Amazing that you got 4 rows of beads on there, looks like it will be very useful.
What did you use for plastic?
Sorry took so long to reply been super busy at work and with the holidays.
Also super busy working on my latest counter. I figure abacus counters are great, but why not go hog wild and make it electronic.
(you did not say what the plastic was)
Well that seems complicated. Now you need to consider energy and controls.
Have you tried shining it through a foil layer?
The plastic layer is just a top loader baseball card holder. I can do 2 cards with 1 loader, I just trim to fit.
In terms of electronics that's all sorted as I do that kind of stuff for work. Runs off a phone battery and charges through any micro USB phone charger. The math says it's good for ~200 hours off a charge.
I'm very new to doing 3D life counters. I have looked at some tutorials, but I haven't found any for the dual life counter. Can anyone help me with how to do these pins on the image link below? (It might be from this thread. Sorry for lack of credit for it).
I'm very new to doing 3D life counters. I have looked at some tutorials, but I haven't found any for the dual life counter. Can anyone help me with how to do these pins on the image link below? (It might be from this thread. Sorry for lack of credit for it).
Welcome to the forums. Mind the goblins, they don't bite... too hard.
In any case, your work looks nice from what I can tell. As for the Dual Life counter thing, that's out of my realm of knowledge. Maybe one of the other helpful people here will be of better assistance. When you say "dual life counter", what specifically are you trying to accomplish? Many of us have just come up with ways of doing stuff and maybe we can help work through figuring out the problem at hand.
If you want to easily display an image of your work here this is how you want to do it:
It's actually not my work; I'm looking to make a life counter like that. By dual life counter I actually meant a dual dial life counter, like the counter in the picture (which is not mine). I want each dial to display one number of the life total so you could go all the way from 0-99. I've only seen a tutorial about how to make one with a single dial (up to 20 or so) using a brass fastener.
It's actually not my work; I'm looking to make a life counter like that. By dual life counter I actually meant a dual dial life counter, like the counter in the picture (which is not mine). I want each dial to display one number of the life total so you could go all the way from 0-99. I've only seen a tutorial about how to make one with a single dial (up to 20 or so) using a brass fastener.
Thanks for the help!
aaah. Ok, that makes sense. I'm sleep deprived so pardon my ineptitude. In that build it seems that made 2 disks to size with the numbers scrawled on them. The central post might be a rivet of some sort maybe. I know a few artist who use metal brads or rivets to hold that central post. While I don't exactly know what you should use, I might be of some assistance in constructing that part. You could do a rod that hide INSIDE the lower half (it not being exposed) that holds the dials in place.
aaah. Ok, that makes sense. I'm sleep deprived so pardon my ineptitude. In that build it seems that made 2 disks to size with the numbers scrawled on them. The central post might be a rivet of some sort maybe. I know a few artist who use metal brads or rivets to hold that central post. While I don't exactly know what you should use, I might be of some assistance in constructing that part. You could do a rod that hide INSIDE the lower half (it not being exposed) that holds the dials in place.
I like the idea of a hidden rod. I think I may try something like that.
Hoping this doesn't break any forum rules: I wouldn't charge more than 10-15 bucks for them. Even then I'd probably only trade for cards. They look to be only 2 or possibly 3 layers for the main image.
For my first few I didn't ask for much at all. Add I got better and started doing commissions the price went up.
I did a full art Etched Champion from the backs of tokens and traded it for a Scalding Tarn but that was only after months of learning to 3D.
Let's try to not discuss price/value for things, m'kay?
I consider the current posts to be right on the border of acceptable/unacceptable (solicitation). PM is probably the best (worst?) way to discuss this. I know this seems like a horrible way to do this, but currently we'd like to keep any posts that can move towards price/cost/solicitation as close to nil as possible.
This is a question that comes up A LOT. I use Elmer's Craft Bond Tacky Glue. I also "age" my glue a bit to give it more thickness. To age a glue, I tend to leave the bottle open for extended periods of time, allowing the glue to become thicker. Whether this actually works or not I'm not sure of. All I know is that after I've done this a few times, the glue sticks better AND dries faster. Though, I may just be a bit out of my mind and just making things up.
The general answer is this: If you want instant fixing, you want a CA glue (Super glue) that is a bit thick. If you want some amount of pliability you want a liquid Tacky glue. There are pros and cons to using any glue. I hate to say this, but it's really a matter of finding something you like and what works for you.
Rubber cements are bad, they aren't very strong and do not like smooth surfaces. They can easily become unbonded. They are also very hard to work with
Epoxy types (the ones that require 2 liquids to mix) are messy and you have very little control. Some also have an exotherimc reaction which can cause the glue to get warm as it dries. Not sure how this affects the cards, but it happens.
Spray glues are the messy of messy. They get everywhere. Some people actually use them. I avoid them. You really want to have a well ventilated area and a large area to spay because of overspray. Since you want to stand back and spray instead of being up close and making a clumpy mess.
