Cthulhu Idol and Museum box

hushukyo

New Member
Hey everybody!

Ive been a lurker for a couple of years now and finally got the nerve to post something. So, I thought i would share my Cthulhu Idol build hat I've been working on. Its really easy to get inspired by all the amazing work on these forums, but utterly intimidating to think to share your own stuff. But I figured why not put it out there and see what happens.

Ive been a huge fan of Lovecraft and his work even before i knew i was a fan of his. It's remarkable how much his work is prevalent in our culture with out most of the populace realizing it. I've read and listened to The Call of Cthulhu a whole lot, it's one of my favorite stories as cliche' as that may be to say. I loved that Lovecraft even encouraged others to build upon his works and to create their own visions of it. Here's mine, I hope you enjoy it!

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I was really inspired by Nick Daring's build so i have to say a big thank you to him for showing his Cthulhu build which is amazing! i loved the research he did and the style he went with. I sketched up some of my own designs really trying to explore outside my own comfort zone of work and really have fun with it. i looked at a lot of different references such as animals and insects looking for little bits of details i could incorporate into my own work and then i looked into really sculpture work to see where i could add authentic elements.

As I worked the idea started to evolve and grow into something else though. I decided i could have a little more fun with it than just building my own idol. Soon it took on a life of its own as projects are sometimes akin to doing and now the overall project is a narrative tale. in The Call of Cthulhu were are introduced to a variety of idols and the stories associated with each of them. I wanted to tell my own story about my own idol. Each idol would come in a box form a different are around the worl and the box would be reflective of that area and would have a different story behind it. A story brought to you by a manly adventure man named Gideon

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I designed and built each of the boxes to represent a different part of the narrative. This wooden box is for the devout Cthulhu cultists.

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a Box from the deep and dank archives of the Miskatonic University Museum.

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and one from the most shadowed tunnels in Shanghai. It was a great deal of fun creating the idol and then the story and then allowing the story to influence which box to build and then goign back in and tweaking the stories around to create a very organic and different type of story building experience. Well, I suppose that's enough babbling. Thanks for looking!
 
Haha, you are correct! I tried bending myself but it was a way out of my skill range. I do want to try it at some point though.

Thanks for the kind words, I'm going to post some pics of the build later tonight if you fancy taking a gander later.
 
Ok that is brilliant and given the range of awesome and ornate cove/crown moldings and how cheap a mitre box is, the options are vast.
 
Awesome work Ken! I spotted your plug on Propnomicon's site. I'm a backer! I'd love to see any of the build process with the prototype or the lot of them as the project unfolds.
 
Thank you sir! and thanks for the support! Propnomicon is awesome, super cool guy too!

My original sketch for this idol
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the cultist box was really supposed to be the only box. This is an example of the story dictating the fabrication process.
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I wanted to create a box with odd angles or something that felt different from a normal box, as non-euclidean as possible as in the Cthulhu stories. I looked into bending wood but lacked the skill set to attempt it. I'm not sure it would have even worked in Florida with all the humidity. So i started trying to think of different avenues to explore to give me a concave shaped box. It was happenstance that my wife and i went to a molding store to look for some things for our house when i saw exactly what i was looking for!

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It was the most difficult of the boxes to make, and easily took the longest. But I learned a lot and it really helped me figure out a workflow to streamline the production of the boxes if i get many pledges for them. Ill post my museum box build next in a day or so.

So i built out the box with a nail gun and gorilla glue, which by the way is amazing stuff. i think the wood would break before that glued corner will. I really had no idea what i was doing but Being a 3d artist i was able to do a lot of planning in the computer and see how things cold fit together. then there was soooo much sanding. i thoght ahh ill just put all the peices together and it will be great, oh foolish mortal my hubris! then after i got it together it didn't feel right.

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So i added a lip to the lid to give it a little more depth. Then started testing out various stain techniques. I wanted a deep blod red box but i couldn't find a blood red wood stain or varnish that really fit what i needed. so i ended up using RIT fabric dye. it worked fantasticly. but was missing something.

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and in the end it was a combination of dyeing the wood for a base shade and then i found a wood stain and varnish combe that worked great. you can see it in the pic.

