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Post by tauster on Feb 28, 2022 22:28:27 GMT
Using these beads is genious. They come in more colors than I could possibly find uses for. They are cost practically nothing (especially if you have kids - ours have several metric tons of these thingies), are small (easy to store and don't take up much additional place at the game table - you can even carry them in your dice bag) and removable after the game. Love that idea!
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Post by tauster on Feb 3, 2022 9:17:12 GMT
Never have I read a book by Dick Francis. I looked it up, because of your post, margaret . I assume you are referring to the killer in that book? Making an educated guess based on some reviewer comments I read on Amazon. One fellow commented that when he re-read the chase scene(?), he waited for broad daylight, but he still had to change his pants, afterwards... I may have to look up "Proof," in my public library. You have piqued my interest, along with the reviewer's comments. Cheers!
I didn't went so far as to go through book reviews, but now you have piqued my interest... margaret, could you enlighten us a bit more, without 'spoilering' too much?
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Post by tauster on Feb 1, 2022 19:14:48 GMT
Love the colors, the whimsy, the visual appeal and style of your work. The whole package is great. Love to read your posts, always. Thank you, for sharing. Cheers!
I was about to say the same, the Sarge beat me to it. Please keep sharing your creations, Alan!
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Post by tauster on Feb 1, 2022 19:13:46 GMT
If you have enough foam cut-off's, do both rock and ice monsters! Otherwise, you can always do them as ice, then re-do them as rock monsters, later. Thanks for sharing! Cheers!
Glad you like it.
Since not much foam is needed for a hand-sized critter, I could build a horde of those buggers with the stuff I have at hand.
The limitations that are more important are time and the clutter-factor, i.e. that in the end the stuff, no matter how cool it is, will take away storage space. Oh, and: It will probably be used only a couple of times in games, with years in between uses...
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Post by tauster on Feb 1, 2022 7:53:52 GMT
Nothing posted in quite some time... guess it's time for another update.
I watched 'Terra Willy' recently with our kid, and we both liked the huge crystal/rock monsters that are the movie's main danger:
They'd make fantastic two-stage monsters, because initially they are buried in the ground, so all you see are large rock formations, that burst from the ground when prey is near.
We started by making a fre large and small terrain markers, cutting crystals from styrofoam and gluing them on some bases. The crystals were placed far enough apart from each other that a human-sized mini fits inbetween:
I didn't feel like sculpting heads, or pieceing them together out of crystals, so we took a few dinosaur toys...
...and copied their heads with the tried-and-true 'silicone + cornstarch + baby oil + acrylic color' method:
The legs of the ankylosaurus will be used for these buggers because I don't trust them to stand on foam legs. I could have cast a few hotglue crystals (or whittled them directly from gluesticks) but I decided I want them to have real feet.
The troll's head was included because there was some material left over. You can always use troll heads as a monster builder.
I didn't take pics from the bodies but they're easy to make: I simply formed the shape with crumpled paper, wrapped it with masking tape so it holds its shape, then covered it in hotglue. After that I added the head and legs, taking care to position them in a dynamic pose so it looks like the creature is making a step, turning its head or otherwise moving.
Time to whittle some more crystals...
...and glue them to the backs of the beasties.
Bonus points if you place some crystals so that a mini can stand on it. Add's a huge amount of playability.
Next I have to decide on the paint scheme. I'm still not decided between painting it like rocks (as in the movie) or making them ice elementals (I could use them in one of my games as creatures from the elemental plane of ice). For rock monsters, I'd give the foam crystals more texture, i.e. dents and chips, plus sand & small grit glued on with whiteglue. Ice crystals would stay smooth, get a white basepaint, then some light blue tones and a pearlescent layer, finishing it with glossy acrylic varnish.
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Post by tauster on Jun 14, 2021 17:20:25 GMT
Here is the Mushroom Babe (more suitable name forthcoming) & her admirers by the Twisted Tower:
Please, do find a more suitable name. Mushroom Babe does sound rather... unhygienic.
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Post by tauster on Apr 9, 2021 19:53:28 GMT
Finally started another terrain set. Not that the old ones are all finished up... It's another 'junkyard' themed set, three large pieces that will be used mainly on Clockwork, a completely mechanical and artificial moon older than the rest of the crystal sphere it is set in, and probably as old as the multiverse itself. It's a central part of the metaplot of a campaign that started in 2002 and after a few sleepy periods is still/again going strong. And if that's not enough reason to put a more-than-average amount of work into it, than it is because mechanical terrain is always cool like hell. Construction foam, gears from an old inkjet printer, leftover foam bits (styrofoam and construction foam) plus
other odds and ends. Never throw such junk away if you have the storage space, and a concept of keeping your pile of material more or less organized. I also added a few LEGO Bionicle parts. I bought a 10kg crate of random bionicle parts for an apple and an egg a few years back. I have been giving this stuff to the kids who absolutely love it, and have been building quite a number of robots, terrain pieces and stuff with it so far.
What did I just say about never throwing stuff away...? A while back I had another little project where I drilled lots and lots of holes through plastic boards. I kept the crumps and even sorted the larger ones out so I had two different grain sizes. I knew I'll use that stuff for exactly this set, so keeping it around instead of throwing it away is a little less crazy than it might sound.
The messy part: Glob PVA glue over all the empty spaces and wherever dirt is going to go, then sprinkle the plastic shavings over everything.
