Halloween Mouslings and Wizard Mini

I've had these three minis for quite some time, all by Reaper Miniatures.  The first two are the "Trick or Treat Mouslings" (#0535, Sculptor G. Van Horne).  I decided I really wanted to paint them by this Halloween, so I did:

The third one is a Reaper Minis wizard I've had for quite a long time, "Catherine O'Mannon" (#02344, Sculptor S. Garrity).  I painted her because I'm finally playing a wizard in a Pathfinder campaign and was rather surprised to realize I had no painted wizard minis. At. All.  Then I realized the only time I've played a wizard since we started using minis was actually a rogue with some wizard levels (that mini is in use again in another campaign).  I've been using this one with just a primer coat, but wanted to get her painted before she got tarnished or the primer wore off:

And of course, here is the requisite pencil shot for scale:

All three minis were painted by me using a combination of Reaper Mini paints and FolkArt paints.  Unfortunately, my desktop computer and thus my photo editing software are temporarily out of commission, so you get to view the working surface in all its chaotic glory.  Yes, all of those paints you see in the background and more were used to paint these.

WIP: Scourge Knight Mini

This fellow is giving me quite a difficult time. His armor is far too cool to paint plain black or metallic, so I'm trying to give him the appearance of fire or glow coming from within. This is my second attempt (yes, the first attempt was just as bad). The effect is still not how I want to it look, plus apparently my hands were exceptionally shaky so I'm going to strip him again (I think he enjoys it) and start over.

If the third time isn't the charm, I'm either going to paint him black and metallic or I'm going to strip him, prime him, and put him in timeout on the shelf until he can behave in a manner more consistent with his alignment.


You might notice his chain whip broke off.  That's because the Chaos Marine he was having a disagreement with had a bolter:

Credits: 
Order of the Scourge Hellknight mini by Reaper Miniatures, #60024 sculpted by Bobby Jackson 
Warhammer 40,000 Chaos Marine with bolter mini by Games Workshop, sculptor unknown

WIP: Dragon

Is it wrong to use a shark's tooth to prop up a dragon's arm?

WIP: Dragon

How long do I have to hold the dragon's butt before his torso stops falling off?

RPG Skeleton Statues

These are generic skeletons I painted for my Hubby that he wanted to use as statues:

I think I did ok making them look like statues. Especially since they started their un-lives as part of a Bag O Skeletons (possibly made by Twighlight Creations, though I couldn't find a pic). Gotta love the original color:

What? Aren't all skeletons hot pink?

WIP: Warhammer 40k Chaos Marines

Yes, I picked the Chaos Marines for my Warhammer 40K army. I've been trying to figure out what colors to paint them. The black and old gold color scheme on the box is okay, but I like green, so I think I've decided on this:

I'm planning on painting the bases according to what unit they're in and what weapon they're holding; because unlike Pathfinder, in Warhammer 40K, what weapon your minis carry matters. That's something that will take a little getting used to.

Here are the Mad Painter's Notes; the colors in the pics are a bit off, so if you have these colors from Reaper Minis you'll be able to tell more accurately what it looks like:

Painted Mini: Female Gnome

Yay! I finally finished one of the Minis of Doom I thought I'd never finish:

Apparently all I needed to do was actually roll up a character for the mini; this one is going to be a gnomish rogue in a Pathfinder game.

For the curious, this is a Reaper mini, No. 02772, sculpted by Sandra Garrity, painted with Reaper's Master paints.

Mouseguard Plushie!

Guarding the TV with his meager life!

Also, I got the Trick or Treat Mouselings the last time we were at Reaper Minis:

After all, who doesn't need a plushie Mouseling ranger or a tiny Mouseling witch?

I'll Take the #2 Rabbitslayer, Please

This little dagger is from my Warhammer Glade Guard; I lost it recently (after finding the head) and later found it on the painting table under a cloth (pencil for scale):

And yes, "Rabbitslayer" is a Dragonlance reference.

