Tauster's Miniatures

[skunkape]

You might also be able to use those foam balls you can get at crafting stores. You'll want to make sure and coat the ball in something like Modpodge or glue to give them strength.

[Sam]

I used an aluminum foil ball for my galeb duhr and otyugh, and a ping pong ball for my beholder. I have a plastic golf ball for a future project. All quick and easy round bodies depending on size.

[tauster]

Aluminum foil is probably the way to go. Strong enough, easy to shape, cheap. The only way to top it would be something with an interesting, built-in texture. Let's see...

[tauster]

I haven't finished the May pasta project (they're still unpainted), but I have already found two new types of pasta:

  

The 'undulating band' could be snail- or worm-like monsters, or, if stacked in parallel above each other, nasty openings in the body of a large monster. The small one looks very organic and could be some fungoid growth, giant eggs or whatever else a DM's sick fantasy comes up with. As always, if you have any ideas, fire away!

[curufin]

Jun 12, 2017 18:19:26 GMT tauster said:

I haven't finished the May pasta project (they're still unpainted), but I have already found two new types of pasta:

  

The 'undulating band' could be snail- or worm-like monsters, or, if stacked in parallel above each other, nasty openings in the body of a large monster. The small one looks very organic and could be some fungoid growth, giant eggs or whatever else a DM's sick fantasy comes up with. As always, if you have any ideas, fire away!

Oh man, those are great!  I love the fungus growth one.  Could also be some sort of creature scale or armour piece.  I'll have to be on the lookout for those.....   I can't wait to see what you do with them.

[tauster]

If postage wasn't so dang expensive, I could ship you bags of that staff.

[curufin]

Jun 12, 2017 18:56:13 GMT tauster said:

If postage wasn't so dang expensive, I could ship you bags of that staff.

Yeah, it would cost 40 times more to ship than to just buy it.  I went to the store today, but I didn't see any of that pasta   BUT, I did find some of this mushroom lid shaped stuff.   I used a little hot glue and some drinking straws to make this mushroom mound.

[tauster]

I'm not surprised you didn't find that particular type of pasta. There are hundreds of varieties out there, and I have found this one only a few days back. I would have grabbed it if I had seen it before, so I'm pretty sure they are new on the shelf of my supermarket.

Because there are so many pasta varieties, I look every time I'm there because the sortiment changes from time to time. Your markets do probably change their varieties too, so in the end ...who knows what else you'll come up with?

Could I send you a few in a cushioned envelope, or will that be intercepted by customs agents suspecting pasta terrorism?
Even a dozen would be enough as you could make a mold and then make hotglue replicates.

[curufin]

I appreciate the offer, but I'll keep looking around town. There is a store that just sells pasta near me. Who knows what new wonders I will discover

[tauster]

Keep us updated with your pasta haul!

[sotf]

You know, with the pasta cap mushrooms, those look like you could use them to make a rather easy piece of terrain for a fairy circle or the like.

[tauster]

After a three weeks break, I started working on the bodies of the Oculants^*. I really like how they turned out, so far!
^{* got a better name? Fire away please!}

The Originals



My take:


 




When the milliput is cured, I'll attach the arms. I don't think I'll find feet as in the originals, but I still have that box of gormiti figures. I never really looked at their feet, so maybe I get lucky there and can make some molds.

[tauster]

Got the arms done, hurray!
I wanted to keep the drive after yesterday night's sculpting session, and found some free 30mins today to make the arms. Now all they need are feet. Here's some close-up pics of the Oculants:





I tried to give them non-threatening poses, so I made the arms placantingly wide. They look not only funny but also so non-threatening that I'm sure my players won't be alarmed by them.

...which means I need a few surprise abilities for them that throw my players a curve. I could modify the beholder's eyestalk abilities: Give them telekinetic rays and a weak disintegrating beam for example. They need some edge to have survived in the Underdark for so long, after all.


The Juniors. After making the shoulders, I had - again - enough milliput left over to make another small one. They get tentacle segments instead of arms because these creatures hatch without arms, then grow small tentacles which later differentiate into 'real' arms. I probably won't give them feet either (same growing mechanism), so they move by jumping, not unlike certain well-known tentacles.

[jennifer]

Very nice tauster!

[wilmanric]

tauster, you have a 3D printer, don't you? Maybe find some feet on Thingiverse and print some legs for these Occulants! Shouldn't be too hard to do. Just a thought.

[tauster]

Jun 19, 2017 13:26:01 GMT wilmanric said:

tauster , you have a 3D printer, don't you? Maybe find some feet on Thingiverse and print some legs for these Occulants! Shouldn't be too hard to do. Just a thought.

Thanks for the idea, wil. But I don't have a 3D printer, and will likely work without one for some time, time being the one reason (more on that in the next posting) and money the other. While I find 3D printers really cool, I prefer crafting by hand. At least I keep saying that to myself to make me stay away from buying one of these thingies a little longer.

I've made some feet by molding them from other miniatures, but they don't really look good enough to me. And after having them sitting on my desk for a few days, I seem to like the feetless shape of them. So give me another few days (or weeks?), and I'll probably paint them up as is.

[tauster]

There's some good news and some bad:

This week, my crafting time has been maximised for the next couple of months. That's the bad news, actually, because maximising means I will probably be crafting less, not more.

Introducing Max, who is the good news, and the reason for aforementioned bad news:




This is one of two miniatures I'm most proud of, although I didn't craft him all by myself - the vast majority of the work was done by my lovely wife. Overall the project took about nine months and with 3kg and 50cm he's actually not a miniature but rather a bigature.

While most of the creatures I made so far were getgw (good enough to game with), this one is damn near perfect. He cries only little, can be comforted easily and yes, he even lets us sleep most of the nights! We have had only four nights together with him so far, so this can change any day of course. But if your first kid did't let you sleep a single night for the first 4 months (KiSS syndrome), this is very treasured.

I hope to get him into crafting just like our first son, who can't throw anything away because 'I need this for crafting'. My wife is already used to that, fortunately. So with three men in the house unable to get rid of stuff, we probably don't need a trash can any more. To think of all the stuff you could build out of a trash can...

[margaret]

Congratulations! The most adorable miniature that I have seen on this forum. You and your wife make a good team =)

[kgstanley81]

Congratulations, he is very cute

[Draklith]

Congratz Tauster