Leave it to dry for a day or two, then knock all loose parts off (make sure you have enough newspaper under the area you're doing it, otherwise you'll find crumbs of that stuff for years after you finished!) and seal it with a good helping of watered-down PVA glue. And yes: It is as messy as it looks. That's how far I've progressed. I'll give it another day or two to dray uf, then prime the whole thing in black.
Even with simple color schemes like rusted iron and copper&verdigris, this will be a hell of a paint job due to the size of the pieces, and the awful number of details. I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but nobody rushes me, so I can take my time. I just hope this won't become another unfinished project on the crafting table. It would take up an awful amount of work space.
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Post by tauster on Apr 7, 2021 21:36:17 GMT
'A little less contrary'... Can't tell you how much I love that new critter. That creature is like an ettin turned into a mushroom. I'd sooo love to roleplay this one!
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Post by tauster on Mar 28, 2021 12:14:25 GMT
Those pics are brilliant, and not only because of the better lighting!
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Post by tauster on Mar 20, 2021 14:22:46 GMT
Looking for new posts and tripped over this because of our beloved bot member... just so cool of a build.
"our beloved bot member" - this made me smile more than you might think.
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Post by tauster on Mar 17, 2021 21:51:45 GMT
You are a phenomenon, Alan. You churn out these little pieces of art in a way that brings a swiss clockwork to mind. Each Tick and each Tack is a little wonder. I admire you for so much discipline! After years of posting hundreds of creations myself, you're the one that keeps me coming back every few days to this lonely and sad place. I still fully intend to get back into crafting - my craft desk is right behind my PC and full of unfinished projects - but life has me firmly in it's grips, so for now, other stuff has temporarily become more important. Which will change, sooner or later - and then the crafting will continue.
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Post by tauster on Jan 1, 2021 18:36:48 GMT
A happy 2021 to you, Alan!
Does it surprise you that I prefer your version to the original? Na, not really, right?
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Post by tauster on Dec 22, 2020 0:23:25 GMT
Great result. I'd be proud if I were as far with my OSL skills. This seriously rocks, especially for a second OSL mini!
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Post by tauster on Dec 18, 2020 20:44:56 GMT
Sweet, as always! How did you do the glasses of the left 'shroom in the first foto?
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Post by tauster on Dec 11, 2020 10:44:57 GMT
excellent sculpts. call me impressed!
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Post by tauster on Dec 10, 2020 14:25:31 GMT
Based in black and, after this dried, metallic black, then drybrushed a silver tone over all structures:
Drybrushed the rust on:
I'm tempted to call it done. It is certainly good enough to game with, but I might add some accents like a glowing eye (OSL effect practice!) and some brighter metallic accents on knobs, ridges etc.
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Post by tauster on Dec 5, 2020 8:35:59 GMT
A mixture of both, most often.
With this little(?!) guy, I wanted to make a five-legged design. Then I started by going through mypile of trash crafting material some caps to make the body and head, then the box with LEGO Bionicle parts* to find what works for legs.
* I got lucky in 2017 and hunted myself a 10kg box of those parts for a very ecent price. That box has kept on giving ever since, spawning or contributing to lots of projects.
However often I find materials that spawn a certain idea first, and then I wrap my head around what else I need to get there.
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Post by tauster on Dec 2, 2020 16:09:35 GMT
Started another robot today...
A few Lego Bionicle parts, a spray can cap, some other caps...
Glue it all together. Simple as that. I wanted to go for a five-legged critter.
From the PC's perspective. Impressive, huh?
Next steps: priming in black, then doing the rest of the paint job. Shouldn't be that hard, but I don't look forward to this kind of 'work'. Has to be done anyways, or I won't be able to put it on the game table...
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Post by tauster on Nov 30, 2020 19:02:44 GMT
Summer & fall are over, and gardening takes up less time nowadays, which is good for crafting. My crafting output had dwindled to almost zero finished pojects, plus a half-dozen unfinished projects during the last months, but xmas time is approaching fast, which usually sees me doing xmass-y stuff. Hurray, ...or HO. HO. HO...? ...here's this year's model. I found those Scribor models months ago.
I always knew how I'd do them, but never kicked myself sufficiently in the proverbial butt to actually make some. Until today.
Make the general body shape with crumbled tin foil, hotglue it on the bulb, add some wire, smear construction foam over everything EXCEPT the damn bulb itself. Trust me, you will get foam smears on the bulbs. Which is frustrating because something in the foam reacts with the surface of the bulbs, so you can't clean it away. *sigh*
...oh, and don't forget to wear rubber gloves! And put some newspaper on and under your work surface. You don't want to scrape that construction foam away from your carpet or floor. This stuff is evil.
Hotglue some beads on the body for eyes. I was toying with the thought of making at least oen 'cyclops' model, but it didn't look good on any of my four shapes. Maybe next time.
Small, elongated stones for teeth. I got mine from the playground, where they have this gravel instead of sand in the sandbox. If you don't find enough stones, sculpt some.
That's how far I got today. Next step is painting the Hungry Four. Not gonna lie, that's not something I look forward to, as usual...
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Post by tauster on Nov 19, 2020 8:37:03 GMT
Those arms are really good. I know from (frustrating) exoerience how difficult it is to get arms an hands even half-right, and yours look pretty good! ...oh, and Spiderwick. I always love the books. Even the movie wasn't that bad.
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