Nerf Art: For Nerds

So my friend stops by last night, and he's one of these brilliant eccentric types.  Artistic as hell but just too easy-going or lazy (they're often one and the same) to do anything with it.  And by "artistic" I don't mean, he listens to Modest Mouse and paints shit that he feels.  I mean that he can paint classically, he can draw like a pro over at Marvel Comics, he can sculpt well enough to work at Sideshow Collectibles (I'm looking at you, guy who sculpted the Jack Sparrow Premium Format.  Shame on you.) and he understands the intricacy of characters and storytelling well enough to bury George Lucas at least (which I guess isn't saying much).

The guy could easily make a living with one of his many talents...but all of that shit I just said is a lot of work.  I understand.  And for that reason, he rarely pursues any of it, even as a hobby.  Instead he works a normal job, hangs out, drinks beer, watches movies, and fucks the occasional stripper (true story).  From time to time though, an idea gets in his head that he can't shake, and the fucker goes after it.

And despite having just a little stubble, he's what I would consider a fellow Bearded Nerd (by definition), so anytime he completes a novelty project he races over to show me, if not because we're old friends then at least because as Bearded Nerds we're a rarity of sorts.  

So I get to see his tidbits of undiscovered talent, and then I get to show him whatever useless hobby I'm into at the time.  Then we high-five, put on a great movie for background noise, and we drink a lot of beer while analyzing the various aspects of life and nerddom.  These "hangouts" are never planned (because he's just so goddamn eccentric, that one), and they usually last well into the wee hours of the morning and often end with my girlfriend coming over to wake me up with that familiar scolding look because it's noon, I'm hungover, and I'm trying to recover from all of the fucked up dreams prompted by the title menu of The Thing playing over and over again.

Anyway, the true appreciation for this guy's talent comes from what he has to work with---which is never anything special.  It's usually just shit he finds lying around.  

I guess you could call most of what he does "Really Badass Found Art".

So this time, it was a "Van Helsing Gun".  For slaying bloodsucking vampires, of course.

I was pretty blown away by what he managed to do with a NERF gun and popsicle sticks.  The paint actually looks worn around the grips and on the slide, like it's seen a lot of usage.  The Victorian-styled "VH" insignias were hand-sculpted, and the spring-loaded cross on top is built out of a fucking rat-trap.

Crazy bastard.

Apparently he has also fashioned "silver bolts" which actually fire from the weapon, though I suppose I won't have the pleasure of seeing those until next time (who knows when that will be!  That eccentric bastard!).

Another "VH" insignia on the bottom

With The Bearded One's .44 Mag for scale

Alright, so that's it.  I have no idea if anyone else will find that as fascinating as I did, or even at all.  And if not, that's fine.  You can piss right off.