"The Adventurer's Supply Shop" diorama scene

Hi Everyone! The timber frames I used in the Fire in the Hole piece inspired me to do a more Tudor style setting, and I decided to make it a companion piece to the Dungeon Master’s Hoard by making it a little supply shop that has, well, a little bit of anything that an adventurer might need.

There’s basic supplies (meats, salt, potatoes, grains, rope, bread, blankets, bedrolls), and there’s also some common profession-type items (blacksmithing hammer and iron ingots, book/quill/ink for the scribes, a big ball of yarn/thread for the tailor-types, sheets of parchment for the cartographers). But, I also tried to include at least one piece to represent many of the more common class-types in various RPGs. There’s: a shield and axe for the barbarian/warrior types, a bow and arrow for the hunter types, scrolls, medallion and spell book for the caster types, a cask of ale for the drunken brawler, a slingshot with slugs, dagger, and lockpicks for the rouges and other mischievous half-ling types, a spirit drum for the shaman type, a lute for the bards, and stakes/holy water/cross/silver-tipped cattail whip for the vampire/werewolf hunter types.



I used the GF to engrave/cut the timber frames, chain, cross charm, and display shelves from medium PG draftboard, and cut the three glass bottles out of Thick Clear Acrylic. The rest is all my standard hodgepodge of 1/16" chipboard, cardstock, hot glue (the meats, axe, dagger, bread, and slingshot are some of what I think are the more impressive hot glue sculpts), toothpicks, wire, embroidery thread, used some felt and suede lacing in this one, too. Overall dims 6" x 4" x 3.75".

Thank you everyone for stopping and taking a look, and until next creation, Happy Forging!

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This entire piece is fantastic, but… hot glue?! Whoa. Never would have guessed that.

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Wonderful! I’ll take the cask of ale and the spellbook please, can I swap them for some sorrel I have in my backpack?

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It’s crazy what you can figure out how to do with hot glue. The body of the lute I made by pressing a marble half way in to playdoh and filling it with hot glue to get a good hemisphere, then used a razor blade to carve out a notch for the neck. For the axe, I made the general shape of the axe, used a piece of chip board on top of parchment to flatten the blade at an angle some, then used a razor blade to carve it out more smoothly. Same process for the dagger. The sack of grains is, honestly, a dried out baby wipe dusted with brown ink, but then made in to an little bag, layer filled with hot glue and small rocks to give it the shape, then the top grain part a puddle of glue, textured with a toothpick (just like the salt) but then painted yellow and dusted with brown ink. Same process to make the potatoes, but the potatoes on top are hot blue ‘beans’ painted brown and then hand-glued on top.

Acrylic paint tends to go on streaky and light can shine through, depending on position and light source, a few coats might be needed to cover opaquely. Sharpies on hot glue tend to remain translucent, but will get darker with more coats, can rub off too if handled too much. Play around, it’s fun, start with a few blobs, hardened, experiment with coloring and cutting with an razor. When you’re brave enough to endure a few burns, you eventually realize that for a very brief moment, it’s like hot, sticky (but moldable) playdoh. And get yourself a package of hamburger parchment sheets, they are great for small projects and the hot glue just pops right off when it’s dry! I even used it sometimes to get specific shapes by putting things under it or propping it up at certain angles.

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And, side note story, kind of related, sometimes I stumble upon things while I’m experimenting. I hadn’t planned on making the spirit drum, but I needed something for that spot and I had a toothpick and got a blob on the end and I was rotating it and turning it and using gravity to try and smooth it around, thought maybe I was maybe the knob on the end of a wand or something.

When it dried, I noticed it had this perfect ridge around it and I went, “that looks like the leather-wrapped head of a drum mallet.” And then I was stuck trying to figure out how to make a drum to go with it, but it was a happy accident that worked out great!

Follow your muse, no matter the crazy places they take you.

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Cute, cute, cute! The detail is a real feast for the eyes.

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Your pieces are always so much fun! I really like that chain and the glass bottles. Your designs always make me smile! :grinning:

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this is so cool

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When do you sleep?! By any chance do you have pics of all (or most) of your creations together?

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boy that brings back my Dungeon Mastering Days.

I have all of the original printings of the TSR books. :slight_smile:

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Love all the details you squeezed in!

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Oh my gosh this is so cute! I would love to make a sewing room one… which I had the time!

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