Dark Sword Box Party

They're here!!! The Stephanie Law Masterworks Dark Sword Kickstarter miniatures I ordered arrived yesterday. I wrote about this Kickstarter a few weeks ago, and I can't believe how time has flown-- Dark Sword really worked hard to ship these out during the busy holiday season!

Box Party

I opened the box and squealed like a crazed fangirl. Inside were glorious boxes of the Kickstarter miniatures along with my Thief of Hearts bundle & Marike Reimer DVD add-ons. Beautiful. I promptly popped the DVD into my Blu Ray player and hit "play" while I spread out & fussed over my new miniatures.  

Marike Reimer Introduction

Stephanie Law Kickstarter miniatures + Thief of Hearts Add-Ons

I'm really excited about the "Dark Sword Masterworks Miniature Painting with Marike Reimer" DVD made in 2012. Marike is touted as one of the most accomplished miniature painters in the industry and her work is absolutely stunning. She values smooth blending and has a sharp eye (and steady hand) for freehand detail. Just look at her "Guardian of the Sea" miniature:

Image from Dark Sword Miniatures - Guardian of the Sea sculpted by Jeff Grace & painted by Marike Reimer

It's truly amazing. Like stupid-good-hurts-my-eyes-how-is-this-possible amazing. I'm looking forward to learning more about her style and practicing similar freehand techniques. Practice makes perfect!

Chapter on Sheer Fabrics

I've already binge-watched Disc 1 (of 4) which contains:

  • Dark Sword Introduction
  • Marike Introduction
  • Tools, Paints & Brushes
  • Terminology & Paint Consistency
  • Basic Color Theory, Blocking and Base Coating
  • Blending & Layering - Shadows & Highlights
  • Female Skin Tones, Faces & Eyes
  • Sheer Fabrics 

So far, I'm loving it-- Marike has a calming voice and a fun sense of humor (I love the part about her sexy magnifying glasses). There is so much more content in the next few discs, including in-depth freehand sections on 3 different patterns on cloaks & capes. In fact, I needed to feed the cat. He jumped up on the table and pawed at me as if saying, "Stop staring at the moving light box and playing with these tiny boxes. I'm hungry now!". I obliged him, but I would have rather started Disc 2. If it were up to me, I would have ordered a pizza and painted late into the night. But alas, the pets and people needed feeding so painting will have to wait until tonight. In the meantime, I made some killer spicy chili, which was perfect with this cold front rolling through-- a perfect night for staying in & painting. Now for the hard part: I need to decide which of these many miniatures to start painting! 

Miniatures of 2014

Happy New Year! I've recently noticed a trend of miniature painters photographing the minis they've painted in the last year-- I think it's a wonderful idea! We should all celebrate our achievements, big & small as we enter 2015. Since I committed myself to the mini painting hobby back in April, I'm amazed how many miniatures I've completed in the last 8-9 months compared to previous years. In fact, I had a hard time grouping them all into the same space. I gave up half way through and ended up cramming the rest together. It reminded me of the annual class photo in grade school. "Short people in the front. That's it, now get closer. Closer... CLOSER! Ok, good. Now say 'cheese!'":

While this year I focused on developing several specific techniques, I also pushed myself to expand my knowledge of speed painting. Below are the miniatures that I painted to the best of my ability at the time, followed by the group of "speed painted" miniatures. (I've included the little Jedi miniature since I painted her in four hours, not including the base). Seeing as 100% of these miniatures were painted between April 2014 - Dec 2014, I think it's been a truly successful year for miniature painting! I can't wait to see what the next year holds. 

2014 miniature collection (4+ hours)

2014 Speed Paint miniatures (less-than-4-hours)

As far as my personal 2015 painting goals are concerned, I want to focus on basing. I consider creating bases for painted miniatures a "necessary evil", and I want to change that perception. While I know overcoming my view of basing will be an ongoing battle (or at least until I get good at it), I'm committed to taking my painting to the next level. I also want to try some freehand and tattoo techniques on a few miniatures. I plan on attending ReaperCon 2015 and I'd like to paint at least two competition-level miniatures to enter into their contest. I think all those goals are realistic-- here's to 2015! 

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?