Little Dwarves...Great Big Swords Part 3

I only have time for a quick post tonight as the fam and I are heading out for a long weekend holiday....so before I left I wanted to get up pictures of my "finished" White Knight Zweihander unit I've been working up for the Unit Challenge over at Bugman's.  I say "finished" because I only got 10 of the 12 finished and now that I have the newly released segerant headed my way I will have a few more models to add to this wonderful unit.

Anyway...here are the piccys.

Here they are ranked up 5 wide and two deep...

Here is Rank 2...

And here is the unit from a slight angle...

Ultimately I would like to expand this unit to at least 14 models...so they will be deployed 7 wide...which, for visual purposes, I prefer...

Thats all for now...I hope to get the additonal figures done before too long...but you know how that goes!

Cheers,

Blue

Happiness is an Open Blister....

Today I got to experience something that has become rather rare in my collecting "career".  I received two packages today (no...that's not rare..:-) )...one from a friend in Ireland and one from an ebay purchase...and both were loaded with UNopened Blister packs...7 of them in fact!  Now if you are an old lead head like myself...and I know most of the people reading this are...you probably understand how rare an opportunity this is.

Here they are in all their glory...

I know there is some dispute in the collecting world about blisters...many folks seek these treasures out so that they can keep them intact...forever preserved on a shelf or in a box...never to be molested by human hands.  On one level this seems a laudable goal...but to me it just seems a waste of good figures!  These babies were cast with the intention that they would some day see the table top...and perhaps a lick of paint along the way.  I am NOT a keeper of unopened blisters...nor will I pay extra for privilege of owning one...because...well... I'm just going to open it anyway!

So I took these gems out of the boxes they were shipped in...ogled them through the somewhat discolored and brittle plastic of the blisters...took moment to imagine what path they had traveled since the early 90's when they were cast and packaged away. (hey I'm an archaeologist...thats what we like to do! haha)

 And then....

Well....

I had a lot of Fun opening them!

Ahhhhh...thats better...now the former inhabitants of those plastic cages are free to mingle with the other unpainted members of their units...and dream of a day when they will be wearing a fresh coat of paint and facing off against a worthly opponent across a misty battlefield.

More about the contents of those blisters at a later date...

Cheers,

Blue

Commision for someone Special...and a breif update

Hi all,

Well I've been keeping busy...and wanted to share with you my latest works.  Currently I've been trying to take care of some lingering backlog projects...as well as keeping up with on-going contest entries.  One of the more important things I've been working on is a "commission" piece...for a very important person in my life...my daughter.

About a month ago she convinced me to buy her a plastic mermaid figurine at the store...you know how it goes...she gave me the puppy eyes...I protested for about 20 seconds before folding like a wet cardboard box....as usual.  Anyway...the mermaid was holding a small fish in one hand...this was very cute...but...of course by the time we got home...the fish had fallen off and been lost....sigh.

They just don't make plastic mermaids like they used to! 

I tried to explain to her that this wouldn't have happened if it had been made of a proper figure material like good old lead...but she wasn't buying it and just kept looking at me like this...and asking me to fix it...

So as above...I caved and agreed to have a go at replacing the missing fish.  When I asked what kind of fish she wanted on there...she said..."maybe a cupcake would be better?!"  I tried to explain that a cupcake would get quite soggy on the bottom of the ocean... but as you probably know logic holds no sway over the 4 year old mind...so I set my mind to sculpting a cupcake for a mermaid out of GS.  And this is what I came up with.

No!  That is not a nipple on top! She also asked for a Chocolate kiss to be placed on top....it just keeps getting better!

Then I asked what color she would want it to be....of course I was thinking chocolate iceing on a yellow/vanilla cupcake...haha...WRONG?!  She had other ideas...."how about a red cupcake with purple icing Daddy?"  By this point I was beyond trying to impose my thoughts on "her" creation and just went with it. 

So here is the finished product...complete with a heavy Gloss varnish coating to try to proect it for a day or two at least...

She looks pretty excited about that cupcake eh?!

Well...the client is pleased with the results and I'm sure I will have many hours of playing "mermaid cupcake party" in my future.  It will certainly be the miniature that gets the most actual use in our house....:)

To prove that I haven't been completely neglecting my other "obligations" here is another WIP picture of the nearly complete unit of WKs Great Sword dwarfs...alomost there!

Cheers all...

Blue


 

Little Dwarves...Great Big Swords...Part 2!!!

Sorry for the lack of posting...the last few weeks have been quite rough as far as hobby time...and for once work is not to blame for it.  Two weeks ago I had my tonsils removed in hopes of eleveating some sleep apnea issues I have been experienceing.  I had hoped that sitting around for a week recovering would allow me to get ahead on some painting...but between the pain...and the pain killers it just didn't happen.  Now two weeks out from surgery things are starting to get back to normal in my throat...and I have finally gotten some painting done.

I've been plugging away at the wonderful White Knight Zweihanders for awhile now...and luckily the due date for the Bugman's Brewery Unit Painting Challenge was extended to the end of August so hopefully I'll have time to get them all finished up. The first six have been complete...minus the basing...which I will do altogether at the end.  I've got four others through the base coat layer...I have to have at least 10 completed for an actual entry into the contest...If I have time there are two more I can try to get done.

Here are the first 6

I better get back to it!

Cheers for now!

Blue

My Brushes...a Changing of the Guard

Howdy all,

I thought I would take a break from beating you over the head with my painting and have a little change of topic.  Let's talk brushes!  Other than the topics of figure manufacturers and paint brands nothing elicits as much discussion amongst figure painters as brushes.

I have a confession to make...until recently I was of the mind that cheap disposable brushes were the way to go.  I used to go to the local craft super store and buy a dozen brushes at a time....for a dozen dollars...use them for a little while then throw them away and get some more.  After awhile this started to get old and my mind turned to getting some decent brushes...after reading a ton of information on various fora about brushes I decided to go to the other end of the spectrum and get the best of the best...Kolinsky Sable brushes from Windsor and Newton.  I bought these painting marvels before I delved into my first run at the Lead Painters League.  They were expensive...I got three sizes...1, 0, and 00... And with shipping I think I spent about $25us.  However they were fantastic and served me well for a full year...and even a second LPL.  The points on these brushes were phenomenal...if fact I did almost all my painting with the size 1...and the size 00 is too fine to really use for anything.  But after a year of hard use they are blown out...the points have loosened and I can't get them back.

In the meantime I've read a lot more about brushes and am interested to try something different.  Based on the testimonials of several different painters I opted to try Rosemary and Co.'s sable/synthetic blend brushes. These seem to offer the best advantages of both bristle materials...and at a price that's hard to beat.  I recently received sizes 3, 2, 1, 0, and 00 from Rosemary and Co.....shipped from England for £15...1/3 less than I paid for three Windsor and Newton brushes!  (note: if your are in the UK the price is really hard to beat...shipping to the US nearly doubled my cost).

 Now I've only had the chance to use them on two figures so far but at this point I'm quite impressed...if they have a decent life span then I will be quite happy.  Watch this space for more info as I spend more time with them.

What are your favorite Brushes...and why?

Cheers for now,

Blue