his is my next professional project, to be done for my good friend Tom Seiler and his model kit company Posigrade Creations. Beulah is the nickname given to the Paul Blaisdell creature created for the Roger Corman B-movie It Conquered the World. Beulah spawns flying mind-control bats from underneath the fingers of her "skirt." The picture below shows the Billiken kit, which is an excellent likeness of the creature. The one I'm creating will be 1:6 scale, which is considerably bigger (read that WAY bigger) than the Billiken kit.

The classic Billiken Beulah kit

This should be a fun project because it's not something I would normally do, so I am looking forward to it. I will report my progress here so you can read about the process involve in sculpting this B-movie critter.

Update: I just picked up the armature from Tom. Here is a comparison between the Billiken model and the armature. It's going to be BIG, folks.

Comparison shot

The armature is made from model aircraft plywood, epoxy putty and wire. I will flesh it out with foil before I start putting clay on it.

Adding clay to the armature

Spent some time over at Tom's last night watchng DVDs (a shared passion) and worked on the Beulah a bit. I've begun adding foil and clay to the armature. This thing is going to weight a ton when completed. Right now it must weigh at least fifteen pounds including the plywood stand I built for it.

Note: after the picture above was taken, Iet the Beulah sit too long and the clay got too firm. Had to pull it all off and recondition it. It was a drag, but it was good in some ways--it allowed me to make some improvements on the armature.

Fluting added

Top view

The pictures from here on out will be in the workshop. As you can see, I've added the fluted shape to the sculpture. I've gained a lot of respect for Paul Blaisdell as I've worked on this. Beulah's shape is definitely organic, and kind of reminds me of a starfrut, which can be found at specialty produce stores. It would have been really exotic in Blaisdell's day. I've still got a good amount of smoothing and sanding (after baking) to do on this, but the basic shape of the space vegetable is there.

It's nearing the point where I can do the first bake. As you can see, the facial features are there. They just need a bit more detailing and refining. I plan to cut the bottom jaw out so it can be cast with the teeth in. I love the moustache.

It's a bit of a jump from the last pic, but here she is all done, along with one of the little flying drones (lower left).

Want to see her painted? Visit her Gallery page!