I came up with what you see here! The little burger guy makes a nice knob for turning the merry-go-round.

After making the merry-go-round, it was time to make a brand new Ronald McDonald. This little guy was actually very time consuming to make! Ronald is wearing the outfit that he wore back in the '70's and '80's, and his pose is based on the pose of the statue that you see in the bottom picture. As you can also see in one of the pictures, Ronald's head is able to turn.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker

It had been a while since I had made any Star Wars characters, so I decided it was time to add a few more to the collection. While still based on the look of the Lego figures, I have started to move away from that look a bit more. The costume designs of these characters, as well as the hair styles are more based on movie referance pictures rather than on the Lego characters. For these two figures, I decided to give them rounded shoulders rather than the sharper angled shoulders that were used on some of my previous Star Wars figurines.

This is actually the third Luke Skywalker that I have made. I wasn't really satisfied with the first two, but I like this one. I added touches of gold paint in his hair that look really nice when the sunlight hits them.

For Obi-Wan Kenobi, I was planning on adding a hood made out of felt, but I was not able to find the right shade of brown that would match with the paint. Oh well. He's good enough!

Frazzle

I thought it was time to make another brand new Sesame Street character, so here he is: Frazzle! I don't know if he is even on Sesame Street anymore, but he was when I was a boy. Kind of a scary looking monster isn't he?

If you're wondering who Frazzle is standing with in the last picture, that's the very first Frazzle that I ever made, way back in 1987! Wow, 22 years ago!

Winter Man

Who is this guy? I don't really know! I just thought it would be fun to do a character that is completly my own creation. Since we're in the middle of winter, why not have a little wooden guy endure it with us! This little fellow is sporting a handsome 1890's style mustache and is bundled up in his winter clothing.

Elmo

Here is another Elmo that is going up for auction on Ebay. On this one, as well as the Elmo from the previous post, I put a lot more time into getting the figures head shape closer to that of the Sesame Street character.