Custom Spellbooks

[lil_drag_n]

As an old school D&D player, I love the idea of the spell book.  Some people says the draw of cards from the spell book makes them feel like an apprentice more than a master mage.  I think of it more as draw and using all the spell componets to cast the spell.  really getting into the roleplaying of MW.  To make it more thematic I modified a spell book for the huntress (JBM).

I took pieces of rough suede and hand sew them together, then wrapped it around the cover of the spell book. I then made a panther paw print and placed it on the back cover.  I tried to use a sodering iron and tried to brand the MW logo on the paw print. finally I hand cut a leather strip to bind the spine of the book.

So far I have created 6 custom spell books, each to a specific mage.  Thought put into what each mage would want in their spell book and why.  The pics of my custom spell books are too big to upload now,  I have to take new pictures when I have time so I can upload to show them.

[silverclawgrizzly]

That is just straight up cool.

[Lord0fWinter]

I hope to see them soon. They sound amazing! You could try using http://www.use.com/ or any other image hosting site to upload them and then just give us the links on here.

[lil_drag_n]

Beastmistress spellbook cover

back cover

[lil_drag_n]

Thank you LordofWinter for the advice,...pics for each spell book will follow shortly, enjoy them,... I did making and using them.

[Cnoedel]

Wow - this looks amazing, really hyped for the next 5!

Could you explain how you did them or make a short tutorial for someone who has zero crafting skills like me?

[jacksmack]

AW!!! Hire this man immediately!!!

[lil_drag_n]

Thank you for the kind words.  Making this books were a lot of fun.  These creation has several phases. First is the planning the basic vision of what each mage's spell book would look like.  For example the beastmistress would have a very tribal or primitive book.  So I just didn't want a smooth leather bound book. I took the roughest piece suede i could find and cut it into big chunks.  Then I refit them together and hand sewed it.  The leather was tough and my hands got tired so I had to do it in several session.

The second phase was getting the material and supplies.  Lucky for me I have access to a variety of leathers.  For the first few books I used dollar store epoxy to glue the leather to the AW spell books, but now I just used a good glue stick.  All the other assessories and details are bought at Walmart, Michaels arts and craft or the dollar store craft section.  I just keep my eyes open for anything that would look good the spell books and I didn't want anything that looked tacky.  I like to use metal details which surprisingly can also be fasten with a glue stick.  I had to sew a little on the other books and sometime I use two sided tape.  Because the leather was free for me and Michaels has great weekly coupons each book only cost me like $5 or less in material and supplies. 

Third phase is edit.  I had to make several changes because some things didn't work out the way I wanted.  For example the epoxy can get messy and mess up the project. The first spot on the panther paw was an accident.  I had epoxy residue on my finger that marked the paw so I rolled with it and added more spots.  Most people don't know panthers have black spots on their black fur. In my later books I do a lot less editing because my planning became better with experience.  However I did have a fellow MW player friend give me some more ideas after he sees them.

These book were fun to make but a little time consuming.  They are a labor of love because I love mage wars.

[lil_drag_n]

The second book I completed was my wizard spell book.

I wanted the wizard spell book to look simple and sturdy, functional and well used.  I used 3 different brown tone leather.  Built in a bookmark and used metal decals for the corners.  I sealed this spell book with the mystical bonding material only the wizard knows about,... Velcro

cover

back

[kiwipaul]

Wow, well done, your labour of love is loved by the rest of us who also love the game.  Don't suppose you live in The Netherlands do you?

[lil_drag_n]

No my friend. I live near Toronto Ontario Canada.  Happy to hear Mage Wars is loved world wide.  My necro book is up next.