dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Oct 8, 2017 21:03:14 GMT
Having some Hama Beads standing around inspired me to see if I could sculpt some Will-o'-Wisps. The basic idea was to get the impression of the floating sphere of yellow-white light as in the illustrations: My materials were simple: Transparent yellow beads with golden glimmer in them (which I could liberate a few of from the kids collection of beads (the box in the picture holds maybe a quarter of the ones they have)), some thin clear plastic from packaging, some small cork discs (about the right size for the base of something smaller than Medium), and some clear hot glue. I did up a quick test piece to see if the concept worked and found the bits for some more: The clear plastic has been folded double and then cut to a thin shaft widening at the base, where I cut and folded it, so that I could stick it to the adhesive on the cork - cheap and simple flying stand - and then secure it with some hot glue. Adding the beads to the rest and applying a glob of hot glue around the bead matches the look quite nicely. I'm dipping the glue in cold tap water after application to get it to set quickly without running too much. Then I just based with some static grass and sand to match other "outside" bases of mine. And just for fun I put a few on a forest piece, I had lying around - should have used a black backdrop instead of white though. All together really easy and cheap - and I like how close to the reference they are (although it would be even cooler if the beads could be tiny LEDs - but then it's not exactly cheap and spur-of-the-moment) :-)
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Post by margaret on Oct 8, 2017 21:44:00 GMT
very nice! I love simple and effective =)
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Post by sgtslag on Oct 10, 2017 2:32:08 GMT
VERY nice! Well conceived, handily executed. Fantastic work. Thanks for sharing, and inspiring. Cheers!
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Post by Sam on Oct 10, 2017 13:13:21 GMT
These are nice. I need to make some of these. Added to "to do" list.
I made 4. No tails, just white/blue balls, Thanks for the idea.
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Oct 10, 2017 23:47:57 GMT
If you want a slightly easier method (If you aren't using LED's in them), look for the ball topped hat pins in the fabric section of the craft store. Use your hobby drill to put an indent in your base, put the pointed tip of the pin in the indent with a bit of glue, then continue as you do in this tutorial.
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Post by angie1985 on May 9, 2018 1:49:08 GMT
Just found this while searching for "the dip"...What a great idea...will be adding this to my crafts to make list!!
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Post by erho on May 9, 2018 15:56:18 GMT
Love it!
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Aug 8, 2018 16:42:31 GMT
I found another variation on this craft - the vampiric mist from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes :-) Start like before, but with a red bead: Use hot glue liberally :-) And cool in water to set. I went for a glob with a bit less dynamic movement to it. Now paint some veins of blood on it: Once that is dry I used some clear varnish/glue (for paper crafts) to fix a little bit of pillow stuffing on top. Then a bit of spray varnish just to make it more cloudy: Finally some basing: The red is a bit hard to see on pictures, but gives a nice effect in person. And all without breaking the bank :-)
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Sept 29, 2018 18:20:34 GMT
Another variation on the idea of sticking some small craft on the end of a folded piece of clear plastic. This time I took a few bits of thin steel wire, laid a piece out with a slight bend and a tighter v that joins it in the bend. This little assembly I glued inside a thin bit of tissue paper with PVA. It was a bit fiddly but once dry and trimmed to shape I got a nice bat-like wing. Two of these went into holes where the ears were on a random plastic head: Let it dry and slap on some paint: and we have a nifty little vargouille :-)
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Post by erho on Oct 4, 2018 16:33:51 GMT
Old Mordheim head.... I have alot of these that I need to use for this!
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Lynq
Tool Gatherer
Posts: 75
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Post by Lynq on Oct 22, 2018 13:04:10 GMT
These are so simple and yet really effective! I love these sorts of crafts
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Jan 10, 2019 21:49:57 GMT
A bit of leftover material from the kids projects for Christmas presents inspired another little quick craft. This time it's a plastic film that shrinks in the oven. To test it as a miniature crafting material, I drew up a quick free hand of the Living Shade from Kobold Press' Creature Codex on a piece of paper. I was careful to mark up my paper with a box of suitable size - so I'd know how big to draw to account for shrinkage (the finished piece is shrunk to ~40% of the original). Then tracing my design onto the plastic with a fine permanent marker and coloring it with a black coloring pencil (the color gets quite a bit more intense when shrunk, due to pigments be on a smaller area). I remembered to leave a little bit of clear plastic to use as a stand when I cut it out and then i shrunk it, colored in the eyes and based it on a washer. I think this would work nicely for a bunch of undead/ethereal/fey/whatever types of monster that are supposed to be "ghost-like" and such. I've been experimenting a bit to see if the plastic can be shrunk while bent, but so far all I've found are ways to prevent it from shrinking like it's supposed to. That leads to pieces of plastic that are bent in all kinds of other directions than the one intended. So I guess this is best for "flat" monsters. I'm sure you could trace from a photocopy or printout as well, but tracing a free hand drawing just felt a bit more authentic ;-)
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Post by Sam on Jan 11, 2019 18:07:54 GMT
This is great. Simple and effective. I see potential as ghosts, unseen servants, shadows, wraiths, and cloakers to name a few. Did you try draping it over a round rock? I think "dodobot" did something similar in one of his posts. Cannot recall which. The plastic is available at Michaels and JoAnn Fabrics as Shrinky Dinks. I think this can be put thru a inkjet printer, too. It has been around a while, and came in some classic targeted kits.
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Post by thedungeonmattster on Jan 18, 2019 13:42:06 GMT
This whole thread full of so much goodness! I can't wait to make a few of my own! And that Vargouille! Those are my favorite DnD monster of all time!
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