Sunday, 18 December 2011
Thursday, 11 August 2011
You're only supposed to blow the ruddy doors off!
A quickee for today showing off a trio of napoleonic-style grenades I made for a client:
They are about palm sized, made of lightweight materials that are nontheless easy to throw. As a result I am declaring these LRP safe as grenades, just not as thrown weapons. IE: Chuck them around with no risk of harming anyone but expect someone to be irked if you bean them in the head with one!
TTFN
They are about palm sized, made of lightweight materials that are nontheless easy to throw. As a result I am declaring these LRP safe as grenades, just not as thrown weapons. IE: Chuck them around with no risk of harming anyone but expect someone to be irked if you bean them in the head with one!
TTFN
Monday, 8 August 2011
The Spirit Pistol
Presenting, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Mk I Ectoplasmically-Infused Kinetic Projectile Delivery device or Spirit Pistol for short.
Commissioned by a friend of mine this is a Steampunk pistol designed to "fire" large calibre hollow-point ammunition. The idea is that the hollow-points are filled with psychically charged ectoplasm so that it strikes the spirit as well as the body (or shoots insubstantial creatures like ghosts).
The gun is also a holding chamber for a spirit that charges the ectoplasm with the users psychic energy through the metal studs on the grip.
I felt that mahogany would be the classy choice for the grip. This is all paint effects (the entire gun is all brightly coloured plastic) and one that I am quite chuffed with!
Adding a faint green glow to the vents implies the presence of the operating spirit. The warning tag covers unwanted moulded details.
Adding oily effects to the working componants gave a sense of weight and realism to the piece. All in all quite a success. The client is certainly happy!
Commissioned by a friend of mine this is a Steampunk pistol designed to "fire" large calibre hollow-point ammunition. The idea is that the hollow-points are filled with psychically charged ectoplasm so that it strikes the spirit as well as the body (or shoots insubstantial creatures like ghosts).
The gun is also a holding chamber for a spirit that charges the ectoplasm with the users psychic energy through the metal studs on the grip.
I felt that mahogany would be the classy choice for the grip. This is all paint effects (the entire gun is all brightly coloured plastic) and one that I am quite chuffed with!
Adding a faint green glow to the vents implies the presence of the operating spirit. The warning tag covers unwanted moulded details.
Adding oily effects to the working componants gave a sense of weight and realism to the piece. All in all quite a success. The client is certainly happy!
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Leather Folio Case
Hello all, Jeff the Pirate Viking here. Today we will have a look at another piece of leatherworking that I've been up to. A fancy folio case for loose papers:
From the outside it doesn't look like much, I am thinking of researching how to emboss a serpentine university logo on the front to give it a bit more class. Not enough time before this event unfortunately. A sleeve of leather like this though would allow the pages to fall out the bottom or top, therefore the folio case unbuttons to reveal:
Fancy buttoned retaining straps! You can either slide out the papers from the side or:
Unbutton it completely! Really, really happy with how this came out, it looks the part, functions well and feels solid. The only weakness for me is the lack of additional decoration and I am researching that as we speak. Till next time, toodles.
From the outside it doesn't look like much, I am thinking of researching how to emboss a serpentine university logo on the front to give it a bit more class. Not enough time before this event unfortunately. A sleeve of leather like this though would allow the pages to fall out the bottom or top, therefore the folio case unbuttons to reveal:
Fancy buttoned retaining straps! You can either slide out the papers from the side or:
Unbutton it completely! Really, really happy with how this came out, it looks the part, functions well and feels solid. The only weakness for me is the lack of additional decoration and I am researching that as we speak. Till next time, toodles.
Magical Harnesses and Mad Eye Moody Masks
Greetings all, this time we are delving into a bit of leatherwork in the form of a harness to hold two magical focii and a Mad Eye Moody style headgear. So without further ado:
The devilishly handsome chap in the image is Matt Bridger (who I am making this stuff for), the author of Monk Son of Kunlun which I heartily recommend. Dealing with the harness first, It is simply strips of leather sewn into a yoke with straps leading down to a belt loop at the front and back of the waist.
