Or, why I Picked the Peculiar and Frankly Sinister-Looking Medieval Beekeeper as the First Purely PHM Release!
One of the joys of sculpting for me is creating small, self-contained sets of miniatures that tell a story. They tend to be groups of soldiers at rest, doing a particular job, or groups of civilians. So, for my first exclusively Paul Hicks Miniatures release, I wanted to pick a set that would work with Baron’s War but would also appeal to other gamers.
A while back, I was researching medieval civilians and their occupations when one image really leapt out at me. It was the image of the humble beekeeper. A mixture of monk-habit-style clothing and a mask that looked much more useful for Kendo practice!
Now, PHM is very much my side quest. This means that when I sculpt a set of figures, I get paid for them once the figures have been moulded, cast and put up on the website. Hence why I chose a small, compact set to start with.
So, when is the best time to sculpt for free? When you’re not working. On a family holiday!
On a wet Saturday during our family holiday, with 29 family members in tow, I unpacked the tools, Green Stuff, Magic Sculpt and pre-made ‘dollies’. With coffee ready, I made a start on the first truly exclusive Paul Hicks Miniatures release.
I think most of you are aware that Green Stuff is no longer being produced. The Green Stuff I do have, I mix with another putty, Magic Sculpt. Another bonus of mixing the two putties, apart from making the Green Stuff go further, is that the mixture is actually finer and dries a lot harder. This allows it to be sanded and cut more cleanly.
The first task was to fill the gaps between the legs. This would give me a firm base to push against when making the lower part of the beekeeper’s outfit.
Figures like this are quite satisfying to sculpt. You can sculpt quite a lot of the figure in one session. This was particularly handy as I didn’t have my ‘oven’ to speed up the curing time. So, I forged ahead and had a go at sculpting the full outfit on one of the miniatures.
I was even able to add the belt and the items hanging from it. After finishing a couple of the main bodies, I turned my attention to their wicker protective headgear.
As you can see from the picture above, I’ve added Green Stuff to form a shape representing the mass of the head. I then added discs of putty to provide a firm base on which to sculpt the wicker texture.
Once the discs had cured, I could sculpt the wicker face masks. I did this by inserting the end of my sculpting tool in rows, working towards the centre. The centre was marked with the point of a needle. I then edged the rows with the same needle point, which adds a woven effect to the texture.
You can see the rows I create to for the impression of wicker. This will become one of the two hives I’m sculpting for the set. One which will be carried by a keeper and the other for a scenery piece.
This lump of Green Stuff will become a hive for the bees to live in. And here’s the finished item!
After all the bodies and headgear were finished, it was on to finalising the poses. I wanted one figure holding a smoker to calm the bees, another lifting a hive, and the last one holding a knife. Obviously, for some small jobs around a medieval garden!
Given the nature of the whole faceless, sinister look, I thought about giving the knife-holding beekeeper a really sinister pose. I use aluminium wire to form the arm poses.
I then use putty to flesh out the muscles of the arms. Once that’s cured, it’s time to add the sleeves.
Sleeves added, along with putty to form the knife blade.
At this point, the figures look pretty much done. There are just a few finishing touches to add and any voids to backfill, for example, under the arms or in creases. These can trap parts of the mould and cause that part of the mould to tear when casting the figures.
With all those extra details and tidying-up done, my first set of Paul Hicks Miniatures is finished!
As I type, they are waiting to be cast by Footsore Miniatures. They handle all the moulding, casting and dispatching of my orders.
It won’t be long before these beekeepers will be either tending their hives or terrifying your tabletops.
Thanks for reading!
Paul.
