Altered Vessels Studio

I have so much to show and tell with where I’m up to on the reveals and I’m madly finishing the last component which is ii’s drum kit… and I’m behind as usual… I need more hours in the day friend! If you check out my Insta I’ve posted some fancypants videos of the lads rocking out with the fancy lights on their fancy stage. And in setting up and filming those pics and videos I’ve realised that I now need to learn a bit more about lighting and cinematography because the results are a bit average. They’ll do for now in the spirit of this journey of leveling up. This is just version 1.0 of the stage, vessels and presentation (through this blog and more visually via Insta) and more broadly the creative learning (and emotional) journey.

That journey has led me to vastly improve my skills and techniques to better create these vessels. Through the whole process my underlying thought is: “IF THE LADS WERE IN FRONT OF ME RIGHT NOW, WOULD THIS BE WORTHY OF GIVING TO THEM WITHOUT CRINGING?” The current answer is a resounding NO. And I mean that in a gentle way. I already know that I can do better because with the creation of each figurine, I’ve learned new techniques to express the vision I see in my head and through these new learnings I can see how I can improve certain aspects of each one so that they’re an even better version of their awesome selves, the new and improved 2.0 version.

But don’t get me wrong, while I wouldn’t hand them over to the guys if they stood in front of me,  I absolutely love each figurine and am proud of who they’ve become and what they represent to me; The emotional journey I’ve been going through while building them as it has become almost a form of daily meditation. While I’m working on them, I listen to Sleep Token on my headphones on repeat (it’s always on repeat anyway but I’m purposefully listening while I’m in the creative zone as it just unlocks things). And through this creative journey, I just know how they can be better so that has already mentally spurred me on to chapter 2 with the next gen builds as my brain is starting to churn different ideas for v2.0 builds.

And talk about a learning curve… between the 3 figures completed so far I’ve learned about polymer clay modelling and baking (previously only used clay), iii’s red silk flounce vs ruffle construction (there IS a difference!) and fabric stiffener, 3D printing ii’s drum kit (I’ve always wanted to learn so this really was a convenient excuse), trying to break the cricut by making mini stencils for iii’s jacket brocade pattern painting, needle-felting tiny dreadlocks, painting techniques that still need refining like the light/dark shading (and I’m still trying to replicate ii’s drumkit woodgrain… woah boyyy…)

I still have skills I need to learn. While a lot of those skills are great for the build improvements, I’m finding I need to know more about social media and some better image manipulation skills so that I can translate what I see in my head (and in front of me) onto the digital page to be able to share in a less clunky way. The journey of improvement and all that. But all the learning and doing is still really fun for me and the day that it’s not, I’ll stop.  

I have resisted buying an airbrush for the moment but I REALLY think it would improve the paint finishes on the figurines and accessories and I can also use it in any other arty projects that I do behind the scenes (sneak peek soon!) so I wouldn’t be buying the airbrush specifically for the vessels per se so actually it would be an investment in my artistic and creative future right?? Right?! heheheh…

I also figured that there’s no point in making them and not having a little fun with them so I’ve been making a little silly adventure photostory series. Check out my Instagram to see what the lads have been up to!

Anyway the in-depth analysis I’ve been doing on all of their looks so that I can replicate the details for my little figurines has been a lot of fun to study and I have a newfound respect for the mask makers, Hysteria Machine, (and I sincerely mean no offense (or IP infringement!) in my humble replication of them).  I think I forsee one of their huntress masks being obtained in my near future!

I’m going to post some polls on Instagram on which looks to build next so I’d really welcome your input if you’d care to share it with me. I can’t make up my mind which to start first and I’m a little hesitant to convert the Eclipse Cultist just yet (and it cracks me up that he’s incognito for the photostory series.) If you have any suggested looks please let me know in the comments below as I’m open to ideas and we’re in this together!

Worship!🖤