MMP vigette project

Good folk of the Pony, this project appears to be in danger of becoming bogged down which would be a great shame as it is a great idea and tribute piece to not only The Man, but to all members of the forum participating.

There are too many posts spread over the three threads with about 180 replies, responses etc. for me to read through them all [again] so I will throw in some thoughts as if I were new to the idea.

The question of recasting/not recasting:

I think that this has to be addressed as the main concern, once a definitive answer from Chris Tubb is received then the next question can be addressed – a single ‘gift/presentation’ or a souvenir for all.

I think that from looking at some of the posts that mention Chris Tubb’s thoughts on the matter he is against recasting in any way, shape or form.

If Chris Tubb says a definite NO then the option to make a single ‘gift’ is likely to be the only option as I can’t imagine a project like this not eventually becoming known to him, and personally I think the loss of Chris’ goodwill and trust towards us far outweighs any benefit of the project if converted figures were to be cast without his permission.

If however he is fine with the idea of making limited castings for the project* then we need to go firm on the practicalities of production. If we are given Chris Tubb’s blessing for making limited copies of the converted figures Holger’s input here is very important as he has the knowledge and experience of casting etc. It is one thing to make an elaborate conversion, quite another to make a viable mould and casting I am sure.

*Perhaps some form of understanding could be reached, i.e. moulds would be destroyed etc.

We seem to have two trains of thought (Chris Tubb’s blessing aside):
• Single presentation piece for Chris Tubb (possible also Gildor).
• Multi production so that every participant gets one.

I would suggest as a possible alternative for the project,

• A single presentation of the complete Pony diorama to be made and presented to Chris Tubb (and Gildor) as an appreciation from all of us with a copy of each converted figure made for all participants who can then do as they wish with the figures – display as part of a scene, or paint as individual figures.

This takes into account some members understandably not being comfortable with the converting side of things, and my agreement with Holger and Master Turambar that to even attempt to recreate a tavern for each of us will doom the project.

For those who don’t convert I’m sure that someone could do it on their behalf and send the converted figure for casting.

If this idea were to be taken up then perhaps another suggestion would be to have one person make the diorama setting (Christoph :rolleyes:? – the architectural planning drawings in themselves would be worth putting in a picture frame), others by all means contribute the furniture, but have the final assembly (i.e. figures added) done in the UK. This would hopefully minimise the chance for damage in the good old postal system . I’m not sure if Barli lives anywhere to where Chris Tubb lives (I am in London), but I’m sure some form of safe delivery method could be arranged.

(in light of posts made since I started writing this post this morning perhaps a slight ‘tweak’ may be in order as, and I agree, some would like to see Gildor receive a copy).

Apologies if some of the points have been covered in depth previously – it can get repetative too-ing and fro-ing between posts, I am just trying to state it clearly in my own mind .

I had an idea today… a project, a bit similar to the Travelling Elrond project… involving all the MMP community

it would require the skills of all of us who are good or even expert in these matters :
-casting/sculpting/converting (eg:holger)
-diorama building (eg: ddaines, Turambar, Thingol, Milo,etc…)
-painting (eg. Cameosis, Wendy, Turambar, etc )
-background / environnemental scenery and picture taking (eg. Thingol, Turambar…)

to make a slighly big vignette…

“the Many Mithril Page Community (MMP) at the Prancing Poney”

a representation of ourselves, based on our characters on this forum, which, for many of them, exist in the mithril range “as is” (like myself or Barliman) or approximative (Ent, ranger in a corner, hobbits, archer of Dale, mistress of Golden Hall, orcs) but converted (if need be)so they are fitting as a scene around a taproom…

this, would be a benevolent project using, as most as possible, non-rare figurines matching yourself, converted by expert casters, put into scene in a Taproom diorama by expert diorama makers, painted by good painted, and the diorama itself put into a “natural environment”… this is a BIG and LONG project involving SKILLS from many of us, and most certainly “shipments” all around the world between all of the contributors bt this would be an artifact, a concrete item of our whole community, as a souvenir object…

the idea in itself has some interest I think… I think that in the end, we should, if all agree… OFFER the final work (after having taken a LOT of pictures) to Chris Tubb, as a gift in return for all that HE does for ourselves…

what do you think about it?