The talismans are LED push lights repainted brass with voids cut in the shape of arcane sigils. The voids were made by cutting the sigils out of masking tape prior to spraying the whole thing in black primer and then plasticote antique gold. Once the tape was removed the light could shine through, too much light as it turned out. A quick paint job with a blue-black mix followed by a gloss varnish dulled this effect and allowed the sigils to shine all the better. Obviously they are off now, I'll try to get some night time shots with them lit. The only thing I need to go back and do is disguise the loop that attach the steel plates to the harness. The push lights are magnetic you see so the simplest way to attach them was with the plates. The plates themselves look fine but with the talismans attached they look a bit like ring pulls. No time now!
Inspired by the Harry Potter character, Matt wanted a magnified eye on a headband. This was a team effort between the wife and I. She made the eyeball from half a table tennis (ping pong) ball, a photograph of my iris (should've used Matt's really, live and learn!) and lots of gloss varnish. The whole thing is set into a brass sprayed bottle cap which gave it a nice knurled look.
The headband itself was sewn from strips of leather working from a paper pattern roughed out from Matt's head. A strap across the top keeps the whole thing from sliding. Incidently I also fashioned the chicken vertebrae hatband that he has around the topper, a couple of roast chickens, lots of boiling water and a couple of bottles of hydrogen peroxide later I had nice clean bones to string on to elastic.
So until next time then, toodles!
The devilishly handsome chap in the image is Matt Bridger (who I am making this stuff for), the author of Monk Son of Kunlun which I heartily recommend. Dealing with the harness first, It is simply strips of leather sewn into a yoke with straps leading down to a belt loop at the front and back of the waist.
The talismans are LED push lights repainted brass with voids cut in the shape of arcane sigils. The voids were made by cutting the sigils out of masking tape prior to spraying the whole thing in black primer and then plasticote antique gold. Once the tape was removed the light could shine through, too much light as it turned out. A quick paint job with a blue-black mix followed by a gloss varnish dulled this effect and allowed the sigils to shine all the better. Obviously they are off now, I'll try to get some night time shots with them lit. The only thing I need to go back and do is disguise the loop that attach the steel plates to the harness. The push lights are magnetic you see so the simplest way to attach them was with the plates. The plates themselves look fine but with the talismans attached they look a bit like ring pulls. No time now!
Inspired by the Harry Potter character, Matt wanted a magnified eye on a headband. This was a team effort between the wife and I. She made the eyeball from half a table tennis (ping pong) ball, a photograph of my iris (should've used Matt's really, live and learn!) and lots of gloss varnish. The whole thing is set into a brass sprayed bottle cap which gave it a nice knurled look.
The headband itself was sewn from strips of leather working from a paper pattern roughed out from Matt's head. A strap across the top keeps the whole thing from sliding. Incidently I also fashioned the chicken vertebrae hatband that he has around the topper, a couple of roast chickens, lots of boiling water and a couple of bottles of hydrogen peroxide later I had nice clean bones to string on to elastic.
So until next time then, toodles!
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Preserved eyeball in a jar
This time on Pirate Viking Props we look at another floating organ in formaldehyde. An eye...
Don't worry, it isn't real. The starting point for this grisly trophy is a large marble of an appropriate size for a human eye. I roughed up the rear half with my dremel and added a smear of "green stuff" modelling putty (kneadatite for those who want the trade name).
Once this initial layer was dry I started to add more modelling putty to become the optic nerve, blood vessels for the eye and severed musculature from the muscles that move your eye. This was all allowed to cure for a good 24 hours before painting began.
Painting began with a smooth primer coat of Citadel white spray paint. Flesh toned paint was washed around the fatty areas and the blood vessels. Muscles and blood vessels were picked out with a mix of flesh and red paints.
The iris was built up with layers of blue and green streaked on to give the impression of the musculature of the eye. The pupil was dotted in with a black and flesh mix. Finally the whole piece recieved a heavy coat of gloss varnish to protect it and then time to bottle it!
Just like the brain in the last post the eye is bobbing around in a mix of baby oil and candle wax colouring to imitate formaldehyde's colour and viscosity.
Here you can see a decent shot of the sculpting work that went in to the optic nerve and blood vessels. To finish the piece I sealed the jam jar lid with silicone sealant and then covered it with a cap of black cotton tied on with a black leather thong. A quick soil rub aged the cloth and the thong and finished off the piece nicely.
I'm really chuffed with this one. It has an authenticity that I like. Perhaps should have used a photograph of an iris as that is the weakest point for me but I was concerned about it dissolving in the baby oil. Anyhow, that is all for now, more next time I make something!
