A friend of mine who is a bit into Warhammer uses to build miniatures (about Ogre Tyrant to monster-sized) out of leftovers in his family’s shoemaker workshop. Most of it is very impressive, cleverly built and surprisingly detailed, although lower legs and wings is something he struggles with. One of the creations is a big insect that is somewhat creepy in poor lightning due to its lifelike looks.
So, if anyone is potentially interested in commissioning one or more excentric pieces from him to use in their collections, please PM me. If there is any initial interest I’ll take my camera to his place and photograph the creations so you can see what he is capable of, and then we can work out the details and price from there should the creations suit your tastes.
Skaven, WHFB Chaos and 40k Chaos players might be particularly interested in some mutant monster, especially if it moves by tentacles, slug tail or something else than lower limbs. Those rat tails that Chaos collectors long have used for tentacles is one of his specialties (I believe he glues a tight roll of some thin shoelace around a wavy clip). Avoid wings. His current creations look well enough when sprayed and most of the materials used are hard and will present no problem to painting, they also come with textures for the miniatures.
Also, if some symbol, face or other detail is very much sought after I guess I could chuck in some help and sculpt it on the finished creation.
I’ve got a lot of things on my hands these weeks and tend to write down what I want or need to say as fast as possible, lest it slips my mind altogether. Also, if there are freaky mutant fans around they might announce interest simply based on text description, which would encourage speedy picture-taking simply by reminding me about it in the midst of all studies. Better use all tricks up your sleeve if the schedule stacks itself atop on you. This trick worked, since creating a thread “obligated” pictures and made it easier to remember.
Fortunately I had a dentist visit down in town today (the preparations for flaymen must have paid off, because the teeth looked good), so I managed to photograph it. Corpse Cart and Vargheist in there for scale.
Naturally, the soft fluffy straw part exhibited by the third creation wouldn’t appear in a commission work. Likewise, note the areas of “soft” cloth-look on the insect. In a commission piece such areas would have to be minimized. In case of commission order, my friend would have to work to the detail level seen in creature one, or better if possible. Of course, a client wouldn’t have to pay anything before the model is finished and approved by the client. If the work does not reach an acceptable standard, the client can happily cancel the commission. Also, I’m sure a potential client can haggle down the price if he wants to accept some dodgy areas on the model that he wants to sculpt over himself.
Haha, yeah, it’s a special style, but at least figure nr 1 had a look and detail level that make it look suitable for Lost and the Damned or Nurgle 40k armies. He had already managed to sell one creation to some random man on the street, and why not test the waters amongst Warhammer collectors? You never know, it might appeal to someone.
It’s down to limitations of materials of course. I’ll tell him to start sculpting instead and come back when he’s good enough at it.
