Hi guys,
This is gonna be a very long post as I have much to say but its a fun read if your a diary nut.
First let me say, as a staff member of Indygear that is highly knowledgeable of the grail diary I am here to inspire others and this post hopefully will get your tools togehter and start on your diary adventure. :whip:
Okay, so lets get to it! I know I say this alot about having created THE prop but now.. this time,...its different. Trust me... stay tuned and I will show you. Ive gone lenghts Ive never gone before and Im so excited to share this with ya'll. 30 years of doing this has led to this moment and now I have THE hero prop replica and I will show you why I am so excited. This diary will aslo be a part of the Indygear prop write up.
Last year you probably saw me showcasing my ''1:1 hero diary'' and In fact, that diary was only the spark of what was to come. I came to the point where I had to up my game and raise the bar for myself as I have everything I need to make it identical and true to the original. Its just very very very time consuming. Like this diary is almost 3 months in the making and it has some fun remastered upgrades so please read thru this to find out.
Aside from 100% illustrations this remastered diary inlcudes all staining and tiny stain specs replicated accuratley on all pages thruout the diary. All stain layering from light, to medium, to heavy, to the stripy weathering. All the different shades of brown. All illustration fades and chipped off text are now replicated on the exact same spots and all in the same order. All page folds from the huge Wilderness fold down to the top left corner rimple on the prestor John. Its very very tedious work but needless to say, Im driven by it. Does it take time off my hands? the short answer is YES! But its like art to me and I treat every spread like a blank piece of canvas. I've always been into drawing and painting and buliding stuff on a detailed scale, so it goes hand in hand.
And like always, I make the hero prop as it is today all broken and beat up. Not like it was during filming. My passion is the museum piece it has become. The moldy old book. In fact I see it like this, there are two hero prop diaries, one it its filming prime and one in its battle used armor. The latter is my passion! My next project will probably be a filming prime diary.
- Refurbished the text and illustrations.
- Refurbished the dollar with accurately worn of spots.
- Grey letter has the see thru letter shading and printed on accurate grey laid paper.
- Made certain pages even more faded. (Some hero pages are super faded)
- All ''Mandela christs'' are unique with accurate broken ink fades now.
- All Melchizadek windows are unique with accurate broken ink spots and text.
- The ''Grail is flooded'' pages are now even finer like it is in the hero.
- The ''Stone wessel'' pages come now with accurate ink fades.
- New mehtod of doing the tape and glue residue on pages. ( More on that below )
- New staining method together with my standard potassium potion.
- New mystery map and its scaled to correct size, my earlier was on the larger side which is not correct.
- Camel pack is a direct copy of the real prop.
- French franc is a direct copy of the real prop and then accuratley handcolored in.
- New color on the spray paint page.
- New updated screen accurate blue Arabi map
- New more accurate marble endpaper.
- New updated accurate stamp.
Now, will there be any differences between the real prop and mine? The short answer is yes! I am gonna do a few personal tweaks and make stuff alittle more correct as the real deal is just sloppy work on certian areas. Like how some pages were glued in, thye just threw them in cutting of text, yeah I like my text to show. Also the original had most of the inserts fall out or come loose over the years, the dollar, envelopes and maps in particular. I like my diary to have all the inserts in place, its just half the fun with these books. So Im gonna re attach the Eastern envelope as I alwyas loved its torn ratty edges sticking out from the book, the arabic letter goes back into the book and Im reinserting the missing Pinkerton insert the original diary has. Inserts and diary just go hand in hand, its a no brainer to me.
The cover. This is a ''corrected'' cover. The front is a 95% spot on fornt cover but the back is given a corrected border as the ''gold'' border is just a sloppy mistake. It actually should be dark and weatehered like all the other diaries. Pluss I left out the huge knife cuts in the back as it just feels horrible in the hand. The back of the book is contstantly handled and I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love how the new corrected border looks on the cover. Flows and mixes in pretty nice with everything else imo. Very nice, very ''vintage''.
The stamp. I have updated the stamp design to a smaller one as I always knew mine was slightly larger but it was acceptable. However, that changed back in march when I refurbished the stamp design. Problem with mine was not the size as much as it was too uniform looking when stamped. I have a photos of a original cover that shows the border pretty good but each motif in the row looks quirky and unique and that was EXACTLY what I wanted with my stamp. The quirkyness of the real stamp and the illusion of not knowing or seeing what it really is. THATS the magic. I love how my new came out as it totally gives the vibe of the real one even more than my other which already was very accurate.
