Elemental cave system

[ofcorse]

Hello folks, it's been a while since my last post as I've been moving house. I now have a fully dedicated crafting room and, well, you guys can probably imagine how ecstatic I am...
So I managed to finish a set of cave/cavern/mine tiles, as well as Piotr, the unsinkable earth/stone elemental, completing the cycle for that element. Despite depicting a fully stone-made entity, Piotr is actually about 95% made of cork... hence the "unsinkable" title.
I will finish the fire and water big guys but that will be for another day. Hope you guys like the pics, looking forward to your comments. Cheerful

imgur.com/gallery/bz6LFaA

imgur.com/gallery/fwwiEkm

[sgtslag]

Impressive! I am a huge fan of modular terrain systems -- they can reconfigured, and used over, and over, and... Nice work on Piotr. Looks dangerous! Your players are going to enjoy dying in such lovely terrain.   Cheers!

[margaret]

Love the cork stone elemental! =)

[erho]

Thats hot!

Did you use the large cell black foam for the tiles?

[ofcorse]

Jul 25, 2018 21:26:46 GMT erho said:

Thats hot!

Did you use the large cell black foam for the tiles?

Hey,

I've used 2 kinds of foam to build the cave tiles: my salmon pink foam core (for the tall ones) and the good old white foam used for packaging (used for the lower ones).

I was mostly experimenting with techniques and the first tiles I made were created at a time when I hadn't found foam core yet.

Unsurprisingly, I prefer foam core. That material is nuts when it comes to shaping textures.

[ofcorse]

Hello dear crafters,
Lately I've been a bit lost in crafting small bits and pieces... nothing worth showing off.
Today, however, I managed to finish my large water elemental, made of silicone. I wasn't happy with the design but got fed up with the details. So I just painted it in order to have that nice feeling:"at least, I've finished something".
And, voilà!

imgur.com/gallery/WNZD1aW

Hope you like it

[erho]

Nice job on the texture and paint job, it really works!


PS unsolicited advice;

Gloss the crap out of it!!

[margaret]

I like the colors you chose!

[DnDPaladin]

Aug 23, 2018 19:27:34 GMT erho said:

Nice job on the texture and paint job, it really works!


PS unsolicited advice;

Gloss the crap out of it!!

Agreed anything that seems wet must be glossed with varnish and not just one , many layers of gloss. like 3.

[ofcorse]

Hello to you all fellow cafters,
It's been a while since I've shared nice pictures of my crafts with you. Let's say I've been distracted... for an extended period of time.

So I'm back with some nice stuff to show off, let's start:

I was preparing a sort of skirmish campain for a group of 3 dwarves. Skirmish-style because I didn't want to plan a whole campain to see my players disappear in the wild a couple of sessions later. So instead, I only plan the next session, as a sort of independant encounter (3 to be precise) for the night and try to connect them in between.

imgur.com/a/4LmvTG5

But the whole Dwarven society living under a mountain and tunnels network has grown on me and tons of ideas have poured into my mind since I've started it.
I've even invested in a set of super nice dwarf minis (from Scibor, in Poland)... in my opinion these are the most amazing dwarves I've seen on the market, but I digress.

So the first session was done last week

imgur.com/a/i1Zysi4

These are level 1 dwarves, young adults having to prove to the dwarven society they are "grown-ups"(beard, as dwarves don't grow that much).
So they have to exit the mountain for the first time and report to the first dwarven outpost to get their marks (symbol of dwarvenadulthood).

So after a brief encounter with goblins just before finding the mountain's exit, they met a dwarf bounty hunter transporting a gnome criminal wanted for smuggling dwarven ore and gems to non-dwaves (outrageous!). But as the gnome fed some raging mushroom to the bounty henter's pet bear, the dwarf freaked out and ran in panic for help.

I must dedicate my mushrooms craft and mechanic idea from Deafnala (respect!).

Finally, they reached the outpost to discover only dwarf guard remainings... and skeletons! Epic battle on the different levels of the tower (papercraft by the way, thx worldworksgames).

