Let me start with, I’m not a massive Dungeons and Dragons fan. It’s ok. I just don’t find heroic RPG’s to be too exciting as there’s a lack of danger in them. I prefer RPG games like Call of Cthulhu, and more recently the Alien RPG, because of the constant feeling of danger.
It’s me, it’s not you.
After saying all that, I grew up on Dragonlance and one of the settings that crept into Dragonlance a little was Ravenloft. Now there’s a setting I could enjoy. Proper gothic horror in the Hammer style. I’ve never played anything in the Ravenloft setting, but I’d love to run at some point.
While browsing around on some D&D pages, I stumbled across an item called the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.
I love the look of this item. It’s a complex shape but quite elegent in its design so thought I’d have a go at making it in 3d.
It took a while because it is quite deceptive in its complexity. I drew some elements in Illustrator and lofted them, Other bits are just me swearing at Cinema 4D. It’s a horrible mesh, but it worked enough for me to have three parts. The jewel, the main body and the sunburst backing.
I then braved printing them and it wasn’t without issues. The main one was, things look fine on a screen but when printed, the scale or details are not what I wanted. I kept tweaking the body until I got the right look.
It was good enough to start. Of course, now comes the sanding/priming/sanding/priming part.
Getting all those nasty print lines out takes time. Lots and lots of time. Then when I felt ready, I made the moulds.
Then first casting attempts. I had some clear red tint to make the ruby.
Not perfect but good enough to start with. The piece I made the mould from obviously had a few minor flaws that I needed to clean up but I was quite happy with the first pull.
Next up was casting a few more and trying out some paint effects.
I tried several different paints and washes to get a nice effect. The final one I settled on was a very shiny metallic spray from Wilco’s and then an oil wash to weather it.
I’ve put a picture hanger on the back of one and its now hanging on the dungeon wall to ward off any lurking vampires that happen to pop by.
Maybe some passing cleric will come by and I can give them a quest in return for it.
Roll for initiative.