To stick on little bits and detailing I usually use any old white, fast drying craft glue. This is because I want those pieces to sit and never be touched and clamping them is a pain.
For layering I use gorilla glue. It's fairly thin so can absorb into cards. Works better if it gets into the stuff under the ink layer. It dries slow and expands so you often end up with a mess. Still, it holds better than anything else I've tried and goes rock hard preventing twisting of the cards; which is what usually causes layers to separate.
To stick on little bits and detailing I usually use any old white, fast drying craft glue. This is because I want those pieces to sit and never be touched and clamping them is a pain.
For layering I use gorilla glue. It's fairly thin so can absorb into cards. Works better if it gets into the stuff under the ink layer. It dries slow and expands so you often end up with a mess. Still, it holds better than anything else I've tried and goes rock hard preventing twisting of the cards; which is what usually causes layers to separate.
These are the little nuances about glues that you have to find out for yourself. Personally, I did not know this about Gorilla glue. By playing with different glues, you are able to find something that works with your style of putting these things together. I'm honestly unsure of what my first glue was, as it was an unlabled bottle that looked like the elmers glue I currently you. Though it had a fantastic tack, dry time and sturdiness. My current glue comes close, but even with the aging of the glue, it can only come close and not be spot on.
Finally got around to making another 3D life counter after years away from Magic. Plastic covering protecting the cut art.
Well, hello there. Nice work you have. Only a couple of issues I have with it. You need to use a metal straight edge to get those cuts nice and clean. If you did use a straight edge, I can only suggest more practice with it. Having messy cuts like that kills the sight of having to see that nice artwork you made 3 dimensional. The other is the wire (?) you used for the bead bars. The cleaner the entire piece is, the more professional it looks. The art looks so good that rest of the piece kinda detracts from it.
Apologies if I come off as being harsh, that is not my intention. I just want to pull your attention to where you need to focus on becoming better at this. You did a fantastic job on the art, so you are good there. I want to see your continued growth as an artist and not to scare you away from doing this. So just keep at it.
Apologies if I come off as being harsh, that is not my intention. I just want to pull your attention to where you need to focus on becoming better at this. You did a fantastic job on the art, so you are good there. I want to see your continued growth as an artist and not to scare you away from doing this. So just keep at it.
I didn't want to sound awful but I did think the same things when I saw it. The plastic covering is what I do and is a fantastic idea do protect the fragile art.
I can't give any extra pointers than the above, practice cutting and you'll get better.
As for the wire, don't. Use sewing needles. I buy a pack at the local craft store for doll sewing, they come in different gauges. You just trim them to card width and they'll never bend like that. With proper measurements they'll look like they were machined in there. If you're willing to go slightly larger bead sizes Amazon sells burlap needles. 25 of them was like 3 bucks free shipping. They're thicker so those Walmart beads won't work but they're the best value.
[Quote]
Apologies if I come off as being harsh, that is not my intention. I just want to pull your attention to where you need to focus on becoming better at this. You did a fantastic job on the art, so you are good there. I want to see your continued growth as an artist and not to scare you away from doing this. So just keep at it.
I always feel bad when posting my thoughts because I'm afraid I'll hurt people's feelings as well as potentially scaring away new artists. I learned the most about my short-comings in my art by listening more to the harsher criticisms than the positive ones. They leave you with nothing to hide and tend to be the most honest, and I'd rather know what I'm doing wrong since I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing right. As for bead posts with decent thickness (< 3mm, methinks) I use these. No need to worry about the gauge differences. I don't recall what I pay for them (a bit more than 25 for 3$), but I tend to get LOTS of them at a time. Coupons Help as well. I also Enjoy doing the physical shopping for items as it allows me to see/touch the items before purchasing. Though, I guess since I know all the items I get, I should see about maybe just getting larger bulk quantities from the 'net.
Hey everyone, I know the rules say to PM someone about getting something made, but I don't know where to start. I have a friend who's a dastardly SOB and I'd like to get him a custom Nicol Bolas (not entirely sure which version) 3D life counter.
Has anyone done this before? Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.
Hey! I'm new to 3D alters(only done foil peel alters before now) and trying to figure out some places to start. I made an Amonkhet Plains, with 11 layers, but I had really low-quality knives so it doesn't look very good. Now that I have a set of X-Actos I really want to try making a commander for this though, so here are the options I've been considering(they're kind of odd commanders because I'm on a budget.)
The first one is Zada, Hedron Grinder. It seems like she would be pretty easy, but would probably end up looking pretty flat; it would just be her head, her, and the background unless I did some weird stuff, so I'm not super enthused about that one.
Second - You know that one promotional foil of Dromoka, the Eternal from that one Clash Pack? I have like 3 or 4 copies of that for some reason. If I bought a couple more, then I could maybe try to make that a 3D alter. I'm not sure how you would divide that one, though, so it seems like she would look really cool but be hard to do.
Third and final, the oversize foil commanders are actually pretty cheap. I have an Edgar Markov EDH deck, so if I bought a bunch of the oversize foil versions I could make him happen. He seems like a nice middle ground, too.
