The Living Lakes: Dwarves and Birch Tar

The first of the spring rains had come in tough as pig shank. A tower of thunderstorms loomed over Otto’s neck of the woods for damn near a month, washing away the last remnants of winter and testing the strength of the tree limbs that held his home. Finally, the wind and wetness drifted west, and birdsong returned.

Sadly, birds weren’t the only ones shaking out their wings. Otto had barely begun to flirt with the notion of spring before the mosquitos came and mucked it all up. Clouds of the bastards threaded through the tree trunks like ghosts. Bobo told him that a regular at the bar once passed out on the forest floor for the night. The next morning, a neighbor found him sucked to the flaky bone, like a dried fish.

So began the springtime ritual of birch pitching. Otto, Ray, and Bobo gathered the least-damp birch bark they could find, tossed it into the cast iron, and cooked it down until it became black tar. Their coarse, dwarvish fur gave the mosquitos a puzzle to solve before they could break skin, but once they slathered on a layer of birch pitch, they might as well have been wearing suits of sticky armor.

The black aroma wafted up Otto’s great nose and curled the hairs within. He sucked his teeth and counted the months till fall.

Howdy!

I hope you enjoyed that little introduction to the dwarves of the Living Lakes. These models were my first attempt at materializing the setting in miniature form, so the clothing and figures were real leaps of faith and guesswork. I’ll do a deeper, in-universe dive in a later post, but these models represent the core basics of what dwarves in my setting feel like: colorful, ape-like woodsmen.

I found that most 3D printable ape models were waaaay too overdesigned and battle focused. I'm still searching for the perfect base model, but I used the North Star chimpanzees here due to their simplicity. 

I had to carve away their snouts, add the characteristically huge noses and mustaches (no beards!), and sculpt clothing that would work for a quadrupedal species. 

First attempt: they looked cursed without eyebrows, and I made the pants way too big/diaper-like

Eventually, enough practice made "good enough," and a recognizable face took shape. For the clothing, I wanted to include an Upper Peninsula staple: the Stormy Kromer hat. 

This one's pants are still a bit too long for my taste, but oh well. 

For the blankets, I dried out smaller squares of wipes, then applied them to the model with a brush of mod podge. Blankets seem like an easy piece of attire for a species that walks on all fours, removing the need for a cumbersome chest or arm piece. 

Next, I had to add some accessories. Dwarves are a fiercely independent people who style themselves to the nines, so I crafted red copper jewelry from greenstuff and added a bit of feather flair. All birds are divinely magical in this world, which makes the discarded feathers found on the forest floor powerful statement pieces.

Finally, it was time to paint. Color is a major staple for the dwarves, regardless of town or culture. That instinct also aligns neatly with my own personal taste, where primary colors reign supreme.

For the backdrop, I followed Garden of Hecate's excellent guide. I created a base using two pieces of XPS foam, glued actual branches in place of the tree trunks, then used epoxy putty to create a web of branches and roots. I used a base of brown spray paint, drybrushed the trees grey to white, added foliage, then oil washed the hell out of it. Overall I'm happy with how it turned out, but I'd definitely recommend keeping the bottom board longer and the back board short (the opposite of what I did). With the size of my minis, there's really no way to get a good photo of both the miniature and the canopy, since they're too high up. 

Lastly, the pick up truck. 

One of the wrinkles of the Living Lakes is the unnatural intrusion of modern-ish mechanics. The woods are a strange place, and brave travelers may stumble upon rusted-out machinery hidden among the mossy overgrowth. No one knows where these devices come from, but shrewd Alchanics (Alchemists + Mechanics) have learned how to repair and repurpose these foreign objects. Most are put to utilitarian use, powering mills or rudimentary factories, but the right machine in the wrong hands could turn a simple bandit into a powerful despot.

That's it for now! Hope you enjoyed the first dip into the Lake. If there is anything in particular you'd like to see, email me at schlubcinema@gmail.com 

xoxo, Gray