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I really wanted to do more of the brass fabrication but all the cold cast brass tests i did never got the results i wanted. I'm actually think about trying to build a mini forge to do some smelting but that's a long term goal in the mean time i was able to find some nice brass corners and feet that fit the color tones of the box really well.

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I got some furniture foam from Joanne fabrics and cut out a Cthulhu shape rest hole with some nice crushed black velvet to help the brass idol pop and put some in the top to really give it a fine quality feel, then added some light sanding on the edges for a gentle weathering and some sweet hinge corners and it was done, if anything can ever be done.

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Now I'm imagining that box in a little antique store (sort of like the one at the start of Gremlins)... someone comes in and is drawn to it... thus the new TV series based on HP Lovecraft's works could begin (hey I can dream can't I).
Absolutely brilliant work, really really really love that box and the velvet is a lovely touch. The idol just looks perfect with it... It reminds me of the Tested Video with Adam Savage when he talks about his props telling a story... I believe you have done that perfectly here... Bravo!
 
It was the most difficult of the boxes to make, and easily took the longest. But I learned a lot and it really helped me figure out a workflow to streamline the production of the boxes if i get many pledges for them. Ill post my museum box build next in a day or so.

Did you use a mitre box?
 
Hey Guys I thought i would share the museum box build tonight.

First I want to say Chaank thank you, that's a great welcome! it's awesome to know someone likes your creations, esp with how much talent is in these forums.

blennus that's a pretty awesome compliment as well. i love watching tested and i actually watched the box weathering video before I started delving into my own experiment techniques. SO thank you! A lovecraft show would be the bee's knees, especially if they used my box!

Stefan Jones thank you sir!

TheShinyOne those friging hinges man were the hardest part i think. I ended up doing three tests on scrap wood to try and get it right. I thought I would just plop them onto the box, oh foolish foolish me.

My museum box was an after thought. something that came up from a conversation with my sister who is an archeologist. which is great for me because i can show her stuff and she will tell me if it looks like crap or not! I started by looking around the net for museum archive boxes but nothing i found fit the look i was going for so i went with an old shipping crate feel. At least it would be fun, and again my overriding factor on everything on this project was it was something I wanted but couldn't find myself.

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The box itself was fairly simple to construct, especially after that cultist box. again i used gorilla glue. I'll use that glue for everything now, its bloody amazing. It's constructed from Basewood that i picked up from Michael's, but I've gotten a lot of orders for the museum box that ill need to pick it up from a wholesale place to keep it cost effective.

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I meant to take pictures during the box building but forgot, i was designing the university logo and museum labels at the same time. Here's all the different variations

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I actually had to relearn cursive writing to fill out all the labels.

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then there were various aging tests with teas and coffees...
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Michaels actually had some really cheap wooden boxes for me to weather test on, which was great to try and get a technique down.
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in the end i used apple vinegar with a steelwool brush disolved in it over a 24 hour period. i had a spray mister and a brush and applied it to get the aging right for the wood and paper. i bought some charcols and ground them up, various colors in reds and whites and blacks for dust and such but the biggest thing i discovered by accident was the black mold!

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it was an amazing moment of serendipity, I was testing out instant coffee to see what would happen if i drizzled it onto the wet box and it mixed with the vinegar wash and blackened up into a thick goo mold type thing. it blew my mind! needless to say i went a little overboard with it on some of the paper tests and had to tone it down for the practice application.

and that was that. grabbed some straw for packing the idol in the box, gave it the same steel wool vinegar wash and bam it was done and now its my favorite box!

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I love the look vinegar and steel wool dissolved gives woods. I just have to air out my projects I use it on,hehe. The black mold looks awesome, it's like the contents of the box are corrupting anything that's near it.
 
Yea it was such an awesome accident! I know what you mean about that smell. i think i can still smell it.

Sorry Koipond i meant to say that we actually have a miter saw from when we did our own molding for the house so that was really convenient. of course i went through a ton of wood trying to find the proper angle
 
I'm glad I could help inspire such an awesome project!

I really love your angled/curved box. Great non-euclidean design.

How tall is your statue? There nothing in the photos for size reference.
 
Thanks Nick, that's reAly wonderful to hear from the guy who inspired you! My idol is 6" tall. The cultist box is about 12" x 8" x 4.5" I'm still drooling over you idol and museum base! Is there an ETA on when it will be available?


Thank you very much Rob! Love your sig by the way!
 
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