S'wak Props Exclusive #1: The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows from The Ninth Gate

Just thought I'd highlight the specialty items of S'wak Props. First up is The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows Prop Replica.









The book has 300 pages with filler text with the 10 engravings (1 title page and 9 woodcuts) interspersed between them. These engravings match with those in the Balkan/Telfer copy. The pages are individually numbered (none of that 666 crap). These pages are laser printed onto A4 sized 80gsm white paper and then cut to the dimensions of the original prop (6.5" x 10"). These pages are then individually weathered by hand with a mixture of tea and coffee.Once this is done, the pages are then sent to the professional binderswho will sew and bound them in dark brown lambskin leather. The boundbook has the five raised ridges on the spine, the embossed fleur de lis frame on the front and back with the gilded pentagram (and fleur de lisdesign inside it) on the front. The cover is also mildly weathered, i.e. the edges, the spine ridges as well as the discoloration on the back which is afeature of the Balkan/Tefler copy.

The following items are included:

(a) nine LCF woodcuts
(b) the fake ninth woodcut with "CENIZA BROS" written across it
(c) the two page spread with the genuine ninth woodcut
(d) the comparison chart made by Corso to distinguish the three copies ofthe Nine Gates
(e) Corso's business card
(f) Balkan's postcard to Baroness Kessler
(g) the weathered yellow fabric to wrap the book in.

If you're interested in this, please email swakprops@gmail.com for details on how to purchase this item.

S'wak Props Exclusive #2: Rorschach's Journal

Secondly we have Rorschach's Journal Prop Replica from Watchmen.








Cover is weathered cowhide. The journal is 200 pages thick with the entries from October 12th 1985 to November 1st 1985 repeated several times to make up the pages. Both comic and movie entries are included. Movie entry dates have ordinal suffixes (12th, 21st etc), comic entry dates do not (12, 21 etc). The pages are also weathered and are professionally bound.

Comes with:

(a) Rorschach FBI Wanted Poster;
(b) Gunga Diner flyer;
(c) Rorschach's calling card;
(d) Pyramid Transnational envelope addressed to Roy Chess;
(e) Roy Chess ID badge.

If you're interested, please emal swakprops@gmail.com for details on how to purchase this.

The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows - New Pics

I've received so many queries about this replica that I made so I thought I'd post some more new pics I took of the book and the inserts that come with it.

This books has been weathered to emulate the look of the prop used in the movie. The 9 LCF woodcuts, the fake 9th woodcut and the two-page spread with the genuine 9th woodcut have also been weathered. Other inserts include Balkan's postcard, Corso's business card and Corso's chart comparing the Balkan, Fargas and Kessler copies. In the foreground is the weathered yellow fabric in which the book is wrapped in.

If you're interested in acquiring this replica, drop me a line at swakprops@gmail.com.

Sidkit Blade Runner Worldcon Blaster

I bought this kit from Siderio last year when he started making them and its been sitting in storage until last month when I finally decided to get on it. I followed Sid's prep instructions, except after I sanded the parts I tried buffing them on a wheel. This almost proved to be disastrous when a small piece of the first part I tried buffing actualy melted!! Luckily that part is not visible (it's internal) so I let that buffing idea go. I used Perma Blue to blue the parts that need to be blued and painted the black parts with Krylon Satin Black. The LEDs also proved to be a pain in the butt coz I accidentally broke the switch when trying to put it in the mag cover, so until I can find a replacement, the LEDs are non-functional.

Here are some pics:

Nine Gates Comparison

I wouldn't have been able to embark on my Nine Gates run last year without the help of M. Haspil, who provided me plenty of reference materials and files. He himself embarked on a similar run a few years ago, but his Nine Gates was the definitive version as his books were bound by the same people who bound the actual books for Polanski's movie. His high end price tag reflects that.

Recently, Haspil asked me about acquiring a copy of my Nine Gates for his collection, and I look at it as a great honor. So I made him an unweathered copy (as per his request) and shipped it to him. He received it a couple of weeks later and told me he was pleased with the acquisition. He also sent me this picture of my book and the book he did from his run (my book is the one on the right):


As you can see, aside from my leather being a bit more browner, the dimensions of the book, the positioning of the frame, pentagram and the spine ridges are almost spot on. Too bad the tooling detail on the cover is not as superb as the original. Well, not bad work for binders operating out of Kampung Baru!

Nine Gates project - Completed

My thanks goes to Paul Jones who talked me into making this replica and to Jeff Schmidt for his assistance on the graphics aspect. A special thanks goes to Mike Haspil for sharing his years of research into the Nine Gates with me, thus making this replica as accurate as possible.

Weathering the Nine Gates

I got back from work late last night and only managed to weather 2/3rds of one book. Here are some pics of some of the weathered pages:




I haven't weathered the cover yet. Saving that for last.