Asmus Toys 1:6 - Saruman the White

[SithThundercracker]

Love Saruman...not sure I'm gonna do anything more than a water treatment.
Just a couple of pics...

 

[Zenjay]

Thank you.



I actually ripped open a couple Nespresso pods -- two -- and dumped the coffee into a paper towel to make a sort of tea bag so the grinds didn't get in the water. Tea would work well too. You basically want dark amber water -- rusty orange is what I got.

I soaked mine for 20 minutes on simmer. I actually tried to get a darker color on the end of the sleeve and the torso portion of the outer robe (like Saruman's) but the pattern on the sleeves is too vivid to make such a subtle difference.

I did wash the outfit after -- cold water to set the color if I was happy with it, and warm water to tone it down if it looked too dark. Some of the costume remains whiter than other parts (i.e. the tunic sleeves) so depending on your preference may require a second ducking.

When it all dries, its much lighter than when you see it wet -- if you are familiar with dying, you know what I mean. So go darker than what you want to see.

I will continue to wet the figure (spray bottle) as I try to find the pose I want, but I don't think the constant wetness will affect the new stain at all. At this point, it would require some bleach to get it out just like a stain on a white t-shirt.



The figure today is completely dry now and looks a bit lighter than the still-wet pictures above from yesterday. I would say the clothing is a cooler cream color now as opposed to a warmer tan/beige. The warmer "brown" of the amber has faded.

Wow, thanks for all the pointers, WG. I just checked mine out tonight, and he's great. Even out of the box with minimal futzing. But his clothes are too bright and need to hang better. Definitely gonna try my hand at a tea bath and thanks to your tips I feel better about doing it. I'd love to see pics of your finished product when you get the chance. This is one impressive piece. Definitely the best I've seen yet from Asmus.

Sweet pics, SithThundercracker. Love that altar and palantir.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Yeah, great pics, siththunder!

My pleasure Zenjay. Eager to see how yours comes out. Wanted to finish mine today but the day got away from me.

The white is fine -- but I wanted Saruman to look more "sickly" in color next to Gandalf the White... and I wanted Saruman's hair to look "white" against the cream clothing, rather than his hair look yellow against white robes as he appears out of the box.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Fantastic job, Wor-Gar!

Thank you for sharing your excellent instructions and results.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Fantastic job, Wor-Gar!

Thank you for sharing your excellent instructions and results.

My pleasure.

But the whole "coffee bath" thing is really Sankari's idea. I just followed his lead.

 

[SithThundercracker]

My pleasure.

But the whole "coffee bath" thing is really Sankari's idea. I just followed his lead.

I was thinking about trying a coffee bath leaving the sleeves out, trying to replicate the slight difference the costume had:

I just need to figure out how to dye just a part of the cloth...

 

[Sankari]

My pleasure.

But the whole "coffee bath" thing is really Sankari's idea. I just followed his lead.

I just wanted to share an idea to improve this already amazing figure. Glad to see everyone is picking up on it No risk and no damage to the figure. I just would like to state the obvious - remove the head first , some people might forget that

 

[Zenjay]

Thanks for the great idea, Sankari. I'm gonna probably give him a bath this weekend. Are any of you guys contemplating trying to raise his height? He seems like he should be a bit taller. But as his ankle sockets plug into his boots, I don't think longer HT-type ankle pegs would help or even be compatible.

 

[SithThundercracker]

Thanks for the great idea, Sankari. I'm gonna probably give him a bath this weekend. Are any of you guys contemplating trying to raise his height? He seems like he should be a bit taller. But as his ankle sockets plug into his boots, I don't think longer HT-type ankle pegs would help or even be compatible.

Main problem is the tunic lenght fits his current height. I'd rather have a short Saruman than a miniskirted one. A possible solution should be tailoring a longer tunic to be put over the short one hiding the seam with the belt but...

