Magic: The Gathering - Sensei's Divining Top and custom Mana

[jamesmcintoshjr]

Hey RPF!

This is one of my first forays into prop building, so wanted to start on something small to sorta vet my planned workflow before trying to bite off something bigger. I have several years doing 3D modelling and wanted to apply that, combine it with 3D printing and then do my finishing work with traditional methods (as well as doing anything large with good old wood, clay, plastic and elbow grease since 3D printing is still kinda pricey)

I asked my brother what I should build, as I wanted someone to pick my first project for me, as if it's not for me I don't tend to rush, he's been playing MTG for like 20 years now (I used to play when he started but didn't stick with it) and he suggested making an actual Sensei's Divining top, that one could maybe store some dice in. For those unfamiliar-



I proceeded to model it in 3DS max, redrawing the runes in illustrator to cut into the geometry.



Adding detail to the bottom and top





Final model was then segmented for print,the main body hollowed out and a locking mechanism modelled into the lid so it can twist close/open. I had shapeways print it and I should be seeing it in the mail early next week for priming, distressing and then moulding and casting.

 

[jamesmcintoshjr]

Next up were the Mana symbols. Historically they're simple silhouettes but I wanted to do something a bit more involved. An artist on behance whose name escapes me produced some really cool CG house sigils for GOT, and that served as the inspiration for how I was to treat these.



To this



And this-



To this



The first one I already sent off to shapeways, and printed it about 6" wide and created a mold using mold-max 30 straight from the print, and cold cast it with aluminum powder, but because I didn't prime or sand the print the finish was typically a bit rough, so I primed it out with krylon primer and sanded it smooth with 2000 grit, gonna recast it again.




I also messed up the mould by not setting the print down on some clay, so rubber got underneath the sucker and I had to cut it out, chalk it up to lessons learned.

Have to finish black before I've got a full set modelled, and I might just do half of green as CG and the rest as clay.

 

[Rusty85]

Pretty cool! Curious to see how the top turns out!

 

[jamesmcintoshjr]

Got something in the mail today!

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This is my first time printing something with multiple parts thats supposed to fit together, and as such I may have not accounted for certain tolerances. (in short I gotta sand the lid's edge down a bit before it can even fit in the barrel.) but turned out pretty good. Gonna look much better after a couple coats of primer and sanding. I could've opted for the polished finish shape ways offers but I was concerned I'd lose detail on the lettering.

Sad part is that the locking mechanism, at real-world scale, really isn't gonna work, and a good bit of it is gonna get sanded away to get the lid to fit, but I think this will work as a pressure fit. The idea is that you can store some dice inside the top so I still want to be able to open and close it. might just rig up a strap from inside to keep the lid from getting lost.

The red mana print turned out great, that just needs some primer and sanding before casting, just gotta finish the skull and I can send the other 3 out to print for the full set.

 

[Rusty85]

I don't know about everyone else but when I click those links it says they're invalid.

 

[jamesmcintoshjr]

I don't know about everyone else but when I click those links it says they're invalid.

yeah, strange, the attachments are dead and this post is sorta useless without pictures.




So brief update on this, the top has since been primed and sanded smooth.



I've dumped it in some rubber this weekend, or more specifically, made a 2 part mold to cast the barrel portion of The Top. Having a little trouble with bubbles though, and the smooth-cast 325 I'm using right now cures so fast I don't have a lot of time to pour it and give it a swirl to get rid of the air. I've tried venting the mold but I think I've basically ruined it. I also think now the walls are a bit too thin for casting, so I might revisit the master, build up the inner wall and create a new mold.
I'll post pics of my failures when I get a chance to snap some pics.

Anyone have any tips for molding/casting shapes like this? the barrel portion is basically a small cup without a handle

 

[jamesmcintoshjr]

So after a lot of experimentation with molding and casting the cup portion of the top, I finally figured out the best way to do it was to do a 2 part mold without any hole for pouring resin. (I'd done one with a spout hole, whatever it's called, and I kept getting bubbles I couldn't get out during casting, so I had to junk that first mold) Instead, I'd measure as close as possible to what I need to do one piece, dump it in big half of the mold, put the cap on it, mush it down and put a weight on top, letting excess resin seep out of the seam.



Which actually worked out well, no bubbles, and no pour spout to remove later.

The lid and base were done in a simple (sorta) one-piece mold.



After a bit of buffing with 000 steel wool, and a bit of weathering with acrylic and a quick stand made on my rep2, the end result was this-



Which wound up sorta being the wrong colour after all that! I went with brass for the cold casting, when in reality I should've stuck to a bronze or copper. I also need to do some more cleanup on the lid and base, (these are not even glued at this point, just assembled and held together by gravity and the stand) put in some magnets to allow the lid to stay closed.

thanks for reading!

 

[Mike J.]

The top looks great!

 

[jamesmcintoshjr]

thank you very much! Was a hell of a learning experience.

 

[Rusty85]

Turned out nice! Be curious to see what people could do with different paint schemes for this.