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Post by DMScotty on Dec 5, 2013 22:24:40 GMT
Beads can really add that extra detail to your projects. I am always on the lookout for cheap beads and I found these at Walmart for 1-2$ a pack.
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Post by tauster on Dec 5, 2013 23:31:36 GMT
Scotty, I can't tell you just how much I agree! I wanted to post something along those lines for weeks now, but there's always something else to spent my time on... I've stumbled over DIY jewellery beads as crafting materials for steampunk stuff in 2011. There are tons of ebay shops selling this stuff from asia (china mainly), and they sell it dirt-cheap. Here's some of the stuff I got. I sorted them according to topics/themes (nature, general, medaillons, gears & clockworks,...) to get some order in what would otherwise be totally chaotic. I have probably sunk somewhere between 100 and 200 euros in this stuff, so you might say this is not exactly cheap, but I got several kilos of excellent stuff for that money. I don't say that the quality is very high (and how could it be, for these prices?), but it's enough for my purposes. I'll post only one picture and link the rest because I didn't want to downsize them (avoid losing details). Nature-themed stuffWings, butterflies, bumblebees, bats, birds-in-cages, mechanical-looking owls, spiderwebs, leaves*, scorpions, faeries, trees... I got at least one bag of each of those below, and I think each bag was priced at 1 to 3 €, not more. * each leaf on the left side between the wings and the bat is a little over 1 cm, so you get a sense of the scale Wingsi.imgur.com/jLeuFAM.jpgI got several kinds of wings, just because they all look so damn cool. I simply couldn't decide which I like most, so I took them all. Being priced so cheaply, this was practically a no-brainer. Medaillonsi.imgur.com/uE2pag1.jpgI've use these not as jewellery but as keys for modified keyboards. But I guess they work equally well for terrain/dungeon deco and other roleplaying things. Clockwork stuffi.imgur.com/867bM5t.jpgAgain, bought for steampunk purposes but with lots of potential for RPG props. Some of the clockworks would make, almost without modifications, awesome bases. General beads (i.e. no unifying theme)i.imgur.com/WKqGxy8.jpgi.imgur.com/k6Ayl1A.jpgi.imgur.com/HdV7jf3.jpgi.imgur.com/O2sdzxI.jpgLots of gears, clock faces, maritime stuff (steering wheels, starfishes, anchors), brass keys (a little less then 1 cm long), axes, and hundreds of beautifully textures beads. As above, all used mostly on modded keyboards for decoration. Many of those practically scream to be integrated in some kind of arcane device. Since this stuff is mostly made of metal and looked to be antique, you won't even have to paint them... I won't post pictures from my wooden colored beads, as they look similar to what Scotty already showed. As I said before, all of this stuff comes extremely cheap from asian ebay sellers, posting in the DIY jewellery categories. Many offer free shipping overseas or have very low shipping rates and even lower if you combine shipping of several articles. Expect to have to pick up your parcel at the customs authorities, but this is no big deal. And if you want to get it even cheaper, look on ebay for people who are quitting their hobby and sell all their crafting stuff. Sad as this is, you'll get some wonderful deals there. Since my interest changed a bit from crafting steampunk stuff to creating more RPG-based stuff like terrain props and miniatures (yes, this is your fault, Scotty! *g*), I haven't touched them in some time. Now that I've handled them again, I'm sure this will change - expect to see some of this stuff reborn in some monster or terrain prop soon!
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dmjonny
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 133
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Post by dmjonny on Dec 6, 2013 8:22:29 GMT
Thank you for sharing tauster. Ebay here I come!! :-)
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