I searched for a muscular figure on Ebay to use for this custom shredder modification and this Incredible Hulk I found was for sale at a really good price. Sure he had some bangs and bruises from being played with but broken and used figures work great for mods.

When planning my custom figure I determined pretty quickly that this was going to mostly be a polymer clay and fabric modification with acrylic paint. Having modified one of these 13″ Hulk figures in the past I knew that I could not sculpt the polymer clay directly on the figure and bake it because the vinyl that these figures are made of has a pretty low melting point. I needed to come up with a different strategy.

The first step I took was sealing up a number of the joints with an air-dry clay. The clay starts to dry really quickly so I used a wet rag to smooth it into areas. This saves a lot of sanding!

Once the clay was dry I sealed the clay and figure with a coat of purple spray paint.

The way I ended up creating Super Shredder’s blades and armored pieces was to sculpt the polymer clay directly onto the figure. Yes, I realize I said I couldn’t do that. The clay was still warm and pliable at this point. I would then take the figure and place it in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes. This caused the polymer clay to become firm and provided the opportunity for me to take a small sculpting tool and carefully pry the pieces off without them losing their shape. Then it was just a matter of putting the clay pieces in the oven for baking.

After Super Shredder’s helmet and armor was cooled I painted the pieces using dry brushing techniques. The next step was to actually go and fine tune the painting details on the figure. Once the colors seem ed Super Shredder-like, I started gluing and applying the various piece of armor onto the figure.

The last elements that I created were Super Shredder’s cape and his loin cloth. I used some spare fabric and sanded the edges after I cut it into the desired shape. Sanding the edges helped give the look of worn, torn clothing. To finish Shredder off I mixed some acrylic paints until I achieve the faded color that I wanted and dipped the cloth in the acrylic paint. After saturating and wringing out some of the paint I draped the cloth pieces into position and applied the final sections of armor.

I found this little snow man Color Blanks figure that seem to fit the bill. Once I got started it was a process of adding some polymer clay to his face and feet and putting him in my oven for a first baking. For your viewing pleasure below are some pics of the original snowman Color Blanks figure and the figure once I started applying clay.

The Start of my Color Blanks Leprechaun – A snow man figure!

Sculpting features of the leprechaun onto the snowman Color Blanks figure.

I was recently asked if it is safe to bake these figures and I don’t recommend baking them in the same oven that you cook food in. I bought a used Nuwave (infrared) oven that I cook my figures in. The Nuwave ovens are small, much cheaper than buying a real second oven and will trap any fumes produced by the figure.

With the leprechaun Color Blanks figure, after the first baking I applied base coats of  acrylic paint to the hat, face and body. After the paint was thoroughly dry I sculpted the leprechaun’s jacket and beard. I then took the Color Blanks figure and put it in the oven for a second baking. It is important to note that I cook my figures with acrylic paint as well. As long as the underlying figure does not warp, the paint will hold up to the temperature.

With a few final paint & marker touch-ups, my Color Blanks Leprechaun figure is all set to go. Have a great St. Patty’s day!

The finished leprechaun Color Blanks figure.

Thanksgiving cornucopia Color Blanks figure

I started with a figure that had a can body shape. RoseArt was kind enough to send me some really cool and interesting figures to choose from this round and the can inspired me to create a cornucopia Color Blanks figure. I used polymer clay to modify the shape, acrylic paint for some color and Color Blanks pens for some details.

I then stuffed the Cornucopia’s open belly with all kinds of Kawaii style fruit & vegatables sculpted out of polymer clay. My 5 year old daughter who loves scuplting and drawing gave me a hand on this figure and helped sculpt many of the fruits and vegetables.

Thanksgiving cornucopia Color Blanks figure

Back-to-school Color Blanks Figure

Step 1: Select the Color Blanks figure

The first thing I did was get a general idea in my head of what I wanted to do the Color Blanks figure. Once inspiration struck I went and looked for a figure that best fit my idea.  In this case I used a Halloween themed Color Blank that resembled Frankenstein.

Step 1 – Select a Color Blanks figure

Step 2: Create a sketch of your Color Blanks figure

The next thing I needed to do was sketch the concept that I had in my head. The idea was to take a little character and turn it into a school bus. Popping out of the school bus / head of the figure were all kinds of school items. I also decided to give him a large backpack. I remember riding the bus when I was in school and it seemed like I was always carrying a backpack around with 30 pounds of books. I wanted to exaggerate this a bit with the idea of the huge backpack.

Sketch of Back-to-school Color Blanks Figure

Step 3: Take apart the figure

As with other Color Blanks figures I’ve done in the past, I disassembled and cut the pieces. I then took the pieces and sanded them down to make sure there were no rough edges and everything was relatively smooth.

