Subject: It's got that little snake-smile.
Author:
Posted on: 2016-03-24 06:19:00 UTC
Y'know, that one, faint smile that snakes, turtles, and I'm sure other reptiles all seem to have?
It looks kind of cute if I zoom in really close.
This is the post I was going to make on Friday. Then I was going to do it Saturday morning. Then I was going to do it on Monday, and then Tuesday morning - anything to avoid conflicting with Wednesday Pluggage.
Well, as it turns out, I don't have anything to actually plug this week, so you get this one after all. ^^
~
Over the years, I've built up a library of random skills, and it's inevitable that I've occasionally used them to make fandom-y things. Nothing on the scale of Iximaz's costumes, but I think I've created a few pretty cool things. ^^ I figured now is as good a time as any to show them off. So without further ado:
This is the oldest one (the others are all less than three years old I think), and probably the prettiest. Two Trees of Valinor candle holder! The Trees do get a bit hot when the candle is lit, but once I shuffled a branch out of the way it wasn't too bad.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that the design and about half of the work on the Trees was done by Kaitlyn. She's pretty amazing that way. ^^
Young Wizards! As a person with a head for poetry, it was probably inevitable that I'd collate all the bits of the Song of the Twelve that we see in Deep Wizardry. Putting together a scroll was hard work, but I love the finished product. (The fact that I got to shove extra text into the margins was a bonus!)
This key board hangs by my front door; I don't often need to get any of them down. ^^ The Unstable Larder is a reference to the 2015 Canterbury Gathering; the Hatchery is dual-labelled using the Dinotopia script.
I've actually posted these before: Pernese quarter and eighth Marks, from the Harper Hall. I made a rough draft of these to practice for my Plort coins, but these ones follow the pattern in the Dragonlover's Guide more closely.
Did you know my wife is two different types of wizard? It's true! She's taken the Oath, but she also has a hand-made Harry Potter wand. It's about 8 inches and pine, which apparently means she's a mysterious loner who can use creative magic and live a long time. Fun!
The big finale... yeah, I have a massive Circular Gallifreyan inscription on my wall. ^^ All designed and written out by hand, this thing took ages (mostly because I took a year or so out in the middle), but it's gorgeous.
So that's me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Don't just reply to say how cool I am (though, y'know, a little of that is always welcome ^~) - show us what you've made, too!
hS
Last time, I swear.
It's a brilliant idea.
As for stuff I've made, there's really only this:
Which is a rather old piece that I'm still fairly fond of, despite its many flaws.
My apologies for the awful photo quality. The picture was taken with shaky hands, poor lighting, and a camera phone. Not exactly ideal.
Only things I would have are Warhammer miniatures, that I never painted for a lack of time and talent. (Why, GW, why these prices, why the Sigmarines?)
Although there also was that time I broke my brother's Lego Slave 1. Had to reconstruct it twice, because I mounted the firing mechanism backwards the first time. Still, the fact I had to improvise to replace some lost pieces made it a little more unique.
Just a question: What does that Circular Gallifreyan say?
Bit of a weird one, though. You'll understand if I don't offer a full translation.
hS
The pic qualiti isn't all goo, it all depends on when my phone likes to work or not.
First one, as a former World of Tanks player who liked the Hetzer and liked Girls Und Panzer even more I couldn't resist doing this after finding a cheap Italeri model:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-OpVQVHsyhQVmx0YmpMLWZkQ1U/view?usp=sharing
Ooarai Academy's Team Turtle Hetzer. The thing was a nightmare to build as I wasn't a very experienced model builder back then - not only it is in the small 1/72 scale, the Hetzer is tiny compared to other tank destroyers of the time... the model is just three inches long, barrel included! "Decals" were printed by me "stolen" from a GuP mod for World of Tanks, and I did some small modification to the model (like leaving out the roof-mounted machine gun as it is absent in GuP)
More recently, I'm into building Gundam models. They're addicting! Have two in the works so far, they still need some finishing touches but are already assembled.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-OpVQVHsyhQSDh1YUpaaG4xNkk/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-OpVQVHsyhQb1l3Z2pHa084YVE/view?usp=sharing
Yes, they're customized. Some of the additions are scratch built, some parts are from customization kits, and some are cross-switched between the two.
