Laboratory Gear

"I-Zombie" brings us this beautiful piece of Strickfaden-style laboratory gear. The prop was assembled from acrylic tubes mounted on a vintage electronics case. The detailing and final finish work is excellent.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Robwzor Edition.

Polish artist Robwzor brings us this highly textured Cthulhu idol.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Miller Edition.

Britta Miller brings us this faux jade Cthulhu idol. The gloss finish and mottled coloration really sell it.

The Indian Point Talisman

Gage Prentiss returns with this curious historical artifact.

The India Point Talisman:
This item was discovered in a secret drawer of a whaler's footlocker after an auction in Providence RI, 1977. The lot had been called The India Point Chest and had been a fine example of 19th century Yankee craftsmanship. On the underside of its lid had been written, in the same hand, many ports of call from Singapore to the Caribbean, with all points in between. The scrimshaw tooth, believed to be from an adolescent sperm whale, was found wrapped in a linen handkerchief. On the linen had been written, "Suffer the bad dreams, Hamish. With tooth in pocket, the Leviathans can't spot you. - J "

The Sea Bat

Professional gaff artist Rick LaRue brings us this curious aquatic specimen- the Sea Bat. I'm amused that its name also hints at the creatures that went into creating it.

Dragon Fossil

Bryony May Tidball excavated this example of the Earth's hidden history. When will so-called mainstream science finally admit that dragons like this were, and are, real?

The Laughing Emperor

Pilcrow Designs brings us brings us these inhuman remains. Just imagine the intellectual gymnastics finding something like this inside a tomb would generate.

Out of the Depths

Tóbal returns to our pages with this collection of South Seas specimens. The juvenile Fiji mermaid gaff is great, but once again it's the accessories that make the whole set.

Faux Turquoise Tutorial

Lucy at CraftBerryBush brings us this great little tutorial for making faux turquoise. It's hard to imagine two groups of fandom more dissimilar than Lovecraftian propmakers and polymer clay jewelry makers, but they've developed some amazing techniques for reproducing the look of semi-precious stones. Just the kind of thing that's ideal for all manner of amulets and occult artifacts.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Broers Edition.

The prolific Joe Broers brings us this miniature Cthulhu idol based directly off of Lovecraft's original sketches. It's a smaller version of one he's been offering for a while.

The Necronomicon

Mille Cuirs brings us this outstanding take on the Necronomicon. Most of the "Evil Dead" influenced tomes that try to depict a face on the cover look silly, but this is at a whole other level. The cover is hand set leather with a glass eye.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Cryptdidical Edition.

Cryptdidical brings us this highly stylized Cthulhu idol.

In his comments about the sculpt he's pretty harsh on himself, rather unnecessarily so. He's assuming that clean lines and a smooth finish equates with simple, when it's anything but. As I've mentioned before, the use of heavy surface textures can cover up a multitude of sins in the base sculpt. It's one of the reasons I like using so much texture in my own work. I'm not good enough at capturing foundational anatomy, so I fall back on imparting an impression of greater detail with surface treatments.

Conversely, a clean sculpt like this is very, very hard. There's nothing to distract the eye from small flaws in the figure's symmetry and proportions.  No, it's not perfect, but it manages to capture the identifiable form of Cthulhu with flowing forms and a few inscribed lines.  That's no small achievement.

Making a Quick and Dirty Fiji Mermaid

The talented Allen Hopps brings us this tutorial on creating a Fiji Mermaid gaff using an off the shelf skeleton and the plastic wrap corpsing technique we've discussed before.

The Innsmouth Taint

Joel Harlow is an incredible artist who has done makeup and design work for a variety of blockbuster movies. Earlier this month he was part of the 20th anniversary celebration for the Cinema Makeup School in Hollywood. As part of the commemoration he designed and executed a special project- a Deep One from H. P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth".

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Tailiana Edition.

This sandstone Cthulhu artifact is brought to us by Tailiana. I love primitive figures like this.

The Hidden History of Dyatlov Pass

Rick Callaway stumbled across this interesting item at an estate sale. At first it appeared to be a well preserved photographer's case from sometime in the 1960s. But the storage box had a false bottom covering an intriguing collection of documents and photographs involving the Dyatlov Pass incident of 1959.

