Star Wars x Metal

 

 The final half of my limited editions of "Erock" and "Heavy Metal Wookie" colourways that I had at Toycon Uk last month will now be available for preorder from my store ibreaktoys.storenvy.com on Star Wars day May the 4th at 6pm BST. With Worldwide shipping they will be sent out within 1-2 weeks.

Based off original Kenner toys the "Heavy Metal Wookie" is now in it's 3rd Edition/colourway, (each limited to 10). They have articulated

magnetic arms and a removable magnetic guitar which attaches to the figure's back.
 

"Erock" is a punk rock Ewok evolution. His tribal roots have developed over time into awesome drumming skills in this new age. He comes brandishing drumsticks and a whole lot of attitude.

All are are cast in resin at the I Break Toys studio in Scotland and hand painted by myself. They come in openable blister packs and are signed and numbered. The Erocks are £30 gbp and the Wookies are £40 gbp.

Heavy Metal Wookie

I seem to be going with a theme here, following on from MegaSeth, let me introduce "Heavy Metal Wookie".  

So I searched for a vintage Chewbacca and had a little fun with him!

This custom came about as I got thinking about the eye sculpts I did on MegaSeth.  I thought they would look really cool detailed into Chewbacca's hair and the character concept seemed to fit with the giant Wookie. Even the strap over his shoulder had to be for a guitar. It just all seemed to make sense!!

I rebuilt one hand into the "Devil Salute" and built up the eye details, working with the form of the hair, blending them into it.  I also added on the classic tongue, cause that seemed to suit Chewie.

 

Chewbacca has donned some yellow face paint and traded in his gun for a new weapon of choice; an electric guitar.  He is ready to take center stage.

He is 4.5 inches tall, stands on a base and has a removeable guitar which attaches to his back with magnets.

"Heavy Metal Wookie" will be up for sale on Thursday 12th December, this week 10pm GMT for £35 (approx $57.50) plus shipping.  He will come bagged with a header card, available at ibreaktoys.storenvy.com

Thanks for looking!

Old Skool

I am currently participating in a custom toy show at The Concrete Gallery in Amsterdam, organised by Flaw Toys and DT Customs.  For the show I was given a "Stranger" to customize,

When I first started to look at the figure in hand, the face shape immediately suggested a TV and the curve of the head a "hoodie", so I rolled with that and went for a little nostalgic wander.  

First step, it had to be wearing sneakers of course, which I sculpted onto the figure using a 2 part epoxy clay.

 Next was the TV screen, which was cast in clear resin with an image of a static analogue screen embedded in it, or "noise" as we called it...remember back!!  Then polished up to look like glass, set on the faceplate and built into place with clay.

 

Primed and ready to paint....

 The end result is character whose face is an old analogue TV screen. His body is suitably, non-digitally dressed, in classic retro Adidas.  I used the static on the screen to suggest the idea of his being stuck in a moment of time, jammed in a channel from a bygone era. He's either waiting to be tuned back in or happy to be lost in a fuzzy place from the past.

"Old Skool" stands a whopping 8 inches tall and is available to purchase for 130 EUROS.  Contact info@flawtoys.com for info.



Check out photos from the opening night here and see some of the amazing works on show.

Artist Line-up:

A little Stranger - Bashprojects - David Stevenson - DonP - DT Custom - Eechone - Flawtoys - Godhay toys - Haus of Boz - Hugh Rose - JC Rivera - Lisa Rae Hansen - Map Map - Mr Martin - Okkle - Paperfiction - Pixelkaiju - Planet Domu - PJ Constable - Reet Neet (R3) - Run DMB - Squink! - Stuart Witter - Taylored Curiosities - Tim Sprangers

Babycakes Loves Cavey

I was lucky enough to be invited by the immenselly talented Holly Stanway aka A Little Stranger, to take part in Hey Cavey's Custom Vinyl show to celebrate Cavey's 3rd birthday. What an honour!

The show took place last night at the Fleet River Bakery in London and featured over 40 vinyl Caveys customized by artists worldwide. Here are some of my favourites from this incredible show!

My contribution is entitled "Babycakes Loves Cavey".

I didn't want to change much about the cavey figure, I love the branding of the uber cute character.  So I decided to create a superfan wearing a Cavey backpack.

I made a little video to show the piece:

 
  Keep an eye out, Babycakes might make an appearance of her own some day.

MegaSeth Loves....Toys

Although I have been making art toys for years, somehow closed off in my own little world, it wasn't until the last year or so that I became involved in the Art Toy scene. Since a door opened up to the realisation that there was a world outside myself I have found the scene to be incredibly welcoming, open and supportive. You always hear people referring to it as a "community" and that is exactly what it is.

I think one of the best aspects of such a diverse yet niche genre is that everyone is so passionate about the work they and their peers are producing. Artists and fans support one another in so many different ways, giving you the feeling of being part of something much bigger than yourself.  This is a very refreshing feeling to me, given that I started life in applied arts, and thoroughly confused everyone with the strange figurative work I was producing.

Some work from 1999 to 2006 ish!

Another major and core part of this community are the blogs: Toysrevil, Tenacious Toys, The Toy Viking, Jeremyriad, Spankystokes, Trampt, Toybreak, Clutter, Tomopop, Tic TocToy to name a few.  They all offer something different to the art toy, pop-art lover and maker like myself. There is a constant wave of creativity and these people strive to keep us informed of what is happening all over the world - they also support the small, self-producing people like myself.   

