Mini Holders

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secretpaintgeek

New member
Hi guys and girls,
Can anyone recommend any mini holders, Tried to get hold of one of the Stephan Rath ones but after sending Emails to the site he lists on his blog as well as him personally and getting no reply at all I'd rather go elsewhere so any advice would be appreciated :)

Cheers

SPG
 
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secretpaintgeek

New member
Thanks fellas but as I have already Emailed these guys a few times with no response I dont really feel they deserve my hard earnt cash :p
Maybe i'll just have to make my own if no other company does a nice one?
 
boubi

boubi

New member
But did you contact the shop itself? He told me that every orders are going through the shop www.pk-pro.de ... The service was nice and reliable, I got all my stuffs shipped in China!

The shop owner also told me that he is doing this as part of a hobby... So maybe got too many orders recently and could not follow... For your case quite a pity because the holders are quite good!
 
Einion

Einion

New member
secretpaintgeek said:
Maybe i'll just have to make my own if no other company does a nice one?
Click to expand...
I'm a big fan of making your own stuff where appropriate and a holder for painting & sculpting is definitely one of those things where it makes sense as you can do a good job and for a very small outlay*.

And anyway, as I opined here I'm not at all convinced that the ergonomics are all they're cracked up to be - others who have actually bought one have expressed similar views now that they've used them.

Excluding just sticking a mini to a blob of Blu-Tack on a paint pot, the most basic mini holder is just a cork; from there you're just limited by your own creativity, from simply inserting said cork into tubing for a better handle, all the way to various clamping systems attached to or built into a wooden dowel or a cutoff of curtain rail.

Einion

*Even if a holder/mini clamp thingy features easy attachment and removal it's often useful to have more than one, which begins to make commercial ones seem less of an attractive proposition. Make 'em yourself and you can have a half dozen in use simultaneously if you want, and all six might have cost a tenth the price of a single commercial holder....
 
Egrimm van Horstmann

Egrimm van Horstmann

New member
I've got two of these, one from Stephan directly and one from PKPro. I really think, this helps with shaky hands. You get very close with your hands to the painting surface. And if you need space, you can push the handle to the other side or remove it entirely without having to reattach the mini to a different place. I agree, that it seems pricey for a relatively simple tool. Especially, when ordered from the US.
I habe been thinking about scratch bulilding a holder myself, but have to admit that I can't see a different solution to having a flexible but sturdy handle. And the mechanics cannot be recreated easily.
I'm happy with my holders. But if you come up with a proper scatch built alternative, I would be interested.
 
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secretpaintgeek

New member
To be honest I would rather buy them as I'm lazy but I resent giving cash to people with such poor customer service so sadly they miss out which is a shame as I had planned to buy 4 of the smaller ones and 2 of the bigger. They seem easy enough to make tbh so its prob a stroke of luck for me as I am sure I'll save a good wedge of cash just bashing them together myself.
 
Einion

Einion

New member
secretpaintgeek said:
...I had planned to buy 4 of the smaller ones and 2 of the bigger.
Click to expand...
Yikes, well you're saving yourself 80+ Euros!

More options in the links in this post of mine on pF from a couple of years ago (both commercial and homemade). I keep on forgetting about the ring clamp style of holder that I mention in that post, in a way it's the simplest style of holder to make and provides a very secure grip.

Einion
 
Pictish Mini Painting

Pictish Mini Painting

I'm actually a man!
The best holders i find are simple wine botle corks with the mini stuck in with wire drilled into the base etc.

However a good alternative i stumbled across was dense memory type foam i got in the packaging from a new recliner chair.

Its a bit like sponge but much more dense and returns to its shape slowly.

I cut it up into 2" squares and it holds minis firmly and as its slightly larger than a cork i find i dont get cramp in my thumb holding the mini.

Another alternative is insulation board (the blue or pink sheets) this again is a dense foam that will grip the wire from a mini's feet firmly.

Also you can spray over them and it doesnt matter.
 
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Crulo

New member
Correct me if I am wrong (I won't even address the ridiculous price) but the ergonomics of this holder seem backwards. The large part on the bottom is where I would put my four fingers and the small ball on the top is where I would put my thumb... but then the mini would be upside down. Is the right way to hold it, with your thumb on the larger bottom part and one finger on the small ball at the top?? (As if you were making a "C" with your pointer finger and thumb) That seems very uncomfortable... the same way when you hold a mini with the same two fingers is uncomfortable. Also, how do you put a mini on it that still has the slot attached to it?

I have started using egg cups. You attach the mini to the bottom of the egg cup with hot glue or blue tack. The large part of the egg cup accommodates your fingers and palm very comfortably. The smaller "neck" of the egg cup is accommodates your pointer finger and thumb very nicely. Google "egg cups" and it will make more sense once you see them. You can get a bunch of wooden egg cups for quite cheap... you can get 5 egg cups for like $12.
 
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Aerlith Kinspirit

New member
Wal-mart is most gracious in supplying me with mini holders... My last trip, they gave me 10 of them for FREE! I walked up to the Pharmacy, explained that I am teaching a class at the local game store and would appreciate if they could give m a few of the medium medicine bottles with caps. I usually have one with a mini stuck on it to show how I use them. I normally fill it with sand to make the base a bit heavier than the mini on top. A friend of mine puts pennies in hers. A bonus if they give you the bottles with the child proof caps... the cap can spin without having to rotate the entire bottle in your hand when you want to spin the mini just a bit in either direction.

Two trips ago, I asked for a couple of the larger bottle, which are better for cavalry and larger figures.
 
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Crulo

New member
I actually have used those too! I probably have close to 50 of them. Assorted size. The small are good for 30mm bases, medium for 40mm and large for 50mm. Its funny how they are pretty much the exact sizes of the bases. I still use them, but for minis I know I will be holding for a long time, I prefer the egg cups. Just a little more comfortable in my hands. I probably have small hands compared to most people though.
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
Crulo said:
Correct me if I am wrong (I won't even address the ridiculous price) but the ergonomics of this holder seem backwards. The large part on the bottom is where I would put my four fingers and the small ball on the top is where I would put my thumb... but then the mini would be upside down. Is the right way to hold it, with your thumb on the larger bottom part and one finger on the small ball at the top?? (As if you were making a "C" with your pointer finger and thumb) That seems very uncomfortable... the same way when you hold a mini with the same two fingers is uncomfortable. Also, how do you put a mini on it that still has the slot attached to it?

I have started using egg cups. You attach the mini to the bottom of the egg cup with hot glue or blue tack. The large part of the egg cup accommodates your fingers and palm very comfortably. The smaller "neck" of the egg cup is accommodates your pointer finger and thumb very nicely. Google "egg cups" and it will make more sense once you see them. You can get a bunch of wooden egg cups for quite cheap... you can get 5 egg cups for like $12.
Click to expand...
The principle is that the extended arm is where you rest you middle finger and cup the rest between palm and middle digit.
I got two but not comfortable for me unfortunately, made the arthritis in my centre knuckle complain..LOUDLY.
I've fairly large hands but find Demi John home brewing corks are the best holders for 28 mm to 54 mm after that it's a jewellers clamp.
 
L

Legacy Account

Active member
You can make excellent clamps yourself for peanuts. No idea what the technical term is for these nuts, but they crunch themselves into your wooden clamp first time you tighten them and they cost pennies. Just take a block of (hard) wood, drill a hole through it and cut in half. I add a sheet of cork between the two blocks of wood to help get a nice tight grip on pins. You can mess around shaping and finishing if you're that way inclined :)

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