New Project on the Horizon

Presenting...General Ursus. Soldier ape will have to fill in his shoes as I don't have an Ursus head, plus I wanted to make my own helmet. He doesn't look half bad, does he? These photos were taken before the helmet was baked.

Finished English Saddle

This is the ape soldier astride the English saddle before the addition of the saddle bags and the faux fur hyde that will hide the saddle.

The middle photo shows a different angle of the saddle. You can see how the thickness of the boot affects the size of the stirrups. The saddle had to wait until the boots were perfected.

In the last photo my soldier ape mimics a screen shot taken from the original movie, Planet of the Apes.

The only thing missing now is a complete bridle. Oh...and I have to add some scuff marks here and there especially on the saddle bags to make it look less new. That's a minor future project.

Completed English Saddle

This is how the completed English saddle looks underneath the fake fur hyde. It is composed of two different types of leather and the buckle that you see here was taken from a watch strap. The stirrups are held together by a ring of aluminum. Went with simple instead of fancy, and did not tool the leather. I think I could bevel the edge of the leather a little bit to make it look cleaner, but since it will be covered I won't bother.

Ape Soldier Boot Completed!

Another to cross off the to-do list. An ape soldier boot made out of leather that I am completely happy with. Parts of it were sewn and parts of it were glued. The bottom part was covered with black permanent ink as it was a brown leather.

This started with a pair of feet cut out from a pink pearl eraser, complete with a toe dent. The leather was then stretched over it and soaked and then dried overnight. The first time I did this, the toe area of the boots looked too puffy so I had to reshape the toe area. The leather was then wet again and restretched. The boot is removeable and has a short stacked heel.

This boot is completely different from the soldier boot update I posted on December 22. And it's way better than what I sculpted way back in November 2007--There's a photo of that in my old posts.

Dr. Zaius Portraits

The Venerable Dr. Zaius

Some portraits of the good Dr. Zaius. The setting sun sets off the glow of his dupioni silk suit.

Soldier Boot Update

My fingertips are black with dried glue and leather dye, but I think I did it. Not the best, but better than the sculpted boots I had baked.


If I can manage to carve a piece of wood into a boot shape complete with a toe dent, and then drape wet leather to that and pin it to death until it dries into the shape of the wood, I would be satisfied. Perhaps that is a future project. These boots, however, will do the trick for now as it is more proportional to the body of the soldier ape.
At least now I can proceed and complete the saddle with some more D rings and then rigging a leather cinch to keep the saddle on the horse.


I will add a bottom layer of leather on the boots and will include a short heel. The boots at this point at least are the appropriate size to fit into a stirrup.


Need coffee... I should have gotten up earlier this morning and been more productive. Instead, I lingered in bed and thought about items of action I needed to do. I thought about Dr. Zaius' portraits since the sun was shining. Now the sun is gone and it looks like it won't be peeking out any time soon.

Major Snag

I have hit a major setback. I cannot proceed any further until I rig a better set of gorilla boots. The ones I sculpted a few weeks ago do not look great on the ape soldier when he is astride the horse. I am unable to create the stirrups because the sculpted boots are too large and unwieldy, and will not give the proper measurement for a good pair of stirrups.

I am currently trying to shape an appropriate boot with a bit of thin black leather, but the going is rough. I do not have a shape with which to stretch the wet leather on, so creating some toe dents on the boots are proving to be difficult. The size of the boots are so very tiny that I am not sure if I can sew the leather and then turn it inside out without breaking it. It looks like I will have to glue the pieces together.

The Saddle Saga Continues--Saddle #3

Unbeknownst to me,
I have been pursuing the wrong type of saddle, so the western saddle project has been shelved and placed on temporary hiatus.

Saddle, Try #3, is now an English saddle. The first photo shows the saddle for fitting before the second baking.









The second photo displays the underneath part of the saddle after the second baking.













The third is the current state of the saddle, after being covered in leather. That's the smoothest seam I have done. The leather is actually cut in 3 pieces, and has already been glued down. This is unbelievably super easy now. This first layer of leather actually strengthens the saddle tree so I plan to cover even the bottom-most portion, the white clay that you see here.

This thin layer of leather will not be seen as it will be covered by a thicker darker brown leather. I don't know why I was so careful about not getting glue on the top side of the leather--I forgot that another piece of leather was going to be glued on top of it. It's good practice though to work neatly.





The last photo shows the paper towel pattern of the saddle flap that I will cut out today. The soldier ape fits on it perfectly. I can hardly contain my excitement.

Fender

I think that the fender will need to be redone in a darker leather. I originally chose this specific leatherbecause it's so very soft, but I want to make sure that the fender is true to the movies. Another excuse to watch the movie again! Woo hoo!