Step 3: Take apart the figure

Step 4: Paint base colors on the figure

From this point it was a process of painting base coats on the necessary pieces.  I needed to paint most of the character yellow, much like a school bus, so it was important to get as much of it as possible coated and let it dry.

Step 4: Paint base colors on the figure

Step 5: Create a felt-acrylic paint T-shirt

I wanted to make the character a T-shirt and rather than having to bake something directly on the character I went with a different technique to create one.  I cut little pieces of felt and shaped them into a shirt. I dipped the pieces of felt into white acrylic paint and laid them onto areas of the figure almost in the same manner that you would with paper-mâché.  After I had the coated felt positioned correctly, I reassembled the Color Blanks figure and let it dry.

Step 5: Create a felt-acrylic paint T-shirt

Step 6: Select Eyes and Ink Details

While the main figure was drying I selected various sizes of Wiggly eyes to be used for the character as well as some extra ones that would be painted to create the lights of the school bus. After these were dry I glued them to the figure and starting inking lines using the Color Blanks pens.

Step 6: Select Eyes and Ink Details on the Color Blanks figure

Step 7: Hot glue some school supplies to the figure

Next after some more touch up painting and assembly of the head to the body, I took a variety of small craft letters and school themed buttons and started assembly of them in and on the head.

Step 7: Hot glue some school supplies to the Color Blanks figure

Step 8: Make a backpack for the Color Blanks figure

While some of the hot glue cooled I started to create a backpack and a pencil out of polymer clay. The straps of the backpack were actually made of some left over ground wire that I had.  After baking the backpack I hot glued it along with the straps to the Color Blanks figure. I then did touch ups with paint.

Step 8: Make a backpack for the Color Blanks figure

Step 9: Final touchups and a Color Blanks photo shoot

After a couple more touchups, a photo shoot and some post work in Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, here is the final back-to-school Color Blanks figure below.

Back-to-school Color Blanks Figure

Free PDF download

For your convenience you can download the below Ladybug Color Blanks Tutorial as a printable PDF guide to aid you in creating your own custom Color Blanks. 

 Download – Color Blanks Tutorial (PDF) – 1.68mb 

For this ladybug Color Blanks figure I went with the vehicle set.  It comes with a little car, a figure, some stickers, and four pens. The little white car and the figure offer a great palette to let your imagination go wild. The Color Blanks package suggests ideas such as a racing theme but I had something very different in mind. This is the great thing about these little vinyl figures; that you can create virtually anything you want with them. The sky’s the limit!

Color Blanks Ladybug figure at the beach!

Color Blanks Vehicle Set

Step 1: Plan your Color Blanks Figure

I started by creating a sketch of the figure that I wanted to have.  The figure set comes with a paper that you can sketch your ideas on or you can download printable templates from colorblanks.com and create a plan for your figures with those. I’ve been drawing all my life and prefer to draw my ideas in a sketch book. When I was all done with my sketch I created a little ladybug and a ladybug car. Two very significant changes I made to the figures were changing the car into a convertible and the ladybug had a different shape head than the color blank.

Color Blanks ladybug sketch

Step 2: Disassemble and modify pieces

Once I started working with the figure I disassembled its pieces, which always makes painting, modifying, and adding clay easier. I then needed to make necessary cuts to the figure or in this case to the car. I cut the roof off the car and basically turned the windshield into a small windshield that the Color Blank could see over. This also seemed more functional to me as I could stick my figure in the car. After the rough cuts with an X-Acto knife, I sanded the edges.  The vinyl holds up well to sanding with any desired grain sandpaper.

Disassembling and modifying Color Blanks

Step 3: Base Color Painting

The next thing that I did was paint any items I could with a base coat of the final color that they would have. Even though the head wasn’t properly sculpted yet it was much easier to have a coating of the skin color underneath the sculpted area to save time on detail painting.  Also getting the car and various body parts colored so that they could dry while I sculpted saved me a lot of time!

Starting to paint base coats on the Color Blanks

Step 4: Sculpt Polymer Clay Modifications

I took polymer clay to sculpt modifications to the tires making them round instead of marshmallow shaped. I used craft wire to create antennas for the ladybug and car. The tricky part here is the pieces have to be baked and the vinyl does not hold up to the heat really well. Polymer Clay recommends being baked at 275° but you will end up with severely warped figures if you do that. I usually bake my figures at about 240° or just the necessary pieces for a slightly longer period of time.

Adding Polymer clay to Color Blanks

Step 5: Assemble, Touch-up and Photograph!

After all the pieces were baked and assembled I did some final paint touchups and photographed my ladybug on some colored card stock. I did some post work in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to add in a beach scene. Now this little ladybug Color Blanks figure is ready to cruise by the beach!

Color Blanks Ladybug figure at the beach!