Jurassic Park
Twenty five years ago, my sister and I made the two kids from Jurassic Park. They were sculpted of polymer clay over a wire armature, and have cloth bodies. They were supposed to be in a scene with Dr. Grant, where they come across the nest of empty dinosaur egg shells. However Dr. Grant was never made, and the two kids spent the next couple of decades in the back of my closet.
Then for some unexplained reason, I felt inspired to put the two kids on a base together so they'd at least be a finished piece with just the two of them. Then I wondered if any of my ball jointed dolls would fit with them scale-wise to temporarily represent Dr. Grant for some photo opportunities. My Iplehouse JID guy was the right size, but his head was too big out of scale, so I switched with an FID head, which is considerably smaller......so Lawrence stepped in to portray Dr. Grant.
Then for some unexplained reason, I felt inspired to put the two kids on a base together so they'd at least be a finished piece with just the two of them. Then I wondered if any of my ball jointed dolls would fit with them scale-wise to temporarily represent Dr. Grant for some photo opportunities. My Iplehouse JID guy was the right size, but his head was too big out of scale, so I switched with an FID head, which is considerably smaller......so Lawrence stepped in to portray Dr. Grant.
Coming Across the Unexpected
After the harrowing T-rex attack the night before, and then having to spend the night up in a tree,
they make their way through the jungle the next morning...
they make their way through the jungle the next morning...
...when Tim spotted something....
It was a dinosaur nest....
.....and all the eggs were empty....
the Empty Nest
Surprised by their discovery...
...Dr. Grant needed to take a closer look...
The dinosaurs should not have been able to breed....
....they were all engineered to be female....
The lab had used frog DNA to fill in the missing gaps in the dinosaur DNA, and some species of frog were known to be able to switch sex if the need arose. So it would seem that the all female dinosaurs could now as well....
Tim found it fascinating...
..but Lex was still in a state of shock from the night before....
"So Malcolm was right..."
"Life will find a way...."
Under Construction - Making it Happen
Dinosaur Eggs
Back in March of 2020, I remembered two figures that have been lurking in the back of a cupboard for years, and thought it was finally time to put them together on a finished base.
The two figures were Lex and Tim from a scene from Jurassic Park. Lex was made in 1994, and Tim the following year in 1995. They were intended to be part of a scene with Dr. Grant, stopping to look at a nest of empty dinosaur eggs. 'Malcolm was right....life finds a way..."
I never enjoyed making contemporary doll clothes, and the two kids had the most contemporary outfits I'd ever made. Plus they were all torn and dirty from their harrowing encounter with the T-rex in the rain and mud. And Tim had been partly electrocuted. They were supposed to be a mess.
Unfortunately, Dr. Grant was never made, so the piece was never finished, and the two kids had been in a cupboard ever since. Which seemed like such a waste, since they were highly realistic, and really should be out on display. So I thought I'd just make a base with the two of them at the edge of a dinosaur nest. Which meant I needed empty eggs.
After thinking about how to make strong, empty egg shells, I got the idea to cover some small wooden Easter eggs with foil, then cover one end of the egg with a thin layer of Aves Apoxy Sculpt. It worked perfectly. The foil came right out of the insides of the shells....
The two figures were Lex and Tim from a scene from Jurassic Park. Lex was made in 1994, and Tim the following year in 1995. They were intended to be part of a scene with Dr. Grant, stopping to look at a nest of empty dinosaur eggs. 'Malcolm was right....life finds a way..."
I never enjoyed making contemporary doll clothes, and the two kids had the most contemporary outfits I'd ever made. Plus they were all torn and dirty from their harrowing encounter with the T-rex in the rain and mud. And Tim had been partly electrocuted. They were supposed to be a mess.
Unfortunately, Dr. Grant was never made, so the piece was never finished, and the two kids had been in a cupboard ever since. Which seemed like such a waste, since they were highly realistic, and really should be out on display. So I thought I'd just make a base with the two of them at the edge of a dinosaur nest. Which meant I needed empty eggs.
After thinking about how to make strong, empty egg shells, I got the idea to cover some small wooden Easter eggs with foil, then cover one end of the egg with a thin layer of Aves Apoxy Sculpt. It worked perfectly. The foil came right out of the insides of the shells....
The insides of the egg shells had the impressions of the wrinkled foil, and I really didn't feel like sanding them, then remembered that the shells from hatched birds have all kinds of dried blood veins on the inside. I expect dinosaurs would have been no different. So I painted the inside of the shells with reddish-brown paint, wiped away the excess with a damp paper towel, leaving just the veining from the foil impressions. Then I rubbed a bit of paint on the outside, and splatter-painted them. After all, who knows what colour dinosaur eggs really were? After a coat of varnish they looked very believable - just like hatched quail eggs.....
Pants with Belt Loops
Then in June I started working on a JID size outfit for one of my guys, so I can finally take those Jurassic Park photos with the two kids that were made decades ago. I had made the dinosaur eggs back in March, but then all my projects came to a screaming halt. I figured it was time to get back to that project, so had to make an outfit like Dr. Grant wears in the film.
