DIY Allips - thanks for the memories

I came across allips whilst watching a Taking 20 video, which recommended the creature amongst five which stand out as something particularly interesting to drop into the game.

To save you a bit of time, you can find the allip on page 116 of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.

Allips are the ghosts of discoverers of cursed knowledge, tormented beyond death by the just-out-reach revelation which cost them their lives. Perfect for a particular point in my campaign.

eBay, will you be my savior? Yikes. At those prices, even if the minis could be gotten to me on time for games night, which is a big ask given the current global health problem, I'm tempted to try my luck at the crafting table instead.

I raided my bits box and found these skeletal remains. These are from a sprue set I was disappointed with because the models were made with realism in mind, as opposed to heroic scale, where flimsy, hard-to-see components are bulked out and exaggerated. Skeletons are, by their nature, bone-thin, making these hard to remove from the sprue without breaking.

I won't be needing legs for the skellies because I'm going to have the lower half of the bodies fading into ethereal wisps.

I had surprisingly good results taking pictures on my smart phone through the lens of my illuminating magnifying glass. This drill bit is less than a millimetre thick.

Still posed on the tiny drill bit, I'll be mounting the head and rib-cage on a pin in a moment.

And here they are, pinned as promised and compared to a finished mini to make sure I'm on track scale-wise. That mini happening to be a homemade mind flayer, in a shameless plug for another, recent video.

Now with arms!

Because sheets of toilet paper are currently worth more than bank notes, I've limited myself to one for this project. To make the ethereal trails flowing from the lower body, I'm cutting thin strips. These scissors are from a hair-dressing clipper set and they sheer beautifully, not tearing even this tissue-thin paper.

I'm soaking the toilet paper strips in a 50/50 mix of PVA glue and water and, as carefully as I can, draping them over the minis' shoulders and arms. The loo roll is more cooperative than I thought it would be and generally goes where I intended it to.

Here's the models with the first few strips.

And once again once the last strips -  one more on each arm - have gone on. It's almost a shame to paint them - they look super creepy in this lighting.

But paint them I must! It was a very swift black bomb with spray primer, followed by a touch up with black, brush-on primer, this second mixed with a dollop of PVA to toughen the toilet paper up a little more.

The monochrome colour scheme of the allip in the illustration means this paint job is going to be a walk in the park.

These model interpretations doesn't have all the wispy tendrils of the illustration or even the official minis, but by the same token, they'll do for other of the creepier of the D&D ghosts, like shadows, spectres and wraiths. First, a super broad sweep of very dark grey.

Mid-tone greys. I'm not bothered that the highlights are making the exposed pin visually pop because I can go back with a bit of black paint, so that they fade into the background and don't draw the eye.

One last coat of un-darkened grey and I think that'll do nicely.

A swift and hopefully vaguely creepy diorama to show the two allips in a suitable setting. Here, they await a party of adventures upon whom they can foist their dreadful, half-remembered secrets.

My next job is to list this sought-after commodity on eBay, where I hope to make a pretty penny. Shall we start the bidding?

Hope you enjoyed this video and at least something in it was new and useful to you. Check out the Callathiforay series if you'd like to know more about the world into which I hope to drop the two allips.

Until next time, insert snappy sign-off here and don't forget to do everything you can to flatten that all important curve.

If you liked the tune playing during the crafting section of this video, check out my mate Graham May's channel for more amazingly creative music.