That YW scroll is amazing! 8D
And kudos to your wife, as well. /o Yay, Oath-takers!
Sorry.
Got nothing else.
Being in Theatre, I know how to use all manner of tools on all manner of materials.
Exhibit 1: Drill press on dice
These were made for our engagement/fake wedding. Mine is on the left, Neshomeh's is on the right.
Now for something bigger and fancier.
Exhibit B: Sewing machine on multiple fabrics.
I made a cloak for Neshomeh (seen here modeling) one Christmas. It is made of faux-crushed velvet (very stretchy) and some kind of satiny fabric (very slick). The hood is velvet inside and out, the satin lines the inside of the rest. There is also a gold knot-work closure.
When I asked for photos of the cloak, Nesh pulled an entire costume out of the closet. Here is a better look at both the cloak and the rest of the costume.
Next time, I would make sure to only have one difficult fabric, the combination of stretchy on slick was a major pain. I'd also need a sewing machine. I borrowed my aunt's for this project.
-Phobos
Also how WARM that cloak is. Seriously.
(Also, my favorite photo is the one with my eyes shadowed by the hood. You should post that one. I look scary. ^_^ )
~Neshomeh
sosorrycouldn'tresist
...necklaces? Bracelets? I've got a pair of d20 earrings myself but I'd love to make a charm bracelet with a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 sometime.
Also, nice work with the cloak! I keep telling myself every time that I'm not ever going to use stretch velvet or silk, never never never because they're so slippery and hard to work with but I have the best costume idea that would look gorgeous in these fabrics so I must use them so I end up kicking myself while sewing whatever the next project is. >.> You did a lovely job with the cloak, by the way. :)is that a Harper-blue skirt I see?
The charm bracelet would be lovely, but the dice might be unwieldy. You would need small dice and, even then, the d4 will still be trouble.
When I finally get the resources and time to make my own cloak, I'm going with something like thick linen or maybe a canvas. Also, I won't be lining it.
-Phobos
Here's the most serious piece I've done to date:
It is charcoal and chalk on... I don't remember. Is chalk paper a thing? It's thick gray paper with a noticeable grain. *shrug* I made it in 2008 (if I'm reading my handwriting correctly) as a Christmas present for Phobos, and unfortunately, I rushed the background because I ran out of time. Sigh.
~Neshomeh
How long did it take you to do the creature itself? The detailing on it is fantastic.
I don't remember how long it took. I know I used a lot of references to get the bones just right in perspective, but I've drawn horses forever, so I pretty much knew what I was doing for the basic shapes. Running out of time for the background almost certainly had more to do with procrastination than actual time constraints. I did a lot of the final work on vacation at my grandparents' house.
~Neshomeh
Y'know, that one, faint smile that snakes, turtles, and I'm sure other reptiles all seem to have?
It looks kind of cute if I zoom in really close.
The half-there trees make it feel like the whole image is materialising out of glass; the fact that the three trees are rougher than the foreground adds to that (and the glasslike quality of the ground/mist?).
Though the swirly copyright text over the wings is making it impossible for me not to see them as covered in musical staves. I keep expecting the horse... thing to be playing an electric guitar.
hS
It WAS supposed to be misty and shadowy; it just lacks the level of contrast I really wanted.
It's funny you should mention glass, since I went to some trouble to make sure there was absolutely no glare or a trace of my shadow in the photo. Still, if it looks etched or something, that's pretty cool. I'll take it. ^_^
(It's a Thestral, by the way. Apparently I forgot to mention that.)