So when I released my first toy into this market I wanted to do something a little special with it, to honour the people and blogs that enrich my everyday life.  (And obviously Megaseth gets a blatant plug!)  I made three custom one-off Seths for the following people:

When I first started looking at toys online Toysrevil was kind of the mecca because his international coverage was so extensive, it seemed if there was anything to know he knew it.  Andy Heng is a 24/7 blogging machine!  He brings daily worldwide coverage of toys, movies and pop culture. I can go to his site morning noon or night and there's something new to read.  His blog is a hive buzzing with all the latest news.  So when I tentatively submitted my first custom works to him and he featured it I was astounded!  He supports the new people like myself, using his passion for toys to help us become established.

Trampt is amazing.  What more can I say.  Keegan and Blake have built this amazing site that is the hub of everything art-toy related.   In addition to a blog with current toy-related news and a live feed much like Facebook where you can follow people, there is the beyond-extensive library where artists and collectors and artist/collectors alike now have a place to go to share their creations and collections.  Every new piece from big releases to one off customs will be up to date on Trampt.  Any registered user can add to the site, and I think I have only beaten Keegan to uploading a new piece of mine maybe once.  In my experience I have literally just released images online, I head over to upload to the Trampt Library and said piece is already there...like I said, amazing. If you like toys, art, then you have to join.


"Incase you're wondering, Toybreak is your weekly internet show featuring news and reviews all about the wonderful world of toys.." I watch Toybeak religiously every week...I have learnt so much from the show hosted by Ayleen and George Gaspar, it's like hanging out with them.  I always watch while I'm working, making toys and watching people talk about toys is my happy place.  The special thing for me about Toybreak is you feel like you know the hosts and guests, the toys they review you are actually getting to see in real life, rather than just still images.  Seeing something in it's box and being opened up, imagining the smell of new vinyl that Ayleen describes so well (smellovision) and seeing the piece being held and handled in relation to a person.

And here they are all together before jetting off to different parts of the world and to their rightful owners.

So, thankyou for the support and the inspiration!

War Tourist

So, back in December I entered a competition Toycon UK ran to win the chance to design and create a one-off custom of a giant War Tourist, a collaboration by RunDMB and Planet Domu.  The lucky winner would have their creation on show at the event next to the only other giant War Tourist, a custom by Jon Paul Kaiser.  I was the lucky winner!

I had already fallen in love with the original resin platform (pictured above and also released at Toycon UK) from Planet Domu's very first development images I had seen online earlier in the year. No surprise that I jumped at the chance, if nothing else just to satisfy my desire to design on this brilliant character.

It is like nothing else out there, bold and powerful; it hints at possible characters but has enough ambiguity to be developed into many different styles or themes.  RunDmb AKA David Bishop's stoic but dynamic form has been beautifully translated into three dimensions by the incredibly talented sculptor Planet Domu AKA Sam Griffiths. Also launched at Toycon UK, the resin version is four inches tall, limited to 20 per edition with two interchangeable heads and available at planetdomu.bigcartel.com

"Endzone" was my entry.  I was a massive American Football fan as a kid and the figure immediately brought a footballer to mind, in the "hut hut" position. The strip had to be Toycon-themed to celebrate it being the first ever British toy convention.  As a War Tourist he also had to be battle damaged, to me he is an epic character that has survived and witnessed wars but is kind a mascot or symbol of hope for new beginnings. 

When the gigantic box arrived it was like Christmas!  I had very high expectations of this sculpture and when I opened up the box and lifted him out the reality far exceeded.  The scale itself was impressive, but the sculpting was perfect.  I felt like a kid, so thrilled to get my hands on this prize, and get my teeth stuck into it.

But the excitement soon turned to a little bit of panic, if I'm honest, the realisation that the jump in scale meant a lot more work, and time was of the essence!

My weapons of choice were car-body filler (horrible stuff!), power tools (big guns!), surform files, knives, tin foil, hot glue and lots of sand paper.  It's not pretty, but I bulked out the basic shape with hard compacted tin foil glued in layers with hot glue.  Then I built up layers of the car body filler on top.

I'm not a big person and the size of this beast was a challenge in itself, just physically maneuvering it to get at all the angles.  I definitely lost a few pounds in the making of this!  However, I loved every minute of it and I'd do it all over again given half the chance.

Once you start spraying a base coat all these little pin holes show up and need filling.  It's a tedious process, escpecially on this scale, but worth taking time over.  I also went through a lot of spray paint and have to say thanks to Chris Alexander of Creo Design for his help and advice in putting me onto a new brand.  All the details of the stripes, numbers, etc, I drew out and masked on to paint, and the logos on the helmet were all hand-painted in acrylic.

And so I Break Toys husband and wife team set off, 586 miles to London in our little Yaris packed full of our wares and "The Beast", set for Toycon UK, very tired, excited and a tad nervous!

Here they are reunited in situ at the entrance to the event.  A proud moment ... .Having the only other Giant War Tourist along side Jon Paul Kaiser's was an honour in itself.

"My War Tourist is inspired by my Riot Cop custom (I did) earlier in the year, though this guy is a little more old-school and brutal. Specifically he's based on a policeman from the 1980's, one of the numerous heydays of British civil disobedience and this time was particularly known for the violent clashes between the coal miners and the police in the UK during the infamous Miners Strikes.

The motto on huge helmet comes from Full Metal Jacket - I think the character 'Joker' has it written on his helmet." ~says Jon-Paul Kaiser.

Standing at a massive two-foot-tall, mine and Jon Paul Kaiser's Giant War Tourists are each one of a kind, and are available from planetdomu.bigcartel.com

 

So, lastly, we put together a film to document Endzone, though not totally happy with the photos but lucky we got them as they were literally taken before getting in the car to London.  But we are really happy with our very own awesome song "War Tourist" written by my brother in law, Peter Lockhart, of "Mindflare" who you can checkout on his Soundcloud.

Thanks so much to Sam Griffiths, David Bishop, Jon Paul Kaiser and the team behind Toycon UK for this most memorable opportunity.