Detailing EVA Foam

Will Morgan at WM Armory brings us a handy tutorial on detailing EVA foam.  It's impressive how cosplayers have pushed the boundaries of what's possible with formerly overlooked materials.

The Bones

The talented Carim Nahaboo brings us this nicely done fetal skull.   The piece was sculpted from air drying clay, .

The Yamada Texts

Dr. Takeshi Yamada is one of the world's premiere sideshow gaff artists.  He's done more to popularize the artform than anyone else.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that he's embraced the Mythos with an extensive series of faux grimoire pages through his "Coney Island UFO Research Institute".

The Map from Pnakotus

Dale Bigford returns with another amazing prop set.  This time the centerpiece is an ancient map of the world containing secrets man was not meant to know- the Map from Pnakotus.   The well done accessories include multiple containers from its journey around the globe and through history.

The map itself is scribed on real parchment from Pergamena, one of the few companies still producing the real thing. 

Mr. Bigford was kind enough to share his technique for creating those nifty wax seals:

Go to a trophy place or any place that does laser engraving (wood plaques etc) bring them in the image (better to email them a digital one they can manipulate) and bring them in a piece of THICK plexiglass.

They can engrave plexiglass as easily as wood. BE SURE to tell them you want the image REVERSED ( the PICTURE cut IN and the outlines and BORDERS left RAISED) for a wax seal.

Once it's done cut them out (I recommend a bandsaw then a table top disk sander). Then glue (GORILLA GLUE) a "stamp handle" of some sort to the back.

NOW: It's TRICKY to make the seals. Plexiglass does NOT let go of the wax as easily as metal. Pour the wax onto a pane of glass, let it cool a bit (this takes practice to gauge) then press in the seal and LEAVE IT until the wax is totally cool (I place it in the fridge, it shrinks the wax and plexiglass, makes them harder and allows them to separate easier).

It's COMMON for the seal to not want to let go. You can experiment with breathing condensation onto the seal first, using water or a THIN coat of oil. The wax will be vacuumed to the glass. Start working the seal off slowly (NOT EASY) then razor blade the seal off the glass.

If the wax tears or will not come out of the seal properly (the smaller/more intricate the design the harder it is to release from all the nooks and crannies) Run it under VERY hot (you may have to boil some then pour it over it slowly) water and it will melt out the wax/clean the seal out. Then TRY TRY AGAIN!

After that drip some of the hot wax on whatever you want then lay the seal into it to attach it.

With the engraving: the SHALLOWER the image is cut the EASIER it is to make and remove the stamp!

Daikan Font

Carlos Ignacio Pellegrini brings us Daikan, the font for his constructed language of the same name.

Runic Fantasy Fonts

One of my dearest pleasures is stumbling across a cool prop resource that should be getting more attention.  These fantasy fonts from Holger Göbber are a great example.  He's crafted the characters for two different fantasy language families and then produced a total of seven variants from those basic designs.  I like his take on Elven runes, but the fonts for "Lorrian Scripture" and "Alternative Elven Runes" stand out as something special. 

The fact that these fonts haven't received a lot of exposure is a shame, but it does have the benefit of avoiding the "Tengwar, again?" effect when they're used in documents and props.

Mask of the Dragon Priest

Kezeff brings us this recreation of a Dragon Priest mask from Skyrim.  The carbon fiber (!) sports a nicely done patinated bronze finish.