Black Canary has been one of my favorite projects to date. One of the first thing I did was redesign the FC female body trimming her down to 8.250", which converts to a scale height of 5'6" .... yeah the an@l retentive scale thing again. I also decreased her arm length (those monkey arms on the FC female bodies were really annoying me) and added musculature where ever necessary. I replaced the open hands with fists.

I originally wanted to cast Hudson Leik (Callisto from the Xena) for the role of Black Canary. After much deliberation, I thought it would be better to go with Carrie-Ann Moss (the Matrix). I heard that Carrie did her own stunts in the Matrix including those off the wall cartwheels ... WOWSA!!! This combined with her "take no prisoner" attitude made her perfect for the role of Dinah Lance. Besides, I can use the spare head casts the make my Matrix figures :-).

When I started sculpting the head, I decided to do more than just added blonde hair. I wanted something different. That's when I came up with the idea of a removable wig. Of course having a idea and implimenting it are two different matters. Adding a wig on top of a head with sculpted hair usually results in a bulbous looking head. Ultimately, I decided to sculpt a bald head with the short black hair as a separately piece. I made a mold of the short hair and casted it using polyurethane rubber. Urethane rubber hugs the head and form a tight seal which you won't get with a piece of plastic or sculpey. I then drilled a hole on the top of her head and inserted a snap to connect the hair piece with the head. I made a blonde wig using the "scalp" method and added a snap to the inside of the wig. This allows me to easily replace the black hair piece with the blonde wig. For a details on the head sculpt, go here.

The jacket came from an Oliva Newton John Grease doll, but was heavily modified. I took the seams apart and resewed it to fit my BC better. I changed the collar, the front of the jacket and shortened the length of the jacket as well as the sleeves. The fishnet stocking was a challenge. I closed it on the back using surgical sutures/ties to make it look smooth and continuous as possible. There's still a black suture line that runs down the back, but it's not nearly as noticeable as the Barbie stockings. I also had to heat condition it so it would conform perfectly to her body and stretch whenever you move her legs or knees. I've thought about using the stockings from Barbie, but the netting holes are just too small and it just doesn't look nice. Beside, the way Mattel closed the stocking at the sides made it look even worst. The boots are made from synthetic leather.

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