The Fantastic Four's Thing in all his rocky orange Jack Kirby glory. Any time you think, "This will be an easy one," put it back in the box. I reposed him, cutting all the joints, even separating the toes, and gave him a neck. I also sawed open his jaw and built a row of teeth. I used a woodburning tool to cut every fissure deeper, then divided the big scales to be more uniform. Only then did I realize his head was too small and his chest too shallow. So I cut new scales (scutes? That's what a turtle's plates are called) by hand from a curved toothbrush case. I covered his head and chest with a new depth of scales, which meant building up his brow and jaw, so had to cut another layer of teeth. I also had to reduce his fist by half. The scales were too smooth, so after some experimentation, used Goop from a hardware store to crown them. Finally I thickened acrylic paint with baby powder to rough-finish the old scales and fill the gaps between the new scales. For his trunks, I rolled a vinyl FedEx envelope around his thighs, and cut a wrestler's belt with a ring glued on for the 4 emblem. Way too much work for a "simple" job. Then Tweety Bird snuck into the photo shoot.
