Living with Boys

So, Wizards of the Coast has a line of pre-primed plastic minis, "Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures," and I've just finished my first one! The package calls this a "blink dog", but of course when I saw it I said, "Hellhound"! So, what should I call her? Juliet?













This was actually a fairly easy paint job. I started with a flat black base, and then outlined her muscles, spine, and bits of fur at her joints with an off white. After that, I swept over the whole thing with a watered-down purple ink. For the base I tried a textured paint that gave a pretty subtle effect, and added a few strands of spanish moss to imply bits of hay scattered at her feet, like the first hellhound that we saw in "Trial and Error."

Overall, I'm pleased with how she turned out. Even better, there was a second dog in the package, this one coming out of a sort of portal--and I think that one will have to be Ramsey!

She has been waiting for me to notice her, take her up again. When I sit down at my computer, I see her sometimes, just beyond the laptop screen. She’s unfinished, and now I’m afraid that I won’t be able to start over where I left off, that whatever skill I had to complete her is now atrophied beyond repair. But she has the patience of all unfinished projects.

She's a metal figurine. Such ominous thoughts for such a little thing, I know.

She is a Reaper mini, made to be customized for a gaming PC. A cleric, mace held high, long braid down the back, lantern blazing in her other hand, full armor and surcoat. (I’m not above the occasional chainmail bikini, but I like my characters well-protected in general). Red hair that I was hoping to shade in glints of gold lantern lights at one time. She stands about an inch high. She was created by an artist named Sandra Garrity, and my contribution is simply layers of paint. The story she was originally intended for was finished well over a year ago.

My husband introduced me to tabletop gaming, back when we first started dating, and throughout these last 20 years, it has been one of the constants in our lives, the thing we do together. Through kids, loss of jobs and their re-finding, through my returning to college and going back to work full time simultaneously, through home improvements and depression, we have always found time to game with various groups of friends. The stories we’ve created in this way have become part of our shared vocabulary.

My mini-painting hobby came about kind of by accident, when a friend invited us over during a painting session. I painted a Halfling thief, very badly, but it was enough. I discovered that I loved seeing my mini go from a simple silver statue to a leather brown and evergreen creature who ought to have a name. Since then I’ve done figures for our gaming groups and for my sons, given some away, and bought many more figs than I could do in a year.

Three years ago, soon after I started my cleric, I decided to get my MLS degree. The library for which I was a Page (that’s a glorified name for shelver and clerk) had an opening for a Reference Librarian soon after that, and my bosses were willing to work with my near-total inexperience, and gave me the job. Something had to give, of course, and it was my mini hobby that fell, along with reading for pleasure, watching tv, tending my house. The kids got as much of my time as I had left, and my husband got me for gaming every other week for a couple of hours. When I graduated last summer, he bought me fresh paints and brushes and I thought I would jump right in.

She’s still waiting. Her name is Danae, I think.