Morel Snacks.
As I prepare for Fridays big pre-order launch I thought I’d give a little bit of background about our new friend Morel, and also why? Why this funguy?
I’ve always had a love for Mushrooms. As a kid I ate a lot of mushrooms. It was one of the only “vegetables” (HA!) that my parents could get me to eat, so I got them a lot. Yum! As an adult my love for fungi has only grown. the idea that what we see is only a tiny portion of a vast network under the ground is mind boggling.
These guys. Which came first? I think i had sculpted Morel Black and the suit off to Rampage to get made as a collab for us. We would both use the suit. But my sculpt of the suit was so bad, that I couldn’t send it. Meanwhile. I had a trip planned to visit my old boss Kiyoka Ikeda, owner/designer at Gargamel, in Fukuoka who had agreed to teach me how to do wax.
WAX- after making an initial sculpt, out of whatever, a wax copy needs to be made, along with joints/plugs. These are the tubes used to pour the vinyl into the metal mold, and also serve as joints to fit the different pieces of a soft vinyl sculpture together. The wax copy of the sculpture goes thru an electroplating/metal mold process. Then, barring any accidents, or the factory loosing your metal mold. You have that for life.
Just days before the trip, Fukuoka got hit with a huge earthquake. Very gnarly. Kiyoka still asked me to go, I said only if I’m going to help, but we kinda just agreed that I would be more burden than help.
So I ended up just staying in Tokyo with nothing to do, and Jon at Rampage stepped in. Gave me a place to stay, and helped me with my first wax project. This was for three micros Bigdog, Peter, and Little Boney (formerly Little Honey). Probably one of the best trips I’ve had to Japan. jon lived across from a temple, and every morning I would step out onto his tiny balcony and listen to chanting and bells, we would get pastries or make eggs, work for about 6 hours, and then go skate around the city, visit with friends, go to toy shops, and eat lots of yummy food. I think delivering the micros also might have been my first factory visit.
When i got home I completely resculpted the suit, and sent that off to Jon at rampage. The suit became the first home for Morel Black, and i think even though Morel Black and Bigdog came from different factories, and on different timelines. They both got finished up around the same time. That second sculpt of the suit still sucked, and jon had to do lots of work on it to make it right:)
Morel Snacks. I think he/they/she is Morel Black regenerated after a death of Black, Snacks blooms up out of the roots of Morel Black. Son, cousin, the same? We don’t know yet. But he’s here and ready to have some fun.
I’ve discovered that sometimes, you just want something done right. you know that old saying- “If you want something done right, just do it yourself”. Well that’s only partly true sometimes. My sculpting abilities doesn’t always match the vision in my head. I’m getting better, but having someone who really knows their stuff, can really help. So this will be the forth sculpt by master sculptor Naoya Ikeda. You might notice he has the same last name as Kiyoka. Naoya is Kiyoka’s younger brother, and has worked as part of/with Gargamel since the beginning. We get it mixed up sometimes who did what, but Naoya is responsible for about half of my old Gargamel sculpts, including Teenage Randall.
I plotted some time ago, to start doing some Suns characters at a slightly smaller scale, but still with some decent articulation, sorta more uncommon at this size, and then decided to follow suit with characters from forest Island, and have them all be able to play together.
I think we officially have a series now. Terry, Hooligan, Randall, and now Morel. I’ve already been scheming in my head for months who would be next, and begging Naoya to do another. Globby? Lonny? someone new?
