[DrMugg]

Hello all...

This is my first post. This is also my first custom mighty mugg - Usagi Yojimbo (one of my top five favorite characters of all time).

I hope you guys enjoy.... if you do, then take a moment to check out my site - mugglab.com - where you'll find a huge gallery of custom mighty muggs, created by dozens of artists.

Visit My Website for More Custom Mighty Muggs

[SUPERK]

Face is dead on. Sweet job!

[TT8L]

Though I don't necessarily like these squatty things you did flawless work and made an excellent choice of character. Thumbs up!

[Cloud]

Nice work! But how did you make the weapons?

[BrotherShane]

Excellent job and congrats on COTW!

[DrMugg]

Cloud, on Nov 11 2008, 03:22 AM, said:

Nice work! But how did you make the weapons?

Thanks! I'll be posting a tutorial soon on www.mugglab.com, detailing the entire process of this mugg start to finish.

The sword was made from steel. I work at a metal shop, so I welded a couple of scraps together, then ground the blade into the final shape... and finshed it with some fast-dry enamels (meant for car paint touch-ups... i managed to get a few colors as "samples" from our carquest rep.), then sealed it with about three or four coats of satin-clear laquer.

The sheath was made from pine (it's softer and easier to work than hard-woods), and was a cut-off of a board that i then split in half... and then used a dremel tool with a barrel sander attachment to groove the inside of each piece (so when put back together they form a pocket for the sword to fit into), then glued the two halves together. i then shaped the sheath on a sanding machine to get the rounded edges, and stained the wood with a jet-black NGR (alcohol-based anyline dye) dye, and sealed it, then painted the ends yellow with the fast-dry enamels.

The hat was made from skulpy (sp?), which i used a handful to take an impression from a basket (1/4 of a circle), then baked it. I then used that to make a reverse-impression on another piece of skulpy, but moved it in a circle pattern to achive a full circle of weave, then baked that - but not to full hardness (to keep it flexible). i then used that as my master mold, and pressed another handful of skulpy into the mold to get the raised weave effect (hat)... then i draped it over a metal measuring cup and baked it to make it set. as a final touch, i painted it, and glued straps made from panty-hose (which look remakedly like miniature leather straps) to it.

The ears are also made from skulpy, and have a wooden dowel glued into them that sticks into the top of his head (so you can take them out and put his hat on).

I'm glad you guys liked him, as he was about a three months in the making (very little free time to do customs these days... but i hope to do more)... the next two i'm working on now are a rancor and an imperial droid... i'll post them when they are finished!)

[DrMugg]

Cloud, on Nov 11 2008, 03:22 AM, said:

Nice work! But how did you make the weapons?

Thanks! I'll be posting a tutorial soon on www.mugglab.com, detailing the entire process of this mugg start to finish.

The sword was made from steel. I work at a metal shop, so I welded a couple of scraps together, then ground the blade into the final shape... and finshed it with some fast-dry enamels (meant for car paint touch-ups... i managed to get a few colors as "samples" from our carquest rep.), then sealed it with about three or four coats of satin-clear laquer.

The sheath was made from pine (it's softer and easier to work than hard-woods), and was a cut-off of a board that i then split in half... and then used a dremel tool with a barrel sander attachment to groove the inside of each piece (so when put back together they form a pocket for the sword to fit into), then glued the two halves together. i then shaped the sheath on a sanding machine to get the rounded edges, and stained the wood with a jet-black NGR (alcohol-based anyline dye) dye, and sealed it, then painted the ends yellow with the fast-dry enamels.

The hat was made from skulpy (sp?), which i used a handful to take an impression from a basket (1/4 of a circle), then baked it. I then used that to make a reverse-impression on another piece of skulpy, but moved it in a circle pattern to achive a full circle of weave, then baked that - but not to full hardness (to keep it flexible). i then used that as my master mold, and pressed another handful of skulpy into the mold to get the raised weave effect (hat)... then i draped it over a metal measuring cup and baked it to make it set. as a final touch, i painted it, and glued straps made from panty-hose (which look remakedly like miniature leather straps) to it.

The ears are also made from skulpy, and have a wooden dowel glued into them that sticks into the top of his head (so you can take them out and put his hat on).

I'm glad you guys liked him, as he was about a three months in the making (very little free time to do customs these days... but i hope to do more)... the next two i'm working on now are a rancor and an imperial droid... i'll post them when they are finished!)