Sunday, December 1, 2013

December 2013 - S'wak Props Products Update


Hi all,

I'm still offering these items on custom order. I'm still tweaking the Silence Dogood letters so it may be awhile before those are available again. But if you're interested in the Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows, the Grail Diary, Rorschach's Journal, the Labyrinth Red Book or Thorin's map, just drop me a line at swakprops@gmail.com and I'll get back to you ASAP with a quote.

Thanks.

Monday, April 1, 2013

More pics of Thorin's map - now with Bilbo's portrait

This map was hand-drawn using pics of the Weta replica as reference, using pens of differing nib sizes. I then scanned the drawing in high resolution at 600dpi and printed it onto 200gsm textured watercolor paper. This is then weathered with coffee and tea; the folds and creases are added subsequently. The final step is hand-writing the moon runes using UV ink.



If you're interested in acquiring a set, please email me at swakprops@gmail.com.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Thorin's map from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

This is my replica of the map to Erebor from the film "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". This was originally drawn by Daniel Reeves for the film, modifying the one seen in Tolkien's book. Most notably, the designs for the mountain and Smaug is more artistic compared to the simplified Tolkien version, and Mirkwood has been renamed as Greenwood. An earlier version was also seen when Gandalf visits Bilbo in the prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring.

For this replica, I printed it on 165gsm watercolor paper through a laserjet, and then weathered the map with coffee, trying my best to also incorporate the folds and creases of the original prop. Once the weathering process is done, I used a cheap invisible ink pen and wrote down the moon runes. Under normal light, you wouldn't be able to see it, but under UV light it magically appears!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Bilbo Baggins Deed of Contract from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Thanks to a friend, I managed to get scans of the Noble Collection version of the Deed of Contract. They consist of 3 main panels with two smaller panels sewn on the left and right. Since I don't have a large format printer, I printed two halves of one panel on two separate A3 sheets and then glued them together as inconspicuously as possible. I used 165gsm watercolor paper which has a nice textured surface. These individual panels are weathered with coffee and then sewn together using reference pictures of the original prop and the prop replica offering from Weta. I used hemp twine for that authentic aged look.



I'm very pleased with the end-result and hope I can add a replica of the Key to Erebor to complete the collection!