One of the things I find most challenging to make, is contemporary clothes for guys, and as though that wasn't hard enough, his pants had belt loops. Like how in the world do I make such super tiny, narrow belt loops? On real people's pants, the ends of the belt loops are folded under and then sewn on, but that would be way too bulky on such a small scale. So I figured out a way to make tiny folded fabric strips, and have the ends inserted into the top and bottom of the waistband.....
One of the things I find most challenging to make, is contemporary clothes for guys, and as though that wasn't hard enough, his pants had belt loops. Like how in the world do I make such super tiny, narrow belt loops? On real people's pants, the ends of the belt loops are folded under and then sewn on, but that would be way too bulky on such a small scale. So I figured out a way to make tiny folded fabric strips, and have the ends inserted into the top and bottom of the waistband.....
Not bad. I was quite pleased with the results.
The shirt, although not the exact same colour of blue, was almost done as well. It just needed the snaps. And the outfit needed a red bandana to tie around his neck....
The shirt, although not the exact same colour of blue, was almost done as well. It just needed the snaps. And the outfit needed a red bandana to tie around his neck....
Owen was only too happy to model the outfit for me...
Little did he realize that I will only need his body for Dr. Grant. His head is way too big, so I'd be using Rex's smaller head instead....
Then I needed to make the clothes all wet and dirty, like he's spent the night in the mud and rain.
I didn't want the outfit to stay all dirty, so didn't want to use paint. I wanted to use something that would wash out - like real dirt.
So I wrapped Owen in plastic wrap so he wouldn't get wet or stained, then wet the clothes and put them back on him, then took him outside and rubbed dirt all over his clothes. Then laid him over a heat register to dry......
I didn't want the outfit to stay all dirty, so didn't want to use paint. I wanted to use something that would wash out - like real dirt.
So I wrapped Owen in plastic wrap so he wouldn't get wet or stained, then wet the clothes and put them back on him, then took him outside and rubbed dirt all over his clothes. Then laid him over a heat register to dry......
Jurassic Rex?
After wetting the clothes and rubbing them with dirt, they dried perfectly, with all the proper wrinkles and creases. But when I put Rex's head on Owen's body, the shirt buttons suddenly seemed way out of scale. I found some smaller buttons in my stash, which would have worked better, and of course whenever something starts to bug me, I have to do something about it. So out came the seam ripper and all the buttons and snaps had to be removed - very carefully. Then I had to sew on the new buttons, and all the snaps all over again.
I had planned on putting Rex's head on Owen's body for the Jurassic Park photo scenes, so even though all the clothes were JID size, the hat had to fit a smaller FID head. Once that was finished, and nice and dirty, I took some photos in the studio...
I had planned on putting Rex's head on Owen's body for the Jurassic Park photo scenes, so even though all the clothes were JID size, the hat had to fit a smaller FID head. Once that was finished, and nice and dirty, I took some photos in the studio...
Even though the clothes were perfect now, there was no way I was going to get a doll to resemble Sam Neil. I had just three FID guys, and Baron definitely wouldn't work. I had always thought I'd be using Rex, but his hair was rather long, and he didn't look good in the first, shorter wig I made for Lawrence. It was the right length, but the wrong colour.
So I thought I might try Lawrence, since he had a short wig, and looked a lot scruffier....
So I thought I might try Lawrence, since he had a short wig, and looked a lot scruffier....
I really liked him like this. So, it would be 'Jurassic Lawrence'...
Behind the Scene
I had been looking around my backyard to see what would be the best place to set up a 'jungle'. The plan was to set up a jungle on my patio table, so it would be easier to position the dolls and take photos....
I thought maybe the 'green' corner under the crabapple tree might work as a background, but the hostas there were huge.with leaves even bigger than Lawrence, and I wouldn't want them showing in the background through the jungle....
Then I thought of moving the table onto the grass in front of the bridal wreath bush where the hostas have much smaller leaves.....
So we moved the table onto the grass there, and removed the pots with the colourful flowers. I covered the table with a big sheet of vinyl, then positioned two big tree roots on the end of the table, and created a raised section to pose the dolls on. The raised platform would help hide the pots of the five leafy houseplants I placed on the edges. Then I positioned two giant ferns on either side. I dumped a lot of dirt on and around the raised platform, into which I planted some almost finished forget-me-nots, and a lot of creeping Jenny temporarily dug out of two hanging pots full of them Finally I added the base with the dinosaur nest, and the dolls, and sprinkled the scene with bits of driftwood and some leaves fallen from the crabapple trees.....
The tree overhead created light shade, allowing filtered sunlight onto the scene, which added to the realism....
The kids were not posable, so they took turns sitting on the edge for some portrait shots....
Then everything had to be cleaned up and put back where it belonged....
More Photos
I took a lot of photos from all kinds of directions, and even though many were very similar, they were too good not to share, so I decided to add them here at the end.....
Just the kids at the nest....
...and Lawrence as Dr. Grant....
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