Warhammer Wood Elf Glade Guard (lots of pics)

Well I finally got a few completed (this after destroying part of the Guard by trying to use the spray-on primer):

What the Heck is That?

Since we had a long weekend I finally got my Warhammer Glade Guard glued together, minus one tiny dagger that went MIA and has yet to turn up. I admit I thought about gluing the extra elf head to the belt of the dagger-less guard, but figured that probably wouldn't go over well with his buddies.

Meanwhile, however, I am left with another conundrum; there's a critter in the pack that isn't pictured anywhere; seen here in the lower left of my pic:

And here's a close-up of the lil guy, who looks a bit like a lizard with wings:

Seriously; what the heck is it? It's not on the website, not on the box, not in the book (that I can find, anyway); nowhere. So, what is it? Is it worth points, is it a mascot, a familiar, a minion? ("Who's my minion? Who's my minion?" sorry - D&D 4E reference there...) I just. don't. know.

I Didn't Lose My Head After All

This lil guy stuck to my slipper and bruised my foot when I stepped down, but at least he's been found:

I had to stick him in a bit of Museum Putty to make him stay upright; pencil for scale. Yes, that's my blackberry in the background; I was, uh.... too busy preparing the head's welcome home party to break out the portable studio. (You believe me, right?)

Yarnblobs in Waiting and Updates

I realize it's been awhile since I posted; I've been working a lot of overtime lately and haven't had time to do much of anything fun, let alone post about it :-(

However, I did buy more yarn, just waiting to be turned into yarnblobs as soon as I have enough time off to get out the winder and swift:

I also found these cuties at my LYS, made by Serendipity Needles:

Yes, they're black sheep, and yes, they have little tails (tho, no legs: can't have 'em running off to school with Mary and that other lamb, you know). I probably won't actually use them since I knit almost exclusively with circulars, but they're just so cute staring at me from the pencil cup :-)

Meanwhile, my darling Hubby bought me the full set of Master Series paints from Reaper Minis, and more Warhammer 40K minis. Before the overtime started, I'd detached one of the sets so I could put it in a baggie for later assembly. In my efforts to show my brother-in-law what they looked like, I tried to hand him one of the spare heads, but I dropped it and it rolled out of sight and into oblivion. As they say, heads will roll. Counting on Murphy's Law to help me, I thought my cats would manage to find it. So far they've found screws, stitch markers and dust bunnies, but not the missing head. Good thing it was a spare.

Meanwhile, my Hubby also got me a new camera (Canon Powershot Sx130) and bag, and a portable studio thingy that folds up into itself so I can photograph minis and stuff. So, no more pictures on the game mat. I had to RTFM (read the friggin manual) to figure out how to shoot close up, and I also have a couple of tripods now so my shaky hands won't mess up the pictures. So far, this is as good as I've gotten, but I'm workin on it:

Reaper Painting Contest

Thanks to fellow blogger LadyArgent for posting that Reaper Minis is having a Winter Painting Contest. I admit I've had painting on the backburner for awhile; my January Ninja is not complete, though thanks to some helpful suggestions by fellow mini painters, I have some ideas on how to improve him.

Meanwhile, we have this contest thingy now. My first thought was that I'm not really a good enough painter to even bother entering this thing. Since then, I've been mentally chewing over what they said: "Be fun and clever." Somehow I managed to connect this to a gnome mini I've been wanting to paint that previously didn't come out right and has to be scrubbed down to the metal once or twice. While I was working on the hex blankie this afternoon I brought the mini with me so I could think it over, and indeed I've come up with an idea. Right now she's just primered, so I won't post pics of it here until I have some of it done. Here's Reaper's pic of the unpainted mini, sculpted by Sandra Garrity:

What you can't see in the photo is the cool little helm she has hanging on her belt behind her left arm. It's probably my favorite feature of this mini, which is why I want to paint it well. With all the great painters on Reaper's forums, I probably won't even "place" in this contest, but that hardly matters. I feel inspired to paint again, and that does matter. Thanks, Reaper!

