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        "...Over the Misty Mountains cold

           To dungeons deep and caverns old

           We must away ere break of day

           To seek the pale enchanted gold..."

 

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, Chapter 1 'An Unexpected Party"

The picture above shows the insert piece of a shadowbox I made as a gift to an  friend of mine on Elendor-MUSH. They actually represent our alter-egos on this MUSH: Cenda, Kruin, Dworin and the pony Patchwork. ( I can heartily recommend this Tolkien forum, it is a source of inspiration for me and I am willing to wager it is the best On-Line place to discuss the Tolkien theme at.) The miniatures were not fully painted when we took the pictures, as can be seen on the pony and the lack of certain highlights and details on the figures. When painted and varnished I'll put them in on a deep snowy mountain path. Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures of the complete shadowbox before I ship it to my buddy in Prague.

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As I said these miniatures are not fully painted in these pictures, but I wanted to include them anyway since they are two of my absolute favorites among all the miniatures the Mithril company has produced. I find them a very good examples of Chris Tubb's remarkable skill and thoroughness when sculpting. The miniatures have a real sense of motion and direction, rather than the 'spread eagle' look that is so common in small scale miniatures. Since they are sold in a pair Mr. Tubb has made sure there communication between them. Each faces is smaller than a pea, but he has managed to give the a truly dwarven look and the strain of their trudging can clearly be seen. The miniatues have just plenty of detail without making them look cluttered and overloaded, which is otherwise often the case with other miniatures.