Steve Sorensen Select Staffing

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" might relish the idea of having their own Gandalf the Grey staff. The good news is if you are one of them, you can own one today without spending loads of money. Here’s a quick DIY process from Steve Sorensen. Image source: Etsy.com     Gather simple materials that won’t cost too much money. Some applicable supplies include a wooden dowel, foam, black and grey paint, and hot glue gun. To make the crystal, you can also use a piece of foam, mold putty, Easy Cast, small bulb or LED light, and battery to light it up. First, make the twisted branches. You can rip a brown paper bag intro strips, twist them up, and there you have it. Next, build the top of the staff. Note that the top of the staff is mostly a huge mass of branches that twist upward and make a massive clump. Since the light will rest on the top of the dowel, avoid covering that area with the twists. Image source: Instruct...

I’m Steve Sorensen. While I create staffs for cosplayers and fantasy conventions in the U.S., and while I love Western fantasy films, books, and games, I must admit, I do have a soft spot for Japanese anime. What’s not to love? There are plenty of good titles, and more often than not, their themes speak to me. Image source: lostinanime.com On that note, here are some anime shows that I recommend for all you fantasy lovers out there. The Rising of the Shield Hero If you like your heroes being ordinary people who get transported to a parallel world, this anime is for you. The characters are well fleshed out and more or less original. The character development is akin to some of the best classic RPG games, with the heroes gaining strength and other materials through experience. The Promised Neverland This is more of a dark fantasy than anything else, and may satiate those with morbid tastes. Without spoiling much about the series, the plot revolves around an orphan...

I’m Steve Sorensen, a woodworker. I love crafting staffs for people who use them in fantasy role playing. As such, I’m a fan of fantasy whether it be on books, film, or video games. One of my favorite series of games is the highly-acclaimed Final Fantasy from Square. For this blog, I want to share with you my favorite Final Fantasy weapons of all time. Here they are.      Image source: finalfantasy.fandom.com Atma Weapon The Atma Weapon is a sword found in Final Fantasy VI. It can inflict the highest possible damage out of all the weapons in the game – as long as the character wielding it has high HP. The stronger the character, the higher the damage the Atma Weapon inflicts. Image source: tvtropes.org Buster (Bastard) Sword This is the sword Cloud Strife starts out with in Final Fantasy VII, and probably one of the most recognizable swords in all of gaming. It looks huge and bulky, but it’s as light as a feather. In the film “Final Fant...

Woodworking is a hobby or a profession that has a lot to give. Through it you can build furniture pieces for your home or as gifts to the people you love. You can even sell your work and make significant profit out of it. However, it would be impossible to do all this when you lack in the skills department. Image source: woodworkingmuseum.ca There are still many people who believe that hard work is the sole ingredient that makes up woodworking. Skilled woodworkers know it’s not pure hard work when they have sharpened equipment. Be sure to sharpen planes, saws, and chisels . According to Steve Sorensen, having dull tools can harm your work and potentially put you in danger. If you consider yourself a woodworker, you must be proficient in using a hand plane . While many believe that using a hand plane is simple and self-explanatory, one has to develop the right technique using the tool. Cutting dovetail joints is also a woodworking skill worthy of mastering. This is i...

Image source: androidpolice.com Just the very notion of playing Diablo on a mobile phone is cringe-worthy for die-hard fans of the Diablo franchise. Once upon a time, it was a running joke in the offices of the game’s developer Blizzard, one used for April Fool’s jokes. Now, things have gone 360, and the once-admired gaming company is actually releasing a mobile game called Diablo Immortal. During the recent Blizzcon this 2018, one displeased fan even asked during the Q & A portion of the reveal of the mobile Diablo game was just an “out of season April Fool’s joke,” which generated contemptuous laughter from the many solid gamers present. After all, it was totally unexpected, given previous little hints by Blizzard that there’s a major Diablo game coming out. It’s totally understandable that a huge backlash came shortly after the announcement. It’s not only pandering to a huge market in China for mobile games but also coming across as Blizzard’s unfortunate sanct...

Image source: Pixabay.com  It’s easy to shy away from the idea of woodworking or DIY furniture projects, simply because one doesn’t have prior experience or fared badly in those classes in school. In reality, however, many basic woodworking skills serve as a great substitute to expensive tools and can make those dream wood projects possible. Here are some skills to start honing today. Understanding how wood works Before using any tool, understand the proper orientation of lumber and the right direction to plane the board. Also learn to know how wood expands and contracts as humidity changes throughout the year. Cutting materials There’s a great variety of ways to cut materials, such as using a hand saw, jigsaw, circular saw, table saw, and band saw. Understand how these tools work – hand saws are for making quick cuts that need not be perfectly straight, while circular saws are heavy-duty and are ideal for creating long straight cuts. Image source: Pixabay...

Image source: Pexels.com There's a reason why fantasy readers turn into voracious fans and lovers of the written word. These works allow readers to immerse in good stories and get to know interesting characters. Let me share with you four of my favorite fantasy subgenres: High fantasy Long journeys, epic battles, kingdoms, and civilizations with interesting languages make up this subgenre. Some famous examples are Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones , which are also my favorites. Even though these stories are worth thousands of pages, they're so exciting that I end up finishing the books in less than a week. The storyline can get intense and gory sometimes but all the time spent is always worth it. Children's fantasy I love how children's fantasy doesn't just appeal to its target market. I appreciate this subgenre because it encourages jaded adults like me to think outside of the box. And of course, the lessons on family, friendship, and her...