After getting permission from the designer of Hive (John Yianni), I manufactured the two Mosquito pieces pictured here:



I made them using FIMO and engraved the image of the mosquito with very crude tools (a Swiss Army knife screwdriver to be precise ) before drying. I then painted them using a bit of paint for a model-kit and clearly showed my inability to use a brush in any useful manner once again.

They now need to be a bit sanded to eliminate some excess material and then maybe varnished to give them a better look and feel.

I may attempt again sometime in the future... maybe I need to make a mould of the hexagon, fairly easy, and some form of stamp of the Mosquito image to get better results, but I am a bit at a loss on how to do that last one.

Anyway, I hope you like them. The lighting conditions were not the best for this shot but the idea was just to show how they could be done. I bet someone will make a better job of it soon, though.

Try this: carve a slightly deeper version of the mosquito is another chunk of FIMO, set it, then press it into more FIMO to try and make a positive impression. Then cut away the excess, set it in the oven and you'll have a stamp.

Your mosquito pieces turned out really well!!! I was thinking of making a whole set from Fimo to give to a friend as a gift. You mentioned that it would be easy to create a mold. Can you share how? I was thinking of wrapping some aluminum around an original piece to create a "cutter."

If you want to make a "stamp" you can carve one in eraser material using lino tools. You would be able to "engrave" and paint at the same time.

Thanks. Both of you.

As for making the mould, or cutter, your approach seems reasonable. I was considering getting some metal tape and bend it every two centimetres to get the hexagonal shape. The pieces sides are 2 cm long...

The problem with carving the pieces is that, from you can see by my painting skills, I'm not very good with my hands and small things so the carving would probably end up looking like a sheep instead of a mosquito!

I'll probably try it. I'll post whatever new developments I am able to achieve here.

As for making a set to offer, unless you want something really particular and different from the original game, I'd suggest you purchase a copy.

Thanks again for the comments, guys.

When Hive was still only available in wood and was difficult to get, I made several sets for my self out of Sculpy. It did occur to me that a cutter would have been handy, but the method I used was pretty consistent.

You need long two blocks of equal height equal to the thickness you want your pieces to be. You also need something to act as a rolling pin. The last 2 items are a hex template (made out of card or something) and a thin flat piece of metal to act as a cutter, possibly even a small putty knife or even just a scrap piece of aluminum.

Knead the clay so it is soft and then place it on your table between the two blocks. Then roll out the clay, letting the blocks stop the rolling pin from pressing the clay too flat. Once the clay is smooth, put the hex template on to the clay surface and with your cutter press straight into the clay on each side of your hex. This should create very consistent pieces.

The only trick is handling them after they have been cut out. Normally I work on wax paper on top of a cutting mat. After making several
hexes and pulling out the excess clay, I just leave the hexes in place and trim the wax paper as needed with a knife then transfer them to the cookie sheet by handling the wax paper.

I didn't trust my engraving skills so I just used transparent labels to for the bug symbols and applied a coat of clear varnish after.