So, all of you super duper professional guys, which would you recommend I do?
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URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
Sorry took so long to reply been super busy at work and with the holidays.
Also super busy working on my latest counter. I figure abacus counters are great, but why not go hog wild and make it electronic.
(you did not say what the plastic was)
Well that seems complicated. Now you need to consider energy and controls.
Have you tried shining it through a foil layer?
In terms of electronics that's all sorted as I do that kind of stuff for work. Runs off a phone battery and charges through any micro USB phone charger. The math says it's good for ~200 hours off a charge.
Modern
RWBMardu MythBWR
UUMerfolkUU
URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
I'm very new to doing 3D life counters. I have looked at some tutorials, but I haven't found any for the dual life counter. Can anyone help me with how to do these pins on the image link below? (It might be from this thread. Sorry for lack of credit for it).
http://i47.tinypic.com/wp8vc.jpg
Thanks!
In any case, your work looks nice from what I can tell. As for the Dual Life counter thing, that's out of my realm of knowledge. Maybe one of the other helpful people here will be of better assistance. When you say "dual life counter", what specifically are you trying to accomplish? Many of us have just come up with ways of doing stuff and maybe we can help work through figuring out the problem at hand.
If you want to easily display an image of your work here this is how you want to do it:
[spoiler][img]http://i47.tinypic.com/wp8vc.jpg[/img][/spoiler]
Will get you what is below (keep in mind the link between the img tag has to be the direct link to your image):
URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
It's actually not my work; I'm looking to make a life counter like that. By dual life counter I actually meant a dual dial life counter, like the counter in the picture (which is not mine). I want each dial to display one number of the life total so you could go all the way from 0-99. I've only seen a tutorial about how to make one with a single dial (up to 20 or so) using a brass fastener.
Thanks for the help!
URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
I like the idea of a hidden rod. I think I may try something like that.
For my first few I didn't ask for much at all. Add I got better and started doing commissions the price went up.
I did a full art Etched Champion from the backs of tokens and traded it for a Scalding Tarn but that was only after months of learning to 3D.
I consider the current posts to be right on the border of acceptable/unacceptable (solicitation). PM is probably the best (worst?) way to discuss this. I know this seems like a horrible way to do this, but currently we'd like to keep any posts that can move towards price/cost/solicitation as close to nil as possible.
URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
The general answer is this: If you want instant fixing, you want a CA glue (Super glue) that is a bit thick. If you want some amount of pliability you want a liquid Tacky glue. There are pros and cons to using any glue. I hate to say this, but it's really a matter of finding something you like and what works for you.
URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
For layering I use gorilla glue. It's fairly thin so can absorb into cards. Works better if it gets into the stuff under the ink layer. It dries slow and expands so you often end up with a mess. Still, it holds better than anything else I've tried and goes rock hard preventing twisting of the cards; which is what usually causes layers to separate.
URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
My Recent Craft Projects:
Custom EDH Spell Book Deck Box
Custom EDH Deck Boxes
3D Magic Card Abacus 1 2 3 4
URURU Jhoira
BGWBG Teneb
BRGBR Karrthus
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon
BBBBB Balthor
RGWRG Uril
UBRUB Garza Zol
WUBWU Sharuum
UUUUU Arcanis
UBUBU Sivitri Scarzam
Apologies if I come off as being harsh, that is not my intention. I just want to pull your attention to where you need to focus on becoming better at this. You did a fantastic job on the art, so you are good there. I want to see your continued growth as an artist and not to scare you away from doing this. So just keep at it.
URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
I didn't want to sound awful but I did think the same things when I saw it. The plastic covering is what I do and is a fantastic idea do protect the fragile art.
I can't give any extra pointers than the above, practice cutting and you'll get better.
As for the wire, don't. Use sewing needles. I buy a pack at the local craft store for doll sewing, they come in different gauges. You just trim them to card width and they'll never bend like that. With proper measurements they'll look like they were machined in there. If you're willing to go slightly larger bead sizes Amazon sells burlap needles. 25 of them was like 3 bucks free shipping. They're thicker so those Walmart beads won't work but they're the best value.
URGEDH Biovisionary.dec BShirei WBSelenia
The brain is the muscle that pumps stupid through the body
Has anyone done this before? Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.
The first one is Zada, Hedron Grinder. It seems like she would be pretty easy, but would probably end up looking pretty flat; it would just be her head, her, and the background unless I did some weird stuff, so I'm not super enthused about that one.
Second - You know that one promotional foil of Dromoka, the Eternal from that one Clash Pack? I have like 3 or 4 copies of that for some reason. If I bought a couple more, then I could maybe try to make that a 3D alter. I'm not sure how you would divide that one, though, so it seems like she would look really cool but be hard to do.
Third and final, the oversize foil commanders are actually pretty cheap. I have an Edgar Markov EDH deck, so if I bought a bunch of the oversize foil versions I could make him happen. He seems like a nice middle ground, too.
So, all of you super duper professional guys, which would you recommend I do?