The documents raise a lot of questions. Who would collect something like this, and why was it hidden? Is the presence of nuclear survival materials in the box relevant to the reported radiation found during the investigation? How did the material make it's way from the Soviet Union to the United States?

Nightgaunt Statuette

Gage Prentiss brings us this excellent nightgaunt sculpt.  Click through to check out the high resolution version.  It gives you a better feel for the translucent effect he was able to get by tinting the resin.

These items surfaced in Kerman, Iran, during the excavation of a temple-like structure from the 3rd Century. Items and inscriptions found led archaeologists to hypothesize that the temple had been used by an Esoteric Dream Cult. Traces of mind altering mixtures and incense, coupled with strange tablets describing dream travel and fantastic heavenly beings support this. The varied, but eerily similar carved statuettes from an unknown material were said to be gifts from a god, YibbTstll, and were meant to act as the worshiper's servant in the "Dreamlands". Though rare, these effigies have turned up in private collections as well as museums.

The Mermaid

Martin Bässler brings us this mermaid figurine carved from a sperm whale's tooth. I feel a bit guilty appropriating an art object as a Mythos item, but his horribly inhuman interpretation of the classic mermaid is a perfect Deep One stand-in.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Tóbal Edition.

Tóbal returns to our pages with this trio of Cthulhu idols crafted from faux jade, bone, and a copper alloy. The presentation is outstanding.

Elder Necklace

Stuart Williams brings us the Elder Necklace. The amulet was carved from green jasper.

Thermoelectric Atomizer

Echoleader brings us this outstanding Thermoelectric Atomizer Laser. Just when I'm ready to write the whole steampunk thing off something like this comes along and restores my faith. The Atomizer is also available as a resin kit.

Fetal Larvae

This work-in-progress fetal gaff is brought to us by Mia Sansom. The detail work on the face and feet is outstanding.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Quine-Bentley Edition.

This bronze Cthulhu idol is brought to us by UK artist Nigel Quine-Bentley. As a side note, by my count this is the 100th finished Cthulhu idol featured here on Propnomicon. I'm amazed at the sheer number of variations artists have created.

The Golden Goblin

Joe Broers brings us an extremely obscure Mythos prop- the Golden Goblin. It's based on one of the fictional occult publishers invented by Lovecraft.

The original creation of Golden Goblin Press was a fictional publishing company in the Cthulhu Mythos. The publishing house first appeared in Robert E. Howard's short story "The Black Stone" (1931). Golden Goblin Press was founded in New York in 1908 by two brothers, Samuel and John Addleton, and was named after a small Native American figurine owned by one of the brothers. A story entitled “The Golden Goblins” which featured evil golden goblin idols was written by Manly Wade Wellman and published in Weird Tales, January, 1944.

Alien Fetus

This nicely done alien fetus is the handiwork of Lee Hartnup. It was formed from sculpting wax, which gives the skin a wonderful translucent effect.

Siberian Bloodworms

Nathan Shumate brings us some preserved Siberian Bloodworms. Two thoughts cross my mind given the number that have been captured. The first is that the small population of Siberia is perfectly understandable given how prolific they seem to be. The second, and more disturbing, is that someone is farming the things for sale to decadent westerners. Best not to muse on just how those specimens are being fed.

It's a Kind of Magic

K. L. Turner brings us "Egrette". The wand was hand-carved from elder wood and features a fantastic level of detail.

Amulet of Julianos

Christian G. brings us this recreation of the Amulet of Julianos from Skyrim. It was built up as a digital model and then manufactured in metal using 3D printing.

The Clarksville Specimen

Jacob Petersson's work has been featured here many times, but his latest project is a bit of a departure from his amazing fantasy specimens.  This time he brings us the unfortunate pilot of a craft that was shot down near Clarksville, Kentucky by the the United States Air Force in 1948.  As usual, Mr. Petersson has done a fantastic job on the supporting accessories for the central figure.  That includes the clothing, or in this case the exo-suit.