My red oni figurine -

I’ve wanted to make a decent-sized figurine depicting an oni – an ogre or demon as it’s usually portrayed in traditional tales – for quite some time.

Follow the various stages of its production below.

I started with a sturdy wire frame secured to a thick wooden plank, which actually happens to be a trivet that’s barely been stripped of its bark. I gave it that hunched posture reminiscent of the troll figurines from medieval fantasy strategy games. I wrapped this frame in aluminium foil, which helps to shape the basic musculature, as well as the head. Then I covered the whole thing with a layer of air-drying clay.

I shape his toes and fingers, the details of his musculature with a few protruding veins, and his head.

Using two toothpicks stuck into his head, I shape his horns, around which I arrange small cones of clay to create his shaggy hair. Once the body is completely dry, I can add his bracelets to his wrists and ankles, as well as his loincloth. The loincloth is made from a piece of clay flattened with a rolling pin, roughly cut, and textured to resemble fur. It is placed around his waist and held in place with a piece of thick string tied across his stomach like a belt.

Once everything is completely dry, I can start painting: a full coat of black, followed by dry-brushing with red, orange and then yellow for his skin; yellow and white for his loincloth; blue for his hair; and grey and white for his horns and fangs (tusks). A few touches of gold for his bracelets, and yellow for his eyes with black pupils. To decorate the base, I simply coated it with glue and scattered small pebbles over it.

For his kanabô, which has a rather geometric design, I opted for a structure made of thick, glued-together cardboard, into which I hammered large upholstery nails. A long piece of string is wound around the shaft. The loop on the pommel is modelled from clay, with a protrusion long enough to be inserted into the shaft. I didn’t glue it on. I preferred to keep it removable so that I could slip the kanabô under her arm and take it off when the figurine needs to be put away or transported. The kanabô has also been painted black, with silver brush-strokes for the metal parts and beige for the shaft.