I'll keep you posted as I am writing the scenario for the second encounter during Easter holiday.

Cheerio

[sgtslag]

I assume that Rattlesnake is a Schleich, Safari, Ltd., or some such? I would have a very hard time with that on the table... Looks too real. Guess I failed my Saving Throw against an illusion spell.

I am guessing that you made the castle tower from the WorldWorks Castleworks Ultimate set? Or is it from one of their Mordheim sets? I bought their original CastleWorks set, which launched their company, back in the day. When they came out with Castleworks Ultimate, I enthusiastically bought it, but when I looked at it, it was just too complex for me. The card stock buildings were not durable enough, and to build something that complex, knowing that it would be destroyed with little use, took the wind out of my sails. I've never built anything from that set.

Anyway, cool set-up. Thanks for sharing. I suspect your players enjoyed it, tremendously -- I know that I would... In spite of that rattler!  Cheers!

[ofcorse]

The rattle snake is just a future project... you know, one of those million ideas that might never become real^^
The first set of image was actually to assess the extent of my creations. The monster setting was performed by my 4 years-old She loves playing with my minis and terrain.

As for the paper tower, again, well spotted! I have quite a few paper models from Dave Graffam (DriveThru) I mix with the tower. I've reinforced them all with corrugated cardboard for long term storage... no, survival! I understand you might be overwhelmed by such time-consuming process but that's part of what I enjoyed doing, and what got me into crafting!

[sgtslag]

Actually, I began printing PDF buildings on full-sheet label paper, then I apply these to 2-3mm thick cardboard. I cannot use the designed tabs to glue them together, but... When I am done, they are much heavier, much more durable, and they look great! I purchased the Basic Keep from Fat Dragon Games, several years back. I also bought their Siege Engine set.  My complicated construction methods worked quite well on them all.  Here are some photo's of wall sections, towers, and two Siege Towers, built this way:

Photo #1:  Castle Walls, Towers, and Siege Tower, all made using label paper as cladding over 3mm thick cardboard.

Photo #2:  Edge-on view of the Siege Tower, clearly showing the heavy cardboard core of the construction method.

Photo #3:  Battering Ram, made with 3mm cardboard, rather than 110# card stock.  It is extremely durable, in comparison to card stock!


Finally got back to editing the links, after a couple of years...  Cheers!

[ofcorse]

Good day fellow crafters,  it's been eons since I posted a craft, so let me correct that right away. 
I might seem a little obsessed with tree elementals but... that may very well be the case.
Sorry I can't post directly pictures, but if you follow the link, you shall see the different steps involved in crafting the dude. I'm actually posting this while sitting in a high speed train^^ 
So I started with a metal wire armature, which I believe is the most important; a lot of time was involved in twisting and watching the skeleton to make sure I likes the pose. Then some simple "papier maché" (paper towel + white glue and a tad of H2O). 
The foliage is actually made of an old sponge (natural) and used a few other natural materials found... well outdoor: branches and actual moss.

imgur.com/a/xAaTF5I

Hope you guys enjoy and let me know if you like it. 
Cheerio

[RPG Grandma]

Oh that came out cool. I love the top of it just being a great big plant mouth. Wonderful.

[sgtslag]

Impressive work! Nicely done. Cheers!

[tauster]

Wonderful approach, especially that 'hole face'!

[ofcorse]

Jul 20, 2020 18:07:40 GMT tauster said:

Wonderful approach, especially that 'hole face'!

I'm glad you liked that detail; I have had to paint it quite a few times to enhance the contrast between the roots/mouth and the interior (the picture was taken with black wash still wet, there'sno glossy effect) as a friend of mine wasn't buying it...

I personally like the fact that I used real moss (on the base) and lichen (on the body) although the colours will decay over time.

[margaret]

Looks plenty scary to me! and a nice paint job on the whole thing =)

[erho]

Killer work, very inspirational!