My Custom Pokey Tool

Everybody has a "Pokey Tool" for when the paint dropper bottle gets clogged. However, I don't. I have been using a wall push pin, which is not very effective. I've seen other pokey tools. In fact, many people at ReaperCon 2014 bought the metal skull pokey tool which had a very nice weight to it, but it just wasn't my style. I fully admit, I like cute things with big eyes like I'm five years old and it's ingrained into my very nature. (I'm half-Asian, or technically, "Pacific Islander" if you're filling out bubbles on a standardized grade school test). Regardless, I made up my mind long ago that my miniature painting pokey tool should be cute. And I have yet to find one after two years of painting, so I decided to make one myself using Sanrio's Chococat key holder and a pin. I started out using a pin from my old sewing kit and quickly realized the plastic ball on the top just wasn't going to work. The top warped the key cover and removing the ball wouldn't allow the super glue to adhere properly.

So I dug around in the depths of my old sewing supplies and found my magnetic pin cushion. I needed a T-pin to be able to glue the flat, wide surface area to the inside of the key holder. Unfortunately, finding a T-pin proved difficult-- kind of like finding a needle in a... well, needle stack. After suffering only one minor puncture wound, I found a T-pin and prepped my final supplies.

Once I applied super glue to the top part of the T-pin, I placed it inside and centered it, leaving about 25% of the T-pin inside the key cover. Then I held it together until the glue set, about 1 minute just to be safe. I love this picture-- it looks like Chococat is grimacing because I'm smooshing his face while the glue dries. Then I let it sit on my desk for about 5 minutes.

Next, it was time for the final test! I gathered a stubborn dropper bottle of paint and hoped for the best!

Success! Not only did the super glue hold well, the rubber key cover was incredibly comfortable to grip (unlike pins without handles) and it came away cleanly after poking through the top of the stubborn paint bottle. I'm very pleased. Not only do I have a cute & unique custom pokey tool, I can replace the chain and hang it on a peg by my desk for easy access. Brilliant. 

If you're thinking about making your own miniature painting pokey tool, consider using a T-pin and a key cover/key holder. Or create something similar out of clay, push T-pin into the center before baking in the the oven until set. Then, remove your new pokey tool and let it cool. As long as the clay isn't too thin around the T-pin, it should offer enough support as a pokey tool. Give it a try & share your results with me! Everyone needs a "Pokey Tool" and why not have yours reflect your own personal style? 

Kingdom Death

I've been out feverishly sick for the last three days.  I was hoping to do some great painting during that time, but alas, the universe had other plans for me. I've gone through an entire box of tissue and things have come out of my nose that no human being should ever see. However, during that time I discovered Kingdom Death miniatures thanks to my friend and fellow painting enthusiast Cash Wiley. Cash enables the hoarder in me and posted about the Flower Witch miniature, which is now Out of Stock. Supposedly they all sold out in about 6 hours! Understandably, since she's a stunning figure:

Image references from the Kingdom Death store website

I admit I spent what was left of my Christmas budget on a few of their miniatures. I mean, c'mon, everyone sets aside a little something for themselves during all that holiday shopping... right? So I bought the Pinups of Death Hard Plastic Collection which contains: 

“A collection of the first 8 pinups released by Kingdom Death remastered and tooled in hard plastic. The flagship pinups previously only released in resin are the perfect introduction to Kingdom Death hard plastic. The set is packaged in a deluxe kraft wrapped with original artwork by Lokman Lam. Each box makes 8 miniatures and contains:

•Pinup White Speaker
•Pinup Forsaker
•Pinup Savior
•Pinup Great Game Hunter
•Pinup Survivor
•Pinup Preacher
•Pinup Twilight Knight
•Pinup Architect
•8 2-part Kingdom Death 30mm round bases
•A stylish black envelope containing 8 art cards, one for each pinup.
•PROMO Optional Kingdom Death Monster settlement event. A special event that can occur in your settlement.
•PROMO Optional Kingdom Death Monster gear. A unique piece of survivor armor gear to commemorate the pinup release.”

While they're not the usual resin miniatures that you find in their individually-sold figures, I think that for the price, the hard plastic versions are a good value.

Now before we fall into the obvious trap arguing about the finer details of sexism, let me first say that, from my perspective as a woman, I think the majority Kingdom Death miniatures are beautiful. They're detailed, expressive, stunning examples of stylized miniature sculpture. If Marcel Duchamp could deem a urinal "art", then we can agree that the concept of art is linked to our varying personal and individual perceptions. Some are much more suggestive (or have a cape made of male genetalia), and those kinda creep me out, so I don't buy them-- not on moral grounds, only because they just wouldn't be as fun for me to paint.

Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie

Since I value keeping things positive and respectful, I will say this: I would not necessarily choose to display the original concept art in prominent areas of my home. However, I do think Lockman Lam's concept art is dynamic, wonderfully rendered, and sure, "sexy". We all know the difference between realistic and stylized artistic choices-- we all have imaginations and I know that men don't actually look like the animated characters in "Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie". Seriously, when each of the male characters are introduced in this pastry-chef-themed anime, they sparkle. And that's after the opening song where they fly around on fancy pastries in space. Just saying, the whole thing is pretty ridiculous. Still, some part of my brain is amused by this stuff, just like I'm amused by the busty bombshells in evocative poses from the Kingdom Death Pinup line-- it's not meant to be real. It's meant to be someone's artistic craft enjoyed by either many or few. 

Life is too short to waste on petty fears and the critical judgement of ourselves or others. None of us should be so self-important as to look down upon one another for what we collect & enjoy (unless it's collecting human ears or something. That's just gross.) At the end of the day, we all have a personal choice whether or not to purchase these types of commodities. Bearing that in mind, I will continue to grin and watch "Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie" & collect and paint Kingdom Death miniatures. 

Christmas D&D Gaming

Hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season! Just for fun, I want to share the audio recording (broken into three parts) of the holiday-themed Dungeons & Dragons we played recently. It's one of our new Christmas traditions where we come up with crazy 4th level characters in a single-session adventure set up by our DM (or "Dungeon Master", a.k.a. "Game Master"). This is only the second time we've played 5th edition and so far, I think it's a lot of fun and allows for a lot more improv freedom than previous D&D editions. In our "one-off" games, we play our way through a seasonal story filled with goofy puns and familiar pop culture characters in a single-session. We don't get too bogged down in the rules so it's accessible to those who haven't played the game before, and 4th level characters are interesting, but not too complicated for less-experienced players. In fact, "Ugg" is played by our friend who has never before played a tabletop role-playing game like D&D-- so happy that he had such a good time! We've hosted similar games this past Halloween and Easter, and I can't wait to help plan the next one! In the recordings, you'll get to meet each of our player-characters the three of us created (in addition to the many other personalities brought to life by our DM):

Ugg (It's short for "Ugg") - Human Barbarian
Throzen Stoneheart (a.k.a. "Stockwood") - Dwarf, er, um, Fairy-something? 
Catnip "Kitty" Silverbells - Gnome Bard

Dungeons & Dragons is the game that introduced me into the world of miniature painting and I have a special place in my heart for it. It's something I want to play with my friends, my family, and one day when I have offspring of my own, I want to share it with them. It's imaginative, it's spontaneous, and if I ever meet someone who says, "Oh I played D&D, it wasn't any fun", I'll smile & tell them "Well, then you're doing it wrong" invite them to one of our seasonal one-off games. Hope you enjoy sharing in our fun!