World of Dwind

About

As a figure sculptor I was inspired years ago by the work of the Victorian illustrator Richard ‘Dickie’Doyle who created a fantasy world in which faerie maidens were wooed by elves sitting astride their trusty snails. This set me off on a journey to develop a tale wherein the characters and their environment could be brought to life through the medium of miniatures.

So welcome to the World of Dwind, where the aim is to create an immersive experience for young adults and collectors by merging storytelling with meticulously crafted fantasy collectibles.

I am pleased to be able to make some of the original figures available as collectibles which feature in the World of Dwind books. The collection will be expanded to include some of the gadgets and machines which appear in the two tales. If you wish to purchase the books and figures please visit the SHOP page where you can email me directly using the contact form.

Meet Dwind

Dwind is a young aelf * who has been apprenticed to Smartweed the inventor.

Smartweed has a workshop tucked away in a tiny patch of woodland known as Tillwald.

The inventor has been tasked by the elders of Tillwald to recover Hawkbit the Wise - an elder who has worked out why the aelffolk of Tillwald have stopped talking about their feelings and living in the here and now.

Word has it that Hawkbit, whose thoughts are contained in notebooks in a casket, has disappeared along with them down a moletunnel during a storm.

aelf is an old english word for an elf

Tillwald

Our tiny patch lies between a stream and the Great Hedgerow and is a place of wonderful natural beauty. The aelves of Tillwald know how to protect it but things have been going astray of late…….

The Miniatures

THillustrate the tales I first sculpted the characters and buildings. From these I asked AI to render them and change their positions. Some setttings are AI generated , some are based on my own photographs,

I based the stories on a series of figures and buildings I originally hand sculpted. Some of the castings were hand painted, others in order to save time were rendered and or modified by AI to suit a particular scene. The buildings were photographed from different angles and the images positioned in such a way as to create a much larger set of dwellings. Tillwald for example was created in this way against an AI generated background based on actual shots of nature. I think the juxtaposition of colour in the foreground against pencil backdrops looks quite effective. A word of reassurance for the reader - no part of the stories has been generated using AI.

original casting

original model

painted figure

AI pencil sketch

AI render

AI composite

Shop

The Return of Hawkbit

While the insights of Hawkbit are being shared in Tillwald, miraculously the philosopher aelf has survived his fall and made it back to his retreat in the undergrowth. However, his attempts to inform the elders of Tillwald through carrier pigeon have failed unbeknowns to him and the two intrepid aelves who have taken off in Smartweed’s sycacopters in search of him. How will they fare in these new flying machines and will they succeed in finding Hawkbit who has commenced a rewrite of his explanations as to why the aelves of Tillwald are losing their grip on the here and now ? And just how effective are Hawkbit’s insights (which he believes have been lost) proving to be back in Tillwald as some wayward elements seek to undermine the efforts to get folk back to living in present time?

‍ ‍Format B5 full colour

Forthcoming 2027

B2 Price £12.50 Reserve your copy now,

‍ ‍F2 Smartweed the inventor

Antiqued white metal figurine £12 plus p &p

Kit £10.50

‍ ‍F4 Packsnail with the insights

Antiqued white metal figurine £12.50 plus p & p

Kit £11

‍ ‍F6 Hawkbit the Wise

Antiqued white metal figurine £17.50 plus p & p

Kit £16

Forthcoming. Reserve your figure now

Meet Dwind the young apprentice of Smartweed the inventor who has been tasked with finding an elder by the name of Hawkbit who has worked out why the elves of Tillwald, a tiny patch of woodland, have stopped talking about their feelings and living in the here and now.

Word has it that Hawkbit, whose thoughts are contained in notebooks in a casket, has disappeared along with them down a moletunnel during a storm.

Will Dwind and his mentor survive their scrapes with mother nature during their trek to recover the elder and can they overcome a band of bogles who are intent on making sure that Hawkbit’s notebooks never see the light of day?

Format B5

100 pages

Code B 1 Price £12.50 plus P & p. £3