Check down in the lower right to see the poll and vote on what I should do after I finish up the outstanding projects.
I'm going to use this as a way to remember the spiffy things I want to make.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Scrolls!
I finished up a whole lotta scrolls tonight. And by 'finished' I mean actually finished. Not just rolled up but made into way cool scrolls.
These were the ones I started. There are several different colors (including some skin tones, which are kind of creepy) as well as a combination of cord and 'seal'.
The cord is simple sewing thread. Tying it around the scroll takes a little practice but once you get it down it isn't very difficult.
The seals are made from a combination of white glue and paint. The glue will give it a little body.
Obviously none of these are meant to open.
These were the ones I started. There are several different colors (including some skin tones, which are kind of creepy) as well as a combination of cord and 'seal'.
The cord is simple sewing thread. Tying it around the scroll takes a little practice but once you get it down it isn't very difficult.
The seals are made from a combination of white glue and paint. The glue will give it a little body.
Obviously none of these are meant to open.
Monday, January 21, 2008
I don't wanna be patient any more!
I started work on the scrolls for my magic shop today. Well, last night really.
I like using rice paper for these kinds of things as it is very thin but surprisingly tough. So last night I cut strips off the roll to be 2 inches long. Tonight I cut those into 1/2 inch strips. So now I have a nice little pile of very white paper in 2 inch by 1/2 inch strips.
If you're going to paint rice paper here's a handy hint. If you're going for smooth color wet the paper first. Otherwise it will streak as you paint it. If you want the streaky effect, go for it.
Paint, leave until mostly dry, roll, glue. Paint, leave until mostly dry, roll, glue. Realize that you can have more than one scroll drying at a time. Realize that if the scroll isn't dry enough the glue won't stick.
I'm going to try painting them and then waiting for them to dry completely on the next few.
This takes a lot longer than I remember.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Progress!
The arena pieces are painted. I need to assemble a few of them (thanks to an overcharged cat) and then hit them with varnish. I still don't have an arena floor nor do I have all the pieces painted. These were the ones with the stone color on them, remember?
After finishing these I put them aside and started on the next unfinished project. I painted all the accent pieces on my fountain to look like red granite.
Here's a piccie of the base:
Sorry for the blur.
Again I used my buddy Abaroth's instructions and again I used a different color than he showed.
Next step will be re-assembly and varnish. Then I can put in the water effects and call it done. But since I'm at a halt varnishing I'll move on to the next project to be finished until such time as I can spray things.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Slowly but surely
Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch....
That's how this arena project is feeling. But it is getting done. Over the last two days I got the veins on the marble (with a little assistance from a tasty adult beverage) and the copper painted on. All that is left is the verdigris, the flames and the touchups.
Then I set them aside until the dogs aren't freezing to the lampposts and work on my fountain. (I'm waiting until it gets warmer and I can varnish them, if that wasn't clear from what I just said.)
I stopped by the hobby store and picked up a couple more bottles of craft paint. I got a rust-brown for the granite I'm going to paint and the color I plan on using on the second arena set.
I know I said I was going to use burgundy but I picked up a red metallic instead. I think that will stand out more against the black, which was becoming a concern of mine. And it's .. shiny!
That's how this arena project is feeling. But it is getting done. Over the last two days I got the veins on the marble (with a little assistance from a tasty adult beverage) and the copper painted on. All that is left is the verdigris, the flames and the touchups.
Then I set them aside until the dogs aren't freezing to the lampposts and work on my fountain. (I'm waiting until it gets warmer and I can varnish them, if that wasn't clear from what I just said.)
I stopped by the hobby store and picked up a couple more bottles of craft paint. I got a rust-brown for the granite I'm going to paint and the color I plan on using on the second arena set.
I know I said I was going to use burgundy but I picked up a red metallic instead. I think that will stand out more against the black, which was becoming a concern of mine. And it's .. shiny!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Helps if I give some sort of frame of reference
When I said I have a 'boatload of unfinished projects' I wasn't quite with it enough to actually detail some of those out.
The arena piece I'm showing is part of a number of them that are prepped. Prepped = fully assembled and with their grey stone paint. Technically they're done at this point. But I figured if they were meant to be decorative I would make them decorative, darn it.
My friend Abaroth has instructions for painting marble on his site here. Of course, I chose a color he didn't have detailed. I'm currently fascinated with using copper as my metal so I went with blue. (If it isn't immediately obvious to you why copper and blue are good together I recommend a quick read on color theory. Go ahead, I'll wait.) And now I'm completely in love with cobalt blue, which is the base color for my blue marble.
After I get these done I have a fountain that will be getting red granite accents, also based on Abaroth's instructions and also not a color he detailed. See a trend here? The fountain will then need to be varnished before I add the water effects. Varnishing after would dull the water.
Side note. I had already assembled the fountain when I saw that I had the fountain heads in the wrong place. I left it that way until I decided to see just how strong the epoxy bond was. Let's just say that I'll be using more epoxy to repair the breaks in the fountain.
After the fountain I'll be painting up a set of the arena pieces for a friend. We did a barter. He's not getting marble. But I am looking at doing the columns black with gold on the tops. The roof sections will be in burgundy and there will be burgundy runes on the columns to bring the color into the build more. Sounds more complicated than it is. I'll be doing one piece for his approval before painting them all like that.
Believe it or not there are projects after those. I have a Hirst Arts Dragon's Inn to finish. That one just needs a roof and some basing terrain.
The I have two small village shops that need to be completed - magic shop and a take-away food joint. The buildings are pretty much done but all the interiors need work. Lots of fiddly bits.
Lastly I have a huge dice roller that is being completed. It was started as a present for Mr. Rastl. He picked the design. And then 3/4 of the way to it being complete he decided it was too large. That was the third attempt at making a dice tower for him. Current popular opinion is to give him a bag of bricks and a bottle of glue. But I'll give it one more try.
Somewhere in here I need to complete a mini for a mini exchange. That's a double-blind where you put your name in the hat and the organizer picks who you paint for. And they also pick who paints for you. So you don't know who is painting the mini you're getting. I received my completed minis already and they're quite fun. More monsters to kill my players.
To start
OK - I've been peer-pressured into putting together a blog. I truly hate the abbreviation 'blog' as it seems no one knows what it is an abbreviation of. For those interested, it is an abbreviation of 'web log'.
I'm so not a person to put every passing thought of mine into the public domain. I tried something similar with a personal web page and found it too tedious to maintain with any regularity. Perhaps having someone else host everything will be easier.
Currently I'm working on finishing up a boatload of half-finished projects. I made a promise to myself that I can't start anything new until I finish up the old stuff.
Right now I'm working on painting some faux marble on my Hirst Arts decorative gothic arena pieces. Here's a picture of what it looks like:
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