Don't worry, it isn't real. The starting point for this grisly trophy is a large marble of an appropriate size for a human eye. I roughed up the rear half with my dremel and added a smear of "green stuff" modelling putty (kneadatite for those who want the trade name).
Once this initial layer was dry I started to add more modelling putty to become the optic nerve, blood vessels for the eye and severed musculature from the muscles that move your eye. This was all allowed to cure for a good 24 hours before painting began.
Painting began with a smooth primer coat of Citadel white spray paint. Flesh toned paint was washed around the fatty areas and the blood vessels. Muscles and blood vessels were picked out with a mix of flesh and red paints.
The iris was built up with layers of blue and green streaked on to give the impression of the musculature of the eye. The pupil was dotted in with a black and flesh mix. Finally the whole piece recieved a heavy coat of gloss varnish to protect it and then time to bottle it!
Just like the brain in the last post the eye is bobbing around in a mix of baby oil and candle wax colouring to imitate formaldehyde's colour and viscosity.
Here you can see a decent shot of the sculpting work that went in to the optic nerve and blood vessels. To finish the piece I sealed the jam jar lid with silicone sealant and then covered it with a cap of black cotton tied on with a black leather thong. A quick soil rub aged the cloth and the thong and finished off the piece nicely.
I'm really chuffed with this one. It has an authenticity that I like. Perhaps should have used a photograph of an iris as that is the weakest point for me but I was concerned about it dissolving in the baby oil. Anyhow, that is all for now, more next time I make something!
Hermes - The Brain in a Jar
Welcome to Pirate Viking Props everyone! This is a slightly more small scale operation than my painting site but deals with the other biggest drain on my time: Making props and equipment for Live Roleplay (LRP) events that I both play and help run. The first offering I have for everyone is Hermes, a divinatory spirit trapped in the mortal vessel of a brain in a jar:
The brain is a Halloween prop from the fancy dress section of the Home & Leisure ebay shop. I could probably have made one myself but had enough on my plate for one week! The brain was squeezed into an Ikea jar of about the right size.
Refraction of the glass and fluid within makes it look much larger than the actual size (it is the size of a human brain). Speaking of the fluid, this was a bit of a coup. It's just baby oil. I has the right consistency and won't strip paint or mess up latex. It needed a little colour though in order to look like aged formaldehyde so a few shavings of yellow candle wax colouring were thrown in to allow the shade to perfuse. You have to use an oil soluble dye unless you want bubbles of colour. Silicone sealant was then smeared generously around the inside of the lid where it met the glass and the lid firmly attached.
Meanwhile my partner in crime (my wife, Lucy) had prepared a label for the Serpentine University - the fictional establishment that the brain belongs to - and aged it with teabags. We PVA glued this label to the glass and then made a small leather cover to disguise the modern cap. The handle was bound in string for the same purpose. String was then used to tightly bind the leather around the neck of the jar to prevent the lid from coming off. A quick rub with soil to age the string and all is well.
As you can see from this final shot the finished effect is quite convincing. In-game the prop will be used to perform divinations by asking the spirit within questions and then arguing with it to get the answers! Fun project and a nice start to the blog. See you all next time.
The brain is a Halloween prop from the fancy dress section of the Home & Leisure ebay shop. I could probably have made one myself but had enough on my plate for one week! The brain was squeezed into an Ikea jar of about the right size.
Refraction of the glass and fluid within makes it look much larger than the actual size (it is the size of a human brain). Speaking of the fluid, this was a bit of a coup. It's just baby oil. I has the right consistency and won't strip paint or mess up latex. It needed a little colour though in order to look like aged formaldehyde so a few shavings of yellow candle wax colouring were thrown in to allow the shade to perfuse. You have to use an oil soluble dye unless you want bubbles of colour. Silicone sealant was then smeared generously around the inside of the lid where it met the glass and the lid firmly attached.
Meanwhile my partner in crime (my wife, Lucy) had prepared a label for the Serpentine University - the fictional establishment that the brain belongs to - and aged it with teabags. We PVA glued this label to the glass and then made a small leather cover to disguise the modern cap. The handle was bound in string for the same purpose. String was then used to tightly bind the leather around the neck of the jar to prevent the lid from coming off. A quick rub with soil to age the string and all is well.
As you can see from this final shot the finished effect is quite convincing. In-game the prop will be used to perform divinations by asking the spirit within questions and then arguing with it to get the answers! Fun project and a nice start to the blog. See you all next time.
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