Current Projects

So after my last update I went and ordered a 5lb bag of Merlins Magic.  I then started casting according to the instructions and filled all four of my molds and filled an entire tray in the dehydrator.  With my next batch I tried to adjust the ratio of plaster to water to try and fill more molds.  I thought I was erring on the side of too much water, but then I found that I was adding too much plaster that wasn't getting mixed in completely and leaving quite a bit in the mixing cup that was far too thick to pour into the molds.  Adjusting some more I think I found the right ratio and that was that.  I decided to up my game a little and make a vibrating table to really make my blocks solid.  After looking at a few stores I found a neck and back massager at the local Walgreens and mounted it to my table and set to work on another batch. I thought I had done something wrong when I went to scrape the molds and I had almost nothing but a layer of water across the top.  Letting my brain catch up to me I realized that this meant all the plaster had settled into the molds instead of riding along top.  So letting the molds dry so I could remove the pieces also showed me that they now dry incredibly fast compared to before the vibrating table.  So all in all I'm even more happy going with the Merlins Magic and building the vibrating table. Now I just need to settle on a project to move towards.

In other projects, Ring Game is this weekend.  Ring Game is a Lord of the Rings Live Action Strategy Game.  While we do dress up, its not as role play-y as LARPing. This spring I'm playing a Nazghul. I made my costume this weekend, I went with the dark rider type costume from the movies.  Now if only I was in better shape to be sprinting around the park.  I'll be working on the gauntlets this week.  I will try to post pictures of those when I complete them.

I also received my Reaper Bones Kickstarter miniatures package.  I traded in the Sophie model for the carrying case.  I can fit around 3/4 of the miniatures in the carrying case.  I think I'm going to use the extra slots for paints and carry that around with me to get some more painting done.  Since most of miniatures will be immediately useful in our DnD 4E game I am going to focus on those to begin with.

Ninja wanted to help unpack.

Adventures in Plaster

So the other day I had the tremendous urge to create something. Painting just didn't seem to feed the urge and I didn't have anything papercrafty printed and ready. So I turned to the other other hobby I have. I cast some plaster blocks.  Now my experience with Hirst Arts molds has been on going since I picked up my first one at GenCon in 2006. I've posted pictures of the octagon tower I built with that one here on the blog. Well the bug had bit me and I ordered a few more molds and cast some blocks and then promptly got distracted by something shiny. I had built myself a work table and had some modeling plaster I had picked up at the gaming store but I couldn't figure out another project to work towards. Sure the website had all sorts of projects, but I would just end up looking through the catalog and not getting any ideas to stick.  Now this latest bug has bit and getting the supplies out has shown me why I had stopped last time.  The plaster I've been using, lightweight hydrocal, has a different mixing ratio than the previous plaster I had been using. So my last couple of casts had come out mostly half-assed. I thought it was something I was doing wrong and it turned out to be true. I had been mixing it wrong. Well I still had my sample package of Merlin's Magic. The one that they use and talk up quite a bit on the Hirst Arts website. So tonight I cast using the Merlins, and wow was it a different experience. The blocks filled so neatly and scraped so easily. Now I'm looking up where to order some more to get back into a regular casting habit. So now we can add plaster terrain building to my current obsessions. I'll post pictures as soon as I finish drying the blocks I cast.

Octagon Tower

My next project to talk about is a Hirst Arts building. I purchased the starter mold at GenCon a couple of years ago and it sat on the shelf in my bathroom for a few months before I worked up the courage to actually do anything with it. It was intimidating at first since I didn't want to make any bad blocks and I didn't have the really good plaster that I kept reading about on the messages boards. After getting a half bucket of regular plaster of paris and biting the bullet to begin, it was actually quite easy. The hardest part? Well that would be the sheer number of times you have to cast each mold to make the required number of pieces. Also I didn't get the extra mold I needed to complete the tower. After receiving that as a birthday present the following year I was finally able to do something with all those blocks I had been creating. My first project was the Octagon Tower with mold's 63 and 40.