Ruby vs. the Hairdryer

Recently, my teenage daughters talked me out of my hair dryer. I was using it to dry paint on minis; they wanted to use it for *tsk* hair. Bah!

Anyway, the one I let them talk me out of was full-sized and had multiple heat and blast settings. While great for human hair, even the low settings would blow a plastic (e.g. Warhammer 40K) mini right off the counter. I couldn't tell you how many times the Termagants went flying despite a lack of wings.

Having recently started painting again I realized I really did need another dryer; flying minis aside, having the girls tote it up and down the stairs was both time-consuming and problematic. So, off I went this past Saturday to Sally's on a quest for a smaller dryer, perhaps small enough not to blow my Warhammer 40K Chaos Space Marines off the counter once I start on them. Granted, they have jet packs, but that's still no way to go.

Fortunately, Sally's had just the thing, pictured here with a Reaper mini I painted for our current campaign ("Ruby") and a pencil for scale:

Being somewhat of a nerd, I was skimming through the little information booklet that came with the hair dryer (in case there was anything useful in it; scuze me while I look for my pocket protector) and found this little page of helpful styling hints:

I will admit that occasionally, when blow-drying a mini, I am amused at the thought of drying their hair, which inevitably fails to waft in the breeze, even with a styling tool:

My youngest casts "Summon Styling Tool IV"

Ruby does not appear to be quite as amused, however:

"I'll never tell you where I hid the gems!"

Ruby, however, is metal and thus not likely to go scooting across the counter with anything less than a shop-vac set to blow. Instead, I tested the power settings of this little dryer against one of the plastic WH40k Chaos Space Marines. He bravely stood his ground on the low setting; the high setting made him do a bit of a moon walk, but at least he didn't go flying off the counter:

"Wow, can you outfit that with a laser sight?"

RPG Mini WIP - Male Ninja

I posted recently that I'd chosen #03081 Edo (Male Human Ninja) from Reaper Minis for my January mini. I chose him in particular because he's not complicated color-wise and also because I already have Mad Painter Notes from my Guild Assassin to use for the color scheme (since they're in the same Guild). Believe it or not, I actually started on him and thus far have done the basecoat, highlight, wash and a second highlight:

Ignore the dungeon in the background: our boy here is not quite ready

I'm not completely satisfied with the highlighting. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure exactly how to fix it to my liking, so I've posted him to the Reaper WIP forum in the hopes of getting helpful hints. Naturally, any of you fine folks reading this who have hints can feel free to post them here if you don't have a log-in on Reaper.

p.s. the dungeon tiles in the background were made by my Hubby

Sometimes Yarn Just Won't Do

My Hubby was recently working on some dungeon bits for our Pathfinder games and asked me to create some tiny bedclothes for the beds he'd made. I decided to use crochet thread and a tiny hook (1.65mm) and crochet them. Even so, it was really difficult to get them small enough. The pencil and 1"x1" background grid are for scale:

The evolution, left to right; final version far right.

I finally got it the right size, and even managed to make the sides turn down a bit so they'd hang off the edge of the tiny beds:

Final version, side view.

Vinal version, end view showing turned-down sides.

I even made some Mad Knittist notes as I went along so I could re-create the bedspread since my Hubby would need a dungeon-full of them:

Unfortunately, the very nature of yarn ensured that the tiny bedspread curled a bit, and at that scale, its own weight was not enough to pull it down. We suspected that even with gluing, it would still curl. Also, the depth of the crochet stitches made the bed nearly 1/8" wider than without the bedspread. Using the same 28mm scale as the character minis, that's roughly the width of a shoe. No yarncrafter in their right mind would make a bedspread that thick. Sorry, Aunt Lydia, but yarn just wasn't gonna do.

My Hubby, however, was undaunted. He decided to use paper, some origami-esque folding tactics and some shaved foamcore, and I think they turned out great:

The paper makes it look like they were patchwork-quilted, perhaps by the innkeeper's wife. My Hubby's full blog post on the beds and other dungeon bits can be found here.