An Explorer's Guide

...To Skyrim!

...The book!

...CD Case!

Just something I've been thinking about doing for a while (well, ever since I received an extra copy of the soundtrack). The book is completely hand made. The paper was had cut, hand sewn, and all hand bound in hand made book cloth.

Then hand aged and left out for days for it dry fully. Tips for the future: for aging books, do it all before you assemble it. Otherwise, it'll all fall apart if you just dunk the whole thing, fully assembled, into a bin of tea.

Hoping to get rid of this on the Etsy, soon.


EDIT: Now up on the Etsy.

Minus One Kadam...

So, I skipped some boring bits and jumped to the good stuff: both sides were sculpted, molded and casted. The picture below are the raw casts ready for trimming and cleaning.

Skip some more boring stuff about gluing, cleaning, trimming bits and onto partial assembly.
The chain that wraps around the headpiece is from an old gold necklace I never wore, but just had around. Using my trusty ol' Zap-A-Gap, the thing stuck on fairly well to the plastic.

"Front"

"Back"

The castings came out pretty well, but due to the humidity here (I try to do these things outside when I can) coupled with how old my resin has gotten, the "front" side had a lot more air bubbles than I had thought.

I think it was also due to the fact that this side was a lot finer detailed than the other, making all these pockets of air that got trapped in the silicone. Either way, with some paint, I think it'll be okay. The only thing that it needs now are some crystals in the center and it's good to go on the shelf.

I've yet to work with the clear resin that I'm using for the crystals before, so that'll definitely be another learning experience, I'm sure.

Six Kadam High...

Just some up-em-dates. 

Molded the finished side in silicone rubber, once cured, I gave it a plaster bandage shell for support, and pumped out two castings with shitty hobby store resin (the last time I use that).

Of the two shit castings I used the least bubbly to help keep proportions the similar on the sculpt of the other side. It's still a work in progress but it is getting closer.

On an unrelated note, I recently took up bookbinding. While working on the Ra piece, I was alternately working on a book/CD case for an extra copy of the Skyrim soundtrack I got ages ago. The book is gonna be turned into a copy of "An Explorer's Guide to Skyrim" with the discs inside: Shawshank Redemption style.

Because I'm so clever.

I didn't document how I put the book together (it was a really messy process) as I was putting the thing together with no experience and little skill. In any case, it turned out okay. Hand cut drawing paper, hand-sewn together, and hand-made fabric book cloth. You can look all these methods up online and there are tons of great videos out there showing how it's done. I thought about making a video, myself, documenting how I put mine together as an example to "how not to put a book together."

But, that would've been embarrassing to watch.

They're Digging in the Wrong Place

I am the monarch of the sea.

I've always wanted this (hopefully, once this is done, some others will, too) so I just decided to make it. About a day and a half of on and off sculpting (3-4 hour sessions) for this side. Gonna mold this side, cast it, and use it to help align the other half once I get around to sculpting that.

Expect some more of this soon.

Those Tuskens Walk Like Men, But They're vicious, Mindless Monsters.

 ...And some pics of the rock base:

NOW ON THE ETSY!

So CLOSE!

Respirator and Bandoleer problems solved! Apoxie Sculpt glued to suede, painted and weathered, with smaller bits through the big bits to tie together.

 Outer robe should be done pretty soon.

Updates

Got the car back. However, I am minus an arm and a leg now.

But enough of that. Here's the inner robe on the Raider, and boy, does it come to life with it on.