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This is a modified Madison Bumgarner Giants bobblehead that I created for fun. After throwing a shutout in game 4 of the 2010 World Series, I thought that kid deserved a promotion to the major leagues. The process involved removing all the old logos, creating new ones, gluing them onto the body, and repainting everything. I tired to do this in a way that was fast, easy to reproduce, relatively cheap, and with materials that you can find. Cost about $10 and three hours.
Feel free to contact me if you want more technical details. It should be noted that I am not a "for-hire" artist. I develop the protocol and share these skills so you can do them yourself.
Good luck and Go Giants!
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I just finished adding the missing orange and black trim around the neck collar and adding the Nike logo to his shoes.
Various views of the finished bobblehead conversion
Close up detail on the two new raised Giants logos
Detailed look at the sleeve patches and Nike shoe logo (made as stickers, printing them on envelope labels)
I highly encourage everyone to try out some of my techniques for modifying your bobbleheads. In the last 4 posts, I've taught you how to add facial features, paint your bobblehead, add hi-def custom sound, and now, preform a full blown team jersey logo conversion. Again, everything should be readily available and cheap. (except the dental impression putty - check ebay)
I have always found the process of going from point A to point Z to be far more interesting than just getting there. Overcoming the obstacles with a simple elegant approachable solution that I can share is what drives me to attempt these projects. Once I've gotten there, the thrill for me ends. This is why I never make any duplicates of my custom jobs and am definitely not "for hire."
Please feel free to contact me if you have any technical questions. slideball at gmail dot com.
(As long as you are not a fan of the blue and white team from down there, we can be friends.)
This will be my last video blog for the year. I'll be going radio silent until pitchers and catchers report again.
As always, thanks for watching! Go Giants! Bye! Let's win the whole #%&@ thing AGAIN!!!!
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A note on casting up letters and jersey numbers for bobblehead conversions.
There are 3 other things you can do to make the cast parts less prominent:
1) when mixing up the dental impression putty, use less of the catalyst. This will thin out the cast, give you a longer working time before it sets, and allow it to capture better detail. When the putty is too thick, it makes the letters/numbers you cast off it, thicker and wider than normal. Practice makes perfect, but you do need to practice.
2) when mixing up the mighty putty, wear gloves, but run your hands under some warm water right before you start kneading it together. This thins out the mighty putty too and allows you to form a thinner layer as you press it into the impression. As you see in my video, I don't use a lot. Just enough to get it in the casting cavity.
3) use a sharp hobby knife to cut each letter / number off the mighty putty after it sets. This is how I reduced the prominence so it looks about the right size. A good depth is about a millimeter above the rest of the chest. Any higher and it starts to look weird.
Lastly, glue them on slowly and carefully. Using too much glue also raises the prominence. If needed, you can also carve out the back of each letter into a concave shape if the curvature of the players chest is too round. This will help ensure all sides of each letter / number sits evenly on the surface.
Good luck. Email me if you need even mote detailed technical advice.
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Modification Supplies
well, you can find the mighty putty I used to make the raised lettering at any hardware store. but the dental impression putty is pretty expensive.
Your best bet is to buy a cheap vampire fang making kit for $5. Each one comes with a small portion of the same type of dental impression putty I used in the video.
I've been getting a lot of questions lately from folks wanting to know what tools I used to complete the Madison Bumgarner conversion.
Here are some the items that I used. All can be found in your local hardware store.
Dremel Stylus Hand Piece (amazon link)
I like the Dremel Stylus because it is small, light weight, ergonomic, has no cord, and can be dialed down to a very slow speed for maximum control. The normal Dremel tools spin far too fast and are harder to control for making small motions with the cutting and polishing burs.
Dremel High Speed Cutter (amazon link)
They sell the Dremel carbide stainless steel cutters in various shapes, such as a cone, a cylinder, a flame tip, and this rounded tip cutter. For removing the raised jersey lettering off a bobblehead's chest, this one works very well and leaves a nice smooth finish when done. No scratches, streaks, or gouges.
The kit I showed in the video is made by Krayola but it is not easy to find and many of the new versions replaced the cream with a light pink color.
An alternative mini kit of acrylic paint tubs can be found at any Michael's hobby supply stores. It is sold under the brandname of "Craftsmart"
If you plan on doing many conversions, you can also buy acrylic paint in the larger bottle sizes. The Giants orange color is pretty generic, but be aware that the flame orange has more of a red tint in it. You can find the home cream color jersey sold under various names such as "Vanillia" or "Antique White"
Good Luck! Go Giants!
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