~Neshomeh
*stares*
*blinks and rubs eyes*
That's gorgeous! Did you teach yourself to draw, or did you take art lessons, or what? Wow.
I did take art electives through high school and the first couple years of (community) college. I'm not sure how much I absorbed from them as opposed to observation, trial and error, and other people, but I definitely wouldn't have thought to use charcoal without them.
Thank you!
~Neshomeh
Phobos and I have some arts and crafts to share, but my camera battery has to charge first so I can take proper pictures.
Meanwhile, hS, what are the chances of me talking you guys into making another Two Trees candleholder so I can buy it from you? {= D
~Neshomeh
(I thought the colorful badge would be for getting all the badges, but you still don't have the blue and yellow roses or the crossed pens, so I guess not? I'd say it was for posting arts & crafts, but then why doesn't Iximaz have it already?)
That's not actually the chance of persuading us - it's how much of it we'd make. ;) The glass candle holder is really heavy, and I don't want to think about how much it would cost to ship. (Kaitlyn figures around £40, which is... yeah.)
So we could certainly make and ship the Trees, but you'd need to track down a compatible tealight holder to put them in. (Ours are fixed in with... uh... a massive blob of glue and beads, it was all a bit free-form.)
Or, I suppose, you could come over and pick it up... ^_~
hS
2017, I've still got my eye on you...
~Neshomeh
Seems to me to be the one for all the Sib House badges. Badge badge again. God, it's worse than Steam achievements. =]
The colors do match, don't they?
-Phobos, fan of badge-badges
I might have to pay a visit so I can steal borrow acquire steal that Gallifreyan wall art and the Two Trees, because those are gorgeous. The other stuff is cool, too, but those are my favorites. :)
Aside from my costumes, which I think everyone's getting bored of, I don't really have too much in the way of home-made fandom stuff, but I do have my own wand... several... a lot...
The one fourth from the right is "my" wand, custom-made to fit the one I got through Pottermore, though the three on the far right are all various wands I had as a kid.
Also, apropos the LEGO discussion further down the thread... I'm about to show how obsessed I am.
The Chamber of Secrets and the Second Task.
The graveyard, Sirius' tower, the Shrieking Shack, and Hagrid's Hut.
The Quidditch Pitch, Diagon Alley, and the Durmstrang Ship. (That's Helm's Deep in the bottom right.)
PoA Hogwarts, the mountain troll, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and the Hogwarts Express.
The iconic vehicles.
My favorite piece of any set. :P
(I had to put them all together so that kind of counts as building, right? Right?!)
Behold... the almost-finished collar.
I stole my mom's Iron Mannequin to model it for me. If Tony Stark can have a metal heart, he's perfectly within his rights to pretend he has two.
It's just awaiting a gloss finish and some Seal of Rassilon decals and it'll be complete.
Especially the Two Trees.
Also, if this is the last time, does this mean you're gonna tell us what each icon means?
Also also, I don't have any fandomish stuff lying around, but I do have a collection of Star Wars LEGO models. And a couple sword-like sticks.
... is all jumbled up in a range of different boxes. There's definitely some Star Wars in there, though they're currently more Jakku salvage than Pride of the Imperial Navy.
(Specifically last time I'll randomly link it without explanation. ;))
hS
My LEGO collection looks like the Rebels' hangar in Yavin IV, if the Rebels would have used N-1 starfighters along with Vulture Droids, Eta-2 Actis-class interceptors, Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptors, AATs, the Blue Eagle and a real-life A10 Warthog. Oh, and Storm Jet and Classics!Grimlock.
I'm not one to judge on dangerous living conditions, of course.
Just saying.
Of course, if there is nothing in the bag, there is little to worry about. I wonder how long until everything to the left of the Star Wars book goes sliding. Yay for Monster Manual. What's the receipt for? (Don't answer.)
I mean, neat Legos. I like the two guys in the boat that look like they just survived a tidal wave by crashing into a building.