Today I make a realistic version of the The Book of Monsters from Lego Nexo Knights. I fail at making molds, I fail at painting… there’s a lot of fail
Building a Dungeon Master Screen (with my trash)
Today I will be making a Dungeon Master Screen for tabletop role playing games. Since I can’t go out.. I will only use the leftover materials I have at home…
Creepy Christmas 2019
It’s time for creepy christmas once again! As we do every year, we choose some creepy or non-christmasy theme to celebrate the holidays. This year we didn’t have any good ideas but we had a LOT of skeletos and skulls left over from halloween so we just gathered all of them and put them on top of a VERY cheap tree… This is our 2 dollar tree (painted black ofcourse…) It was falling apart… obviously… so we added a bit of tape… And covered the broken parts with some fabric. We thought of using a skull as the star on top of the tree: And we wanted to add some lights to it’s eyes for extra creepyness… Later we thought it might look better with a golden skull instead… It looked a bit too clean so we added a bit of watered down acrylic paint so it would add details… Test the lights… Add some tiny skeletons all over… DONE!
The Book of the Dead from The Mummy, final video
The Book of the Dead from the Mummy is ready! and here is a video summary of the project! There were MANY mistakes, but it’s done. The whole project took arround 3 weeks since we work on our off time but editing the video took many months since I wasn’t sure what exactly to show and what to take out… In any case, here it is:
Necronomicon pages… spoted in League of Legends video!
I was watching youtube videos to get some inspiration to start painting a couple character designs so I went to watch several of the brilliantly animated and drawn videos from the League of Legends channel and while watching their video Pentakill: Mortal Reminder… guess what I found?!!? The necronomicon pages!!!! I mean, of course the brilliant designs are not mine… But hey! My re-tracings are good enough for a freaking Riot Games! Should I put that on me resume?? Haha The pages are inside the book the mysterious book opened just after 1:36! Take look: How cool is that!!
The Mummy project (part 8) assembling the pages and final aging
This is the the last important step, adding the pages. Since we couldn’t find any reference of a working functional book of the dead, we had to be creative. Each one of our drop-shaped wooden parts has a strip of leather going around it and that holds a page from both sides. We used superglue and a couple of tiny nails to secure each page: Here is a couple detail photos: Once all pages are ready we starded ading all the pieces on the spine of the book. We just applied the same Bitumen of Judea that was used to age the cover decorations: First apply the bitumen then remove a little bit so that all the grooves stay dark: And now the spine is ready! And the pages are functional!
The Mummy project (part 7) cover assembly
Now that basically all parts are ready, it’s just a matter of putting all together. Since I wanted the cover pieces to be rather secure in the cover but I didn’t want to use screws I applied a good amount of 2 part epoxy: Once the epoxy is dry I applied a bit of Bitumen of Judea which in theory is used to age furniture: Since the lines on the cover and the black vertical decoration piece are lower than the rest of the surface, the dark aging would normally make them very visible but since this book is all black those parts required a “whitening” aging process. I used a bit of glue and all the sawdust that was all over my shop from making all the parts from the book.
The Mummy project (part 6) scarabs
Lets make some bugs! specifically, the 4 flat scarabs on the cover just below the bird heads. I initially printed out the scarab lines and tried to use copy paper, but it simply didn’t work over the foam. I ‘m using a very thin sheet of PEVA foam. So I just grabbed a pen a drew the scarabs by hand Then I cut out each scarab leaving a good extra border of foam: I then made superficial cuts following all the lines being careful not to cut down to the other side. Once the cuts are done I used a heat gun and went over each cutout. This is before passing over with the heat gun: After applying heat the shallow cuts open up and become grooves: Later I added an extra layer of foam below (the black layer): And then cut them out but this time following the shape closely: Finally I went around the piece with a lighter to seal up the foam: Then I gave it a couple passes with black acrylic paint and a couple hands of varnish: And here are the scarabs finished: Se you next to assemble the book spine!
The Mummy project (part 5) cover decorations
For the decorations on the cover we first transferred the designs onto the plywood: Then cleared the paper so only the toner from the photocopies stays: later we cut away all borders and internal pieces that should be hollow: Then It’s a matter of pyrographing all bas-reliefs: Giving it a couple coats of pain and varnish: And finally assembling: And those are the decorations! Next up… making some scarabs maybe?
The Mummy project (part 4) assembling the spine
Now that the cover holders are ready, we can do the rest round pieces that are needed to hold the inner pages and fill the spine of the book. The process is the same, print out the shapes, glue them to the plywood and cut everything: Now that all the pieces are ready, we can try to assemble the spine to test the size of everything: Time to paint! First a black base and then a couple of hands of gold and a touch of brass color. It looks kinda lame and yellow, but it will look just right after aging. Now a bit of assembling: The spine is ready! Now that we know the exact length of the spine, we can cut the long screw to the proper size. And now the spine is ready! Next episode, will build the decorations that go onto the cover!