Björk

 Hi all. I've been bit quiet during the autumn. No special reason here, I'm doing just fine. The semester is all right, but heavily writing-based; that might be why I've been less eager to write the blog. Is's no problem, I like writing on architecture, I don't miss huge information modeling workloads at all. I've been building on quite usual frequency; there's four unpublished character model and a WIP of large architectural project of 64x96 studs; it's possible in theory to get that one finished before the end of the year, but I won't promise anything. And by the way, I got my LUGBULK week ago, so the possibilities are, again, unlimited.

This MOC is bit of a special occassion. It takes us back to Spring 2019. It is a comission work, design of model and instructions of it, depicting Icelandic musician Björk who you're probably familiar with. I like Björk (we have few CDs bought mostly from record fairs (and Björk CDs are around the most interesting things to be found in record fairs, well, them and Mieskuoro Huutajat CD)) so the comission was a pleasant one. It was to be a gift, so I didn't post it immendiately, not to spoil the secret accidently. So the model might be a bit outdated; I've used some tricks of it on MOCs published earlier. 

What we've got here is Björk in her swan dress, seen on the red carpet of Academy Awards in 2001. The dress, designed by Macedonian designer Marjan Pejoski, resembles some usual ballet tutu on first glance, but actually has the swan's neck working as the shoulder strap, and the head, sporting black and orange bill, rests on the right breast. The dress also included an egg It's weird an whimsical design. I like it.

The fluff of ruffs on the hem was done with number of 2x2 round plates and leaf pieces, angled with several joints. The stomach piece is made with wedge plates layered with cheese slopes, while the neck is angled with round 1x2 plates. The swan's head was one of the first times I used 1x1 brackets, now more common. Discreet piece going round the back is made with dark tan to make it visible against the tan skin; I'm very happy with this contrast. The limbs are quite usual, though it's always a bit challenging to make then monocrome; but as far as compromises go, this doesn't look too bad. Again, ideas used here have been recycled and cultivated on newer models. The hair looks a bit messy, but to be honest, it's quite true to the source material. Worth mentioning are the heels, made of Technic figure flippers. Their connection is wonderfully strong, and the side profile nicely thin. They look funny on the front and back views, as the flipper is (obviously) wide. That isn't purely negative, though, as they make balancing the model lot easier! Looking back it now, I feel I should have made it simpler, but that wouldn't have captured the essence of the original.

That's it for now. I've been trying to photograph some finished models for couple of days, but November is just too dark. Better luck tomorrow. I've got one shot model too, made for a contest month of two ago; I'll try to get it out next week.  There's two weeks to go until Christmas holiday; after it, the diploma work and graduation.

-Eero.