Cool Stuff: Jamie Painter’s Custom Movie Star Turtles

I love Instagram. I’ve been using it since the day it launched, and I’ve met all kinds of cool people. The thing I do on there most often is browse the #TMNT tag, and when I was gearing up to launch the TMNT Photo Contest, I ‘invited’ some Instagramers to send me their entries.

That’s when I first saw Jamie Painter’s custom Movie Star Turtles. Jaime is a photographer and artist, and she not only repainted the Turtles, but she made custom weapons and belts out of real leather, wood, and chains. The final product looks amazing, but you can see for yourself.

Jamie let me know how she pulled this off:

I got interested in actual toy customization by running across a guy named John Mallamas he is absolutely amazing. I noticed that he had repainted all 4 New TMNT Toys and I thought to myself “I’m so gonna do that!” so I went digging through what toys I have left after moving a bunch and what the dog didn’t chew up and found Mike and Don – went to Hobby Lobby and the rest is the pictures. I hand made everything with real leather and krazy glue – used real wood and chain links for weapons – and finally repainted the guys adding details where there was none, the mold was there… the paint was not.

I’m getting back into collecting TMNT toys in a big way, and I just (finally) picked up a set of Movie Star Turtles. Minus the spots, I think they’re some of the coolest TMNT figues ever, but I’d love to have some of those custom belts and weapons.

Thanks to Jamie for sending in the pics and info, and you can follow her on Instagram @Painter80.