As GenCon approaches, and all eyes turn towards Indianapolis, I thought it might be fun to share with you one of the things I'd be doing to celebrate my return (it's been 7 years!).
As many of you know, I work with a lot of Hirst Arts stuff. I cast blocks, build terrain, that sort of thing. In the process of doing regular casts, I get a lot of extra bits for which I don't find an immediate use. Some of those bits are skulls - two specific types, actually. I get a humanoid skull piece from Mold #70, and a dragon type skull piece from Mold #80. These skulls are useful for adding accents to terrain, but I don't usually need them. However, I do save them (NEVER throw out a good cast block, you might always find a use for it!).
That said, over the last few years, I've gathered several extra skulls of both types. I decided that for GenCon this year, I would paint a bunch of them and give them away as little gifts. I particularly wanted to show my appreciation to folks that I know on Twitter and elsewhere for their ongoing support of this little RPG blog I run. For the curious, I've thrown together a few photos of how the skulls came together. Enjoy!
Painting in process. I used an acrylic model paint. I find that acrylic works better on a porous surface and is also self sealing. When dry, the paint isn't "tacky" and also provides a protective surface for the block.
Second coat. One of the drawbacks of acrylic is that it is sometimes thinner than an equal volume of enamel. A second coat usually fixes that. Because the skulls were pretty small, I had to first paint the tops and sides, then once dry, devise a way to paint the bottoms. The solution was to use some Crayola Modeling Magic. I pressed a layer into the plastic lid the paints came in. Then I made little indentations to fit the skulls. The Modeling Magic material dried, resulting in a little rack to dry the skulls in.
Here, all the skulls are dried and are awaiting to be stored away. I chose a bunch of different colors. I do wish I'd had more dragon skulls, but apparently, I haven't used that mold as much as the other one. Instant RARE item!
Here's what you should be looking for if you meet me at GenCon. This little box is one of those paperboard boxes you can find at any craft store. I simply painted it to look like a treasure chest!
THERE BE SKULLS HERE!!
So...come meet me at GenCon, and while supplies last, get a hold of a skull painted by yours truly. Use your skull as a token, a good luck charm, or even an item of jewelry!
Hope to see you there!
Until next time...
Game excellently with one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment