tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45193914251414550352024-03-12T20:40:47.098-07:00Eyeballs StudioHalloween and cosplay props, altered sketchbooks, electronic gadgets and gizmosEyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-88482079827345330902022-02-27T14:18:00.003-08:002022-02-27T14:18:44.696-08:00Locke & Key chain key<p>I have made several props from the Locke & Key comics before, and here's another one! This one is a full scale replica of the Chain Key. In the comics, it's a 90 cm long key and opens the Great Lock, wich grants access to the catacombs below Keyhouse. In the Netflix series, it's a small key, and the Great Lock is a padlock that launches a chain and can be used to restrain someone.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9jP2XBgXcOHxE0j1dMy5h2i_riP__HE19oca7WiMZ1oUh51A0p8HOPcMwhxfnb-LBZXD2_6_B54psg-df9hbYSVtgYPpCCinr4arQ6gXEby2Yzs9OQi-3WkK-mp8CyWV1ENcN82KQ3BJR4Mo49aNfgJYu4XveQiwxcYrP6bIL_p8iec113xZWeClSSQ=s2560" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9jP2XBgXcOHxE0j1dMy5h2i_riP__HE19oca7WiMZ1oUh51A0p8HOPcMwhxfnb-LBZXD2_6_B54psg-df9hbYSVtgYPpCCinr4arQ6gXEby2Yzs9OQi-3WkK-mp8CyWV1ENcN82KQ3BJR4Mo49aNfgJYu4XveQiwxcYrP6bIL_p8iec113xZWeClSSQ=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><b><u>3D model</u></b></p><p>I made this key with my 3D printer. Of course, it couldn't be printed in one piece, it's way too big for that, and besides, a chain isn't exactly easy to print on an FDM printer. I used a reference picture for getting the correct measurements, and then broke the key down into different parts for easy printing.</p><p>When making the 3D models, there was one thing I kept in mind: I wanted to avoid supports as much as possible. Supported areas always look ugly and require a lot of post processing to look good. For this model, however, I couldn't avoid it entirely, but as you'll see, the supported area won't even be visible.</p><p>The most important part, obviously, are the chain links. I couldn't print a full chain link, because then it would be impossible to link them together, so I cut it in half. On the inside of the rounded end, I made a cutout where the links can be glued together. This is the only area where support will be needed, and it won't be visible when the links are glued together. For additional strength, I made holes in the ends that will be connected, for inserting pegs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg63t1XR4-hu_BSygIcJuF25Ea876Yc6QNLZXJYxDDpocbC6gNh0WNAt-h_PXn1EaDHOBsWFVPLHFqooXOB79j2klcXeJiDHUcQdsp07OAaoSX1Ea_ZieBGA1NwOE3GO-wBALcN_PBVICbrZjA8kriVke2nO2otwN57MxCcpvEYv6sqwUZAuvLD6dTSEA=s1062" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1062" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg63t1XR4-hu_BSygIcJuF25Ea876Yc6QNLZXJYxDDpocbC6gNh0WNAt-h_PXn1EaDHOBsWFVPLHFqooXOB79j2klcXeJiDHUcQdsp07OAaoSX1Ea_ZieBGA1NwOE3GO-wBALcN_PBVICbrZjA8kriVke2nO2otwN57MxCcpvEYv6sqwUZAuvLD6dTSEA=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>On the small replica I made a while ago, these pegs were pieces of filament. Needless to say, it wasn't very strong! I had glued everything together, but the key was still quite fragile. I didn't have to ship it, the client picked it up in person, so this wasn't a real problem then. For this full size replica, the pegs are printed rectangular pegs, so it will be a lot stronger!</p><p>The ends of the key were pretty simple shapes, and easy to model. The only part that was a bit more challenging was the ring at the end. The final link of the chain needs to go through it, so there needed to be a hole for the link in it. I decided the easiest way to do this was cutting the ring in half, and then glue the parts together.</p><p><b><u>Printing and assembling</u></b></p><p>With everything modeled, it was time to start printing! It was quite a lot to print, <nr> parts in total! The total printing time, estimated by Prusaslicer, was about 100 hours, and it would use about 1 kilogram of filament. For material, I used ABS. It's easier to sand than PLA, and especially the links would need quite a bit of sanding. Another big advantage is that it can be solvent welded with PVC cement for plumbing. I used 3 perimeters, 150 micron layer height, and a 25% infill.</p><p>I printed two links (four link halves) and the two pegs to link them together in one print job. I don't usually fill up my entire build plate, if the print fails for some reason I won't have wasted as much material. Each link was sanded with 120 grit sandpaper to remove the layer lines a bit, and then the links were connected. Because of the square pegs, they automatically align correctly.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6whgmMs8-RcCFuV9xdUtrIe8YX166JRu_HeNct98KYco5ErvBIh2xL3XAEy9lAfInRStpq7ay9WkBPdDnvHmIu54Cpe3HCrGP4lKdIiPTOeFTej4DPZnoLhDx15bJZi8rgTFK3Ux2VOy-v3C6QmJqBLhMWrDYira7KduDGpoZLP5IGCCiyKI1C9LRFA=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6whgmMs8-RcCFuV9xdUtrIe8YX166JRu_HeNct98KYco5ErvBIh2xL3XAEy9lAfInRStpq7ay9WkBPdDnvHmIu54Cpe3HCrGP4lKdIiPTOeFTej4DPZnoLhDx15bJZi8rgTFK3Ux2VOy-v3C6QmJqBLhMWrDYira7KduDGpoZLP5IGCCiyKI1C9LRFA=w200-h150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvDYuArd0RDqD9miCex1oKWf03vbwNa-A1sLpOksr6GX2nTa2xgForv-uRrXr9tz7G9ySIkXWXjNlHYyyS0veXCE540eRkHsqucwkoJVy871Qtk0Umz1UxmJUyyDoRcthFk0c_W0cZ6rCi-opFYvevqEXDKevj-hIljGqECYrBHdLBWLhjtMosqcz1lw=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvDYuArd0RDqD9miCex1oKWf03vbwNa-A1sLpOksr6GX2nTa2xgForv-uRrXr9tz7G9ySIkXWXjNlHYyyS0veXCE540eRkHsqucwkoJVy871Qtk0Umz1UxmJUyyDoRcthFk0c_W0cZ6rCi-opFYvevqEXDKevj-hIljGqECYrBHdLBWLhjtMosqcz1lw=w200-h150" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p>Same for the ends of the key, the parts were mostly printed one by one, sanded and then put together. Sanding is a lot easier before assembly, because it's easier to reach most spots.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWQnclRnaFErRHbU1Ql_pYQH-98VvNT9zp4_xKeyycM95O23H7z03723kOfXlbyWtE95ngdP9UY0AadvvG9v8gAJUPbWo6uxv75_CaWob8CYOQpBeJ2MvLJxfw8-frXTHbDWH9vVQ-s4ECsWW7fVPNsJ4UyX3U8FY4TdpyRH9GLUNfhb394KwOGqmXwg=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWQnclRnaFErRHbU1Ql_pYQH-98VvNT9zp4_xKeyycM95O23H7z03723kOfXlbyWtE95ngdP9UY0AadvvG9v8gAJUPbWo6uxv75_CaWob8CYOQpBeJ2MvLJxfw8-frXTHbDWH9vVQ-s4ECsWW7fVPNsJ4UyX3U8FY4TdpyRH9GLUNfhb394KwOGqmXwg=w200-h150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsRg-lbMcC1RiH5P4qEQhIRtbeMViNyx3JLJ6SB91cKeByefrzuLfpTkFOUD1EYVTma6A9B-ksfW8HQsTKgfWQYApMsaqw1tA6xZAut8bmIxzHBWgLRLP6dEqVXZYD6p-SgS4zkdDijrT0wsMyZDWiS-zk0_vrZfHRKHzq3IrHypbiwdULL9pTQjPlQw=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsRg-lbMcC1RiH5P4qEQhIRtbeMViNyx3JLJ6SB91cKeByefrzuLfpTkFOUD1EYVTma6A9B-ksfW8HQsTKgfWQYApMsaqw1tA6xZAut8bmIxzHBWgLRLP6dEqVXZYD6p-SgS4zkdDijrT0wsMyZDWiS-zk0_vrZfHRKHzq3IrHypbiwdULL9pTQjPlQw=w200-h150" width="200" /></a></div></div><br /><p>And then finally, all links were connected to form a chain. At one end, the ring was glued on, and at the other end, the key bit and the ball were glued on. A bit more sanding was required to clean up the seams between the link halves, and where needed, a bit of spot putty was used.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8YkXD6mWUw--oz6i3ReGtfvSYUuHa4KiZodB9KGxIYcMDA6bQ6qfw9YZ0vQHIL4XbLmUT7wW8b8KftUq6k1ANEnlY5Iuz5yZfu_oWZem2XQT4MhrWU8cZAhYEDGRP_oDwXNnGnuZ_6WYAjXi68nrPTmUSerRjFPkvED9lsz904V25Aq0UNxR_WKUyuw=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8YkXD6mWUw--oz6i3ReGtfvSYUuHa4KiZodB9KGxIYcMDA6bQ6qfw9YZ0vQHIL4XbLmUT7wW8b8KftUq6k1ANEnlY5Iuz5yZfu_oWZem2XQT4MhrWU8cZAhYEDGRP_oDwXNnGnuZ_6WYAjXi68nrPTmUSerRjFPkvED9lsz904V25Aq0UNxR_WKUyuw=w200-h150" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><b><u>Painting</u></b></p><p>Painting started with a coat of filler primer. I can't say I'm too happy with this stuff, though. It doesn't do a very good job filling up the layer lines. It sand quite well, though, but you need to apply a few coats, and sand in between them. In the future, I plan to try out a two component filler primer. Many people use this and report excellent results; the downside is that you need a spray gun to apply it. Since I still had a few rattle cans of filler primer, I used this stuff.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirDcc0ScNxvHC2IEDJaQcRdxgyxTZ5J0PdkkBY2-aIZ8JeMo6OZpV7p91yekkHn_skI5g-8qylhTEyuOk7BiEn5NdqZm_vFgKPK1kukFRZa5TqxcTNMJh-XxMoRiSvBzsE7e-pu3UYfI9xLGhusG2foCISOpyRz8l4uFKsFI-uSF7Im9qlzz3EN3y4YQ=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="2560" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirDcc0ScNxvHC2IEDJaQcRdxgyxTZ5J0PdkkBY2-aIZ8JeMo6OZpV7p91yekkHn_skI5g-8qylhTEyuOk7BiEn5NdqZm_vFgKPK1kukFRZa5TqxcTNMJh-XxMoRiSvBzsE7e-pu3UYfI9xLGhusG2foCISOpyRz8l4uFKsFI-uSF7Im9qlzz3EN3y4YQ=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></p><p>As you may notice on the pictures, I had already primed most of the parts before assembly, since it would be a lot easier to sand them. So, it basically went in this order: prime, sand, prime, sand again, assemble, fill seams, sand some more, another coat of primer, aaaaand more sanding. Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, that's a shower curtain. When we moved out of our apartment, I kept it for this exact reason!</p><p>So, yeah, it required quite a bit of preparation. When I was satisfied with the surface, I applied a final coat of primer. This wasn't a filler primer, but a general purpose gray spray primer. The filler primer isn't suitable for painting directly, you need to apply another coat of regular primer. After the final inspection, it was time for the actual paint!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2yxc6bu6i81EGsIQB01kgAXCBLOPh5ZbL2BuXZKxEhj-1VB7dEQ2348vA84w5hD4G8XGLd4YtRa9LL2qQ5L2CEBy9a9TLGfBAzIcnuL73xl2b_OhNq0H1lqqOe0Il5fFU_Tdi7Xauz2GYPiA5kp0O5CergjxP-gqERxPg8DfY_Fv0I7k8CQMm-cvjLg=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="2560" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2yxc6bu6i81EGsIQB01kgAXCBLOPh5ZbL2BuXZKxEhj-1VB7dEQ2348vA84w5hD4G8XGLd4YtRa9LL2qQ5L2CEBy9a9TLGfBAzIcnuL73xl2b_OhNq0H1lqqOe0Il5fFU_Tdi7Xauz2GYPiA5kp0O5CergjxP-gqERxPg8DfY_Fv0I7k8CQMm-cvjLg=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>The client wanted a bronze finish, so I started with a brown basecoat. There were lots of hard to reach spots, and I had to use several passes to coat everything. It's always better to use more thin coats, to avoid drips. Luckily, the paint dried quite fast. Using a fan also helps to make the paint dry faster.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTlXE3k2vltV1H9jTbPRQoisgJh4AExDAnabH-UQhm5G11b0hbvLJQh8ni05U7fHGCMZSG7sTdfinN8c-aSQSXipKY5OWF8eQT5oKU-YyvMYHBX4EzAtppAnjQU44aQTgaSss1rtOKur2Nv2_AZxpUDbeBaQ288hQknisxrNGy5XVsLDio9zeDEYuKqA=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="2560" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTlXE3k2vltV1H9jTbPRQoisgJh4AExDAnabH-UQhm5G11b0hbvLJQh8ni05U7fHGCMZSG7sTdfinN8c-aSQSXipKY5OWF8eQT5oKU-YyvMYHBX4EzAtppAnjQU44aQTgaSss1rtOKur2Nv2_AZxpUDbeBaQ288hQknisxrNGy5XVsLDio9zeDEYuKqA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>After the brown basecoat, I sprayed on a coat of bronze paint. It covered quite well, and afterwards I wasn't really sure if the brown basecoat was really necessary. Ah, well, nevermind! The key looked very shiny, new and metallic at this point. A bit too new and shiny if you asked me! So I brought in my favourite stuff to make things look a little less new and shiny: oil paint! I prefer water mixable oil paint, so I don't have to mess around with smelly paint thinners that might potentially damage other paint coats.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSCFE1eSRjQxrXc0gMVlb2iSVnHf8Bpp4CYJxqt5u8dlGYPmd_RVd45FojJQ94ibzsYbb6FOoiRp08WR8EXXEfxb0dN5MuV6Sd-MLu9g_JX1aq2nx-Uutroqxi0HDP17hoSGAWGM01P6PNwpGW23v1yzYqj-3S530UJNPZzJa2kCN36M1Q0eIoo6LXdA=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1701" data-original-width="2560" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSCFE1eSRjQxrXc0gMVlb2iSVnHf8Bpp4CYJxqt5u8dlGYPmd_RVd45FojJQ94ibzsYbb6FOoiRp08WR8EXXEfxb0dN5MuV6Sd-MLu9g_JX1aq2nx-Uutroqxi0HDP17hoSGAWGM01P6PNwpGW23v1yzYqj-3S530UJNPZzJa2kCN36M1Q0eIoo6LXdA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I used dark brown and grey to apply some dirt and grime, especially in the narrow spots where the links connect. The nice thing about these oil paints is that they dry very slowly (it can take a few days for them to fully dry) and you can play around with them a lot. Even when used sparingly, it makes a huge difference!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1QQYF218NwIFPv5f1SwTCIh8oNbe9O2O_hR_g8YP7thW75oUrMVHJVBbYx5VAk6am81tFQpnZyhNn8hh5CraOK3xl2mbPfE7mRG15D32HQN5ly3TD2IBOvHVhT-ndtfl81nvwZ0YlGnlLoswidyWhuTNJIFvO_tvRuekwGEsm4VwcrqVZbnI--vNCiQ=s2560" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1701" data-original-width="2560" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1QQYF218NwIFPv5f1SwTCIh8oNbe9O2O_hR_g8YP7thW75oUrMVHJVBbYx5VAk6am81tFQpnZyhNn8hh5CraOK3xl2mbPfE7mRG15D32HQN5ly3TD2IBOvHVhT-ndtfl81nvwZ0YlGnlLoswidyWhuTNJIFvO_tvRuekwGEsm4VwcrqVZbnI--vNCiQ=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><b><u>Finished!</u></b></p><p>After drying for a few more days, the key was finished and ready for shipping to the client. It was a really fun project, probably one of the biggest prints I have done so far. Here are some pictures of the finished project!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlk7MMKdQNpaRdPHqFTU0m3oNsaGjLb8OpmcmvS6RcnRzsHUsoPySiDONs_V397mNL_hLLUaA0aAcWYlrgmrDvXby8cz_BS-YjGSfIMDf8d4oRF5zn3PUmw89BVma7wzDvIzyh2S8ZtB3zNbRGIlhPPlx_PqgsNeQGQWFOv_oAxaobH7Xpe0ky3KnikQ=s2560" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlk7MMKdQNpaRdPHqFTU0m3oNsaGjLb8OpmcmvS6RcnRzsHUsoPySiDONs_V397mNL_hLLUaA0aAcWYlrgmrDvXby8cz_BS-YjGSfIMDf8d4oRF5zn3PUmw89BVma7wzDvIzyh2S8ZtB3zNbRGIlhPPlx_PqgsNeQGQWFOv_oAxaobH7Xpe0ky3KnikQ=w200-h113" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjw1K4JOd44vIxLEo3idFnSKb7XDHJVKtlAbLtDa-6_7BwL_e-Ab43wwRHevfoJA99dYPDDOlhGFYVhdTjWtyLGPX0NkrXmwyOf4ss13sNi0_ob6mUxVY5cXVx_zXbrvH3PdLA4RMmZL8z1D7YiARRaghRXsSb_0aCwS_0bGWuglh7n1iowafdsxli8Xg=s2560" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjw1K4JOd44vIxLEo3idFnSKb7XDHJVKtlAbLtDa-6_7BwL_e-Ab43wwRHevfoJA99dYPDDOlhGFYVhdTjWtyLGPX0NkrXmwyOf4ss13sNi0_ob6mUxVY5cXVx_zXbrvH3PdLA4RMmZL8z1D7YiARRaghRXsSb_0aCwS_0bGWuglh7n1iowafdsxli8Xg=w200-h113" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih9B2TN0P9pLXyKO0kFjEXXvKxsnMEj2p3JgM33LZVQKgD3pbUg-h2cLHYHuw-ax5mSkITaquAyAMTZTfjWSNrqyZWL9NyC3c8REh5pzCiMQ3yBOALMDr8YKJeu-2rToraT_1YkWR5gStw5W5EtMT9ZYsuQNLrylME61mY8P6FetKhooLFORTpJFqsmQ=s2560" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEih9B2TN0P9pLXyKO0kFjEXXvKxsnMEj2p3JgM33LZVQKgD3pbUg-h2cLHYHuw-ax5mSkITaquAyAMTZTfjWSNrqyZWL9NyC3c8REh5pzCiMQ3yBOALMDr8YKJeu-2rToraT_1YkWR5gStw5W5EtMT9ZYsuQNLrylME61mY8P6FetKhooLFORTpJFqsmQ=w200-h113" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjThG1CIRYB_cfK_0ISDyHcPSEK1lZYILoSV2x-rPM3OX-dmmgEnXuv7Lm5QPus5zRjXFe3jYzxn3DcRPYH8uTwK0Vy4KsLwZvLSfcyvQMWGlBZ9ikRU-Ry__pzoNkNw_J4vPesuvw-7ZlWzGdw3_paaZOT00Wn_p9s6aTkQ1QVEIubtSE1oUECKIiIBA=s2560" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjThG1CIRYB_cfK_0ISDyHcPSEK1lZYILoSV2x-rPM3OX-dmmgEnXuv7Lm5QPus5zRjXFe3jYzxn3DcRPYH8uTwK0Vy4KsLwZvLSfcyvQMWGlBZ9ikRU-Ry__pzoNkNw_J4vPesuvw-7ZlWzGdw3_paaZOT00Wn_p9s6aTkQ1QVEIubtSE1oUECKIiIBA=w200-h113" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-66883952663362644552022-01-31T22:03:00.001-08:002022-01-31T22:03:09.245-08:00Interesting stuff #2<p>Here's my second rundown of interesting stuff I found over the last few weeks! Let's start with a few completely unrelated YouTube videos!</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4e9JJkinvk" target="_blank">Shave your prints with a card scraper</a>; Looks like a great alternative for sanding! If you have ever sanded a 3D print, you probably know what a pain in the ass it can be. Apparently, a card scraper is an excellent alternative!</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5M-YbGWf4g" target="_blank">Robert's Fogger</a>; If you're into Halloween, there's a good chance you own a fog machine. For creating low hanging fog, the most common technique is chilling it with ice, but this guy takes a different approach, and it seems to work really well!</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrK27ADoi7g" target="_blank">Realistic eyeball sculpt</a>; Looks realistic and disturbing indeed!</li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDxZNeLr8nI" target="_blank">Simple motorized Halloween props</a>; I've been wanting to get started in animatronics for ages, and this is a good place to start. </li></ul><div>Next up, there's a series on Adam Savage's website <a href="http://www.tested.com" target="_blank">Tested.com</a>, featuring Harrison Krix from <a href="http://www.volpinprops.com" target="_blank">Volpin Props</a>. In the series, he builds a replica of the Needler gun from Halo. It's a very in-depth series, and nothing is 3D printed!</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/452904-volpin-project-part-1-introductions-and-what-im-building/" target="_blank">Introduction</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/453194-volpin-project-part-2-references-and-blueprinting/" target="_blank">References and blueprinting</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/453462-volpin-project-part-3-selecting-materials/" target="_blank">Selecting materials</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/453787-volpin-project-part-4-lets-start-building/" target="_blank">Taking shapes</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/454030-volpin-project-part-5-bondo-strikes-back/" target="_blank">Bondo strikes back</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/454391-volpin-project-part-6-details-accents-refinement-and-mockups/" target="_blank">Details, accents, refinements and mockups</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/455027-volpin-project-part-7-introduction-moldmaking/" target="_blank">Introduction to mold making</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/455335-volpin-project-part-8-more-complex-moldmaking/" target="_blank">More complex moldmaking</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/455623-volpin-project-part-9-casting-process/" target="_blank">The casting process</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/455887-volpin-project-part-10-illumination-and-audio/" target="_blank">Illumination and audio</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/456538-volpin-project-part-11-prepping-painting/" target="_blank">Prepping for painting</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/456633-volpin-project-part-12-finally-time-paint/" target="_blank">Finally time to paint</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/456783-volpin-project-part-13-weathering-needler/" target="_blank">Weathering the Needler</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/456932-volpin-project-part-14-putting-it-all-together/" target="_blank">Putting it all together</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.tested.com/making/457110-volpin-project-part-15-lessons-learned/" target="_blank">The lesson learned</a><br /></li></ol></div><div>That's it for today, I'm working on a few projects and hope to have at least one build log this month!</div><p></p><p><br /></p>Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-10038159143119585632022-01-14T22:00:00.006-08:002022-01-14T22:00:00.214-08:00Interesting stuff #1<p>Hey everyone, so here's my first overview of interesting stuff I found! I hope to post an overview like this every two weeks or so. Let's get started! For this post, it's all YouTube channels or playlists.</p><p><b><u>Blender tutorials</u></b></p><p>Like I said in my previous post, I finally want to learn Blender properly this year. Version 3.0 has just been released, but luckily, there are already a few excellent up-to-date beginner tutorial series up on YouTube. It's important to use recent tutorials, because over the last few releases, the UI and certain menu items have been changed, so if you use older tutorials, it might get confusing and frustrating!</p><p>The first one is a 24-video series by CG Cookie. It covers the basics, starting with installation and navigation, all the way up to sculpting and animation. </p><p><a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3GeP3YLZn5ixsnIOIx9tB4v6s-rsw48X" target="_blank">Blender 3.0 Basic Course - CG Cookie</a></p><p>The second one is a bit shorter, and only covers basic modeling, materials and lighting, but you make a complete scene during this tutorial. It's an updated version of an older tutorial series, and it really does a good job explaining all the basics.</p><p><a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn3ukorJv4vuU3ILv3g3xnUyEGOQR-D8J" target="_blank">Blender 3 for Complete Beginners</a><br /></p><p>The creator of this series, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/GrantAbbitt" target="_blank">Grant Abbitt</a>, has lots and lots of other tutorials on his channel, mainly aimed at game development and game assets.</p><p>These tutorials are only the tip of the iceberg, and I got lots and lots more in my "Watch later" list.</p><p><b><u>Woodworking</u></b></p><p>I've been dabbling in woodworking for quite a while, although I don't have much finished projects to show off yet. My goal is to build a complete gaming/dining table one day. I'm working on a coffee table as a practice project, but it's been sitting in my workshop half-finished (actually way less than half) for months now.</p><p>Of course, basic woodworking skills always come in handy for prop building. For example, I recently built a full size replica of the Giant Key from the Locke & Key comics, and it's mostly made from wood. It required some accurate cutting, glueing up panels, and the most difficult of all, cutting out a large circle.</p><p>So, here are a few good woodworking channels to check out:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/stevinmarin" target="_blank">Steve Ramsey - Woodworking for mere mortals</a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/KatzMosesWoodworkingShop" target="_blank">Jonathan Katz-Moses</a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/InspireWoodcraft" target="_blank">Inspire woodcraft</a><br /></li></ul><div><b><u>Makers to follow</u></b></div><div>And to finish my first list of interesting things, here are a few makers that I follow!</div><div><br /></div><div>To start, there's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Nerdforge" target="_blank">Nerdforge</a>. A couple from Norway, they make all sorts of usually fantasy-themed projects. Diorama's, costumes, paintings, ... Especially their most recent projects are quite spectacular!</div><div><br /></div><div>Next up, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/theHacksmith" target="_blank">Hacksmith Industries</a>. They build real-life versions of fictional items from movies, tv and video games. Their builds are quite spectacular. To name one, they have built an actual, working power loader from "Aliens"! Not entirely the same as in the movie, it runs on tracks instead of walking, but besides that, it's an actual, working power loader! Needless to say, these are not hobby level prop builders, these guys are pros with every tool imaginable at their disposal and the skills to use them.</div><div><br /></div><div>And to finish, there's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/colinfurze" target="_blank">Colin Furze</a>. If I was a kid today, this would be the person I wanted to be when grown up. His projects are far from boring! To name a few: a screw tank, a Star Wars AT-AT playhouse, a turbojet powered scooter, and his most recent project, a secret tunnel to connect his underground bunker to his house. </div><div><br /></div><p></p>Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0Belgium50.503887 4.46993622.193653163821153 -30.686314 78.814120836178844 39.626186tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-21944993541356036562022-01-03T05:14:00.000-08:002022-01-03T05:14:19.832-08:00Happy new year!<p>To anyone who is still following this blog, happy new year! I know, I'm not really that active here anymore. I'm more active on my Facebook and Instagram pages, so to follow in detail what I'm up to and what I'm working on, head over there! The reason I'm not writing that much tutorials and build logs anymore is simply because I barely have time anymore, but I hope to be a bit more active this year (and yes, I know I say that every year).</p><p>Now, I highly doubt that I'll be able to do a tutorial every week, or even every month. I have a three year old daughter, and more than enough stuff to do in and around the house, so I need to manage my time carefully. So, here's something I would like to try out starting this year. I run into all sorts of cool YouTube videos, blog posts, or other social media content related to prop building and 3D printing, and I'd like to try writing an overview of interesting stuff I found every two weeks or so.</p><p>Another thing I'd like to do this year is learning Blender 3D. I have started following basic tutorials dozens of times, only to ignore it again later, so I basically have to start from scratch every time. This year, I want to follow through and actually learn it in depth! </p><p>And then there's my store, wich is overdue for a major update! I have tons of cool ideas for new stuff to make, and I hope to find the time to actually build these things. More ideas for sketchbooks, but mostly Dungeons & Dragons stuff and game room decorations! So keep an eye on this blog and my social media channels!</p>Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-36954992814271245892021-05-02T13:31:00.000-07:002021-05-02T13:31:02.539-07:00Dungeons & Dragons homebrew spells!<p>Hey everyone! Yes, this blog is still alive and kicking! I must admit, it's been quite a while, I'm more active on <a href="http://www.instagram.com/eyeballs_studio" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/eb.studio" target="_blank">Facebook</a> these days (it's so much easier and quicker than writing complete blog posts), but I finally decided to write a complete post once more.</p><p>For I think two years now I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons with some friends. Unfortunately, it's been more than a year since we've seen each other in real life, with Covid-19 and all, and we've been playing online ever since. I have some experience with D&D because of the Baldur's Gate videogames, and when I was in college I also played Cyberpunk 2020 with friends, but this is my first experience with actual real life Dungeons & Dragons.</p><p>If you follow me on <a href="http://www.instagram.com/eyeballs_studio">Instagram</a> (wich you really should!) you probably noticed I made a few homebrew spells recently. That's the beauty of role playing games, they perfect for creating your own content. So, let's take a look at how I make these spells!</p><p><b><u>Step by step</u></b></p><p>I've got plenty of ideas; at the moment I have only two completed spells, but I've got ideas for plenty more. The only limit here is your imagination! I try to add a little bit of humor to my creations, and some pop culture references. For example, the reference on my "<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/999282201/" target="_blank">Rogue Anvil</a>" spell is pretty clear (and if you don't get it, shame on you!).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R1Kkn_HXz-U/YI8IuLU7uiI/AAAAAAAALAk/urX434nTINo8hvYT6X1RmylWUx3rcKvygCPcBGAsYHg/s1140/Rogue%2BAnvil%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1140" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R1Kkn_HXz-U/YI8IuLU7uiI/AAAAAAAALAk/urX434nTINo8hvYT6X1RmylWUx3rcKvygCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/Rogue%2BAnvil%2B1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>For spells that deal damage, a good approach in my opinion is to make it a low level spell, and make it scale at higher levels. Many D&D spells do this, it's a good way of creating spells that always remain useful. A good example is the Magic Missile spell. You can start using it straight away at level one, and at higher levels, it fires more missiles, dealing more damage. The next spell, "<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/985325474/">Poquito Cabeza</a>", doesn't deal any damage, it's more of a utility spell, so it doesn't scale at higher levels.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EA7XYi5fr-g/YI8I5QDqU7I/AAAAAAAALAo/IM_BTU6594gWxQFNZeAIDHduN78d3TgoQCPcBGAsYHg/s1140/Poquito%2BCabeza%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1140" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EA7XYi5fr-g/YI8I5QDqU7I/AAAAAAAALAo/IM_BTU6594gWxQFNZeAIDHduN78d3TgoQCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/Poquito%2BCabeza%2B1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Many spells also require some sort of material component. If you're not familiar with D&D, spell components are often summarized as "VSM", meaning "verbal, somatic, material". "Verbal" means a spoken component, "somatic" means gestures and "material" is pretty self explanatory. Why are these things important? A spell with a verbal component (pretty much all spells) can't be used when you are silenced, for example! Materials aren't that important, because most spellcasters use some sort of arcane focus wich replaces the material component most of the time.</p><p><b><u>Drawing</u></b></p><p>When I've decided the effects and description of the spell, I first start on the artwork. I don't want my spells to be just a sheet of text, I want a nice drawing to go with it. I must admit, I'm not that good at drawing, but I'm working on it. I try to draw at least a few times every week, even if it's just some random doodles, and I'm progressing slowly but steadily. The anvil for my "Rogue Anvil" spell was quite easy, the head for "Poquito Cabeza" was a bit more challenging, but I'm quite satisfied with the result.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YQdMq8N8twU/YI8JBRd_euI/AAAAAAAALAs/0FGwoqxhnqYcY7HnknYnHtL-P7VE1uk8ACPcBGAsYHg/s4096/IMG_20210423_103914413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YQdMq8N8twU/YI8JBRd_euI/AAAAAAAALAs/0FGwoqxhnqYcY7HnknYnHtL-P7VE1uk8ACPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20210423_103914413.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FiEGTj7Qip8/YI8JBZe4TFI/AAAAAAAALAs/NAJq4cIJElIalYV4OSLYqE2QKXDeQtsjgCPcBGAsYHg/s4096/IMG_20210423_103813051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FiEGTj7Qip8/YI8JBZe4TFI/AAAAAAAALAs/NAJq4cIJElIalYV4OSLYqE2QKXDeQtsjgCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20210423_103813051.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I use 200 gram/sqm mixed media paper and 3H and HB pencils for sketching, and then I ink everything with burnt umber acrylic ink. I prefer this color over black because of the resemblance to walnut ink. I use two different pen nibs, one for the thick outlines, and a thinner one for small details.</p><p>When the ink has properly dried, I erase all my pencil lines and use the same ink for filling and shading. The acrylic ink I use is insanely intense, and can be thinned a lot and still produce vibrant colors! Although it works well, I might try watercolor paint in the future, because there's one huge disadvantage to this acrylic ink: it dries almost instantly! Even when the paper is still wet, the ink has already dried and is impossible to blend or feather with a wet brush. It works if I wet the paper a bit first, and keep a separate wet brush on hand, but once the ink has set, it has set!</p><p>One more thing I should add is this. I always scan every step of the drawing process. The pencil drawing, ink drawing (several times) and sometimes even different stages of the shading step. If I mess up, at least I still have my scans!</p><p><b><u>Writing</u></b></p><p>Next comes the most important part: writing! I've been dabbling in calligraphy for quite a long time, and now it finally comes in handy. For the spell text itself, I use the Carolingian alphabet, and for the title the Rotunda Gothic alphabet. Even though I like the look of Gothic-style alphabets, they are hard to read in large blocks of text.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tXewVBU4JPA/YI8Jc--8keI/AAAAAAAALA4/ybMm2yyzAS8JtWp2VnL3uQlxlnvFwCAFwCPcBGAsYHg/s4096/IMG_20210423_103909869.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tXewVBU4JPA/YI8Jc--8keI/AAAAAAAALA4/ybMm2yyzAS8JtWp2VnL3uQlxlnvFwCAFwCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20210423_103909869.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I use a 3mm wide nib for the main text, and a 4mm wide one for the title, and the same ink I use for drawing. With the 3mm nib, my line height is 27mm! Of course, this is waaay to big to fit all of my text on a single sheet of paper. For my "Rogue Anvil" spell, I used about four sheets of paper (front and back!) to write all of my text. I scan my text and scale everything down quite a lot (about 12% of the original size).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6CRh2KN7wVc/YI8JjVlkxQI/AAAAAAAALA8/52mWagvVbUILYwKejx_wd3Zl0c0Zhr8WQCPcBGAsYHg/s4096/IMG_20210423_103857543.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4096" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6CRh2KN7wVc/YI8JjVlkxQI/AAAAAAAALA8/52mWagvVbUILYwKejx_wd3Zl0c0Zhr8WQCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20210423_103857543.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>What I found takes the most time is not the writing. It's drawing all the lines! For each line of text, I have to draw three lines, for the correct height of the letters and all ascenders and descenders. In addition, I also draw some line to keep my letters at a consistent angle. Really, once you've gotten the hang of a certain alphabet and can write it at a reasonable speed, drawing all the lines takes more time than the actual writing!</p><p>For future projects, I'm going to try different other fonts as well. For example, the Uncial and Half-Uncial scripts are very beautiful, and still very readable. For the title, I'm gonna try different types of Gothic fonts. A really nice one is Batarde, but it's a difficult one, because it requires you to rotate the nib as you write, so I'll need to practice that one quite a bit!</p><p><b><u>Scanning and arranging</u></b></p><p>With everything written and drawn, I scan everything, scale it down and arrange it to fit an A4-sized sheet of paper. I scan it at 600 dpi and save all my original scans as-is, without any editing. Any editing is done on copies.</p><p>For the main text, I scale everything to about 12 percent of the original size. It's a comfortable size to read, and it still looks like hand-written text. The header text of the spell is a bit bigger, just like the title. For the header and the title, I add some shadow. I use Gimp for all my image editing, and the trick to make the white background of the scans disappear is setting the layer mode to "Darken only". I copy my original text, offset it a bit, and then blur it and adjust the transparency.</p><p>Arranging the text takes quite a bit of time. Lots and lots of cutting and pasting! Besides the drawing I made a decorative page border (took me a long time to get it right!) and some horizontal borders. When everything was finished, I printed it on thick parchment paper, and I really like the way it turned out! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DM2xVXTzJus/YI8JvmIEC9I/AAAAAAAALBA/yeep3G26iykl_lOoaVrxb3nc2vWDjS7_ACPcBGAsYHg/s1140/Rogue%2BAnvil%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1140" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DM2xVXTzJus/YI8JvmIEC9I/AAAAAAAALBA/yeep3G26iykl_lOoaVrxb3nc2vWDjS7_ACPcBGAsYHg/w200-h150/Rogue%2BAnvil%2B1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ASYATh_6iwE/YI8Jvh0-GsI/AAAAAAAALBA/0m-25rsMvUAymzyhuc-RW-zf0VFa4APVgCPcBGAsYHg/s1140/Poquito%2BCabeza%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1140" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ASYATh_6iwE/YI8Jvh0-GsI/AAAAAAAALBA/0m-25rsMvUAymzyhuc-RW-zf0VFa4APVgCPcBGAsYHg/w200-h150/Poquito%2BCabeza%2B1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>I also added a wax seal in the bottom right corner; this gives it a nice touch of authenticity, and of course my personal logo! I had a stamp custom engraved, and it turned out quite nice. I used a bar of sealing wax with a wick, like a candle, that I had lying around, but I found it messy to use. It takes long to melt, and you have to be careful you don't set the paper on fire! Perhaps I should get some of those sealing wax sticks you can use with a hot glue gun.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9CDRbOih2TY/YI8Ka2FzcMI/AAAAAAAALBk/iAKYOclTJjsoGRVcZrzcRMoMAxXji-uQwCPcBGAsYHg/s1140/Seal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1140" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9CDRbOih2TY/YI8Ka2FzcMI/AAAAAAAALBk/iAKYOclTJjsoGRVcZrzcRMoMAxXji-uQwCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/Seal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>If you're interested in my spells, you can find them in <a href="http://eyeballsshop.etsy.com" target="_blank">my Etsy Shop</a>, along with all my other stuff!</p>Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-45856320393170069582019-10-13T07:38:00.000-07:002019-10-13T07:38:24.383-07:00Locke and Key sketchbookHey everyone! Yes, this blog is still alive! I've been neglecting it lately, but here's another build log! So, what did I make? I made a sketchbook based on the comic series "Locke and Key"!<br />
This project is a custom comission. The client had a key from the comics, and asked me if I could make a book with some sort of holder for the key. He sent me a sketch of the design he had in mind, so I got to work.<br />
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The book is a combination of the kraft paper leather technique I use for most of my books and 3D printing. For this book, I also used wood.<br />
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<b>The printed ornaments</b><br />
This book has quite a bit of 3D printed ornaments. There are the corners, wich have the initials of the author and artists on them, and then there's the key holder. I modeled all of these in Fusion 360 and printed them in ABS-X on my Prusa I3.<br />
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For the key holder, I did some tests first. The idea was to make the key 'snap' into the holder, snugly enough to hold it in place, but still easy enough to take it out again. I made a few test pieces of the holder and, after I found the right measurements, I started printing. I used ABS-X for the ornaments because it's very easy to sand, and it warps less than regular ABS.<br />
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After all the ornaments were printed, I first repaired small defects with spot putty and then started sanding. Lots and lots of sanding! I started with 120 grit, to get rid of all the layer lines, and then worked my way up to 600.<br />
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On the corner ornaments, there is supposed to be a texture in the recessed parts near the corners. Rather than modeling it (my 3D modeling skills aren't exactly impressive), I filled them with sand and then added a few drops of watered down wood glue. Much easier than modeling the texture!<br />
Next up, I sprayed everything with a filler primer. This gets rid of the last bits of layer lines and gives everything a nice smooth surface for painting.<br />
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<b>The wooden frame</b><br />
The wooden frame is made from 4mm thick, 30mm wide strips, with rounded corners. The corner ornaments are modeled so these strips fit into them. I didn't want the wood to look all new and fresh from the hardware store, of course. Here's a trick I used before to age wood. First, I dissolved a steel wool sponge in white vinegar. This takes a few days until it's completely dissolved. This mixture is then brushed onto the wood.<br />
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The wood will start turning darker brown immediately. I let it soak for a few minutes, and then rinsed the excess away. The reaction darkens the wood grain. After it had dried, I applied a pale oak varnish.<br />
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<b>The fake leather</b><br />
For the rest of the cover, I used my fake leather technique. Cardboard shapes were glued on the cover, for creating the embossing, and next wrinkled kraft paper was glued over it. Then, a black basecoat, dark brown applied with a sponge, a very thin coat of yellow ochre and finally a bronze drybrushing. To finish, a matte clearcoat.<br />
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After all the paint had dried, I lined the insides of the covers with felt. To protect the pages from the moisture while the glue dried, I put sheets of waxed paper between the cover and the pages. I put the book between clamps, and let it dry for a few days.<br />
This is quite a crucial step, and one that shouldn't be rushed. With all the glue and paint on the covers, they will always warp a bit. The felt lining is the last thing that's glued on, so the book should be pressed as flat as possible while it dries. I always take my time for this, about five days. Even though the glue has dried after one day, there's still moisture in the covers, so if you remove the clamps too soon, it will warp again.<br />
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<b>Final assembly</b><br />
The only thing still left was putting everything together. For the wood, I used a general purpose hobby glue, and for the printed parts, I used super glue. Again, lots and lots of clamping while the glue dries. Even for super glue, I have found out the hard way it doesn't always cure as fast as you think. The only time it cures almost instantly is when you glue your fingers together!<br />
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<br />Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-68240618394427862572019-03-24T05:57:00.000-07:002019-03-24T05:57:15.951-07:00Horned HelmetIt has been quite a while since my last post. Again! At the moment, I'm busy as hell. I recently made Eyeballs Studio an official business and became a dad! Having a tiny human around is quite time and energy consuming (not that I'm complaining, I love our little cupcake more than anything else). I'm still working on new and cool stuff, but here's a project (actually, one of two projects) that's been sitting on my computer for quite a while now, begging to be completed. It's a costume prop I completed last year, all I had to do was edit the photos and write a blog post. So here we go!<br />
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That's me, at <a href="http://www.elfia.com/" target="_blank">Elf Fantasy Fair Arcen</a> last year. And this post will be about the helmet I'm wearing! My first helmet was inspired by Gimli's helmet from Lord Of The Rings, but it was very uncomfortable to wear. I had used a steel salad bowl as a base (no, I'm not kidding), and wearing it for a full day gave me a very bad headache.<br />
The new helmet is based on a pattern by <a href="https://eviltedsmith.com/" target="_blank">Evil Ted Smith</a>, and it's entirely made from EVA foam. If you're looking for excellent patterns for all sorts of foam armor parts, check out his store, it's definitely worth the money!<br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Thick paper for the patterns</li>
<li>EVA foam (10, 5 and 2 mm)</li>
<li>Contact cement</li>
<li>Super glue</li>
<li>Hot glue</li>
<li>Acrylic caulk</li>
<li>Flexi Paint</li>
<li>Acrylic paints</li>
<li>Satin acrylic clearcoat</li>
<li>Oil paints (water mixable)</li>
<li>Upholstery foam</li>
<li>Hobby knife</li>
<li>Dremel rotary tool and sanding bits</li>
<li>Heat gun</li>
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<b>Building the helmet</b></div>
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I printed the pattern on thick drawing paper, taped the different parts together and cut out the pattern pieces. For the bulk of the helmet, I used 10mm EVA foam floor mats. The texture will be on the inside, so it's not necessary to sand it away.</div>
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The helmet itself consists of only four pieces of foam. I used a heat gun to shape the foam, and glued everything together with contact cement. The rings on the sides are for mounting the horns. Those were quite a bit more difficult than the helmet!</div>
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The horns are made from 5mm foam, and require a steady hand and quite a bit of patience to put together. Perhaps the most important thing with these patterns are the alignment markings. Especially with complex shapes, like these horns, proper alignment is essential! It took me a while to put them together, but in the end, I had two impressive horns!</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_a-S5wwjYPs/XJaHs2Y3AeI/AAAAAAAAJmU/YIjF2sYqhDA43cziyqKvdmsdADtvaGEHACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_8350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_a-S5wwjYPs/XJaHs2Y3AeI/AAAAAAAAJmU/YIjF2sYqhDA43cziyqKvdmsdADtvaGEHACKgBGAs/s200/IMG_8350.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VmAmww9m1UY/XJaHs8aTPaI/AAAAAAAAJmU/bjBd-oz2D9ku87_27NurYW1QvVcAXA8zACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_8410.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VmAmww9m1UY/XJaHs8aTPaI/AAAAAAAAJmU/bjBd-oz2D9ku87_27NurYW1QvVcAXA8zACKgBGAs/s200/IMG_8410.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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At first, I wanted to mount the horns just like that. My wife suggested I cut some grooves into them, to make them look more organic, like real animal horns. I hesitated at first, and thought I could achieve the right look by just painting, but in the end I followed her advice, and I'm glad I did.</div>
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I mounted the horns, and added the rest of the details. Some were on the pattern, others were improvised as I went along. For example, the three spikes on top of the helmet, and the plate that looks like it's riveted in place. I fixed the seams that needed fixing with acrylic caulk, and made some dents and scratches with my rotary tool.</div>
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<b>Painting</b><br />
The next step: painting! A while ago, I bought some Flexi Paint, a paint made especially for EVA foam props. As the name implies, it's very flexible, and adheres perfectly to foam. I have used it on a few props, but I must say, I'm not a huge fan of it. It paints well, and can be sprayed with an airbrush when properly diluted, but what I don't like is this: the color changes drastically when it dries! Now, most paints, especially acrylics, do this, but in this case, the difference is huge. I mixed some gray (there's only a limited number of colors available, so you'll have to mix your own a lot), but it dried to an almost black finish.<br />
If you're ok with this behavior and you're good at mixing and matching colors, this is a very good paint. I, however, am not that good at it. But no worries, the paint is also an excellent foam primer, so I gave my helmet a base coat with it, and then painted over it with regular acrylics.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7HPQRnlgnwE/XJaJiIo1mtI/AAAAAAAAJms/Qn_insHkzAMrT4wISD2kj647l0bVOa9IQCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_8427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7HPQRnlgnwE/XJaJiIo1mtI/AAAAAAAAJms/Qn_insHkzAMrT4wISD2kj647l0bVOa9IQCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_8427.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VqnlDIdtPzw/XJaJiJrlHUI/AAAAAAAAJms/PIXJYANBqiYyXu-8bOq0XDcS0CQe5Ez-QCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_8433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VqnlDIdtPzw/XJaJiJrlHUI/AAAAAAAAJms/PIXJYANBqiYyXu-8bOq0XDcS0CQe5Ez-QCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_8433.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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I used my Badger single action airbrush for most of the base coat. As I'm writing this, I'm without airbrush, though. I still have the airbrush, but no compressor. At the time, I borrowed some airbrush equipment from my brother. He had a compressor and double action airbrush and wasn't using it, so I could borrow it. I had bought the single action airbrush for painting larger areas quickly. A single action, external mix airbrush can handle thicker paints, so you don't need expensive, airbrush-ready paints. In the meantime, he needed his airbrush equipment back, so number one on my shopping list is an airbrush compressor.<br />
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After the basecoat, I applied a black wash, white drybrushing and finally a metallic drybrushing with either silver and pewter, for the steel parts, or bronze and brass, for the bronze parts. I'm glad I cut the grooves into the horns, because a simple brown wash was all that was needed to make them look more organic.<br />
When all the paint had dried, I gave the entire helmet a clearcoat, and finally, I weathered it some more with water mixable oil paint. This is the first time I used oil paint, and I like it a lot! The advantage of oil paint over acrylic for weathering is the long drying time of oil paint. Weathering required very thin coats of paint, and acrylics would dry in less than a minute. Oil paints dry much slower (I'm talking days), so you have plenty of time to get the effect you want. On the following picture, the right side of the helmet has been weathered, the left side hasn't.<br />
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And finally, after everything has dried, there's only one more thing to do: fitting! I used 5 cm thick strips of upholstery foam for that, and glued them to the inside of the helmet with hot glue. This is a trial and error process, but luckily, it's easy to rip it back out if you make a mistake. After a few attempts, the helmet fit snugly.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ODHtwGFVayI/XJaOmrU8XVI/AAAAAAAAJng/L33CWBAS2ZIvcwQctqZPGOYcaLz9sHrmwCKgBGAs/s1600/Horned%2BHelmet_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ODHtwGFVayI/XJaOmrU8XVI/AAAAAAAAJng/L33CWBAS2ZIvcwQctqZPGOYcaLz9sHrmwCKgBGAs/s400/Horned%2BHelmet_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I wore the helmet for a full day at Elf Fantasy Fair, without any headaches. Unfortunately, the weather gods weren't exactly on our side that day. Somewhere in the afternoon it started raining, and we headed back to the hotel early because we were soaked. The next day, we didn't even put on our costumes because it just kept on raining, and just went to the festival in our regular clothes. Ah, well, better luck next time!Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-88421606644338690242018-09-25T04:49:00.000-07:002018-09-25T04:49:23.003-07:00Hocus Pocus bookThis was by far my most ambitious project so far! A while ago, my wife asked me if I could make a replica of the spellbook from the movie "Hocus Pocus". If you haven't seen this movie, I definitely recommend it. Even though it's a family-friendly Halloween movie, it's not childish.<br />
Anyway, I knew this would be a bit more challenging than the books I made so far (especially the ornaments), but nothing that couldn't be done. So let's get started!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oNcwyM5yy6w/W6oWadIE9gI/AAAAAAAAJHE/tivTuX-ChHoe6IkfdNyskWiy7YHz9DsiQCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_8454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oNcwyM5yy6w/W6oWadIE9gI/AAAAAAAAJHE/tivTuX-ChHoe6IkfdNyskWiy7YHz9DsiQCKgBGAs/s400/IMG_8454.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I also documented the entire build process on video. Many hours of footage, many hours of editing, and I managed to process it into a 20-minute video! In case you're wondering, I recorded it using a Canon Legria HFR506 camcorder, edited the video in Lightworks and recorded the voice-over with a USB microphone and Audacity.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FcHzx4P7iU4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="320" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FcHzx4P7iU4?feature=player_embedded" width="480"></iframe></div>
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<strong><br /></strong><strong>Materials</strong><br />
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<ul>
<li>Sewn kraft paper sketchbook</li>
<li>3 mm thick MDF</li>
<li>Cardboard</li>
<li>Air drying clay</li>
<li>Apoxie sculpt</li>
<li>25 mm glass dome</li>
<li>Kraft paper</li>
<li>Unbleached hemp string</li>
<li>PVC foam plate</li>
<li>Super glue</li>
<li>Book binding glue</li>
<li>Epoxie glue</li>
<li>Hot glue gun</li>
<li>Thick needle</li>
<li>Molding silicone</li>
<li>Polyurethane resin</li>
<li>Foamcore board (for the mold)</li>
<li>Spray primer</li>
<li>Acrylic paints</li>
<li>Acrylic varnish</li>
<li>8 mm neodymium magnets</li>
<li>Red felt</li>
<li>Gauze</li>
</ul>
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<strong>The ornaments</strong><br />
Like I said, the ornaments would be quite a challenge. There are the four coiled-up snakes at the corners, the two snakes near the spine, the clasp on the front and a hand on the back. The hand isn't shown in detail anywhere in the movie, so I would have to improvise a bit.<br />
I decided to make one of each ornament, and then mold them in silicone so I could cast multiple copies of them. I used a combination of PVC foam sheet and Apoxie clay, and took my time until I was satisfied with the sculpts.<br />
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Then, disaster almost struck. I made a silicone mold, and expected the silicone to be cured the next day. However, when I checked, the silicone was still a semi-liquid, sticky mess! I waited a few more days, but it simply didn't cure any further. What had happened? I suspect the catalyst for the silicone had expired. When I checked the bottle, I noticed some crystals on the bottom. I decided to wait a bit longer, but to no result.<br />
So I ordered some new silicone and catalyst and started over. I removed the semi-cured silicone, and to get rid of any remaining liquid stuff, I brushed some catalyst over it and let it cure, so I could remove it easily. I made a new mold, and this time it worked fine. The next day, the silicone had cured as expected and I could start casting.<br />
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I used polyurethane resin for the ornaments. Four coiled-up snakes for the corners, two snakes for the spine, one clasp and one hand. When the resin had cured, I first cleaned the casts thoroughly and then sprayed them with a primer, followed by a dark gray acrylic basecoat. After the basecoat had dried, I applied a black wash, silver drybrushing and finally a satin clearcoat.<br />
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One ornament that required a special treatment was the clasp. To make it lock, I installed some neodymium magnets in it. Before painting, I carefully drilled some holes in the back, and glued the magnets in place with super glue. Magnets will be embedded in the book cover as well.<br />
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<strong>The book</strong><br />
My wife wanted a book with brown pages. This wasn't easy to find! There's plenty of sketchbooks made from brown kraft paper, but they are always either spiral bound or very thin. It took me some searching, but finally I found one on Ebay!<br />
When the book arrived, I noticed the spine wasn't glued. The pages were stitched together, but no glue. To make sure the book would be strong enough, I applied a coat of book binding glue to the spine, followed by a strip of gauze, followed by another coat of glue.<br />
One last thing needed to be done, and that was some sort of headband. I have tried making them myself in the past, but it didn't look too good. A great alternative was a strip of red felt, glued to the spine.<br />
I didn't take any pictures of this, but it is shown in the <a href="https://youtu.be/FcHzx4P7iU4" target="_blank">Youtube video</a>.<br />
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<strong>The cover</strong><br />
The book cover is made from 3mm thick MDF, and cardboard for the spine. The spine needed to be rounded a bit. I did this by glueing a few layers of thin cardboard together on a piece of PVC pipe, and letting it dry for a few days.<br />
Another prominent feature of the book are the stitches, and the eye. The eye is a stock photo of an eye, printed on photo paper, and glued to a glass dome. The eyelids and stitches were sculpted directly on the cover. <br />
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I sculpted the stitches out of air drying clay. For the eyelids, I used Apoxie sculpt. After the clay had dried, I carefully drilled out the holes in the stitches with a 2 mm drill bit, and cleaned them up from the back of the cover.<br />
I didn't take pictures of it (again), but there are six small magnets around the eye. I drilled 8 mm holes in the cover, and put the magnets in them, sandwiched between two sheet of paper on the front and back. These line up with the magnets I put in the clasp, so they keep it in place.<br />
After glueing both cover boards and spine together, I used my wrinkled kraft paper technique for creating a faux leather effect. Usually, I try to use one single sheet of paper for the entire cover, but in this case it was easier to cut it into several pieces. The reason I try to use a single sheet is so you don't see the seams between the sheets. If this case, however, I could hide the seams in the stitches so they wouldn't be visible anyway.<br />
And then it was time for the paint job! As usual, I started with a black basecoat, followed by a layer of brown. I used a mixture of burnt umber with a bit of pyrrole red to get a chocolate-like brown. After it had dried, I rubbed a very thin coat of yellow ochre over it, followed by a bronze drybrushing.<br />
The final metallic drybrushing makes a huge difference! I have tried several colors (copper, bronze, gold, silver, ...) but bronze and copper look the best. I have also experimented with different color combinations the last few months, but that's something for a future post.<br />
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Before the final clearcoat, I sewed the stitches. First, I opened up all the holes with a thick needle, and then I sewed them using unbleached hemp string. It wasn't easy, sewing relatively thick, rough thread through small holes, but the result looks pretty nice. I glued the stitches in place from the back with a hot glue gun, and then trimmed everything with a sharp knife.<br />
Next, I sprayed the cover with matte acrylic varnish. In the past, I have used satin varnish, but I think matte looks a lot better.<br />
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<b>Putting it all together</b><br />
And now it's time for the final assembly! I first glued the cover to the book. I needed to take special care to make sure everything was lined up properly, because otherwise the book wouldn't open afterwards. I glued on one side at a time, and pressed everything in place firmly, making sure there weren't any air bubbles. I put the book between clamps to keep everything together as the glue dried.<br />
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Next, I put the ornaments in place with epoxy glue, one side at a time and waiting until the glue was fully cured before switching to the other side (about 1 hour).<br />
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And then finally, the clasp! I glued a strip of leather between the clasp and hand, glued some felt to the inside of the strap and the clasp (not the hand), and finally glued the hand to the back cover.<br />
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And here's the final result! It took me a lot of work, but I think it turned out very nice. My wife is very happy with the result.<br />
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<br />Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-92105200659537748502018-08-09T07:50:00.001-07:002018-08-09T07:50:31.377-07:00My Prusa I3 MK3!In March, I finally placed an order for a Prusa I3 MK3 3D printer. I had been planning to buy a 3D printer for a while. At first, I wanted to get one of those cheap I3 clones, but after reading a lot of user experiences I decided to spend the extra money and get an original Prusa I3. Bottom line is: the cheap clones are ok printers, but you have to spend a lot of time to get them to print more or less decently, and I didn't want to do that.<br />
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<strong>The waiting game</strong><br />
So, like I said, somewhere early March I placed the order, and the estimated shipping date was mid-April. That gave me plenty of time to study the assembly manual and read user feedback. I found out some people had some trouble getting the frame all straight and perpendicular, but luckily this wasn't a problem that couldn't be fixed.<br />
In the meantime, the shipping date moved forward a few times. The flu season hadn't spared the people at Prusa Research, and late April I finally got a shipping notification. Woo hoo!<br />
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<strong>The build process</strong><br />
I have documented my entire build in a series of YouTube videos. The entire assembly manual has nine chapters, so I made it a nine part video series. Also, this is the first time I'm actually talking in front of the camera, something I haven't done before (my other videos in wich I talk are all voice-overs). I'm not exactly the best public speaker, but I think I did a decent job without sounding too much like a blabbering idiot.<br />
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The entire build went pretty smooth. The mentioned problem with the frame geometry didn't happen to me. One this that worried me a little bit at first were the linear bearings on the Y-axis. During assembly, they were quite noisy, and I was worries I had over tightened the screws to hold them in place. Nothing that was beyond fixing, but if I indeed damaged them it would mean ordering new bearings and waiting some more. Luckily, during printing the noise is gone.
I managed to damage one part, though. When I tried to snap the spool holder in place, the bottom part that snaps around the aluminium frame broke, and it doesn't properly stay in place. Not a big issue, since I'm also building an enclosure with a separate spool holder anyway.<br />
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<strong>My experience so far</strong><br />
I've had the printer for a few months now. I've printed quite a bit, and here's what I've encountered so far.<br />
First of all, 3D printing isn't plug and play. Sorry, it isn't. It often requires some experimenting and trial and error to get things right. I've already experienced a few jams that required me to disassemble the entire extruder, and I'm glad I bought the kit and not a preassembled printer.<br />
I have also built and enclosure out of Ikea Lack tables, so I can print with ABS and HIPS. There are a few problems with this. First of all, Ikea Lack tables are very unstable; especially when printing small parts, where the extruder has to move back and forth rapidly, the entire enclosure shakes a lot. I managed to get this more or less under control my attaching some steel corner braces. Second, the printers jams easily inside an enclosure with the doors closed. Apparently, this has to do with the design of the extruder, it has insufficient cooling, wich causes something known as heat creep. I'm not gonna go into too much detail, but it's a bad thing.<br />
Prusa has designed a new extruder body with improved cooling, so that's on my to do list: printing the new parts, and then rebuilding the extruder. Again, glad I bought the kit, because I basically have to take the entire extruder apart and reassemble it with the new parts.<br />
Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the printer. I've had a few problems, but this also happens on printers that cost three, four times as much. Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-2827200226496962842018-08-09T05:45:00.001-07:002018-08-09T05:45:22.856-07:00Oogie Boogie diceThis is going to be a short and simple one. With this prop, I introduced my wife to foamsmithing. She was working on an Oogie Boogie costume, from Tim Burton's "The nightmare before Christmas", and wanted a pair of dice to go with it. In the movie, Oogie Boogie rolls dice with skulls on the faces. A perfect beginner project!<br />
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<strong>Materials</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>10mm EVA foam floor mats</li>
<li>2mm EVA foam sheets</li>
<li>Contact cement</li>
<li>Book binding glue</li>
<li>Acrylic paints</li>
<li>Satin varnish</li>
<li>Hobby knife</li>
<li>Band saw</li>
<li>Dremel with sanding drum, grinding bits and cutting wheel</li>
</ul>
<strong>Making a cube</strong><br />
To make a cube, you could just stack together sheets of foam until you get the right thickness, but that would require a lot of foam, and if you're using floor mats with a texture, you'd need to sand it away. I didn't want to do that. Instead, I cut six squares for each cube (I made two) and bevelled the edges at 45°. This is done easily with a band saw; if you don't have a band saw, it could also be done with a bench sander or, but that's a bit trickier to get it right, a Dremel.<br />
The squares were then glue together with contact cement. No need to sand away any texture, and a perfect cube!<br />
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<strong>The faces</strong><br />
This is where my wife stepped in. She had downloaded a template for the faces and traced them all on 2 mm thick foam sheets. Next, she cut them all out and glued them on the cubes.<br />
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The next was done by me again (she doesn't like to use power tools). With a grinding bit on my Dremel, I cut out the eyes and smoothed the edges and corners a bit. I also added some scratches and cuts with a cutting wheel. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of that, but you can see it in the next step.<br />
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<strong>Painting</strong><br />
This was, again, done by my wife. First, the dice were primed with book binding glue, and then got a dark red base coat. After it had dried, the eyes and scratches were painted black. Finally, the entire prop got a coat of sating varnish.<br />
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And here's us, with our costumes and the dice, of course, at Elf Fantasy Fair Haarzuilens. </div>
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<br />Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-39095384380247019802018-07-01T17:07:00.001-07:002018-07-01T17:07:34.811-07:00What's happening?It's been a while since my last post (wich was right after Halloween), so I thought I might bring you all a bit up to date. I've posted some stuff on my Instagram page in the meantime to show some of the stuff I'm working on, so here's an overview of what I've been up to the last few months.<br />
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<strong>Workshop upgrade</strong><br />
The most important thing: I finally cleaned out the garage and did some necessary renovations and upgrades. Patched up holes in the walls and ceiling, painted everything, installed new lighting and extra power outlets and sorted my tools and supplies a bit (actually, I'm still in the process of doing that... It's a never ending story!).<br />
I hope to keep everything more or less clean and tidy from now on, and especially avoid dust as much as possible. Before the upgrade, there was dust everywhere, and it was almost impossible to clean out! Besides dust from sanding and cutting, the bare plaster walls had holes in them everywhere and contributed their share to the mess.<br />
And finally, the lighting and electricity were insufficient. An old fluorescent light, and only a single power outlet and lots of extension cables. The fluorescent light got replaced with LED light bars, and I installed a series of new power outlets, with their own circuit breaker. Bye bye fire hazard!<br />
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<strong>Etsy shop on hold</strong><br />
For now, I have put my Etsy shop on hold. This summer, I will attend three art markets, and I want to have enough stuff to put on display. Last year, I did one art market, and it was quite succesfull. I'll attend the same one this year, and two markets at fantasy events, both in the Netherlands. In August, my shop will reopen.<br />
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<strong>Books!</strong><br />
Those who follow me on Facebook or Instagram already know this, I'm working on more sketchbooks. I'm always trying to come up with new ideas, concepts and color combinations, and I'm trying to expand my themes beyond the Necronomicon/Lovecraft universe. For my faux leather technique, not all color combinations work, and it's a lot of trial and error. Although I made small test pieces to test something out, it still might turn out entirely different on a complete book.<br />
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<strong>Props!</strong><br />
Last year, when I did my first art market, I had one prop weapon on display, but it wasn't for sale. Some people were a bit disappointed, so I decided to build some prop weapons to sell. At the moment, I'm building a few maces, a hammers and a flail.<br />
I did intend to do full build logs, with pictures and video, but the problem is, I always tend to underestimate how much time a project takes. You'd think I would have learned by now, but I didn't. I've got a lot of photos and video footage on my pc that needs processing, but I simply don't have the time.<br />
So here's the plan. I won't be able to finish the build logs I had in mind. Sorry, not gonna happen. It would take me too much time to process all the images and video footage, and then write blog posts. After the hectic period I'm in right now is over, I'll post an overview of some of the stuff I built over the past few months, with some pictures, and I hope I'll be able to resume writing proper build logs after that.<br />
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<strong>New tools</strong><br />
A while ago, I bought a 3D printer, a Prusa I3 MK3. I've already got some videos of the assembly up on my Youtube channel, I hope to complete the remaining chapters soon. I'm glad I bought the kit; not only did I save 200 euros, it's very useful to know how to take it apart and put it together again. I've already had some issues with the extruder, and it's much easier to fix if you built it yourself.<br />
In the future, I plan to build a simple laser cutter, partially with 3D printed parts. This will come in handy for cutting cardboard and thin craft foam. This won't be a tool that can cut acrylic or plywood, perhaps one day if I win the lottery...<br />
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<strong>Follow me</strong><br />
I know I'm not as active as I want to be on this blog, but writing posts and editing photos takes time, wich is something I'm already short on. If you want to keep up with my work, here's where you can follow me:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/eyeballs_studio/" target="_blank">Instagram </a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/eb.studio/" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/eyeballsstudio" target="_blank">Deviant Art</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/EyeballsStudio" target="_blank">Youtube</a></li>
</ul>
The next events ahead are Elfia Arcen and, of course, Halloween. I do have some cool new things in mind to build, and I hope to find the time to do complete build logs again.<br />
<ul>
</ul>
Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-24163191638900938552017-11-27T11:23:00.002-08:002017-11-27T11:23:54.259-08:00Cemetery Crosses<br />
Besides tombstones, I wanted new crosses for my cemetery. My first set of tombstones I made in 2013 did have a cross, but because of the wide pedestal, it wasn't easy to transport, and it was the first prop to get damaged. Time to start building something new!<br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul>
<li>20mm thick XPS Foam</li>
<li>Particle board (leftovers from our old kitchen)</li>
<li>Trim molding </li>
<li>Polyurethane glue</li>
<li>Wood screws</li>
<li>Drill & screwdriver</li>
<li>Band saw</li>
<li>Wood burning tool</li>
<li>Scenic Dope (see my <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2017/10/new-tombstones-part-2.html" target="_blank">Tombstone Tutorial</a> for that)</li>
<li>Matte varnish</li>
</ul>
<b>Design</b><br />
The problem with my first cross was, like I said, the wide pedestal. This was necessary to keep it standing, but it made it a pain in the ass to get in and out of the car. I wanted to make my props easier to transport this time (that's why I made the tomb for holding the tombstones), so I had to come up with something new.<br />
So here's the basic idea. The crosses will be a lot taller than the tombstones, so storing them in the tomb won't be possible. They will still need a pedestal for stability, but they also need to be easier to transport. So here's my solution: I made the cross and the pedestal two separate pieces that can easily be taken apart for transport and storage.<br />
I wanted to use styrofoam for the cross, because it's cheap, light and easy to work with, but this wouldn't be strong enough for props that need to be put together and taken apart. Luckily, I had a lot of leftover particle board from our old kitchen. My wife and I had a new kitchen installed earlier this year, and I kept anything I thought would be useful from the old one, wich includes a few large panels.<br />
So here's how I'm going to build them. The pedestal will consist of a wooden box with styrofoam for the ornaments. The cross will have a wooden core that protrudes from the bottom, and fits in a hole in the pedestal, sort of like a tenon-and-mortise joint. The wooden pedestal will also make it bottom heavy and more stable.<br />
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<b>The pedestals</b><br />
I started with the pedestals. Basically a simple wooden box, with a hole in the top for installing the cross. Well, not just simple a hole, I also made this contraption (don't know what else to call it) inside to keep the cross upright; this is the "tenon" part of the tenon-and-mortise joint. The boxes are put together with wood glue and screws.<br />
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Speaking of screws, I always, always buy Torx screws, even though they cost a bit more than Phillips screws. I hate cruciform screws, because the screwdriver always has a tendency to slip out of the head. Torx screws don't have this problem.<br />
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Because I didn't want the pedestals to look like boring boxes, I decorated the edges with trim molding, and made frames on all sides of the boxes. I wanted to put on more decorations on them, but again, I didn't have enough time.<br />
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<b>The crosses</b><br />
Next up, the crosses themselves. I first drew them on sheets of foam, and roughly cut them out. I then cut a piece of wood for the core, and glued it to the back. Some more strips of foam were glued on to enclose the wood, and finally another sheet of foam to close the back, so the wooden core is fully enclosed in the foam.<br />
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On the front, I let my imagination run wild. By now, I had a lot of small foam scraps lying around, and I turned them into all sorts of decorations.<br />
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I tested them to see if the crosses and the pedestals fit together, and behold, it worked perfectly! Before I started painting, I carved some cracks and chipped corners with a wood burning tool.<br />
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<b>Painting</b><br />
The painting was done the same way as my other props for this year. As described in my <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2017/10/new-tombstones-part-2.html" target="_blank">Tombstone tutorial</a>, I painted them with scenic dope mixed with sand first, for the base color and the rock texture. This was followed by a dark gray wash and white drybrushing.<br />
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To weatherproof the paint, I clearcoated them with matte varnish. This did mess up the drybrushing a bit in some spots, so I had to go over it again.<br />
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The crosses are very easy to transport, and very stable. They held up perfectly in the rain, although in some places on the pedestals, the paint didn't hold well. I think this was because the panels were still a bit greasy in some places (our old kitchen was quite dirty...). Nothing that can't be fixed, though!Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-59817491152954173252017-11-06T10:12:00.000-08:002017-11-06T10:12:13.972-08:00Tomb / Tombstone StorageBesides my tombstones, I built something else for our graveyard this year. This tomb is more than just a prop, it also serves as storage for the tombstones! Transporting and storing props is always a major pain in the butt, and this is a very elegant solution.<br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul>
<li>5 mm plywood</li>
<li>35 x 35 mm lumber (recycled from old props)</li>
<li>28 x 70 mm lumber </li>
<li>Trim molding</li>
<li>Wood glue, nails and clamps</li>
<li>Band saw</li>
<li>Hand saw and mitre box </li>
<li>Hot wire cutter</li>
<li>20 mm thick XPS foam</li>
<li>20 mm thick EPS foam (for padding the inside)</li>
<li>Scenic Dope (see <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2017/10/new-tombstones-part-2.html" target="_blank">New Tombstones, Part 2</a>)</li>
<li>Rubber window gasket</li>
<li>Carrying handles </li>
</ul>
<b>The box</b><br />
The starting point of the tomb is a plywood box. I calculated the size so it would provide the storage I needed, would fit in my car and could be cut out of a single large sheet<b> </b>of plywood. For reinforcements, I used pieces of lumber I recycled from some old props I no longer used. <br />
I started with the bottom. It consists of a 120 x 60 cm piece of plywood, and a wooden frame on the bottom. This is attached with both glue and nails, just to be sure.<br />
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Next up, I attached the sides. These are glued to the bottom frame, and also nailed. The corners of the box are reinforced with pieces of wood. The lid is made exactly the same way as the bottom.<br />
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At this point, it looks like a simple, boring box. With the 28 x 70 mm lumber, I made two borders around the box, one at the top and one on the bottom, and finished them with some trim molding. I used a hand saw and a mitre box to cut them at 45° angles.<br />
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For the top of the box, I put on an extra horizontal border to make sure the lid would fit nicely. The pictures explain it a lot better than I can :-) The arches - wich I'll talk about next - are already in place in these pictures. Yes, I know, my pictures aren't exactly in chronological order.<br />
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To make sure the tombstones in the box won't get damaged during transport, I also padded the inside with some cheap 20 mm thick styrofoam (EPS, the white beady stuff).<br />
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<b>Tomb ornaments</b><br />
First of all, I wanted gothic arches all around the tomb. The outside dimensions of the box are roughly 60x120 cm, so if I made 30 cm wide arches, four of them would go on the long side and two of them on the short side, for a total of twelve arches.<br />
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I cut twelve 30x20 cm pieces of XPS foam, and then cut out the arch. I used the foam I cut out as a template for drawing the arch on all the other pieces, and after a lot of cutting on my bandsaw I had my twelve arches, wich were glued on with PU wood glue.<br />
After the glue had dried, I took my hot wire cutter and cut some nice decorative profiles in the foam, just like I did with the tombstones.<br />
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I wanted to put more ornaments on the sides of the tomb, such as skulls, but unfortunately time was against me and, as usual, I was working on too much projects at once. But there's always next year!<br />
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The lid of the tomb is adorned with a big cross. I had designed a lot of crosses for my cemetery, so I had no shortage of inspiration.<br />
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<b>Painting</b><br />
Painting was done the same way as the tombstones. I started with two coats of scenic dope and sand, and then the usual load of shading, washes and drybrushing. Not much can be said about it, the process is explained in detail in my <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2017/10/new-tombstones-part-2.html" target="_blank">Tombstones painting tutorial</a>.<br />
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<b>Finishing</b><br />
To finish the tomb, I glued a strip of rubber window gasket on the bottom of the lid, to keep out moisture a bit. I also attached two carrying handles to each side, to make carrying and loading it in and out of the car easier.<br />
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There you have it! An extra prop for the graveyard, and an elegant way to store and transport my tombstones. I bought a new car a few months ago - a Peugeot Partner - wich can be transformed into a van by removing the back seats. My entire graveyard (wich includes a few more props I'll talk about in my next post) fits in it, with room to spare!Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-69225692243333589162017-10-30T03:01:00.000-07:002017-10-30T03:01:22.461-07:00New Tombstones, part 2Allright, here's the second part of my new set of tombstones! In the first part, I talked about the construction and the new materials and techniques I used, in this part I'll talk about painting. <br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Liquid joint compound</li>
<li>House paint</li>
<li>Acrylic caulk (NOT silicone!)</li>
<li>Fine sand</li>
<li>Drill with mixing attachment</li>
<li>Brushes and sponges</li>
<li>Acrylic paints<br /><b></b></li>
</ul>
<b>Foam coatings </b><br />
On my first stones, I used a mixture called Monster Mud, a mixture consisting of joint filler and paint, to coat the foam. Being the complete noob I was back then, I had no idea what type of joint filler was meant, and at first I tried mixing dry powdered joint compound with latex paint. Of course, this didn't work, and I found out you needed liquid filler. So I prepared small batches of powdered joint compound and water, and mixed my paint with that. This didn't have a long working time, about 30 minutes, and didn't have a good consistency, it contained lots of lumps. I then found out the stuff you need for this is actual liquid joint compound, not powder you have to mix with water like plaster.<br />
Of course, I only found out what I was doing wrong until after Halloween, and I couldn't find the liquid stuff I needed. Luckily, in the meantime I have not only found a store that has it, but also a better recipe for foam coatings! The problem with the Monster Mud was that it was quite brittle. Perhaps this was because I used the wrong kind of joint filler, but my props were easily damaged. Another mixture that's supposed to be a bit more flexible and durable is <a href="https://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/VSSD" target="_blank">Van's Super Scenic Dope</a>, also known as VSSD or simply Scenic Dope. It has acrylic caulk mixed into it to make it more flexible, and much less joint compound.<br />
The recipe calls for a quart of paint, four tubes of caulk and two cups of joint compound. So, in metric units, that's (approximately) one liter of paint, four tubes of caulk and half a liter of joint compound. For the paint, I mixed some leftovers white and black paint to get a gray base color.<br />
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To give it some additional stone texture, I also mixed in some fine white sand. I didn't really measure the amount, I just eyeballed it until the consistency and texture seemed right. Keep in mind that the amounts of ingredients can be varied a bit to make the coating harder, more flexible, etcetera. Oh, and I used the cheapest paint and caulk I could find. No need to use the fancy, expensive stuff here.<br />
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<b>Base coating</b><br />
Before I started applying the foam coating, the engraved text was painted. This was done with plain dark gray paint, because the scenic dope would fill up the letters and ruin the details. <br />
After the text had dried, I started putting on the scenic dope. I invited some friends to help me paint; after all, we had twelve stones to paint (thanks again, guys, you all rock!). Of course, some of the dope ended up in the letters anyway, and we had to use a small brush to clean them out again.<br />
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The mixture was very thick; if you'd paint with it like you'd do with normal paint, you'd end up with very visible brush strokes. To avoid this and get a nice, even stone texture, I used a dabbing motion with my brush. Another advantage of thick paint is that it also serves as a joint filler to fill up seams!<br />
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I had to do two coats of paint on each side to get good coverage. It took a while for all of it to dry, but the effect turned out great! Mixing sand with the paint gives it an excellent rough stone texture.<br />
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One word of advice, though: don't use expensive brushes with this mixture! Use the cheapest one you can find, because you'll probably have to throw them away afterwards anyway.<br />
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<b>Shading</b><br />
After the basecoat had dried, all stones had an even, gray color. To break this up a bit, I took some gray, purple and black paint, mixed them to get a blueish gray and applied them with a sponge and lots of water. The rough texture of the surface quickly wore down the sponge, wich actually made it easier to work with! In the meantime, I also painted the text and all the cracks a dark gray.<br />
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The final shading step was applying a white drybrushing. This technique is especially useful for rough surfaces, like the one I have here. The grains of sand pick up the white paint nicely, and you end up with a very convincing stone texture.<br />
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<b>Finishing</b><br />
I had planned to do some more finishing touches, such as adding fake moss. I wanted to use sawdust and green paint for that, but unfortunately, time was against me. Since I didn't know how weatherproof the scenic dope was, I clearcoated all the stones with a matte varnish, wich almost gave me a heart attack...<br />
You see, I had used a ballpoint pen for marking the foam. It had bled through the first layer of paint a bit, but the second layer had covered it up nicely. However, the varnish had somehow dissolved the ink and made it bleed through all the layers of paint! On most stones it wasn't very visible, because I had used the pen mostly to mark cutting lines, but for example the Jack Sparrow stone had a few very visible lines on it.<br />
What was my reaction when I saw this? Well, if you have ever seen that Mr. Bean movie, where he ruins a painting, that's more or less how I reacted! Luckily, they weren't ruined, a little bit of gray paint, followed by a final layer of white drybrushing fixed it.Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-13519402140888165452017-09-29T20:39:00.002-07:002017-09-29T20:39:49.802-07:00New Tombstones, part 1When I started this blog in 2013, one of the first things I made was a set of tombstones. Now we're four years later, and the tombstones have been retired (read: smashes to pieces and thrown in a dumpster). In the meantime, my skills have also improved a bit, so it's time to build new ones!<br />
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I apologize in advance for the crappy photos. The lighting in my garage is horrible, and taking pictures of bright foam sheets is quite challenging! <br />
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<b>Materials and tools</b><br />
When I built my first stones, I used expanded polystyrene foam (EPS). The problem with this material is that it's very soft and fragile, it's the kind of foam that has all those nasty little white beads. Now I'm using extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), wich is harder and doesn't have those little beads. It's a lot easier to work with, especially for engraving text. With EPS, it's almost impossible. On my first stones, I used a wood burning tool, wich gets waaaay too hot; with XPS foam, you can use a Dremel.<br />
For glueing them together, I used a polyurethane based wood glue. This costs a bit more than regular white wood glue, but it's much stronger. PU glue slightly foams as it cures and fills any gaps. I tested it first on some scrap foam, to make sure it didn't dissolve it. Polystyrene is easily dissolved in many solvents, but apparently this glue didn't contain any of them.<br />
So, without any further delay, here's the complete list of materials. It doesn't include painting supplies yet, that's for the next part!<br />
<ul>
<li>2 cm thick XPS foam plates</li>
<li>16 mm diameter PVC pipes </li>
<li>PU wood glue</li>
<li>Band saw with 24 tpi blade</li>
<li>Hot wire cutter</li>
<li>Wood burning tool </li>
<li>Respirator</li>
<li>Dremel with flexible shaft</li>
<li>Grinding stones and diamond engraving bits</li>
<li>80 grit sandpaper </li>
<li>Wood leftovers (plywood, melamine, ...) </li>
</ul>
<b>Designs</b><br />
I wanted my large stones to be the same size: 80 by 50 centimeters. The reason for this is that I'm also building a tomb that will serve as a storage box, and they have to fit inside. The remaining space will be filled with smaller stones.<br />
I took out my sketchbook and started designing the large stones. At first, I printed some reference pictures of real tombstones, but eventually I ended up designing most of them from scratch myself. I didn't add too much details, most of them would be added on the fly anyway. I did keep the proportions and scale in mind, so it would be easier to transfer the designs to the foam plates.<br />
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One major flaw in my first stones was that I forgot something to keep them standing upright. I ended up using duct tape! This time, I'll glue a few pieces of PVC pipe to the back, so I can use sticks to keep them in place.<br />
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<b>Basic shapes</b><br />
With the designs ready, I got started on the basic shapes. Each stone consists of two panels of foam glued together, with the details carved into them. I first cut out the inside shape of the front panel, glued it to the back panel, and then cut out the entire outside shape of the stone. I don't know if this explanation makes much sense, I hope the pictures do a better job.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9t5fsRtnX40/Wc8KZgu3GfI/AAAAAAAAHS8/uTCyhFsumRU9Q71-rdsmCrvXA3Lu1cHLgCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7387.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9t5fsRtnX40/Wc8KZgu3GfI/AAAAAAAAHS8/uTCyhFsumRU9Q71-rdsmCrvXA3Lu1cHLgCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7387.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-30vBBxlL9ic/Wc8KZiN0TVI/AAAAAAAAHS8/j-0YnYjWpoEy1p1z4XFbefVG8xiCPzl3wCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7385.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-30vBBxlL9ic/Wc8KZiN0TVI/AAAAAAAAHS8/j-0YnYjWpoEy1p1z4XFbefVG8xiCPzl3wCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7385.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Next up, I cut some decorative profiles in some of the edges. I bought a new hot wire cutter, this one uses a much thicker wire that can be bent into shape. Mainly the inner edges got a profile cut into them. The outer edges were rounded by sanding with 80 grit sandpaper.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X8KxJ5qX0yQ/Wc8KpfzrfSI/AAAAAAAAHTA/EwJzEtIuY1wB61iNukywXGNlRKpq1ST4wCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X8KxJ5qX0yQ/Wc8KpfzrfSI/AAAAAAAAHTA/EwJzEtIuY1wB61iNukywXGNlRKpq1ST4wCKgBGAs/s320/IMG_7408.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Besides<b> </b>80x50 cm tombstones, I also made some 30x50 cm tombstones. I had already designed the tomb I wanted to use for storing and transporting the stones, and I had some space left. In total, I will make seven large stones and five small ones. The small tombstones will have names of children from horror movies (Georgie, Samara, Jumby, ...).<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A90gUE0lkSk/Wc8N2naF6nI/AAAAAAAAHT4/2TzAAAbZTsUywR9eDMVBYwP-cdkB2bBFgCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A90gUE0lkSk/Wc8N2naF6nI/AAAAAAAAHT4/2TzAAAbZTsUywR9eDMVBYwP-cdkB2bBFgCKgBGAs/s320/IMG_7436.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Carving details</b><br />
The most important details were the names on the stones. I typed them on my computer, printed them and then needed to find a way to transfer them to the foam. Problem is, carbon paper doesn't work, it simply doesn't show on foam. However, simply taping the paper in place and tracing the letters with a pen worked fine. The outline was slightly carved into the foam and easily traced with a ball point pen.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/---nJl_D6EKA/Wc8K-zRydGI/AAAAAAAAHTM/03ram_f5ygcItIcnYrtSNgaToKmpGkhSwCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7389.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/---nJl_D6EKA/Wc8K-zRydGI/AAAAAAAAHTM/03ram_f5ygcItIcnYrtSNgaToKmpGkhSwCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7389.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-osJQX2vdDF0/Wc8K-xsxR0I/AAAAAAAAHTM/ycLu_rqV7xA_LAaUoDIL5CzhA7QmimrFwCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7390.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-osJQX2vdDF0/Wc8K-xsxR0I/AAAAAAAAHTM/ycLu_rqV7xA_LAaUoDIL5CzhA7QmimrFwCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7390.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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For carving, I used a Dremel. If you want to do fine detail work, a flexible shaft is a must have. I hung the tool itself from a hook on the ceiling, so I could easily move the handle on the flex shaft around.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMpszyiERt4/Wc8LWWhAOZI/AAAAAAAAHTU/TQAU9bmxf6ULF-JJdH_TGvnE6RhCFabOQCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMpszyiERt4/Wc8LWWhAOZI/AAAAAAAAHTU/TQAU9bmxf6ULF-JJdH_TGvnE6RhCFabOQCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7450.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZ9nrJGXUgA/Wc8LWXrXZgI/AAAAAAAAHTU/iI93uVO7qMEAJ7avBgkHQfxrzmT7t48iACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZ9nrJGXUgA/Wc8LWXrXZgI/AAAAAAAAHTU/iI93uVO7qMEAJ7avBgkHQfxrzmT7t48iACKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7451.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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I started with a grinding stone to remove a lot of material fast from the letters, and then used a thin diamond engraving bit for carving out the exact shape of the letters. Medium speed is best for engraving foam; too fast and the foam will melt, and there will be globs of molten plastic in the letters.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2sjkhqMxa3Y/Wc8MWg3pDSI/AAAAAAAAHTg/s6hegq4XjTgAtKb7orkYmHWKHKTgiep1wCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7391.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2sjkhqMxa3Y/Wc8MWg3pDSI/AAAAAAAAHTg/s6hegq4XjTgAtKb7orkYmHWKHKTgiep1wCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7391.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-onUYdhcyiHQ/Wc8MWqVlGpI/AAAAAAAAHTg/uWIgVxXQghApaiLVxBN5rnlMUKb4Gu3EACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7398.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-onUYdhcyiHQ/Wc8MWqVlGpI/AAAAAAAAHTg/uWIgVxXQghApaiLVxBN5rnlMUKb4Gu3EACKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7398.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ahWTWF2h9oI/Wc8Mb4pfq_I/AAAAAAAAHTk/42vfo_25iJ040DY5wrU66L79xWpZE3K7gCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ahWTWF2h9oI/Wc8Mb4pfq_I/AAAAAAAAHTk/42vfo_25iJ040DY5wrU66L79xWpZE3K7gCKgBGAs/s320/IMG_7421.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ob1gqdNpJ2A/Wc8MfdxBDaI/AAAAAAAAHTo/lurjv9s9MvQ0MuhhP4nJWHNFxLMsatEsQCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ob1gqdNpJ2A/Wc8MfdxBDaI/AAAAAAAAHTo/lurjv9s9MvQ0MuhhP4nJWHNFxLMsatEsQCKgBGAs/s320/IMG_7422.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I also carved some decorations out of foam scraps. For example, Jack Sparrow's tombstone got a Jolly Roger skull, and John Kramer's a puzzle piece.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3KKqe-3XBf8/Wc8N-4KY7WI/AAAAAAAAHT8/5C1Rd1axNSkNgxILGNA-jK8IgFKrZnI4QCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7478.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3KKqe-3XBf8/Wc8N-4KY7WI/AAAAAAAAHT8/5C1Rd1axNSkNgxILGNA-jK8IgFKrZnI4QCKgBGAs/s400/IMG_7478.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Wear and tear</b><br />
Of course, the tombstones should look old, damaged and worn. With styrofoam, the perfect way to do this is with a wood burning tool. I melted out large chunks of foam, and carved cracks in the foam.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9jlkuhPLlvg/Wc8OvdTwm8I/AAAAAAAAHUE/9OnUNmxTeK4O6dGR9pd26D3yPpCltxG8wCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7475.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9jlkuhPLlvg/Wc8OvdTwm8I/AAAAAAAAHUE/9OnUNmxTeK4O6dGR9pd26D3yPpCltxG8wCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7475.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rv5sJ2UHl4o/Wc8Ove9pcfI/AAAAAAAAHUE/_EdK93wIR_Ia7UkzjnH0ECVC1TsDXLTigCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7479.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rv5sJ2UHl4o/Wc8Ove9pcfI/AAAAAAAAHUE/_EdK93wIR_Ia7UkzjnH0ECVC1TsDXLTigCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7479.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VkZRyKrXwcI/Wc8O_uRANnI/AAAAAAAAHUM/gk6JFAQRghEB54_gT-imdyuRcFI04WF-QCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VkZRyKrXwcI/Wc8O_uRANnI/AAAAAAAAHUM/gk6JFAQRghEB54_gT-imdyuRcFI04WF-QCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7455.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ioIfpu1Aauc/Wc8O_oG1phI/AAAAAAAAHUM/mlp88a51jRU9OT6kJNcJsVJqXnK1bEx1QCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7458.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ioIfpu1Aauc/Wc8O_oG1phI/AAAAAAAAHUM/mlp88a51jRU9OT6kJNcJsVJqXnK1bEx1QCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7458.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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A very important warning here, styrofoam releases very nasty fumes when melted or burned. This should only be done outside or in a well ventilated area, and you should definitely wear a respirator!</div>
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<b>Keeping them in place</b></div>
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Like I said, my first tombstones weren't really stable. I did add some sort of base, but nonetheless the slightest breeze knocked them over, and I had to improvise with duct tape. This time, I took my precautions!</div>
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First of all, I cut 6 cm long pieces of 16 mm PVC pipe. I then carved a channel in a chunk of foam, put the pipe in it and glued it to the back of the stones, so I can use sticks to keep them up. </div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_x5fpg7Yurk/Wc8QDhSOtpI/AAAAAAAAHUg/b4behvABTIQqS_lkif5wC8CQBFQslM9mQCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_x5fpg7Yurk/Wc8QDhSOtpI/AAAAAAAAHUg/b4behvABTIQqS_lkif5wC8CQBFQslM9mQCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7452.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xyg1m1TKUQ8/Wc8QDgKxOTI/AAAAAAAAHUg/0WvRBGKUn8E4v03M1wSzuCPT8AHcyEGkgCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xyg1m1TKUQ8/Wc8QDgKxOTI/AAAAAAAAHUg/0WvRBGKUn8E4v03M1wSzuCPT8AHcyEGkgCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7453.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Second, I cut some strips of leftover wood and attached them to the bottom of the stones with glue and screws. This protects the base of the stones a bit, and makes them bottom heavy and thus more stable.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GwwFxg4Lu_Q/Wc8QmN4auQI/AAAAAAAAHUo/O18C0vQCdMYdw3pKyKj51GHYK8y5Z-dCACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1280" height="212" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GwwFxg4Lu_Q/Wc8QmN4auQI/AAAAAAAAHUo/O18C0vQCdMYdw3pKyKj51GHYK8y5Z-dCACKgBGAs/s320/IMG_7496.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Showcase!</b><br />
Here are a few of my finished, unpainted stones. I tried to carve Beetlejuice's face in the stone, but he looks more like Doc Brown... <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aFekXVJ7SaU/Wc8RFJuiIZI/AAAAAAAAHUw/Q985AYjsX04Fg7-3Bq7ZlCDa4KqJppeiACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aFekXVJ7SaU/Wc8RFJuiIZI/AAAAAAAAHUw/Q985AYjsX04Fg7-3Bq7ZlCDa4KqJppeiACKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7418.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HTQHYmDla54/Wc8RFISSBOI/AAAAAAAAHUw/NjGaVNWvnz485BOFqI4C4WwN_PDFyfUJgCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HTQHYmDla54/Wc8RFISSBOI/AAAAAAAAHUw/NjGaVNWvnz485BOFqI4C4WwN_PDFyfUJgCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7438.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UWAfRJM62g8/Wc8RTV_0dCI/AAAAAAAAHU0/Hzms3-y3NQ01g25fSwAzqqQKMbQ1771VwCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1201" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UWAfRJM62g8/Wc8RTV_0dCI/AAAAAAAAHU0/Hzms3-y3NQ01g25fSwAzqqQKMbQ1771VwCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7454.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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A few of the little ones: <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4FbUCxBqmls/Wc8RjRmZNfI/AAAAAAAAHU4/r2kQtJ3gCAMS3CNIexe9aa3rCXe7cFE4gCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4FbUCxBqmls/Wc8RjRmZNfI/AAAAAAAAHU4/r2kQtJ3gCAMS3CNIexe9aa3rCXe7cFE4gCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7464.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1xskiG94X8Y/Wc8RjfDBtjI/AAAAAAAAHU4/1Jsq7L5-7SU6OhXwwvTA4H28eGSwnhbPgCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1xskiG94X8Y/Wc8RjfDBtjI/AAAAAAAAHU4/1Jsq7L5-7SU6OhXwwvTA4H28eGSwnhbPgCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7468.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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The next step in painting, but that's for the next post!<br />
Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-84831277636052985512017-08-23T23:54:00.000-07:002017-08-23T23:54:10.469-07:00Zombicide Machine Guns, part 2Woohoo, here's part 2 of my Zombicide machine guns build! In <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2017/06/zombicide-machine-guns-part-1.html" target="_blank">the first part</a>, I built the guns out of foam and plastic. Now it's time to paint them!<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-99ilHoR9MFI/WZ52bZ8ziGI/AAAAAAAAG7E/SU91Y3FUSuQU_pse2sZpFtd0ZSBLiYB_gCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7367.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-99ilHoR9MFI/WZ52bZ8ziGI/AAAAAAAAG7E/SU91Y3FUSuQU_pse2sZpFtd0ZSBLiYB_gCKgBGAs/s400/IMG_7367.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Materials and tools</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Foam primer (book binding glue/acrylic gesso 50/50)</li>
<li>Wood primer </li>
<li>Spray primer </li>
<li>Acrylic paint</li>
<li>Paintbrush and -roller</li>
<li>Masking tape</li>
<li>Paper towels</li>
<li>Varnish</li>
</ul>
<b>Video</b><br />
Like the previous part, I made a video of this. Again, way too much footage. This one is a lot shorter than the first one. I'm getting better with the video editing software, it didn't take as long as the first time. But for future videos, I should really invest in proper lighting and a good microphone.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KjASegiKts0" width="480"></iframe>
<b> </b></div>
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<b>Priming</b><br />
The start of any paint job is a good primer. For foam props, I use my glue/gesso mixture. This does a great job sealing the foam and providing a smooth surface. In this case, however, I used several other materials, so the foam primer alone wouldn't do.<br />
But first, the foam parts. I thinned my primer a bit so I would get a smoother surface, and used a foam brush to avoid brush strokes. On my axe, I used a paint roller, but that only works for large even surfaces. I gave each gun three layers of primer, and then let them dry overnight. For the MDF parts, I used a wood primer.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CSPZRWuysjc/WZ52yiaC55I/AAAAAAAAG7I/jvdiCK8g3CgijlpTchGIKzL6e216SEnKgCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CSPZRWuysjc/WZ52yiaC55I/AAAAAAAAG7I/jvdiCK8g3CgijlpTchGIKzL6e216SEnKgCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7206.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PvqpY0GXhNY/WZ52yi5i0SI/AAAAAAAAG7I/KXZMzJHsiQkVdDEoHq3LSavyBG8BrsQ3QCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PvqpY0GXhNY/WZ52yi5i0SI/AAAAAAAAG7I/KXZMzJHsiQkVdDEoHq3LSavyBG8BrsQ3QCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7208.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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The next day, I primed the guns with spray primer, so all the plastic parts would get a base coat. Three layers of primer, with about 30 minutes between each layer, and then curing overnight.<br />
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I plan to experiment a bit with other types of foam primers in the future. One type I'd like to try is Flexi Paint, wich is both a primer and paint developed specifically for EVA foam.<br />
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<b>Chipped paint</b><br />
To make the guns look old and used, I first of all wanted some chipped paint. This is surprisingly easy to create! I painted some silver spots where I wanted chipped paint, and after it had dried, I masked it with liquid latex. After the base color is painted over these spots, the latex is peeled off, revealing the silver below. This looks very realistic, because, well, it IS chipped paint!<br />
I had to wait for the base color to fully dry before I saw the result of this trick, but I can already say I went a bit overboard. After peeling off the latex, I painted over some silver areas again, because I overdid it and it looked a bit fake. As for more effects, less is more!<br />
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<b>Base colors</b><br />
Before I started painting, I mixed a good base color. I couldn't find the right color in a spray can, so I had to mix it myself and use a brush. Funny thing, I do have an airbrush lying around (borrowed it from my brother, who doesn't use it anymore), but I need to get the right type of paint first, an adapter for the air hose and, most important of all, learn to use it and practice a lot first. So, for now, the good old paintbrush!<br />
The base color is gray, darkened with some black and then a bit of blue. Guns usually have a blueish-gray color. I tested it first on a piece of foam, and waited for it to dry before checking the color. On acrylic paints, the color always changes a bit as the paint dries, and I didn't want any unpleasant surprises.<br />
I wanted to avoid brush strokes as much as possible, but a paint roller wouldn't get into every small detail, so I used a brush first, and then went over it with a foam roller. This did a great job of removing the brush strokes.<br />
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After it had dried, I took my base color and darkened it a bit with more black. This was used for the grip, the bottom of the magazines and the forward grip on the big gun. <br />
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<b>Details and weathering</b><br />
Allright, so the paint had dried, and I had peeled off the latex that masked the silver spots. The next thing I did was drybrushing a bit of black on the handles and the exhausts on the muzzle brake. On the small guns, I painted a recessed area on the front of the guns white first, followed by orange. I painted it white first because the orange didn't really cover up the gray very well (yes, I tried). After the orange had dried, I used masking tape for fragile paint to make some black stripes. Orange and black hazard stripes are frequently used in Zombicide manuals and artwork, so it's a nice reference to the game.<br />
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But next came the most fun and messiest part: weathering! This turns a shiny, clean new prop in something old, worn and dirty. The first step was drybrushing white paint over all edges. This lightens them and makes them look a bit worn. This wasn't the messy part, but the next part was: washing!<br />
I used a wash in most of my props, so I have explained it a lot already, but for anyone who's new to my blog, here it is again. Basically, you paint your entire prop black (or any other color you want to use) and then, while the paint is still wet, you wipe most of it off again with a paper towel. Paint remains in some areas, especially cracks and recesses, so it looks like dirt.<br />
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The black was ruined my white drybrushing job for the most part, so I had to repeat it. I should have known this would happen, but luckily the drybrushing didn't take long.<br />
After all the weathering was done, I added a few final details. On the big gun, I added a kill count with red paint and a pen. And finally, I put some pale green dots on the sights on all three guns.<br />
The only thing left was a protective clearcoat. On the magazines, I masked the exposed bullets with some masking tape and then gave everthing a few coats with matte spray varnish.<br />
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<b>Finished!</b><br />
It took me a while to finish them, but my first foam firearms are finished. Using textured floor mats and small pieces of foam isn't the best way to build these, so I plan to buy large, smooth sheets of foam for future projects. I should also learn to use an airbrush, and finally get the accessories I still need to get going.<br />
As for the guns, they will see their first use next <a href="http://www.elfia.com/" target="_blank">Elf Fantasy Fair</a>, along with <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2017/01/tiffs-axe.html" target="_blank">Tiff's Axe</a>. Before that, I'm going to build a box for transporting them safely. I would hate to arrive in Arcen, only to find out my props got damaged in the trunk of my car.<br />
Speaking of safety, it goes without saying you should use some common sense when travelling with realistic looking prop guns. Although these guns are fake, I can imagine not everybody would notice it and think they are real. So if you build stuff like this, keep them out of sight while on the road. To quote Harrison Krix from <a href="http://www.volpinprops.com/" target="_blank">Volpin Props</a>: "A convention is a good place to show off your work, a post office isn't"!Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-34502854912735867442017-08-14T14:39:00.001-07:002017-08-14T14:39:30.314-07:00Flanged MaceMy last melee weapon, <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2017/01/tiffs-axe.html" target="_blank">Tiff's Axe</a>, was designed with a specific character in mind. This weapon, however, is a completely random design. I wanted to try out a new technique for making blades out of EVA foam, here's how it turned out.<br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul>
<li>EVA foam floor mats</li>
<li>2mm thick EVA foam</li>
<li>3mm MDF </li>
<li>Contact cement</li>
<li>Hot glue</li>
<li>PVC glue </li>
<li>32 mm diameter thick walled PVC pipe</li>
<li>PVC coupler for pipe</li>
<li>Foam primer (book binding glue + acrylic gesso) </li>
<li>Acrylic paints</li>
<li>Oil paint</li>
<li>Matte varnish</li>
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<b>The design</b><br />
Okay, so what's this new technique I mentioned? First of all, the design of the weapon. I did a lot of sketching and came up with a hexagonal central shaft, and six blades arranged around it to form the mace head. It's the blades I wanted to try something new with.<br />
If you want to make a blade out of foam, you need to sandwich a few layers together, and if you use floor mats, this means you'll have to remove the texture from one side. This is a tedious and very messy process. Even with a shop vacuum hooked up to my bench sander, it still makes a lot of dust.<br />
Except very small blades (such as daggers), you usually need some sort of core to add some support, or else you end up with a floppy blade. For Tiff's Axe, this wasn't necessary because it consisted of four layers of foam, but my first Battle Axe has an MDF core. This gave me an idea.<br />
Instead of sanding away the texture, I wanted to try glueing it with the textured side to an MDF core. For the blade edge, instead of sanding away foam, I made some beveled cuts and used strips of foam to create the edge. A band saw is a must have for this!<br />
I did some sketching and doodling before I got started. I almost never let anyone look in my sketchbook, because there's so much ridiculous, stupid crap in it, but for this once, I'm giving you a peak inside. The notes are in Dutch, so there's a good chance you won't understand it.<br />
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My first attempt was polyurethane wood glue. This stuff expands a bit as it cures, and I hoped it would fill up the texture of the floor mats. Too bad, it didn't work out, the glue hardly binds to the foam. I tried a hot glue gun instead, this worked much better. It only needs to be glued down in a few places to keep the core in place.<br />
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<b>The blades</b><br />
For the blades, I made six MDF cores. They have the same shape as the blades themselves, but I also made a tenon on the side that will be attached to the central shaft. In the shaft, I'll cut a groove so it will form a strong connection.<br />
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For each blade, I cut two large pieces of foam, wich were glued to the MDF core, and strips for the edges. This requires some care with the angles of the cuts to make it all fit nicely together. Like I said, a bandsaw with a mitre gauge is a must have for this.<br />
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Turned out quite ok! I rounded the tips a bit with my Dremel, because otherwise they would get damaged too easily. The result is a light, rigid blade with a cutting edge without any sanding!<br />
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<b>The central shaft</b><br />
The central shaft consists of six strips of foam, glued together around a piece of PVC pipe to form a hexagon. On one end, I glued a PVC coupler to the pipe, for attaching it to the handle.<br />
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The ends of the shaft are made by sandwiching a few layers of foam, cutting into shape, and in the case of the lower end, cutting a hole for the handle.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1AyOzZq-pgc/WZGffU7FovI/AAAAAAAAG0E/NyRwlYb-58IGDnB0UHo5Lb_aDAwXhtfGQCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1AyOzZq-pgc/WZGffU7FovI/AAAAAAAAG0E/NyRwlYb-58IGDnB0UHo5Lb_aDAwXhtfGQCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7248.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MfWXjrDtl48/WZGffWEwiuI/AAAAAAAAG0E/aa5e3f7TJvI2hlTfNexS76Bta3BOphWxgCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7249.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MfWXjrDtl48/WZGffWEwiuI/AAAAAAAAG0E/aa5e3f7TJvI2hlTfNexS76Bta3BOphWxgCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7249.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Next, I cut slots in the handle for attaching the blades, a bit like a tenon-and-mortise joint in woodworking. The blades were glued on with more contact cement.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BdcrlzuXz08/WZGf9xGltqI/AAAAAAAAG0Q/2jVI0G_CiKUhFdG0XlM4UweCCnWDAJe7ACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BdcrlzuXz08/WZGf9xGltqI/AAAAAAAAG0Q/2jVI0G_CiKUhFdG0XlM4UweCCnWDAJe7ACKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7254.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f5KNDUZjUe8/WZGf9wQacHI/AAAAAAAAG0Q/5sgC4pdFylw1EKpm2SKrqM8WY84fEWL8wCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f5KNDUZjUe8/WZGf9wQacHI/AAAAAAAAG0Q/5sgC4pdFylw1EKpm2SKrqM8WY84fEWL8wCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7256.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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And finally, some decorations with thin, colourful craft foam! <br />
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<b>The handle</b></div>
For the handle, I used a piece of thick walled, 32 mm white PVC pipe. These come in several wall thicknesses, mine is 3 mm thick. I wanted to make it look like wood (part of it), for that I used a very simple technique. All it takes is sandpaper, a wood rasp and oil paint. The pipe has to be white for this to work!<br />
First, I sanded the entire pipe with #80 grit sandpaper, and then I used a wood rasp to carve a wood grain into it. Just some random, deep scratches. After that, I sanded again with #80 grit sandpaper, and then worked my way up to #400 grit.<br />
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To achieve the wood color, I put some dark brown oil paint on a sponge and rubbed it on. I used this technique before, but with acrylic paint. The downside of acrylic is that it dries too fast for this. You have to spread the paint really thin, and acrylic almost dries instantly when you do that. Oil paint stays wet much longer, so you have plenty of time to get it right.<br />
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It took about three days for the paint to fully dry. After that, I made some foam decorations on the handle. One half of the handle will be wood, the lower part (where you hold it) will be wrapped in leather. But first, painting!<br />
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<b>Painting and finishing</b></div>
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The paintjob started, as usual, with my foam primer, a mixture of acrylic gesso and book binding glue. I added a bit of black to the mixture to get a grey base coat. The mace head and foam decorations on the handle were treated with this.</div>
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As for the painting itself, I didn't take much pictures of that. Most of it was done at a local arts faire, and I already had more than enough stuff to drag along, I didn't want to bring a big heavy camera. I did take a picture with my phone, so forgive me the crappy quality.</div>
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So, basically, here's how it went. After the primer, I sprayed on a gray base color with a spraycan. Next, a black wash (that's what's going on on the picture above), followed by white drybrushing. The drybrushing made all the edges and ridges really pop. It already looked like metal without any metallic paint!</div>
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I sealed this with matte spray varnish, and then drybrushed a very thin coat of silver. I put the metallic paint on top of the clearcoat, because with my battle axe and 12-sided mace, the clearcoat kind of ruined the metallic effect. Here's how it turned out:</div>
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For the handle, I cut a 5 cm wide strip of vinyl leather, put on contact cement and folded about 5 mm on one side, to hide the edge where I cut it. It then got wrapped around the lower part of the handle, the final bit got glued on with super glue. All that was left then was put the head and the handle together!<br />
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It turned out quite good, but my wife had a few ideas for improvement. First of all, the wood color is too bright, next time I should use a more grayish color. Second, the weapon looks too new and unused. It should have some cracks and dents in it, so it looks like it has seen some action. I'll keep it in mind for next time!<br />
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Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-75825523531661145802017-08-02T02:21:00.002-07:002017-08-02T02:21:28.970-07:00Hammerfall SketchbookHere's another post about a sketchbook I made! I don't do posts about every book anymore, since it's more or less always the same, but this one is a bit special.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-meX734YUwQs/WYGXdlxTrgI/AAAAAAAAGnY/y63Vhj0M3_cyIaxCmr8XQF8xj1WgHzD_QCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-meX734YUwQs/WYGXdlxTrgI/AAAAAAAAGnY/y63Vhj0M3_cyIaxCmr8XQF8xj1WgHzD_QCKgBGAs/s400/IMG_7307.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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One of my favourite bands is <a href="http://www.hammerfall.net/" target="_blank">Hammerfall</a>. In the music video of their song "Hearts on Fire", a skeleton arm holding a book pops up at around 15 seconds into the video. This book has been on my to do list for a while, so here it goes!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/htKY2oD85rs" width="459"></iframe></div>
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<b>Materials </b><br />
<ul>
<li>Daler-Rowney A4 sized sketchbook</li>
<li>Carboard<b></b></li>
<li>3 mm MDF</li>
<li>PVC foam plate</li>
<li>Kraft paper</li>
<li>180 grit sandpaper</li>
<li>Acrylic paints</li>
<li>Book binding glue</li>
<li>Super glue </li>
<li>Gilding wax</li>
<li>Matte spray varnish</li>
<li>Red felt </li>
<li>Leather straps</li>
</ul>
<b>Gilding the paper edges</b><br />
In the past, I have tried achieving a gilded paper effect using acrylic paints. It didn't work very well, because it more or less glues the edges together. This time I tried something different: gilding wax. It took me a few attempts to find the right method, but here's how it's done.<br />
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The most important thing is to work in thin layers. Thick layers will flake off easily. I clamped the book together and brushed on a thin layer of wax. Next, I took away the clamps and flipped through the book, to make sure no pages stick together, and let it dry for 24 hours. This is repeated until the desired coverage is achieved (about 3 layers). After the final layer has dried, the book is clamped again, and the gilded edge is buffed with a cloth.<b> </b><br />
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<b>The logo</b><br />
The Hammerfall logo<b> </b>(an H and an F combined) is made from cardboard, PVC foam and 180 grit sandpaper. I first cut out the letters using a hand saw, and then rounded the edges with a knife, files and sandpaper. The disc is made from cardboard and sandpaper for the texture, and the edge around it is also PVC foam.<br />
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The painting started with a few coats of primer, followed by base colors. The inside is burnt umber, the outside and the letters are raw sienna. To add some variation, washes of black were applied to the inside, and burnt umber for the letters and edge.<br />
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Next, metallic bronze was used for the entire logo. A thin coat, so the underlying color shows through. The letters and egdes were lightened by an additional drybrushing with gold, and the inside was darkened with a black wash.<br />
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<b>The book cover</b><br />
I studied the video carefully to get a good picture of the book cover. The video is quite low quality, and the book only briefly shows up, once at the beginning, and then again at the end.<br />
The cover is pretty simple. A panel with the logo recessed in it, a beveled edge all around it, and two leather straps that wrap around the spine. Shouldn't be too difficult!<br />
The panels are made from cardboard, and the edge from MDF strips. The inside of the edge has a 45° bevel. Since I finally own a bandsaw, this was easy to make! I cut some MDF strips with a 45° bevel on one side, and made a frame around the cardboard panel.<br />
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In the front panel, a hole for the logo was cut, and both the front and back panel had slots for the leather straps cut. Next, the panels were glued to the book and the entire book was covered with wrinkled kraft paper.<br />
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Painting was done the same way as my previous books. Black followed by a mixture of burnt umber with a bit of red, next a thin coat of raw sienna and finally a metallic copper drybrushing and a matte clearcoat. I have been experimenting a bit with different color combinations, and I hope to finally start making something else than the standard brown leather color.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nIffzteuOKk/WYGYlOi_WuI/AAAAAAAAGoo/F_WHpj2l3p0Q33Ksvz6jJPIklaXfXKL1ACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7276.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nIffzteuOKk/WYGYlOi_WuI/AAAAAAAAGoo/F_WHpj2l3p0Q33Ksvz6jJPIklaXfXKL1ACKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7276.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Cw5Ey1MjoBk/WYGYlLLEayI/AAAAAAAAGoo/NsKSg33LPOIJIWPd3JnlQzedpQlyDfa6wCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_7290.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Cw5Ey1MjoBk/WYGYlLLEayI/AAAAAAAAGoo/NsKSg33LPOIJIWPd3JnlQzedpQlyDfa6wCKgBGAs/s200/IMG_7290.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>Finishing</b><br />
To finish the book, I cut two straps from the pile of scrap leather I have lying around and glued them in place with super glue.<b> </b>The logo was glued in place, and the inside of the covers was finished with a piece of red felt.<br />
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And here's the final result!<br />
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<br />Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-11607529535180071462017-06-08T03:49:00.000-07:002017-06-08T03:49:31.908-07:00Zombicide Machine Guns, part 1<div style="text-align: left;">
Here's the second part of my Zombicide project! In the first part, I made a guitar axe. This time, I'm going to make the machine guns, one full sized Uzi-type gun and two identical mini-sized guns.</div>
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This is also my second attempt at making a video tutorial. The first one failed quite miserably. I'm not good at talking in front of a camera, and I forgot to take pictures besides video. Also, this will be a two part tutorial. The first part will deal with building the guns, the second part will be about painting them.<br />
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<b>Materials and tools</b><br />
<ul>
<li>EVA foam floor mats (10 mm)</li>
<li>2 mm EVA foam</li>
<li>PVC pipes, 20 mm and 35 mm diameter</li>
<li>PVC foam plates, 2 mm and 5 mm</li>
<li>MDF scraps, 10 mm and 3 mm </li>
<li>Neodymium disc magnets</li>
<li>Contact cement</li>
<li>Super glue</li>
<li>Wood glue </li>
<li>Construction adhesive </li>
<li>Hobby knife</li>
<li>Rotary tool with flex shaft</li>
<li>Belt/disc sander</li>
<li>Heat gun</li>
<li>Glue gun </li>
<li>Band saw</li>
</ul>
<b>The video</b><br />
I recorded more or less the entire build on video, and this time I didn't screw up! Again, I shot waaaay more footage than I actually needed.<br />
I removed the original audio and did a voice over. I'm not really good at talking in front of a camera. Apparently, my placeholder word for when I can't come up with the right word is "falafel". For example, "Next, I'm gonna drill two holes and glue in the... the... falafels with super glue." I used my phone as a voice recorder. It did a decent job, but I should invest in a decent microphone nonetheless.<br />
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<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pyk4wtboo9U" width="480"></iframe>
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<b>Design</b><br />
Before I could start building guns, I had to design something first. The easiest method would be using pictures of real guns and try to replicate them, but that would be a bad idea. I would end up with props that look way too realistic, even if I didn't replicate them perfectly. Conventions have quite strict weapon policies these days, and realistic looking weapons aren't allowed most of the time.<br />
So I decided to design my own guns from scratch. I did use pictures of real weapons as a reference, mostly for getting the proportions right. I imported them into Inkscape and started drawing. I used an full size Uzi and a Micro Uzi as a reference, starting with the mini weapons. The most iconic part of the guns I was trying to mimic are the magazine in the grip, and the sights, so I made sure to include these. The magazine has an opening in the sides, showing the ammo inside.<br />
Another feature I added was a muzzle brake. This is a sort of barrel extension with holes in it, and its purpose is to lighten the recoil of a gun. It's hardly ever found on this type of weapon, but it looks cool. I also wanted to make the magazine removable, both for ease of storage and transport, and for coolness.<br />
After I was finished with the small gun, I used it as a base for the full size gun. I kept the grip, but enlarged the body and gave it a forward grip. Both guns also have an accessory rail on top, so in the future I can add stuff like high tech sights or other gadgets.<br />
If you're interested in these designs, you can download them here for free. They are made using Inkscape, an excellent free cross-platform drawing program. The drawings are A0 and A1 size, so for printing you'll have to chop them up a bit. I had to cut them into A3 sized pieces for printing. I'm giving my designs away under the Creative Commons license, so if you use them, be a nice dude and give me some credit!<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9jXsWFCZiMJcVdZVU45N3AwSkk" target="_blank">Full size machine gun, SVG file</a>, 268 kb<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9jXsWFCZiMJS0R5UE96NzZLMEk" target="_blank">Mini machine gun, SVG file</a>, 242 kb<br />
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<b>Getting started</b><br />
I had ordered a band saw for this project, a tool I had been planning to buy for quite a while. Unfortunately, a few days after my order, I received an email from the store it would take a bit longer for the saw to arrive. The guns themselves kind of required a band saw, so in the meantime I got started on some of the small parts.<br />
For the magazines, I didn't need the saw. They are made out of 10 mm EVA foam, sandwiched between a few layers of thick cardboard for stiffness and 2 mm foam. The bullets are made from a wooden dowel, painted with wood primer and brass spray paint. The sides got sanded flush on the disc sander, and an extra layer of foam was wrapped around the bottom of the magazine.<br />
I wanted to make the magazines removable. To keep them in place when inserted into the gun, I put two small neodymium magnets in each magazine. I drilled two holes in the top, glued the magnets in place with super glue and then glue another layer of thin foam over it.<br />
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The sights and accessory rails are made out of 2mm thick rigid PVC foam. This material is easily softened with a heat gun and bent into shape; the different parts are glued together with super glue. For the adjustment screws on the sides, I simply cut the heads from a few screws using my Dremel and a grinding wheel, and glued them on with super glue.<br />
The barrel consists of two pieces of PVC pipe. The barrel itself is a 20mm pipe, and the muzzle brake is a 35mm pipe. For the slots in the muzzle brake, I drilled a row of holes, cut the remaining plastic between the holes away with my Dremel and cleaned it up with a file. Another thing to add to my shopping list: a drill stand, because drilling a row of holes accurately isn't easy freehanded.<br />
To fit the 20mm pipe into the 35mm pipe, I wrapped two layers of thin foam around it. This almost fit, but I still had a little bit of space left, so I wrapped some electrical tape around the foam until it fit firmly. The transition between the two pipes was then sculpted with Apoxie Clay. This is a two component sculpting medium that hardens into a rock solid mass that can easily be sanded, without shrinking or cracking.<br />
A few discs made out of PVC foam, some more Apoxie and a few strips of thin EVA foam finished the muzzle brake. I did paint the interior black before I finished it, because it would be too difficult to paint it afterwards.<br />
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I wasn't really pleased with the barrels. The muzzle brake looked crappy, so I decided to start over. I used two pieces of PVC pipe again, but the other parts were 3D printed. Since I don't own a 3D printer, I headed to the <a href="http://makerspace.pxluhasselt.be/" target="_blank">makerspace</a> at the Hasselt university and printed it there. The parts were modeled in <a href="http://www.blender.org/" target="_blank">Blender</a>, an incredibly powerful free application, but with a steep learning curve!<br />
The next day, a friend of me who runs a computer store told me he had a printer set up in his store for demos, and if I wanted something printed, I just had to send him the STL-file. I needed one more printed part for the barrel, and that's the part that connects the barrel to the gun itself. <br />
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<b>The gun body</b><br />
When my new band saw had finally arrived, I could get started on the gun body! I had already cut out the shapes I needed from my foam mats and sanded away the texture. For each gun, I needed 5 pieces of foam; the body is about 5 cm wide. With all the sanding, however, the foam was a bit less than 1 cm thick, so I used some 2 mm foam to bring it to the right width.<br />
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The handle needed a hole for the magazine. I glue three layers of foam together and then cut out the hole. Next, I drilled holes for the magnets (to keep the magazine in place), glued them in place and, after checking if everything fit, glued on the last two layers of foam.<br />
Next, I cut the foam blocks into the right shape on the bandsaw. The upper part of the gun was easy, since these were all straight lines. The cuts were cleaned up a bit on the disc sander; special bandsaw blades exist for soft materials that produce a very clean cut, I should try to find one of those. The grip needed a bit more work, this was done with my Dremel and a sanding drum. I had to be very careful here not to sand away too much!<br />
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The raised details are all made out of 2mm EVA foam, cut with a hobby knife and glued into place with contact cement. The details on the handle were made by making a shallow cut and then heating it with a heat gun, causing the cut to open, and with a chainsaw sharpening bit in my Dremel.<br />
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<b>Finishing touches</b><br />
The trigger and trigger guard are made out of MDF scraps. Whenever I use MDF, I keep all the little scraps (well, not the tiny ones of course, anything bigger than the size of a playing card), they always come in handy for stuff like this. I used 10 mm and 3 mm thick MDF, wood glue and lots of cutting and sanding.<br />
To install the trigger, I cut out a slot in the foam gun body and nudged it into place. I couldn't use contact cement for this, so I used a bit of construction adhesive. This has the added advantage to fill up any voids, so it bonds well even on a rough surface.<br />
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For the barrel, I carefully drilled a hole in the gun body. Since I don't have a 20mm drill bit, I enlarged it with my Dremel, until the barrel fit. Again, a bit of construction adhesive, and some hot glue. I was all out of super glue at this point, that's why I used the hot glue.<br />
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And then, some final finishing touches. I put the sights and accessory rails in place, drilled some small holes and put in some screws. The two last parts were the loading grip and the fire selector. The loading grip was also 3D printed, the fire selector is made out of MDF.<br />
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<b>Coming up...</b><br />
The next part will all be about painting and weathering the guns. They look quite silly and colorfull at the moment, but that's because I used craft foam sheets in all sorts of colors. Don't worry, the finished guns will look badass gunmetal grey with chipped paint, scratched metal and dirt!Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-32806823670899582017-05-10T12:17:00.001-07:002017-05-10T12:17:18.949-07:00Mage Wars spellbookA while ago, a friend of me asked me if I could make him something. He's a <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/101721/mage-wars-arena" target="_blank">Mage Wars</a> player, and wanted a custom made spell book. He had seen some of my other books before, and thought it would look cool on a spell book.<br />
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In Mage Wars, you play a wizard battling other wizards in an arena. Spells come in the form of playing cards, and you keep those spells in a binder with card sleeves. He gave me an old spell book to see if I could turn it into something like my other books. I always like to try new things, so here we go!<br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Mage Wars spell book (preferably old, since it will be cut up, only the card sleeves will be used) <b> </b></li>
<li>3mm thick MDF</li>
<li>5mm PVC foam </li>
<li>Cardboard</li>
<li>Kraft paper</li>
<li>Tissue paper </li>
<li>Book binding glue</li>
<li>Super glue </li>
<li>Regular printing paper</li>
<li>Parchment paper</li>
<li>Red felt</li>
<li>Foamcore board </li>
<li>Silicone molding rubber</li>
<li>Polyurethane casting resin</li>
<li>35mm glass cabochon</li>
<li>Glossy photo paper</li>
<li>Transparent craft glue </li>
<li>Acrylic paints (black, burnt umber, pyrrole red, raw sienna, bronze)</li>
<li>Spray primer </li>
<li>Matte spray varnish</li>
<li>Hot glue gun</li>
</ul>
<b>The cover</b><br />
I started with the cover. I wanted to make a custom cover, carefully cut the card sleeves out of the original cover and put them in the new one. I measured the size of the original cover and cut two 15x20 cm rectangles out of 3 mm thick MDF, and one 1x20 cm strip of the same material (for the spine). Next, I glued the two large panels on a piece of paper, with the spine between them, and about 5 mm of space between them. A second piece of paper was glued on top of the panels, and pressed into the space between the panels. The picture probably explains it a lot better.<br />
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After the glue had dried, I ripped the excess paper off so the edge wouldn't be noticed afterwards. The paper forms a flexible hinge. I have said this before, but I can't stress this enough: use special book binding glue! White wood glue is very similar, but doesn't stay flexible and will crack.<br />
Next, I cut out strips of cardboard and made a nice raised edge on both the front and the back. I usually design these things on the fly. In the past, I always tried making them one single piece, because I was worried the seams might show up through the kraft paper, but this was a big waste of material, so this time I cut them out of several pieces and puzzled them together.<br />
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On the inside of the cover, I wanted to add some sort of label, where the owner can write his name. I usually put felt on the inside of my covers, but I wanted the label to be flush with the fabric, so I first glued on a cardboard rectangle, and then a piece of parchment paper. I again tore the excess paper off to conceal the edge as much as possible.<br />
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And finally, I glued crumpled kraft paper on the cover, for creating the leather effect. When I first made these books, I always used one single piece of paper because I was afraid the edge of the paper would be too noticeable, but in the meantime I managed to blend several pieces of paper together without any obvious seams, so now I always use several pieces.<br />
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You'll notice in the third picture I didn't cover everything. That's because of the next step, the cover ornaments!<br />
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<b>The cover ornaments</b><br />
I like putting all sorts of ornaments on the covers of my books. I have entire pages in my sketchbook dedicated to all sorts of designs for cover ornaments! Most of them look horrible, but every once in a while, something useful emerges from the crap.<br />
For the corners, I used a <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.be/2016/07/book-cover-ornaments.html" target="_blank">triangular ornament</a> I made a mold for in the past. Along the spine, I made a new one out of MDF. It runs the entire length of the book, and covers some of the cardboard embossings.<br />
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After glueing the pieces of MDF together and sanding it, I glued a sheet of tissue paper on it to give the surface a bit of texture. I didn't make a mold out of these things, since they were purely experimental and I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to use something like this again. They are quite big and would require a lot of silicone for one single ornament, and silicone isn't exactly cheap!<br />
I did make a new ornament I intend to use more than once, so I did make a new mold of that one!<br />
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This ornament is some sort of medallion and consists of two parts. The main body was cut out of MDF (things like this are the reason I never throw away scraps); the hole in the middle is about 36 mm wide, so a 35 mm glass cabochon fits nicely into it. The ring was cut out of 5 mm thick PVC foam. It doesn't really show on the picture, but on the backside, I had to cut away some material on the inside of the ring so it would fit on the other part when a glass cabochon is inserted in the hole.<br />
Before molding, I always put on a coat of primer. This makes it much easier to spot any flaws or areas that need more sanding. After I was satisfied with the result, I built a box out of foamcore board held together with hot glue and poured in the silicone.<br />
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After the silicone had cured, I made castings out of PU resin and primed them with spray primer. For the medallion, I printed a <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2017/01/creating-vortex-in-gimp.html" target="_blank">green vortex I made in Gimp</a>, cut it out and glued it to the back of a glass cabochon.<br />
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<b>Painting and finishing</b><br />
The painting techniques I used for this book are the same I used before. I am experimenting with different colors, so I hope to make books in other colors than brown in the future. I have tried different colors in the past, but they didn't really look good, so I'm testing all sorts of new things.<br />
For the leather, I started with a layer of flat black, a mixture of burnt umber and pyrrole red for the basic brown tone, followed by a very thin coat of raw sienna, rubbed on with a sponge. To give it more depth, metallic bronze was drybrushed on the wrinkles in the paper. Finally, a topcoat of matte varnish.<br />
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For the ornaments, I used the same technique as always for achieving a cast iron effect. First, a coat of flat gray, followed by a black wash. Over this, silver is drybrushed. Very simple, but it looks very convincing. The cabochon with the vortex was sandwiched between the two parts of the medallion.<br />
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Next came a critical part: attaching the card sleeve binder! I had cut it out of the original cover without damaging it, and it turned out the plastic sleeves were attached to some sort of rigid plastic spine. I forgot to take a picture of this, but the spine had a row of small holes in it, wich hopefully makes it easier for the glue to grip onto it.<br />
I used a hot glue gun to glue the binder in place. I don't know what type of plastic the spine was made of. Polyethylene is especially notorious when it comes to glue. I had tested it first. It was possible to peel the glue back off with some effort, but I think it's strong enough for normal use.<br />
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To finish the inside of the cover, I glued red felt on it. The label didn't really turn out the way I hoped. I should have used thicker cardboard, it doesn't really stick out enough.<br />
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And finally, the cover ornaments were all put in place with superglue.<br />
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<br />Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-60175829427685905552017-05-04T01:24:00.003-07:002017-05-04T01:24:41.493-07:00Voodoo Bottle and holderLast weekend, we went to <a href="http://www.elfia.com/" target="_blank">Elf Fantasy Fair</a> in Haarzuilens. I put on my Voodoo priest costume again, and made one more prop to go with it. I ended up not using it, for reasons I'll explain later. It was a quite simple prop, made from an empty barbecue sauce bottle.<br />
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<b><u>Materials</u></b><br />
<ul>
<li>Empty sauce bottle</li>
<li>Sodium bicarbonate</li>
<li>Apoxie clay</li>
<li>Craftskin (a type of synthetic leather)</li>
<li>Red felt</li>
<li>PVA glue</li>
<li>Hot glue gun</li>
<li>Painters tape</li>
<li>PVC foam sheet, 2 mm thick</li>
<li>8mm neodymium disc magnets</li>
<li>Acrylic paint and varnish</li>
<li>Short piece of string</li>
<li>Printing label</li>
<li>Sewing machine</li>
</ul>
<b><u>The bottle holder</u></b><br />
The bottle holder is made from Craftskin. A while ago, I bought a sample box from <a href="http://www.minque.nl/" target="_blank">Minque</a>, a cosplay supply store in the Netherlands. It contained several types of foam, a piece of Worbla (wich I still haven't used), some other thermoplastics and a piece of this synthetic leather. I'm quite pleased with it, it doesn't feel plastic-like like some other types of faux leather. I glued some red felt to the back using PVA glue for lining the inside of the holder.<br />
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The pattern for the holder was drawn directly on the bottle with a sharpie, and then two strips of Craftskin were cut out. I borrowed my wife's sewing machine for running a few decorative stitches across the edges, and then glued the strips together with a hot glue gun.<br />
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Next up, there's a strap that runs over the bottle to keep it in place, and closes with a magnetic clasp. It also forms a loop on the back, for attaching it to a belt. I made a simple pattern for this using painters tape, and then cut it out of Craftskin. Like the other straps, I put on the decorative stitches and then glued in in place. The loop on the back got reinforced with a few stitches to make sure the glue wouldn't come loose. This had to be done by hand, because the material was too thick here for the sewing machine. It doesn't exactly look nice, but it's on the back side, so it's not really a big deal.<br />
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Next up, the magnetic clasp. I still had some 8mm neodymium disc magnets lying around, I thought these would be perfect for this. I drilled a hole in 2mm thick PVC foam plate, put a magnet in it and glued another piece of foam to the back. I cut this into a circle and painted it; I made two discs like this. Sorry, I forgot to take more pictures.<br />
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After painting, I glued one disc to the front of the bottle holder, and another one to the strap. The magnets aren't as strong as I hoped they would be - next time I'll use larger magnets - but it does the job.<br />
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<b><u>The bottle</u></b><br />
The bottle I used was an empty barbecue sauce bottle. Although I had thoroughly cleaned it, it still had a very strong barbecue-smell. I wanted to put something I could actually drink in it, so I wanted to get rid of the smell. A few teaspoons of sodium bicarbonate in warm water did the trick nicely.<br />
The most important thing I did with the bottle was modifying the cap. Using Apoxie Clay, I sculpted an organic-looking stopper around the metal cap. It didn't have to look very smooth and accurate, I was going for the wax stopper look.<br />
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After the Apoxie had cured, I painted it, wrapped a piece of string around it and secured it in place with a drop of hot glue. Next up, the entire cap got a wash or brown paint, including the string, to make it look older and dirtier. And finally, a coat of varnish.<br />
For the label, I simply googled "Voodoo bottle label", and quickly found something perfect. I printed it on a label with a laser printer and stuck it on the bottle.<br />
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So last Saturday, we drove to Haarzuilens, and on the parking lot, while I was putting on my costume, I found out the bottle holder was useless. I should have made the belt loop a lot higher, so the bottle would hang below my belt, not right on top of it. Anyway, it was too uncomfortable to wear, and it would be hidden beneath my coat anyway, so I left it in the car. Too bad, I had even filled it with apple juice so it would look like a bottle of booze. Lessen learned for next time!Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-37791596549189082212017-03-31T02:57:00.000-07:002017-03-31T02:57:53.208-07:00DMX Proto ShieldAllright, here's a project that has been underway for quite a while! Two years ago, I made a set of green LED spotlights. Back then, I wanted to make a proper controller, but due to lack of time I had to settle for an improvised one, consisting of some connectors soldered to a prototyping board plugged into an Arduino controller.<br />
Ever since, I've been planning to build a DMX-based controller, so I can use a PC to program them. Although I quickly had a simple circuit up and running, I've been postponing designing a circuit board and building something that can actually be used for way too long. And here it finally is! This post is going to be a bit technical, some basic knowledge about electronics will come in handy.<br />
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<b>Arduino and DMX</b><br />
The controller uses the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512" target="_blank">DMX protocol</a> and the <a href="http://www.arduino.org/" target="_blank">Arduino</a> platform. I'll explain briefly what these things are. DMX is a system designed for controlling stage lighting. A DMX system consists of a transmitter (the "master") and a series of receivers (the "slaves"). Each receiver has an address between 1 and 512, and can receive one or more channels of data. For example, a simple spotlight will use one channel for brightness, while an RGB spotlight will use three channels. The transmitter can be a DMX console, with knobs and sliders, or a computer running DMX software and a hardware interface.<br />
The Arduino is a simple microcontroller board. It has a series of digital and analog in- and outputs and can be programmed using a USB cable, without the need for additional programming hardware. Programming is done in a Java-like programming language. Expansion boards called "shields" can be plugged into an Arduino board, this controller is such a shield. <br />
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<b>The DMX transmitter</b><br />
The transmitter can be a hardware DMX controller, wich looks like a mixing console, or a PC and an adapter. Commercial DMX-adapters for PC's aren't cheap, but there's an alternative. DMX uses the RS485 electrical protocol. I bought a cheap USB-to-RS485 adapter, wich the DMX software recognizes as a generic controller.<br />
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The adapter I bought has an RJ45 connector (the type used for Ethernet cables). Most commercial DMX equipment uses XLR connectors, a round connector with 3 or 5 pins. For my system, I decided to use RJ45 connectors because, first of all, the adapter has an RJ45 connector, and second, it works with regular Ethernet cables instead, wich can be bought in any computer store and are much cheaper. This means, of course, this system can't be used for commercial DMX equipment, although it's possible to put an XLR plug on an Ethernet cable. <a href="http://stevenbreuls.com/2014/03/diy-usb-dmx-controller-for-under-10_2_ethernet_cable/" target="_blank">This website</a> does a good job explaining how to do this.<br />
Besides the adapter, you also need software. There are many different programs, some of wich are free. The one I use is <a href="http://www.qlcplus.org/" target="_blank">QLC Plus</a>. Not only is it free, it's cross platform. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi. Since my PC runs Ubuntu, this was the best choice.<br />
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<b>The DMX receiver</b><br />
The receiver circuit is quite simple. It consists of only a single chip (a MAX485) and a few resistors. What the chip does is converting the signal voltage used by the RS485 protocol into a voltage the Arduino can process.<br />
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I have designed a simple prototyping shield for this. It plugs into the Arduino, and there's plenty of space on the board for creating a simple circuit. If you're interested in this board, it's for sale in my <a href="https://www.tindie.com/stores/Eyeballs/" target="_blank">Tindie store</a>. <br />
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<span id="goog_863274112"></span><span id="goog_863274113"></span>You'll need the following additional components to assemble the shield<br />
<ul>
<li>Arduino Duemilanove-compatible headers (2x 8-pin, 2x 6-pin). These also work on the Uno.</li>
