13 posts tagged “hirst arts”
OK - today was the day before the convention actually starts. I flew into Dallas this morning. I remember part of the beverage service and the landing. I guess I needed sleep. I purposely took the seat next to the engine so that:
A) The white noise from the engine would be soothing.
B) The noise from the engine would prevent people from talking.
Both worked. At one point the noise got annoying so I put in my earbuds and listened to music. I made it half-way through the second song before I was asleep again. That helped me be slightly more alert.
The directions from Yahoo had me using the toll road when there was a perfectly good non-toll road alternative. Luckily I knew this from previous trips. So I made it to the hotel with very little fuss.
My buddy got here Tuesday so we met up at the hot tub for some catch-up and some relaxation. Make a note of this - pools in Texas generally aren't heated. This can be quite a surprise after sitting in a hot tub for a while. We found it easier to use the ladder into the deep end instead of the stairs at the shallow end. The stairs gave us too much of a chance to chicken out.
It started to rain a bit while we were in the pool but no storm so we just waited it out. It worked. A couple of rounds of hot tub - pool really relaxed the muscles kinked up from days of prep, hauling around heavy luggage and sleeping in an airplane.
Reaper is nice enough to do a "meet and greet" with food for all the early arrivals. They also gave us our convention packets so we don't have to clog up the official registration tomorrow. There were some really fun things in the packets this year. Two of the reformulated Pro Paints, some CAV cards, some other surprises. The new Casketworks is not in color which seems like a throwback to the early days but it makes sense. Only a few pages were in color. Most of the catalog was black and white anyway. Doesn't help the color swatches they used to have tho.
Most everyone had left by around 10:00 or so. Getting back to the hotel I changed into my comfy clothes, poured a margarita (darn these small hotel cups) and set about fixing the pieces that broke off the Hirst Arts piece I brought as a gift. ReaperClark kindly provided me a tube of two part epoxy so I didn't have to hunt around for a store this late at night. Unfortunately as I fixed it all back up I noticed a missing brick at the join of one of the sections. A completely missing brick. Argh. I'll have to give it to the person this way and send them the missing brick and that annoys me. But it should also teach me to leave things until last minute.
I stopped at the package store to get my contribution to ShinerCon later this weekend. For those not informed a 'package store' is a liquor store and ShinerCon is one night when we all meet in someone's hotel room and indulge in Shiner beer. Shiner is a local brand of beer. There's a secret handshake and some of us attach Shiner bottle caps to our badges the next day. It's all part of ReaperCon.
The convention officially opens at noon on Thursday. That lets me sleep in a little and hopefully hit that hot tub again. I won't have time after that because I'm going to be at Reaper from 9:00am until around 11:00pm if last year is any indication. And Sunday I'll be going directly from Reaper to visit my dad. And don't think I won't be hitting the hot tub once I get to that hotel. But I get ahead of myself.
Tomorrow I have one class on painting army highlights. The rest of the day is mine. There's games to play, people to chat with, painting to do, shopping to do, and otherwise just hang out.
I'll report back on Official Day One tomorrow. I would add pictures but I can't get them from the camera to the computer I'm using here. I could probably have used one of the adapters from home but the one that would have been easiest is USB 2.0 and this is an older computer that doesn't support it. Ditto on the media player - I can charge it using the computer but not transfer files.
Margarita number three is almost gone so it's time to toddle off to sleep.
I am so late on this but my partner was understanding.
I believe I have explained how a mini exchange works previously but I'll summarize here. You sign up, you get a name, you paint a mini, you send it off. Someone else paints a mini and sends it to you. Fun all around.
I like to research what the person receiving my mini prefers. I do this by searching the forum for things they've posted or commented upon. Normally they give some guidance when they sign up (elves, females, etc.) but I like to do my own research too.
This time around I was paired with someone who only likes display minis. This means they're part of a diorama of some kind and not meant for game play. Hmmm....
I picked up a couple of the cheap wooden bases at the hobby store and started stacking blocks. I came up with a spiral staircase on a round base. The mini is a wizard walking down stairs. Of course, the stairs weren't the same height as the ones I made but that can be worked around. I mangled my first attempt at getting him off his integral base and my friend Erin took pity on me and sent me one already de-based.
So he's walking down the stairs on one side of the diorama. I needed something to fill the space on the other side. Meet Mr. Rat.
For the full effect, have a look at the 360 degree 'movie' I made.
