9ART Custom Action Figure: BATGIRL !

[Earth 2 Chris]

Stunning, as always!

[battmasterson]

This is an AWESOME figure. I'm glad that you finally got it finished. Great Job!

[darklord1967]

This is an AWESOME figure. I'm glad that you finally got it finished. Great Job!

Thanks so kindly, Battmasterson!

Yes, as fortune would have it, it seemed that LIFE over the last two years had a tendency of getting in the way on the progress of my creative works:

COVID… Brother’s passing… mom’s passing 12 days later… my stroke one year ago… I certainly took a few knockout blows during that bad time.

Fortunately, I had action figure customizing to help pull me out of my funk.

It’s like my message board signature says: Good or bad... Ups or downs…

I… am an action figure customizer!

[darklord1967]

Answering some of the many questions I’ve received in PM about 9ART Custom BATGIRL:

OUTFIT:

This Batgirl outfit is entirely custom fabricated... from scratch... by me.

The grey bodysuit is fabricated out of dull charcoal grey Milliskin spandex from a pattern of my own creation. I re-used the same bodysuit pattern when I created the body suits for custom 9ART CATWOMAN and HARLEY QUINN figures.

BOOTS AND GAUNTLETS:

My 9ART custom figures always sport "poseable" boots and gauntlets using a technique that I developed a long time ago.

Basically, I begin with an existing doll boot (in Batgirl's case a Breyer Equestrian female's boots). I slice off the rigid boot shaft, leaving only the foot portion (up to the ankles). Then I create my OWN boot shaft portion of the boot in stretch pleather from my own pattern. This allows the ankle articulation of the figure to remain uncompromiosed (better posing). The challenge with BATGIRL's boots was that I wanted them to be a "scrunch" female boot style. Also, the top edges of her boots feature a very complex "Bat" motif that is pretty tricky to pull off cleanly and symmetrically. These boots took about 4 days to make... much tougher than other "poseable" boots Ive made for other characters (The thigh-high "poseable" boots I made for custom CATWOMAN were a pretty big nightmare too).

The same "poseable" garment philosophy applied to the creation of gauntlets as well: I basically do the same as most customizers and create the extrended cuff of the gauntlet as a fabric extension. When the gauntlet is supposedly made of leather (like Batman, Catwoman, or Batgirl's), for those situations, I tend to create the cuff extension out of stretch pleather fabric...

BUT

... I take things one step further: I figured out a way to make a smooth seamless transition between solid plastic hand and pleather sleeve cuff. This allows me to avoid the typical bulky wrist seam that is usually created by a fabric cuff. With my gauntlet technique, I attach my fabric gauntlet cuffs to action figure hands that also possess the posing wrist pin . This allows me to create "posable" gauntlets with the hands in various positions (Re: Fist hands and grappling hands as I did with Batgirl).

CAPE

All original pattern (with shoulder seams for a proper drape upon the figure.) Cape is fabricated out of black stretch pleather with a Gold Yellow inner lining made from silk charmeuse.

REMOVABLE BAT COWL:

Is my own original sculpt (designed to fit on ZICA "Gracie" who serves as my official custom Barbara Gordon). I molded and cast my sculpt in black stretch urethane, and then drilled out the castings (slowly and carefully) into wearable headgear for the figure.

[Vinny0026]

Custom Window Box Packaging (digital mock up):






Character File Card:

The Box, Cert and file card are really a nice touch! I know a few of the old school mm members used to also include custom cards -It relly completes the figure well.