Making a custom order World of Warcraft Pandaren wedding cake topper

So I got my first order for a World of Warcraft Pandaren wedding cake topper last week, and I'm really excited to be working on this project.  Business had been slow for the last few weeks, and while that did allow me to catch up on some things around the house and the yard, it's always nice to have a project or two going on the work table.  And this one is just really cool!  First of all, wedding cake toppers are such special and important keepsakes, second of all Pandaren are just some really awesome WoW characters! Pandaren are large bipedial panda-like humanoids that live in mountainous bamboo laden areas (just like your average panda bear).  Their main homeland is in a portion of Azeroth known as Pandaria.  Personally, I think they're adorable!  I also like that Pandaren get along with any races that don't attack their homeland. In terms of the war between The Alliance and The Horde the Pandaren remain neutral. Yep, Pandaren are certainly critters after my own heart ;)  This is a screen shot of the Pandaren couple I'll be sculpting in polymer clay.

Now I've never sculpted  Pandaren before, but ever since WoW introduced these characters I've been wanting to either sculpt them or create them as plushies.  Before now I really didn't have the time to do it just for fun.
Before I started sculpting I carefully examined all the pictures my customer sent me and planned out exactly how I was going to create this couple.  I drew a rough sketch of the bride and groom and covered it with tape to keep it clean and make sure it lasted through the entire project.  This drawing will help me keep everything in the right proportion and size.  Then I had to make the armatures, using my sketch to measure against.  Since this sculpture will be sitting on top of a wedding cake I not only want it to be strong, but very lightweight as well.  Pandaren have large, thick bodies and if I were to make them from solid clay not only would it be very expensive in terms of the amount of clay needed, but the sculpture would be pretty heavy.  So I created a wire armature covered with foil for their bodies.

By filling the groom's body cavity with tightly packed foil I saved at least a full bar of clay, if not more.  The legs are also very thick so covering them in foil saves clay and gives the groom an even stronger base of support.  I left enough wire sticking out at the bottom so I can insert it into the base.  These wedding cake toppers are meant to last!

The bride's body isn't nearly as big or thick, but I still want to keep things as light as possible, so I built up her torso with foil as well.  After shaping the foil I wrapped it with floral tape and coated it with tacky glue.  This helps smooth the surface and will allow the base layer of clay to adhere easily without any air bubbles.

So that's the basic armature for my Pandaren bride and groom.  I'll continue to post my progress on this fun World of Warcraft wedding cake topper as I go.  This is a truly enjoyable project and I hope the real bride and groom get as much pleasure from it as I do!  To order your own custom wedding cake topper (I can create any characters you like, not just World of Warcraft) just click Made To Order Personalized Unique Wedding Cake Topper.  Here you can read more about my custom cake toppers (I'll do birthdays, anniversaries, or any other type of cake topper you'd like as well) and place your deposit.  If you have questions just send me an email at macreativecritters@gmail.com.
Thanks so much for sharing in another creative adventure!
 

~Michelle of CreativeCritters

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