Oh - the lantern is from an adventuring accessories pack and the hanger was made by my friends Abaroth and KeeblerOrc with their fun laser cutter. That's actually a candle holder but I didn't put that part on it. I needed a lantern hook.
I've been working on these off and on for a while. I wanted some decorative little founts to toss around the dungeon (not literally toss but scatter decoratively) and I had some casts from the oh-so-wonderful Hirst Arts Cavern Accessories Mold so I decided to have a little fun. Of course, this was after I decided on my 'no new projects' way of doing things. Like anyone thought that was going to happen.
This shows the fountain and the 'water' I used. I tried something different this time. Instead of using resin I tinted gloss varnish and used that to put in a layer of water. As you can see, all the varnish went to the edges of the piece. Not quite what I had in mind. I still used 5 minute epoxy for the water from the spout but didn't really do a froth where it hit.
Backstory. I have time to think whilst making and painting these things. And that was a lot of marble to paint. I actually made four of these founts so it was a lot of assembly line work. Rastl doesn't like assembly line work.
I wasn't being particularly careful on painting the marble so it isn't the best quality. And the lion heads all have some air bubbles. Without the stippling the alabaster is certainly second rate. So here's my explanation for all that.
The contractors building the dungeon must get pieces in the job lots that just aren't up to the standards needed in the BBEG's lair. But they already paid for it and had it hauled down to the job site. So rather than waste it they make up things that will be useful in various 'staff' areas of the dungeon and not really seen all the time by the guy who pays the bills. Now, you would think that the contractors would be doing their very best not to cheese off the BBEG but there's a pretty strong dungeon builder's contractor's union and there are very steep penalties for turning the contractors into undead (sub-contractors need to work out their own arrangements) so it's just easier all around for the less-than-perfect pieces to go into the less visible areas of the dungeon.
And if you're wondering, acrylic paint really doesn't have fumes so I don't have that excuse for what I just wrote.
Note - BBEG is the abbreviation for Big Bad Evil Guy. Essentially the reason for most quests and the fella you find in the center of the dungeon doing bad guy things.
Finally I sat down and finished these things. I know I could have used colored paper and not painted the drawers in place but I like how the base coat of paint unifies things. Otherwise it would have really looked like pieces of card stuck to a piece of wood.
I have a 'price chart' for the things in the cabinet where each color is a different price. That will go up when the whole shop is assembled.
Now I need to make a balance scale for the counter, since I have things that need to be weighed out.
And I'm making bottles. Every mage needs empty potion bottles!
Howdy! I haven't introduced myself yet because I haven't had anything to show.
I just posted a big ol' post on my blog about my latest project. It has pictures and everything.
Here's a teaser:
To give you an idea of scale. The stone piece is a 3 inch diameter circle. The figure is in what they call '28mm scale' which means it is supposed to be 28mm from feet to eyes. A quarter will come to about the middle of his chest, if that. So it is kind of 1:60 scale.
I do like working in 1:12 and 1:6 but right now I'm doing a lot in the 1:60 size. Pretty much all of my current projects are on my blog but I hope to get back to the larger stuff in the near future so I can share it here.
FYI - the stonework is from molds by a company called Hirst Arts (and/or Castlemolds). They're like Lego for castles. Way addicting. And the miniatures (both wizard and Mr. Rat) are from Reaper Miniatures. Wonderful products and the best bunch of people you could hope to meet.
So I hope I've introduced myself properly and showed off the latest projects.
No pictures - the camera isn't here right now. Yes I know. Lame excuse.
My painting has been put off to the side due to some vision problems. Some very, very annoying vision problems. But they seem to be clearing up so that's good.
I did take the time to put the drawer fronts and knobs on the cabinet units that are going behind the counter in my magic shop. Three units, 15 drawers each. I'm still not quite sure how the final painting is going to go but I did the cabinet base color as 'goose feather'. It's a kind of tan. Everything goes with tan.
I just picked up a media player last week or so and have been trying to see if I can use it to watch/listen to movies while working on my craft table. Overall it seems possible but I have to find a way to keep the player at the right angle so I can actually see the movies when I look up. Probably another Hirst Arts build in my near future.
My buddy James over at Skullcrafts sent me a box of basing goodness that showed up at my door this week. I took the 'Mystery Box' with me to paint night (it was delivered that day) and we all got to dig through the packing peanuts to see what was inside. There was quite an interesting selection of supplies. My mind is churning through how I'm going to use them for my next project. Well, and for any of my projects.