The aging. I've been upgrading my staining method and I know the propmasters did not only use potassium to distress the diary and once the diaries arrived on set they were given another spin by the crew and this part always intrigued me. Now, what they did on set I do not know, I can only speculate. But if you can flip thru some of the original photos of the prop you can see it has alot of different nuances of staining colors, its just not brown thruout the entire book. It has different shades of brown, orange and rust and its all layered. The rust was always more difficult to get, Potassium is good but its not quite IT either if you ask me. I have been experimenting and found out I can create something close to the oirignal rusty look, The first spreads, the ''Quest'' and the ''Lancelot'' pages in particular. You can also see this rusty spattering on the God of Love spread and on the Blue Arabi map aswell. I'm sure my new method is not even close to what the propmasters did but Im pretty happy with how it came out.
Now, the most challencing spread to do you might think is the famous spotty, rusty ''Quest'' spread but its actually not. Well, yes it is diffcult but I find the ''Tabora'' spread the most difficult to replicate. The layering on it is insane, same with the ''Knight rubbing'' spread, pretty darn difficult aswell. Those spreads are one time wonders and if I mess them up then the diary wont be accruate from the getgo. However, I can say that my Tabora spread is about 95% accurate the real one down to the tiniest spec. Its actualy one of my favorite spreads in the original. Kinda looks like the diary fell face down in the muddy rivers of the Wilderness of wanderings. lol However, my other favorite spread is the rusty ''In the quest'' spread. That spread is known worldwide for its crazy spotty distressing and is immediatly thought about when you think about the grail diary. I would say its 95% accurate to the real one down to the spot and stripes. Man, this took some effort to say the least. The other spread that comes to mind is the faded Melchizadek spread, also pretty difficult.
The tape. One of my favorite parts of the diary is the glue residue and tape left over bits. I just love it and it is a huge part of what makes the hero prop a museum piece today. And here is the fun part, my tape and glue residue are the actual ones from the hero prop digitally refixed into my diary, This digital method I have to credit to a COW member named Aricell, he was the first to do it like ten years ago and it works great. He actually sent me his hero diary for ''approvel'' and he did a fantastisc job with it I must say. I really enjoyed how Aricell did his tape parts so I gave it a go myself. This is also counts for the blue stains on the dollar spread, also digital. Now I've not done all coloring digitally as it just takes away the realism of it all. Anyway, this took alot of effort to make it look believable, some hate the tape and some love it. I LOVE it and I know Magnoli will get a kick outa this detail too!
The illustrations. My illustrations are direct first hand scans of a real grail diary so these scans are super detailed and highly customized to the hero prop. All these extra custom tweaks are super improtant to get that unique look of the hero prop. The hero prop signatures are randomly put together with crisp black ones mixed in with more grey pages. All this combined are the nuances and the magic of the diary. It makes it all seem so realistically old and individually weathered over time. However the standard scans that are floating around are way good enough to use in your diary so do enjoy those.
The binding. This is bound in the same way the real diaries are. I know this for a fact as I have a few photos of a diary in its binding state so my replicas are made the same way. My replica hero prop is made to look old but its reinforeced so it wont fall apart. The real hero binding is fragile and stands on its last legs today... I dont want that.
Challenges. Lets just say there were many, like alot! Nuff said. lol
In finishing, the one thing I see lacking on all diary replicas is the bookblock edge marbling including my earlier replicas. You see it when the book is closed and you can actually see a hint of it on screen in the Venice scene. Its pretty worn off. I have a couple photos of another original diary and it shows the pattern slightly better. I tried to make it as close to the real deal as possible. Small detail but a very crucial detail if your going for a diary replica at this level.
Other stuff worth mentioning. Another thing I rarely replicate but I found out to be important to get ''the'' look is actually the inside covers aging, not end papers but the inside leather edges, those are really worn down. I never really did it 100% in the past but gave it a go this time'round. And the endpapers is upgraded with the a super accurate pencil number 1 and purple red paint stains and worn of spots both fornt and back papers. Also small details like the bloody Ford fingerprint, 90% accurate torn of edges on the Eastern Envelope and the grey letter, 100% accurate glue stains and tape, accurate spine weathering, accurate inserts weathering and placement.
Final words, I have been getting so many questions about doing a run of these but I really dont know what the future holds. It would be very limited run of that ever happens. So there is a chance, in any case, I marked this as number 1 which I have never done before on a hero diary, so I am playing with the thought of doing a run. We will see.
Hopefully you made it thru and I also hope you see why I had to upgrade my earlier hero prop. This new one just has that extra sprinkle of magic to it in my humble opinion and kinda gives me the vibe of just picking up the real hero prop and flip thru it which was always my dream to do. So without further ado, now I really present my hero prop replica - ** The Master Grail diary**
Enjoy friends :TOH:
Holt
Some closer shots of detail in no particular order
The famous multilayered Tabora spread I mentioned. (yes this was difficult)
Covers
Replicated some famous dispaly shots. If you know these then you know :whip:
:H: Thank you for all the support and passion you guys give me and always make me want to better. I love seeing all of your work! :H:
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