Jared Deal x Argonaut Resins' Vladimir Revealed! (& An Interview With Jared Deal)

"It sure can be lonely living the life of a vampire.  It's hard making friends when you have to sleep during the day...  when your curfew is everyone elses wake-up call.  Vlad has been searching for the past 177 years for the perfect candidate to turn vamp ... giving his own, very literal translation to the term BFF.  Wanna be his friend???  It only hurts for a second."
VLADIMIR-AR-01

After the earlier teasers, the Halloween-themed original resin figure from Jared Deal & Argonaut Resins is finally revealed: Introducing VLADIMIR! Pay heed to the product-specs and release dates stated below, as well as CLICK THRU to read my online chat with creator/designer Jared Deal about the creation and future of Vladimir :)

Each 5 inch tall Vladimir figure is hand cast & hand painted making each toy unique & special. Vladimir comes packed in his very own felt lined coffin display box (5 1/2 inches) which is also handmade, painted & numbered.  The interior of each coffin will match it's accompanying Vlad figure (eg: if you pull a green figure your coffin will have green details, etc).  To top it all off the figure will also come complete with a certificate of authenticity signed by Jared Deal (designer) and Eric Nocella (sculptor).  Each certificate will come in a wax sealed envelope.

The edition size is 13.  The first 10 will be made available at the Argonaut web store: argonautresins.bigcartel.com/ on October 31st, 2008 (Halloween) at 12 noon EST. SRP is US$70 (+shipping) - "So forget the kids in costume, treat yourself this Halloween.  Just be sure to grab yours before the Argonaut store is sucked dry!"



TOYSREVIL: First off, congrats on the impending release of Vladimir, Jared! And secondly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ... very apt tho, the (symbolic) birth of both creator and creation ... How did the concept of Vladimir come about?

JARED DEAL: I've always been a huge fan of the Halloween season ... it's just such a fun time of year! I've been wanting to do a Halloween release for a while now, so when Eric approached me with the idea, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Vladimir is actually based off of a bat painting i did for a gallery show a few months back.


JARED DEAL: I really liked the character. I decided to adjust the body to make it more of a vampire bat-boy as opposed to a regular bat. Also my girlfriend recently got me hooked on the Twilight series books. I read all 4 over the summer, so I've kind of had vampires on the mind, haha.

TOYSREVIL: Gotta lurve them Vampires! (I'm too much of a Lost Boys-era dude myself LOL) How did the project end up being produced by Argonaut Resins?

JARED DEAL: Eric approached me with the idea a couple of months ago. He wanted to start a company that specializes in low run high quality resin pieces. Eric has been Garnet & my sculptor on all of our Carney toys. All of our toys... even vinyl, have to go through the resin stage anyways, so why not keep it in house & just produce small runs ourselves.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Jared Deal and Garnet Syberg-Olsen make up Carnival Cartoons - makers of Harriet and Buzz Carney]

TOYSREVIL: Why RESIN?

JARED DEAL: Its a much more affordable option than vinyl & the artist has more control. We are able to make as many or as few as we want. Every resin can be a different color if that's what you're into ... with vinyl you have to pay extra for each color change.


JARED DEAL: Another great thing about resin is that we can take the existing resin cast and sand or add details & then recast. So as well as new colorways, we may also play around with new expressions & added details in future castings. Unlike vinyl, these changes can be made very easily with little expense to the artist/sculptor.

TOYSREVIL: Not the end of vinyl figures, I hope?

JARED DEAL: We will continue to have our vinyl releases. In fact we have 2 new vinyl figures in the works as we speak. The resin thing is just fun & quick. Its a good way to gauge your audience without dropping a ton of cash. We can do these small releases... if folks like em great, we'll make more... if there's not a huge demand, then it's on to the next design.


TOYSREVIL: I reckon this be an excellent game-plan, given the recent turbulent economic climate worldwide, IMHO. What is Argonaut Resins about? And how are you affliated with Argonaut Resins?

JARED DEAL: Argonaut Resins is about High-end/ Low run resin. Seriously these are quality pieces. These are not your every day run of the mill resin toys. Eric has been doing this a long time... when you buy Argonaut you're getting production quality pieces.

Argonaut is Eric's baby. He was kind enough to let me be a part of this awesome new endeavor of his. I'm just one of the many designers he is going to be working with on these resin projects.


TOYSREVIL: AR totally rawks! What's in store for Jared Deal x Argonaut Resins in the near future? Anything fans should be looking out for?

JARED DEAL: We will probably do a small run variant on the Vlad figure. Then hopefully we'll start working on aanother design soon. I really enjoyed this project & am looking forward to continuing down this path with small run resin releases.

TOYSREVIL: Sweet! What's up next for Jared Deal?

JARED DEAL: Garnet & I have some great new vinyl coming out very soon. You guys are gonna love this next one. I will be dropping some sneeks here shortly. Look for new vinyl from Carnival Cartoons premiering at this years VTN!!!

TOYSREVIL: Cheers for your time and trouble, Jared - and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! and looking forward to more goodies from you folks!



NOTE: Also check out Jared's plushie-version of Vladimir here - done for the "Plush-IT" custom plush show @ Ruban Rat Designer Toy Store & Gallery in Australia (November 12th)
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate advertising program also provides a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

POPULAR-EST OF TOYSREVIL POSTS FOR THE PAST WEEK