A Tree from Garas Galadhon, the home of elvendom on earth in Lothlorien.
This piece was built sturdily for gaming, so hopefully on day I will use it!
Although it looks simple, the base too a lot of research and effort.
Notice the circle in the grass on the far right of the base? That is
the spot where I put Galadriel's Mirror when it is in play, but I can
leave it off if it isn't and it still looks pretty good.
The stairs ascending to the top of the tree are flanked by two elven
statues. These figs are actually Mithril Miniatures figs! They were so
old that my local game store didn't even have them on the shelves! I fished
these out of a box from storage!
The stairs up the tree were left roofless and designed for game play.
They are sturdy pieces of MDF fastened to the tree with bamboo skewers!
And they can fit two 25mm bases at need!
Because I wanted to make the table completely playable, figs can easily be
put inside all of the structures... But I found that wasn't entirely playable
anyway and so I opted to make all of the structures removable. Stay tuned for shots of
the structures being removed!
The Fellowship ascends to the top of the tree where Galadriel's house resides.
I like this little guest house addition to the tree. I imagine that when Elrond or
Thranduil visit, they stay in Galadriel's little guest house!
I realized quite early on that it would be impossible to put figures into
the structures easily to facilitate gameplay. So, I decided they would have
to be removable. Aside from having to build an extra base, it was actually
not too much trouble :) So, going back down the tree I will show you how they
all come off!
So that's it. The entire tree in all it's six-month WIP time glory! Hope you enjoyed the trip!
Check out the rest of the gallery for WIP pictures, and also the articles section of the site
for details on how to make one of these for yourself!
Galadriel and Celeborn's tree house! Structurally complete, all
it requires is some paint and a few tiny details! I stuck very close to
reference material for this thing so that I could keep it as close to the
movie imagery as possible, and I am pretty happy with how it worked out.
Now everything is secure and not loosely thrown on as before!
I am just finishing off Galadriel and Celeborn's lavish abode
as well as one small dwelling and then I will be ready to paint them!
Once they are painted, the base needs detailing, and I am done!
Things are starting to come together, but there is still a lot of
work to be done. I have been going from building the walkways and stairways
to building the structures, to fixing the foiliage, to detailing the
surfaces just to keep from going crazy with all the repetitive work...
As the valar will it, this project will be done!
Another slightly different design for an elf structure.
A more-or-less finished structure complete with my elf captain!
Another elven structure for the tree in Lorien. I love the
fusion between asian styles and art neuvou in Lorien.
Work continues... At this point most design and implementation
problems are done and now we begin the tedium of the work... But
things are looking great, so that is a driving force still!
Work continues... This is a glimpse of the tree with the
structures I have so far. I plan to put in a couple more,
plus one or two actually built onto the trunk. This is a big
project. Really, it is like building a castle with buildings
in it... Kinda like
Umbar as a matter of fact!
I decided to paint the tree. Thanks to the help of my
four year old the painting went pretty smoothly! It was
actually a lot of fun :)
My first full structure for the tree. Although the tree isn't ready for
it to be attached, I had to switch gears from the tree to the structure
just to mix things up.
A close up of the first structure along with a 28mm fig for scale.
I am very happy with the way it turned out, but it took quite a bit of
work so I am currently rethinking my construction tactics.
A close up of the roof detail here, along with a 28mm fig for
scale purposes. The roof is finished but not cleaned and primed yet.
The humble beginnings of the mallorn tree that will house
my Lothlorien elves. This tree actually went together
pretty smoothly so far **knock on wood**
A close up of the top of the tree which includes a
figure for scale purposes. At this point I am not sure
this tree is big enough!
The wire framed tree ready to be filled out. There
is a miniature up on top there for scale reference.