Here are a couple of pictures of some scalp poles I did for my Native American project. They were heavily inspired by an article and pics on the Conquest Miniatures website, here:
http://www.conquestminiatures.com/longhousearticle.htm
Scratch-built scalp poles made with bamboo skewers, craft sticks and ordinary and hemp thread
I actually did six of them, but took pics of only four. They were fairly easy to do. Here was the basic process (as outlined on my website, Lead Legionaries:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mikedemanagames/I decided to make the upright pole out of a bamboo skewer -- which I figured would be sturdy enough but still have a decent wood grain that would be picked out by dry brushing. The crossbar I made out of soft "craft sticks" that I'd bought at a hobby shop long ago. I used an X-acto knife to carve the crossbar up and make it look irregular. Then I cut a small divot out of both the crossbar and the skewer, using epoxy to affix them to each other at the divots. The divot gives it more grip and makes the join at a wider area than would be otherwise with two round objects touching each other. After the expoxy dried, I took ordinary black thread and wrapped it around the join to look like leather bindings.
Next, I took #20 Black hemp jewelry cord and cut small pieces off. I used epoxy to attach one end to the crossbar. After the epoxy was dry, I took the ordinary black thread again and wrapped it around either side of where the cord was attached to the crossbar to look like bindings affixing the scalp to the crossbar. Next, I put a dab of Tacky Glue on the threads wrapped around the crossbar and smoothed it out over the thread. After it dried, I used an X-acto knife to snip any loose thread ends off. Then I took a dull X-acto blade and "teased" out the thread, spreading the hemp fabric out into individual threads so that it looked like hair blowing in the breeze. You lose some of the threads to the teasing process, but it looks very effective. I trimmed it up with scissors, too, to remove the "wild hairs."
To mount the pole, I found a thin, plastic cylindrical bead that fit over the bamboo skewer snugly. I used that at the base and epoxied the skewer and bead to a metal base. After it dried, I used Liquitex modeling paste to build up the base with a conical mound covering the bead, so only the pole jutted out of the "ground." After the Liquitex dried, it was time to paint. I black primed the entire thing -- bamboo skewer, craft stick crossbar and thread bindings (but not the hemp hair). Afterwards, I dry brushed a leather color over the bindings.
Then, I used my classic three color wood dry brush scheme on the skewer and crossbar: Medium Brown, Khaki, Light Gray. I finished it off with my usual black wash and flocked it. I am very happy with how these turned out. I made six to start of with. My only regret is that I did not try more of the double tier poles -- it is my favorite. Oh, I almost forgot: I experimented and dry brushed a few of the scalps a dirty blond or auburn color. I think it looks good. The hemp fabric takes paint okay, and the light coats of spray dullcoate should keep the paint affixed.
Mike
14 September 2007, 06:23:05 PM