I didn't want to sit idle because I couldn't paint minis so I finally started painting a Hirst Arts gothic arena that I'm sending off to a friend. I have about 2/3 of the thing built but none of it painted. So I put the base coat on about 10 pieces. The base coat always takes the longest since I keep finding white spots that need paint. Eventually I just give up and try not to see them any more. I'm at that stage now.
I'm making the decorative arena pieces for him. He already has the basic arena so these will add to his set. That means painting in the same colors as his first set. I'm using craft paints instead of my normal latex but it isn't turning out too badly for me. I actually like the base color he has (pewter grey - kind of a greenish-grey) and may have a quart mixed up using color matching. I used that on a small fieldstone piece and really liked the effect.
Ooo! I can show you something!
I'm part of a miniature exchange on the Reaper forums. An exchange works like this:
- Someone decides to coordinate an exchange.
- People sign up to paint a mini for someone else.
- Coordinator sends out assignments.
- Paint the mini, send it to your
victimpartner.
Well, these darn vision problems have kept me from finishing the mini for my partner. I messaged her and she's good with holding off until I can finish it decently. She only really has display minis (I like to check out what my partner posts on the forums so I can decide what mini to paint) so I decided to make a display base for her mini. That's beyond the requirement but I thought it would be cool.
She took me up on the offer to see the work in progress shots I have. Currently I've shown them off to a few people but haven't posted them for general consumption. Now I can post them here.
You can see under the winding stairway to the sacks and Mr. Rat having a snack here. Stair support is just scribed balsa stained with Reaper Pro Paint Wood Shading Ink. Very handy stuff.
What's not showing here is a lantern on the floor in a puddle of oil. And a lantern hanger on the center column. Kind of setting the scene. My feeling is that Mr. Rat is going to get zotted in very short order.
That's the fieldstone I painted in that pewter grey. Then I did more to it so I could get the colored fieldstone. I'm 2/3 done with a tutorial for that.
Overall I'm pleased with the composition of the mini. I think it tells a story when you look at it as a whole.
Yes, after much angsting the fountain has been completed. Overall I'm quite pleased and will have some pictures later with it combined with my modular dungeon. But for now, behold it in all its glory!
There's a statue in the middle. Some day I'll be able to take a picture that shows it.
Edit - detail shot that was requested on one of the forums so I thought I would add it here too.
Rather than edit the last post I'll just put them in a new one. Makes it look like I've been doing more work than I actually have.
Well, the fountain is kind of back where it was before I broke it. The difference is that now it has the red granite detailing it didn't have prior to my test of epoxy strength. There's no water effect yet since I want to varnish it prior to putting that in.
I also moved the part with the fountain heads around so they are going to be spewing water in the widest part of the base, like they should have been in the first place. I know there's a couple of other things that are different from the directions but this is my fountain and I like it.
I'll try to get some closeups when the lighting is better.
Too busy doing stuff to stop and take pictures. Actually, either the item isn't able to be moved to a good place to take a picture, isn't dry, or isn't interesting enough yet.
The fountain has been reassembled. I finally took the time to remove the old epoxy and put it back together. That takes just as long as making it in the first place! I'll make a note of that for future reference - don't break.
The bookshelves that are shown below with the books and scrolls just don't work for the books. The shelves aren't tall enough to let any of them stand upright. ~sigh~ Measure twice, cut once. To be honest, the shelves were made waaaay in advance of the books. So I kind of have an excuse. So I made new ones.
The new shelves are made from balsa instead of the Hirst Arts wooden plank mold. I'm finding wood easier to use than the plaster pieces for things like this. Especially cutting and sanding to fit. The new shelves were assembled, detailed and stained. The stain will take overnight to dry completely so I'm just leaving them alone.
The books are done. I finished the last dozen or so on Saturday. I'm starting up a D&D3.5 game and some of my players were rolling up characters. Since we're using the straight rules I didn't have much to do besides tell them what region of Faerun they were from. They took the rest from there.
Finally, I cut the blocks for the new cabinet units to go behind the counter in the magic shop. Right now they're just blocks of wood. I need to add the fake drawer fronts and make them look much better. But I'll show a progress picture when there's something beyond a block of wood.
Good news is that Mega Miniatures has some figures I can use as shopkeepers and my friends want to combine an order so we get a break on shipping. If you haven't looked into John's figures I highly recommend you do so. They're a nice figure at a great price.
