For the cover of the book I used actual leather since I already make all my book with it and I had a lot at hand… This is my half-a-cow-hide, it’s called “Sally”. And here is the book on top of the leather to calculate the size of the leather I needed to cut: The leather already cut: Then I just used some strong white glue (if you have wood glue use that) After pasting the leather I cut the remaning part out. Yes, i know this is very far from the correct way to cover a book with leather, but 1) its very very fast and easy, and 2) I kinda like it… so there… I’m lazy… By the way, for the back part i just covered the leather in this fantastic kind of duct tape that’s made out of fabric. It looks like this, really have no idea whats its official name… And yes.. I know that the journal from Gravity Falls is red all around and has no black parts.. but I usually just make some changes on the original designs if I like them so this is one of those changes. To be continued!
Gravity Falls Journal 3 – Part 4: page-binding
For this part I just did a mix of Coptic stitch and other kinds into one that I find easy to do. (For info and tutorials about the actual stitching check this youtube channel, that should be all the styles and techniques you need ) First I joined the pages into 4 sheet signatures: Then I used my punching cradle to make holes for the thread. Here are the signatures with the holes ready: The comes a couple pieces of fabric to hold the thread: (For info and tutorials about the actual stitching check this youtube channel, that should be all the styles and techinques you need ) And finally, I put some hard begin and end to the text block (which I of course forgot at the beginning) The i used a bit of standard common gauze medical for the upper part: Text block ready! To be continued!
Gravity Falls Journal 3 – Part 3: aging the paper
As I did before I used warm water with coffee to make the paper look old. This time I added a bit of brown dye so I don’t need to add so much coffee. Put the pages and wrinkle them once inside the coffee, which will not only change the color of the paper but actually make it look like those ancient pirate maps.. If you the paper looks too old and wrinkly just do the wrinkling before submerging in the coffee. I used a large plastic sheet to let the pages dry… And here are all the pages drying: And here is the final result: To be continued!
Gravity Falls Journal 3 – Part 1: redrawing the pages
The first part was to re-draw the inner pages. I mainly used the archive of pages at the Gravity Falls Wiki as reference. I decided to make my journal with all the pages available from Journal 1, 2 and 3 put together since that makes for a way larger tome. I took each screenshot, warped it in photoshop to make a flat page. Here are a couple examples. —— The Security Room Page —— Original screenshot: Warped and reshaped: Redrawn in hi res: —— The Percecepshroom Page —— Original screenshot: Warped and reshaped: And then re-drawn in hi-res, in cases like this, I had to invent a lot of the pages since there is a lot that’s never shown. Also, since I wasn’t going to make the whole invisible ink stuff I did a mix of the original text and the invisible ink text. —— The Summoning Page —— Original screenshot: Warped, reshaped and completed: And then re-drawn in hi-res: I’ll post links to all the pages I redrew on the download section.
Gravity Falls Journal 3 – Intro
Gravity Falls is one of the best shows ever made, probably my favorite; the story and art are absolutely fantastic and it’s full of mysterious artifacts and weird props of all kinds. Sadly, yet understandably, this masterpiece is coming to its end soon, so I decided to pay tribute and build a replica of the mysterious Journal 3 that is a central part of the show. I was thinking of making just the covers but then I started searching for the inner pages and found plenty of documentation, info and screenshots of the show and the journal over at the Gravity Falls Wiki so in the end I decided to make the complete thing, with all the inner pages. It the next posts I’ll be showing the process of the build.
The Enchiridion from Adventure Time – part 4
Just cut the mdf and plywood for the cover/back. I also assembled the text block. Just placed the elements to see how it looks. Looks pretty good.
Making a punching cradle
After many hurt fingers I decided to build a punching cradle and avoid any more unnecessary fingerly bloodshed. Something like this… I found several very classy and beautiful models but I wanted something as simple as possible so here is it is. Couple planks cut in half. Joined two of the halves with the those magical “L” thingys I like so much. I drew the shape of the joined half on the side panels to know where to drill holes. I actually drill very thin holes before putting the screws; it helps the screws grip the material and they go in perfectly strait. Add pre-screw holes in the joined halves too. PRO TIP! Use pop rivets to keep the thing in place while putting the screws. All done. Now it’s just a matter of placing the pages with a marker for the position of the holes… and punch the holes in just a few seconds And it doubles as a fabulous table for my your favorite drinks and condiments! WIN
Arcade cabinet, part 1 – scale model!
I guess this is not very lovecraftian related but, but watever. Turns out my boss bought an X-Arcade a long time ago and has never actually used it so we decided to make an cabinet for it and put it in the office so productivity can reach an all time low. I used my diningroom table to more or less calculate the correct height. I tweeked the height with some books. I used my diningroom table to more or less calculate the correct height. I tweeked the height with some books. So here is the small scale model of the computer screen and X-Arcade. Side panels placed And the model is more ore less done. Till next time!
Cthulhu idol – part 3, finito!
And here is the finished statue. Casted in 2 part epoxy resin, which is very thick (if you have access to Smooth-on products please use that). Some cheap black spray paint as primer then acrylic metal paint. Used some bitumen of judea to make the metal paint look old and weathered. And finally some cheap blue and green acrylic paint for the faux rust effect.
Cthulhu idol, part 1
Some crapy drawings to more or less know how it should look at the end… In the end I went for the straight tentacles just because there were WAY easier to sculpt… I am THAT lazy The actual thing made out of the cheapest possible clay I could find. don´t really have that much idea about clays so… whatever, any reasonably fine clay will do… And the finished thingy… I had no idea how to cook the thing to make it hard but in the end I wanted to create a silicone mold out of it so I just left it there.