 

[Wor-Gar]

I was thinking about trying a coffee bath leaving the sleeves out, trying to replicate the slight difference the costume had:

That's exactly what I did... however, the pattern on the sleeves pops so much after the dye bath that it makes the robe portion look lighter -- reverse of the picture above. If you don't bathe the sleeves at all it might work, but the pattern is so much better with the bath.

That, and in the actual movie with all the filters you never really get the sense that Saruman's robes are two-tone like above. Other than that picture and maybe one or two others, its very hard to find anything else that shows that kind of variation in the robe.

 

[BagginsOfBagEnd]

A couple more in natural lighting... Diggin this guy!

View attachment 248857View attachment 248858

Cheers,
-Ahab

Wonderful photos, he looks great!

 

[Wor-Gar]

I feel like I may need to make his outfit even more "yellowy" stained... its really filthy in the movies.









I re-painted the boots more tannish, and highlighted the laces a bit with lighter paint.

Fixed the belt at the angle its supposed to be at.

Still feeling like I want to make some gray/pale yellow wash and "streak" it down his outfit in many places so its not so even. The coffee bath works great but you get a mostly even tint (aside from some very nice brownish stains here and there -- those stains look very nice upon close-up inspection and I think Saruman needs more).

 

[Jrobertson]

That looks awesome.

 

[daavyynut]

It will be so perfect if Palantíri has a light-up function.

Love Saruman...not sure I'm gonna do anything more than a water treatment.
Just a couple of pics...

 

[The Ween]

View attachment 250332




I feel like I may need to make his outfit even more "yellowy" stained... its really filthy in the movies.



View attachment 250333

View attachment 250334



I re-painted the boots more tannish, and highlighted the laces a bit with lighter paint.

Fixed the belt at the angle its supposed to be at.

Still feeling like I want to make some gray/pale yellow wash and "streak" it down his outfit in many places so its not so even. The coffee bath works great but you get a mostly even tint (aside from some very nice brownish stains here and there -- those stains look very nice upon close-up inspection and I think Saruman needs more).

That's awesome! Great job.

​Do mine!

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

View attachment 250332

I really want to photoshop a drink into his hand in this shot.

"I wanna thank you all for coming. This has been the best birthday party ever! Now who's ready to do some dancing?!"






(Great work with the mods, by the way.)

 

[SithThundercracker]

Doing my homework with natural and artificial dyeing, I worked also on GtW, experimenting with weathering...so now I have a parade of White Wizards:

I've done also some touchups on the sculpt: slightly bigger pupils (mine came with very small ones) and darker eyebrows. Sir Lee had very big black eyes and I think that this enhances the likeness:

 

[Wor-Gar]

That looks awesome.

That's awesome! Great job.

​Do mine!

(Great work with the mods, by the way.)

Thanks guys!




Siththundercracker: eager to see how your work comes out. I still feel like I could do better with the Saruman robes.

I pulled Gandalf/White out and his cloak is a yellowy cream that really is a good color for Saruman.

Here's the two together -- makes me think my Saruman isn't quite "creamy" enough...










I am satisfied with the height adjustment though on Saruman -- he's close to being accurate height relative to Gandalf.

 

[Zenjay]

Yeah, I have to figure something out about his height. Standing next to Witch King and my HT figs, he looks way too short. He's only about 11 3/4" inches tall, which equates to under 6' in real life. Christopher Lee was 6'5".

 

[Wor-Gar]

Yeah, I have to figure something out about his height. Standing next to Witch King and my HT figs, he looks way too short. He's only about 11 3/4" inches tall, which equates to under 6' in real life. Christopher Lee was 6'5".

I pulled his pants legs straight down and rolled up the excess at the ankle, then pushed the boot on -- it doesn't lock onto the peg but the pants hold the shin firm. So he's gained about 1/2 to 3/4 inch I believe. See pic above relative to Gandalf height (top of Gandalf's head should be at Saruman's eyeline to be accurate so he's very close now).