Making A Bookend For My New Edition of The Hobbit
Choosing A Hobbit's Companion
Having just received my new copy of J.R.R Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ - after my old very well read version fell to bits - I decided I’d like to make a feature of the shelf where this book is going to live. So I went looking around the Internet to see what Tolkien themed ornaments that I might get and unsurprisingly there is no shortage of Hobbit of LotR nicknacks which would look great next to my lovely illustrated Hobbit book...
Amongst the many, many ornaments available I happened across a beautiful 3D sculpt by SKREET that is available for purchase from Cults.com which really caught my eye.
Rather than just a figurine or diorama I was really taken by the idea of adding a book nook style of shelf ornament to what I hope will be a future collection of fine copies of Tolkien works. Skreet's sculpt is a wonderful combination of book nook format and 3D portrait that is something rather unique. And at just over £4 it is a bargain.
Printing Gandalf - There And Back Again
The idea of doing a book nook sized 3D print like this turns out to be excellent timing as I just received my new Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro printer at Christmas. Which I could have attempted this print on my old Adventurer 3 Pro, that printer was smaller and the fiddling about and slicing of the 3D file would have been a whole lot trickier, but it was a breeze on my new Flashforge 5M.
I did still have to split the main 'book' box of the sculpt to fit it on my print bed but the Flashprint app makes this easy...
As usual, though, the organic part - the hand - posed a little more of a puzzle as I had to try out different support configurations before I was happy that the file would print without too much problem. Adding supports is something of a mystical art that even Gandalf would have been perplexed with! 😏 (But nothing that some pipe weed would not have cured!)
And finally, there was the pipe stem. This was very easy and didn't take long to print at all. But here I should mention that - again, but some lucky happenstance - my 5M was already loaded with some lovely Elegoo Matte White PLA filament, ideal for printing this particular model (but not one without a singular quandary of which I will discuss later)...
Putting Gandalf Back Together Again
Printing done, which took just an afternoon (another advantage of the Flashforge 5M is that is is very fast), I did a quick test assembly of parts and I have to say that I was very impressed. Everything went together nicely, despite my worries that my rescaling of the model might somehow cause some issues...
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One little issue at this stage is how DEEP to make the 'book'. As mentioned above, I had to slice the file into bits to fit it on my printer, in doing so I reduced the depth of teh file as I wanted to size it to match the dimensions of my Hobbit book exactly.
In effect, I only have the FRONT 54mm of the model, whilst the depth of the Hobbit book is 157mm. I could lave the print as it is - as, really, you won't see this discrepancy when it's on a shelf - but me being me I will now it's not the same size. So, I will make a additional 'back' for the model so that it matches the book!
This is an easy fix... A very basic half box shape created in TINKERCAD would suffice as my replacement back for my model (again two copies)...
This fake back of the book box would then be glued together - as with the Gandalf box - and then these two components will be stuck together to create the complete book sized box! ...Hope that makes sense? LOL
Anyway, here's photo of the printed bits with the box extension piece ready to glue to the front of the book nook...
Now, whilst I was very pleased with the quality of the 3D print I am something of a perfectionist and am never quite satisfied, particularly when I spy minor flaws (which other people might not notice). Once seen, I cannot unsee them and it drives me mad until I deal with it.
So, despite - as I say - this being a good FDM 3D print I have decided to cover the minor blemishes with Milliput modelling putty, which means that I will have to give the book nook a final coat of paint so that all the 'repairs' blend in and aren't visible.
And this brings me to the niggling little quandary I have about this Gandalf model...
Gandalf The Grey... Or Gandalf The White?
As you will know from The Lord of The Rings - book or film - Gandalf eventually evolves from Gandalf The Grey (as he was also in The Hobbit) into Gandalf The White. This change takes place after Gandalf's imprisonment by Saruman in his tower and subsequent escape...
So which Gandalf do I depict? The model I have printed does look splendid in the matte white PLA and initially I was tempted to leave him like this...BUT...
He is smoking a pipe.
Now, this maybe just me, but I associate the use of 'pipe weed' with Gandalf The Grey, not Gandalf The White, so - a little reluctantly - I felt that a monochrome grey book nook would be more fitting. But then I had an idea...
Back on Cults.com where I found this 3D sculpt I remembered that it's creator - Skreet - had also done a version of this book nook where - instead of a pipe - Gandalf is holding a moth. Not, if you remember, it was the moth that was crucial to Gandalf's escape from Isengard and so - subsequently - his transformation (following his battle with the Balrog) into Gandalf The White! (Yes, I know, a little tenuous but I like the moth as a symbol of metamorphosis.)
So, I could have Gandalf The Grey at one end of my book shelf and Gandalf The white at the other! How cool is that? Obviously, it means me taking on a second 3D print and going through the whole slicing, resizing and gluing together process for a second time, but I think it would be worth it.
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