Bank of Ireland Enterprise Exhibition in Macroom Cork with Dr Eva Orsmond & Lars Edman

With a history of growing up in Scandinavia and sharing the nordic tradition of casting in white metal, Lars Edman helps Dr Eva Orsmond cast little witches from Prince August moulds (Halloween Decorations) at the recent Bank of Ireland Enterprise Exhibition in Macroom, County Cork.

There are also other Halloween decorations available too, including a Spooky Ghost, Scary Black Cat and a Jack O' Lantern Pumpkin. Each mould can be reused hundreds of times and the figures have little loops to hang them from ribbons or chains if desired.

The Toy Soldier Factory is now the oldest factory in the area, allowing customers to cast their own Halloween figures when they visit (via seasonal workshops).

Lord of the Rings December 2016 releases: Ohtar and Gollum miniatures.

Ohtar with the shards of Narsil

Mithril Miniatures has released two more long awaited Fellowship miniatures this week. The first one was 'Ohtar with the shards of Narsil' (MS626), the winning idea from August / September 2015. Ohtar was Isildur's squire, who carried the shards of Narsil, the broken sword that cut the One Ring off Sauron's finger, to the house of Elrond. Eventually the shards were reforged and renamed as Anduril and given to Aragorn to aid him in the War of the Ring.

The second figure was Gollum (MS631), who needs no introduction to any fan of Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit books. Here he is following the Fellowship as they leave Lorien by river, on small boats. He improvised and used an old log to float after them, forever keeping his huge eyes fixed on his ultimate goal, to reclaim the One Ring.

Both these figures are limited to only 100 and are primed with grey undercoat. These are 32mm scale metal figures sculpted by Chris Tubb. Originally they were to be made using the new 3D printing process but delays meant they were remade using the traditional methods instead.

Gollum - the log with eyes

Time to give fairies the home they deserve. Introducing our Fairies & Fairy Door craft kit

Prince August has a wonderful new craft kit that is perfect for a gift to children 6 or over. Cast, with your Mum or Dad, little fairies and then give them a home in your home. Inspire a child's compassion and imagination as well as their artistic creativity this season. This kit contains a surprising large amount of contents, including casting equipment, 11 acrylic paint tubs, a primer tub, 2 different paint brushes, a Fairy mould that casts two different fairies, a wooden engraved detail fairy door and a pack of self adhesive decorations. 

Adult supervision is required for casting with small children but that is part of the fun, getting some quality time with your kids. The metal used is pewter so it is safe to handle.

There are options to add more metal and fairy door packs too, to extend the fun to friends as well.

Mithril Miniatures Christmas 2016 | Dunlending High-chief miniature - 2 versions available.

Mithril Miniatures has restored the long cherished tradition of manufacturing a special Christmas figure annually. 2015 did not have one, but 2016 does. The tradition also calls that the figure be a leader or king and this year it is the Dunlendings High-chief we honour. 

Dunlendings were driven into the hills by the Rohirrim and this seeded deep animosity between the two peoples. During the War of the Ring, Saruman profited from that anger and used them to bolster his armies as well as have raiding parties harrass Rohan villages.

A high-chief to such hardy folk needs to be both strong in leadership and skill in battle. They would never tolerate a weak man in such a role.

Mithril Miniatures produced 100 of these 32mm scale metal figures. 25 are primed in Mithril's grey undercoat and 75 are antique finished, which involves dipping the metal figure into a mix of black gloss and thinner and allowing it to soak into all the details, then wipe off the surfaces, resulting in better contrast.