This is for other Ghostbusters Props that don't fit into the categories above.
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By Fienen
#4968927
So, I think my next big undertaking is going to be creating a -good- prop Tobin's Spirit Guide. I've done some searching around the forums and it seems like this isn't a super common undertaking. I know there are some commercial ones that are really kitschy on Amazon, but what I'm after is "what would a first edition TSG look like?"

I'm starting with the brainstorming right now and hoping that someone has some experience, advice, or knows of resources I don't. Here's what I'm thinking at the moment:
  1. I want it to look original, rough. Not new and pristine. I'm thinking, "someone uncovers a first edition in the mines after Afterlife" as production design motivation. It's been "safe," but also not sealed away. Dusty, beaten over the years. What would that look like? I think this will also give me some flexibility in cannibalizing some actual old books for components.
  2. I'm thinking I might be able to find something like a generic old bible from the late 1800's that could offer a sacrificial cover.
  3. Mr. Tobin was obviously a man of money, so he likely had his initial printing done -nicely- relative to it's popular value at the time
  4. Alternatively, I'm guessing I could find someone on Etsy that could produce a custom book cover.
  5. Probably an artificially printed interior with tea staining, maybe a little burning and over work. There's a fair amount of advice online for the general antiquing process, and I'll be comfortable with most of it.
  6. I'll need to source some good paper
  7. Wondering how I'll approach actually making the guts though, physically. I'd rather not hand-write the whole thing, but making custom signatures and everything to make a book is also very non-trivial. Thinking about buying something like the Codex Seraphinianus and using it's interior, but unfamiliar with the prints to know if they would be receptive to antiquing. On the other hand, it WOULD be nice to have an "authentic" interior for anyone that wanted a closer look. This is a huge question. How do I fill it? What do I prefer to fill it with? Something else that has occurred to me is maybe using something like SCP entries.
  8. Probably some custom gold leafing on the cover of a big "T" or something like that.
  9. Depending on the approach to the interior, thinking about the initial plates at least, because those feel like they should be "showable" to people, but if they come away custom, then I have to match them to the rest of the guts.
  10. My goal is to stay under $200, because if I go over that, I might as well buy Fabio's custom setup, which is also VERY appealing
Okay, I think that's the stuff. Start funneling suggestions and ideas to me, and let's put something together that others can recreate too!
By ccv66
#4968932
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I'm actually thinking about doing something similar. My buddy bought some equipment, he'll have the ability to emboss leather. Was thinking about making covers for the previous released book, but that's a long ways away. Probably 2023

Buy the tobins spirit guide book. It's cheap and awesome and at will at least give you ideas.

https://www.amazon.com/Tobins-Spirit-Gu ... 309&sr=8-1

I'm not sure what the initial plan was , but reitman released pictures of tobins spirit guide. Plus the same T.B.Spirit guide came with the venkman action figure. I'm considering the design cannon

https://ghostbustersnews.com/2022/02/22 ... uide-prop/

You can buy and make your own leather books cheap. I actually bought a cheap Indiana Jones grail diary and wrapped it in leather. But check out some YouTube videos about people making their own grail diary. Leather is cheap on Amazon. I plan on creating a die cut for my cover. But you could stencil a design and get leather working tools and emboss your own cover. It could be a fun project to do at night in front of the TV.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2zol7JKYX7c

I could make you gold vinyl letters or create a stencil so you could gold leaf your own tobins spirit guide lettering.

If all you did was glued/wrapped leather and used gold paint over the current T.S.G. , would still come out cool. Very time consuming but shouldn't be that expensive
#4970219
The official one feels like a spin-off of the old RGB comics. It’s… pretty kitch and very much feels NOT like the kind of old guide the boys would have used in 84

Dan—given his family history & background—probably based it and the Spate's Catalog on both 1800s spiritualist books as well as the 1600s demonology & black magic grimoires like Daemonologie, The Lesser Key of Solomon, and similar. Usually illustrated with woodcut prints, rather than rejects from Image Comics like the published one.

So if you’re looking to create a better version, look at that sort of thing.

Creating signatures and such isn’t THAT hard btw. It’s the paper trimming and stuff that’s a pain. But it’s mostly just time consuming. Look at Talas Online for supplies

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