Dear jungle readers,

today Peter will do a small Material Unpacked about the CrazyGrip from CrazyWenky.de - a mount for your miniatures or busts while painting them.

But let's hear, what Peter has to say about it:

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Hey ladies and gentleman,

today I want to tell you about my experiences with the CrazyGrip.
The prototype was presented to me by the owner of CrazyWenky.de - Manu - during a painting class last summer. Even as it was still a first test device, I totally fell in love with it. It was a simple solution for one of my longtime problems: a comfortable mount for my busts or miniatures while painting them, including an easy system to change the projects if I wanted to.

First thoughts
Perhaps you know the problem, too? If I start to paint a bust or miniature, I usually mount them on a simple plinths first. This has different reasons:

1. The final plinth (for presenting the miniature) is not very comfortable in most cases (too big, too heavy, too angled) and I don´t want to torture myself during the painting process.
2. I usually work on different projects at the same time and don´t have too many presentable plinths in my stash. So, the simple plinths prevent me from "wasting" the good ones on possible everlasting wips.
3. Sometimes there are these nice plinths, made out of expensive but beautiful wood. I would be a shame to accidentally cover them with primer or color while working on your project. 

You see, the simple plinths have their advantages, but they were never the best solution. Perhaps the mount from Manu might be a good alternative?

The CrazyGrip
Well, last week I received the CrazyGrip. The first impression is cool: a simple box with three pieces in it. Everything is safely packed in paper-straw:

• the mount (with a small cork)
• a wooden stick
• a base (for the stick)

The quality of the single parts is nice. No cuts or rough surfaces and so it´s all ready for use. I received the basic version (beech), which is more than enough for me. But there are also two additional versions made out of walnut or mahogany.

How to get started
It´s pretty easy to mount your project: just fix it with a piece of wire into the cork. If you want to change your project, just push the mount down on the stick and the cork will be removed.

To test the CrazyGrip I prepared two of my new painting projects. I decided to not use the included cork as it is too small in my opinion. Instead, I took cork from empty wine bottles and fixed the projects with a thick wire. For a long-time-usage, I used hot glue to fix the wire in the cork and just temporarily fixed the projects with blue tag. As soon as I´m finished with the paintjobs, I can remove the blue tag and use the cork for another project.

As you can see on the pictures below, I use the mount for parts of a miniature (here: Raffa´s Sentinel of R´yleth) or even complete busts (here: Roman´s Ogre Brute).


Experiences
After a week and two painting sessions, I can tell you that the CrazyGrip is a nice addition to my painting table. Of course, this is just my personal opinion, but I had the feeling that the mount made painting a bit more relaxed. It is small and fits good into my hand. So, turning the project and getting "off the table" is pretty easy and this helps to get on with your paintjob in quick steps.

Here are some pictures I took while working with the CrazyGrip:




I hope you enjoyed the review and if you have any questions, please feel free to post them in the comments below. I will try to answer them asap.

Cheers,
Peter