Behold! My stuff.

Welcome back to anyone still reading, I hope you’re being inspired by this stuff at least a bit.  I finally got around to making a classic monster that I feel like I’ve been ignoring.  That’s right. The giant meatball itself: a beholder.  Simultaneously one of the goofiest and most terrifying monsters (in my opinion anyway) beholders have a pretty long legacy to live up to. If you decide to run one for your party you’ll need a plan. And a mini:

Hullo

And a video:

Now before I go any farther I will say that I had a muse for this. I do own an actual beholder mini, the newer whiz kids one, and I used it as a point of reference while making this.  Not everyone will be that lucky, and that’s okay! Just a note.

So why am I making a beholder if I own a proper one? Well a few reasons. First, I wanted to try my hand at this particular creature. Secondly, in my campaign my players are very strong. High level and high fantasy (therefore lots of magic items!) does that. The beholder they’ve faced, on several occasions, is a sneaky git who’s been looking into alchemical cloning. What’s better than a beholder mini? Two of them, obviously.

Alright, down to business.  To start making this mini I started on the...torso? The ball part. I wanted it fairly light and so I used simple, crumpled tinfoil. Make a ball slightly smaller than you want the finished beholder because you’re going to add more layers to it.

So that’s the... head I suppose. But now you need to take your dollar store craft knife and make 2 notches (one for the eye and a larger one got the mouth) and a hole in the bottom of the headbody. Don’t worry about being precise while doing this, it’s all getting a coat of hot glue. Next, to simulate that gross mottled skin beholders have, I found some dollar store cloth mesh (might be a different name depending on your location) that has a small grid pattern. Bit by bit, cover the head in hot glue and while the glue is still malleable push the cloth over it. This should ideally create a bumpy, warty surface all over your mini.

Next steps are quicker. Cut the ends off some popsicle sticks and glue them on for those weird, spiky scales that beholders have. Shove a glue stick into that hole you made on the bottom and glue it in.  Next glue the other end of the glue stick into your base. I personally used  little dollar store wood circles with a washer sandwiches between them for a weighted base.

Find an eye. I used a glass bead that all dollar stores have and cut a small iris out of card stock that I mod podged onto the glass bead.

Find some eye stalks. I used toothpicks which I snapped and then covered in hot glue. More toothpicks for the teeth and more hot glue which I let drip a bit for the tongue.

I believe that’s it! Paint it up and you’re good to go. If I was to redo this project I would add more of a scowl or heavier eyebrow so he looked meaner and less goofy. But hey, that’s up to you.