PotM July 2016: Hokie Cowl

July 2016 Project of the Month: Hokie Cowl

I'm postdating this entry a bit. I finished the knitting part, but didn't have enough buttons to have everything done by the end of July.

Objective Markers

Objective markers made from wooden nickels. From top left, Alpha Legion and Sisters of Battle. From bottom left, Dark Angels, Orks, and Tyranids.

Objective markers backs.

Dark Mark Model Rocket

I bought this last year, and finally got it painted. It is an Estes #002178 Hi-Flier rocket. I'm proud of how the cursive free hand turned out.

The death eater symbol that graces all the right side fins.

Skull Objective Markers

Objective markers made from Hirst Arts skull blocks.

Top View.

Brocade Dice Bag

A commission six pocket dice bag made with a black brocade fabric. Threaded with satin ribbons and handmade polymer clay pull stops.

A look at the inner dividers.

Bag Bottom

Rust Pointe Terrain - Assembly

I bought my husband this set of Rust Pointe Terrain for his birthday last year. We plan to orkify the buildings to serve as terrain for his 40k ork army.

Such nice packaging.

Here are all the pieces assembled and coated in shellac. The building on the upper left is my attempt at brush painting. I don't think it turned out very well, and I'm going to try using my airbrush after the detail pieces get attached.

Love Letter Zippy Pouches

Love Letter is a great game to take to a restaurant. It doesn't take up much table space, is quick to play, and easy to teach to new players. I like to keep a copy in my purse, but some versions are not very purse friendly.

I made this pouch for the Hobbit version. I painted on the logo to match the box. I was doing so well with the fabric paint until I dropped the paintbrush. Then I figured I would paint Smaug over the mistake.

This version had a nice pouch, but it kept coming open, and the cards would spill out in my purse so I added a zip.

Hirst Arts Hacks

 I own quite a few hirst arts molds, and have come up with a helpful tips.

1) Fieldstone Walls

     If you are working on a project with a looming deadline, and need lots of fieldstone walls cast yesterday, you can use other molds to make blocks beyond the basic fieldstone mold. 

     a) You can use the blocks from the flagstone floor mold glued back to back to make a 1"x1"x1/2" block. Yes it looks noticeably different from a fieldstone wall, but if you are working on a project with a "basement area" this will work well for the lower portion. Also it makes for a wall with a completely flat top due to the scrapped side being sandwiched inside the blocks (no irregular block heights). 

     b) You can use the fieldstone rubble mold to make blocks. It takes two castings to get complete blocks, but every little bit helps if you're on a deadline.

     c) If you have the Octagon tower mold, you can use the straight sections to make long blocks.

The long/short angle sections along with a 1/4" block make a 3" long wall section (3" wall block shown on the top).

Two long angled sections along with a 1/4" block will make a 4" long wall section (1" + 3" wall shown on the top).

 

2) Waste Nothing

     I put a plastic trash bag down over my table when I cast. This catches all the plaster that gets scrapped off. All the plaster bits and dust go into this plastic bowl (I also unmold my blocks over top of it). I break up the pieces and then I can add them to large blocks when I cast them. I usually use this for large molds like the cavern mold and the space corridor edging mold. I fill the molds about half way with plaster, and then add the dry scraps to the blocks. Then I cover them with more plaster to top off the molds.

This is a picture of some holders that I use when painting miniatures. They are soda bottle caps so they already have a nice texture to the edges (these really help with hand fatigue). I fill them about halfway with scrap plaster, and add water. Then when I scrap my molds, I can drop the excess on top of these and scrap them off flat.

Some bottle caps in progress.

After these dry, I run them over some sandpaper to make sure they are smooth. Then I put two coats of high gloss varnish on them, and they are ready to have some minis stuck on them with some poster tack.

Carcassonne Draw Bag

When my gaming group played Carcassonne, I would end up emptying one of my knitting bags to draw tiles. I saw a fabric printing technique for making custom craft labels and decided to use it to print my own fabric to make this bag. After arranging and scanning some game tiles, I printed out the file on some white Kono cotton fabric. I just happened to have a perfect length of matching ribbon too.