<li>8-pin DIL-socket</li>
<li>MAX485 RS485-decoder chip</li>
<li>2 10k resistors</li>
<li>2-pin header and jumper</li>
<li>2 RJ-45 sockets</li>
</ul>
For the RJ-45 sockets, make sure they have the following footprint, or they won't fit on the board:<br />
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In the past, I have made PCB's myself, and there are lots of excellent tutorials on how to do this. However, there are so many affordable PCB manufacturers today it's hardly worth the effort anymore. Most are based in China and make double sided PCB's complete with soldering masks and silkscreens, something that's almost impossible to do at home without a big investment in equipment. <br />
Now, the circuit may by quite simple, the firmware for the Arduino is a different story. The DMX signal enters the Arduino through its serial interface, and while the hardware is more than capable of handling the data stream, the default software library for serial connections isn't up to the task.<br />
Luckily, I didn't need to reinvent the wheel. The people at <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/dmxlibraryforar/wiki/Home/" target="_blank">Conceptinetics</a> have written a custom library for handling DMX data, wich they released under the GPL license. I have written my own library on top of that, wich you can find on <a href="https://github.com/EyeballsStudio/EyeballsDMX" target="_blank">Github</a>. I've also written a few <a href="https://github.com/EyeballsStudio/DMX-Demos" target="_blank">demo projects</a>, wich are demonstrated in the video below. This library is a work in progress, so check often for new versions.<br />
One thing I have to point out is the jumper near the chip. The DMX data is fed to the Arduino through pin 0. When the firmware is running, it keeps this port busy all the time, and this causes problems when uploading programs to the board. The only way to solve this is unplugging pin 0, wich is what the jumper is for. It allows you to disconnect pin 0 without having to unplug the entire board.<br />
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<b>A little demonstration</b><br />
Finally, here's a little demonstration! I had put together a receiver board with a series of red LED's, an RGB LED and some connectors for servos. The board I used in this video was my first version, wich had a few flaws. The screw terminal connectors didn't fit, and the RJ45 connectors weren't wired properly. In the new version (the one in my Tindie store), this problem is fixed.<br />
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The main reason I put this board together was for developing my software library. In the demo video, I test controlling individual LED's, RGB LED's and servos.<br />
So, to recap:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.tindie.com/stores/Eyeballs/" target="_blank">PCB's in my Tindie store</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/EyeballsStudio/EyeballsDMX" target="_blank">DMX library</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/EyeballsStudio/DMX-Demos" target="_blank">Demo projects</a></li>
</ul>
I'm working on lots more projects, so stay tuned for updates, and I hope it won't take so long to finish them as this one! Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-8855405147788104942017-01-18T02:15:00.003-08:002017-01-18T02:15:56.000-08:00Tiff's AxeThis was supposed to be my first video tutorial. I had my camcorder with me all the time while I was working on this, and recorded about 100 gigabytes of raw video footage. However, when I was editing the video, I realized how horrible I am at speaking in front of a camera. At first it didn't sound that bad, but the longer I listened to myself blabbering the more I hated it. Sorry, it's just too embarrassing to put online. Let's just say I sound like a complete jackass. Of course, I didn't take any pictures, so for this post, screenshots of the video footage will have to do!<br />
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So what am I building? My wife and me both love the board game Zombicide, and the player characters of the game are perfect for cosplaying. This particular weapon is Tiff's axe, from the "Angry Neighbours" expansion. Besides the axe, she also carries a submachine gun, wich will be the next project! In fact, my next project will be three submachine guns, since I will be going as Doug from the base game (wich I'm pretty sure is based on Michael Douglas' character from Falling Down).<br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Lumber, about 100x18mm (from my pile of leftovers)</li>
<li>Bolts and nuts</li>
<li>2mm Steel rod</li>
<li>Acrylic paints</li>
<li>Wood varnish</li>
<li>EVA foam</li>
<li>Contact cement</li>
<li>Book binding glue</li>
<li>Construction glue</li>
<li>Acrylic caulk </li>
<li>4mm PVC foam sheet</li>
</ul>
<b>The handle</b><br />
The axe handle is shaped like a bass guitar neck, complete with frets and tuning posts. To create a template, I used a picture of a bass guitar as a reference, along with the dimensions. I traced it in Inkscape, printed it and cut it out. Next, I traced the outline on a board of wood I had lying around and cut it out with a jig saw (wich I borrowed from my dad, since I don't have one myself).<br />
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The back of the handle had to be rounded with a hand plane. I had never used a hand plane before, and I was a bit clumsy with it from time to time. Luckily, the wood I used was quite soft and easy to plane. After planing, I used my bench sander to smooth the wood.<br />
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Like on a real guitar, the handle needed frets; simply painting on some lines wouldn't be good enough. I experimented with steel wire, nails and toothpicks a bit, without success. Then I found the perfect material in a local craft store: thin spring steel rods, about 2 mm. Very hard to cut (don't try wire cutters, it won't work, you need a grinding wheel), but it doesn't bend easily like normal steel wire. I cut slots in the handle where the frets would go with a hand saw and widened them a bit with a file.<br />
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Before I installed the frets, I painted the wood. I used regular acrylic paints, thinned down enough so the wood grain would still show through. The fretboard is painted in a dark brown, the rest in a lighter brown. I also painted on the markings on the fretboard and a biohazard symbol on the headstock using masking tape and a biohazard logo printed out and transferred with carbon paper.<br />
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Next, I gave the wood its first clearcoat and put the frets in place. I first cut lengths of the steel rods with my Dremel and a grinding wheel, and then rounded the ends a bit so there wouldn't be any sharp edges. To secure them into the slots I cut I used Tec 7, a construction adhesive that's strong enough to build skyscrapers. It comes in several colors, including brown, wich was perfect! I used a toothpick to put a bit in the slots, pushed the frets in and wiped away any excess that squeezed out. When they were all in place, I clamped another board on top of it and let it dry.<br />
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At this point, it still looked way too clean (not at all like something you've been carrying around in Zombieland for a while), so I applied some aging techniques. First, a dark brown wash all over the wood. This is the reason I clearcoated it first, because without it, the diluted paint would stain the wood too much. I just wanted a thin wash over the wood. After the wash, I drybrushed some light brown on the fretboard to make the color look a bit more fadedand when that had dried, a final clearcoat.<br />
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<b>The blade</b><br />
The axe blade is made out of 10 mm EVA foam floor mats, 4 layers sandwiched together. I had drawn a template in Inkscape, printed it (I'm so glad I have access to an A3-size printer) and transferred it to my foam. I cut the shapes out roughly and sanded the texture on the back away on my belt sander.<br />
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When the foam was sanded, I cut the pieces out a bit more precise (a few millimeters from the line I drew) and made a hole for the handle in two of the four pieces. To make sure the glue would stick to the handle properly, I sanded a bit of the paint off again.<br />
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For large surfaces like this, contact cement from a spray can works best. Also, the liquid cement I thought I still had had completely hardened because I didn't seal the can properly, so I didn't really have a choice. I first glued the two middle pieces, the ones with the hole for the handle, together, then one of the outer pieces, put the handle into place and finally the fourth layer.<br />
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The blade now was a single, solid block of foam. There was still a little gap around the handle, though. I fixed this with a bit of acrylic caulk. And I've probably already mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: make sure you've got acrylic caulk and not silicone, because you can't paint over silicone! Next came the messy task of sanding the blade into shape. Outer edges were done on the belt sander, inner edges with my Dremel and a sanding drum.<br />
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After the blade was sanded into the right shape, there were two things left. One, the cutting edge. I first cut away some foam with a knife, and then again to the belt sander. Two, there's a groove that runs across the blade. This was made by lightly scoring the foam with a knife, and then heating it with a heat gun, causing the cut to open up.<br />
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<b>Painting</b><br />
With the blade finished, there was one thing left to do: painting. As always with EVA foam, the most important thing is a good primer. There are lots of different methods, the most popular one being Plasti Dip, wich is hard to find here in Belgium, but my preferred method is a mixture of acrylic gesso and book binding glue. This adheres to the foam very well, and stays flexible so it doesn't crack.<br />
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I applied three layers of primer with a paint roller, and then a few layers of pure acrylic gesso over it. After it had fully dried, I sanded the entire blade, starting with 100 grit sandpaper and working my way up to 400 grit. That's why I used gesso on top of the primer. It's perfectly possible to paint directly over the primer, but the glue mixture, due to it's flexibility, can't be sanded very well.<br />
After sanding and cleaning up the base coat, it was time for the actual paint job. First, a layer of gray spray paint, followed by a wash of dark gray. This was then clearcoated with a layer of matte varnish. On one of my previous projects, I painted on my metallic finish first and then clearcoated it, but this took away the metallic effect a bit, so this time, I clearcoated it first, and then drybrushed a thin layer of silver paint over it.<br />
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After the silver paint had dried, one last finishing - and messy - touch was needed: blood! I mixed some red and brown paint (pure red is way too bright and not really convincing), thinned it to a creamy consistency and then splattered it on with a brush. This is a messy process, and paint flies everywhere, so old clothes and lots of newspaper are a must for this!<br />
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<b>The final result</b><br />
There's one detail I added but forgot to document. My wife pointed out I forgot the tuning screws. I made these out of 4mm thick PVC foam sheet. I glued three layers together, carved and sanded them into shape, painted them and glued them in place.<br />
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And here's <b></b>the finished axe in all it's bloody glory! Too bad the video I wanted to make didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I still plan to make video tutorials in the future, though, but they probably won't involve me talking in front of the camera.Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-197426643722394412017-01-04T06:48:00.000-08:002017-01-04T06:48:34.999-08:00Creating a vortex in GimpAbout a year ago, I did a tutorial on <a href="http://eyeballs-studio.blogspot.com/2015/11/creating-eyes-in-gimp.html" target="_blank">how to make eyes using Gimp</a>. Here's my second Gimp tutorial, and this time I'm going to show how to create a vortex.<br />
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Start by creating a new image sized 1000x1000, and fill the background layer with solid black. Create a new layer and name it "Vortex Base".<br />
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Next, go to Filters->Render->Clouds->Plasma, and set "Turbulence" to 3. This will create a colorful plasma, turn this into black and white using Colors->Desaturate, with the default settings.<br />
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You now have a black and white plasma effect, we're gonna apply a motion blur effect to this. Go to Filters->Blur->Motion Blur. For "Blur Type", select "Zoom", set "Blur Center" to the center of your image (500-500 in this case), and "Length" to 100.<br />
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Finally, I adjusted brightness and contrast a bit. I set both brightness and contrast to 20. You want zoomed blur effect with plenty of contrast, but without large dark areas, so tweak the values a bit depending on your initial plasma effect.<br />
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<br />From here on, we're not gonna touch the layer "Vortex Base" anymore, and work on copies of the layer instead. Create a copy of "Vortex Base" and rename it to "Vortex Whirl 1". Go to Filters->Distorts->Whirl and Pinch. Set "Whirl Angle" to 180, "Pinch Amount" to -1 and "Radius" to 2. This will create a hurricane-like vortex effect. Setting "Pinch Amount" to -1 makes all the difference here, it's this setting that creates the "eye" in the center.<br />
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<br />Next, create another copy of "Vortex Base", rename it "Vortex Whirl 2" and put it on top of the layer stack. Apply the same whirl effect as on the first layer, only this time set "Whirl Angle" to 360. Hide the "Vortex Base" layer.<br />
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<br />For the next step, you need the grid. Go to Image->Configure grid, set the grid size to 50 x 50 and the grid foreground color to orange. Enable the grid (View->Show Grid) and snapping (View->Snap to Grid).<br />
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<br />Both vortex layers will get a layer mask. We're going to start with "Vortex Whirl 1", so hide "Vortex Whirl 2". Right click on the layer and select "Add Layer Mask". Initialize the mask to white (the default setting).<br />
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<br />Now select the blend tool, set the shape to "Radial", the foreground color to white and the background color to black. With the blend tool, draw a radial gradient from the center (500-500) to coördinates 150-150 (this is where the grid comes in handy).<br />
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<br />Repeat the same steps for "Vortex Whirl 2" and hide the grid again.<br />
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<br />This still looks boring as hell, but the next step brings it to life. Set the layer mode of "Vortex Whirl 2" to "Divide", and the boring spiral turns into a glowing vortex.<br />
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This grayscale vortex will be the base for a colored, glowing vortex. The problem is, you can't merge the layers or the effect of the layer mode will be lost. How are we going to solve this? Go to the "Channels" tab, right click on one of the color channels (doesn't matter wich one) and select "Channel to Selection".<br />
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Go back to the layers tab, hide both "Vortex Whirl" layers and create a new layer titled "Vortex New". Set the foreground color to pure green and fill the layer. Keep the selection active for all the next steps!<br />
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<br />The next step makes the vortex a lot denser. Create another new layer titled "Vortex Glow", set the foreground color to blue and fill the selection again. Set the layer mode to "Divide".<br />
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<br />And finally, we're going to give the vortex a bright white glowing core. Create a new layer titled "Vortex Core" (keep the selection active!), set the foreground color to white and fill the selection. Ok, now you can go ahead and cancel the selection.<br />
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<br />Add a layer mask to the "Vortex Core" layer (the same way you did with the "Vortex Whirl" layers), and with the blend tool, draw a radial gradient from the center out. In this example, I drew it from the center out about 3/4 horizontally to the left. This gives the vortex a bright, glowing core, but a dimmer outer edge.<br />
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<br />As with my Eye tutorial, all these steps are open to experimentation. Blur effects, distortions, colors, layer modes, ... What I usually do when experimenting is wearing a headset and record everything I say, so if I stumble upon a cool effect, at least I can recall how I did it!<br />
<br />Eyeballshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993082045193096854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519391425141455035.post-56994538439498464882016-11-22T06:35:00.004-08:002016-11-22T06:35:58.691-08:00Gruesome severed headsA while ago, I got two styrofoam heads from a friend. He didn't need them, and he was sure I could find a good use for them. He was right! I turned these two boring heads into gruesome mutilated severed heads. <br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Styrofoam heads</li>
<li>Air drying clay</li>
<li>Wood glue</li>
<li>Acrylic paint and gesso</li>
<li>Acrylic caulk </li>
<li>Matte varnish</li>
<li>Super glue</li>
<li>Toothpicks </li>
<li>Steel wire</li>
<li>Screws and hooks</li>
<li>Chains </li>
<li>Hobby knife</li>
<li>Cheap synthetic sponges </li>
<li>Wood burning tool</li>
</ul>
<b>Getting started</b><br />
The first thing I did was cut the heads up a bit. On one head, I made large holes where the eyes are (empty eye sockets), removed the lower jaw and reattached it with the mouth open. I cut away a lot of foam, put it back on the head with a few toothpicks and then filled all the gaps with acrylic caulk. Very important, use acrylic caulk and not silicone! Silicone can't be painted. For the other head, I just cut away the lower jaw; it will hang below the head on chains.<br />
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Next, I sculpted lips, ears, a nose and lots and lots of cuts. For the first head, I made a few large holes that look like they have been ripped open (I used a wood burning tool for that), and sculpted smooth edges around them with air drying clay. I wanted to make it look like the mouth had been ripped open and then sewn shut with steel wire, so I made holes and grooves in the clay where the wires were going to be.<br />
On the second head, I put clay all over the eyes and made a few long gashes that went over the eye sockets, so it looks like the eyes have been removed and the holes sewn shut.<br />
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The next step took a long time. I had to find a way to hide the styrofoam texture, and to make sure all the clay would stay on. For this, I primed the heads with wood glue. About five layers, I think. I mixed a bit of acrylic paint in the glue so I could see if I missed a spot. And on the neck, where the head would have been cut off, I put on a thick layer of caulk and gave it an irregular, organic texture. When I was satisfied, I first painted a layer of wood glue mixed with acrylic gesso over it, followed by a layer of pure gesso. After that, I was ready for painting!<br />
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<b>Painting</b><br />
Painting these heads basically came down to putting down a lot of layers. I started with a base coat of raw sienna from a spray can. It's the same color I used for my bloody torso, and makes a perfect basic flesh tone.<br />
After the base coat, I applied a wash of burnt umber. If this is your first visit here, a wash means you paint the entire surface with a very diluted paint mixture, and then wipe most of it away again, so the paint only stays in ridges and crevaces.<br />
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I also painted the lips, and some shading around the eyes, nose, ears and mouth. I used various shades of flesh tone, ochre and brown to break up the monotonous base color. This is for the most part a trial and error process, you just have to see for yourself how it turns out.<br />
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And, of course, blood. Lots and lots of blood. For this, I use carmine with a little bit of burnt umber. This results in a dark, brownish red, resembling dried up blood. I painted the eye sockets, mouth and all the wounds with this.<br />
The most elaborate painting, however, was the bruising around the wounds. Like the shading, this is a trial and error process. I put some dark blue, purple, ochre and black on my palette and lightly dabbed thing layers of paint around all the wounds. This is a slow process, you don't want to use too much paint at once here or you'll ruin it.<br />
At this time, I applied a clearcoat of matte varnish. I wanted the "skin" to look dull; more blood will be applied over the matte clearcoat, and because of the more glossy look of acrylic paint, it will look more like fresh blood.<br />
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<b>Metal and more blood</b><br />
I'm going to add lots and lots more blood later, but first, all the steel wire, screws and hooks are added. I carefully drilled through the outer shell of wood glue and stuck the wires and screws through. I dripped a bit of super glue on each hole, to keep the wires in place, and then fixed the cracks in the shell with a bit of acrylic caulk. No matter how careful I was, I managed to damage it in a few places, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.<br />
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And finally, you guessed it, the blood! I simply dripped diluted paint on the wounds and let gravity do its job, letting the blood drip down the face. And to finish, some blood splatters! This was done by dipping a stiff paintbrush in the paint, and then flicking the paint onto the head; this is a common technique to create splatter effects.<br />
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<b>Finishing</b><br />
After the paint had dried, I attached some thin chains to the hooks I put in the heads. One head is just hanging from the chains, the other one has the detached jaw hanging below it. My wife already said I'm a sick, twisted person. Well... she knew what she was getting into when she married me! Too bad I didn't manage to finish these in time for Halloween this year.<br />
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