Building Tu’lia’s Staff: Bringing the Lower Wood Shaft to Life

Work on Tu’lia’s Staff continues down the main shaft. With the carved-bone midsection complete, attention moved to the long curved wooden section below it and the brass collar at its base.

One of the challenges with developing an asset like this section by section is making sure the finished object still feels as though it was designed and constructed as a whole. The staff already had an established treatment for its wooden components — directional grain, tonal variation, and the character of polished organic material. Rather than introducing a different look for the lower shaft, I carried that same material language into the new section.

The concept reference provided the visual target. It established the rich wooden character of the curved shaft and the brass transition at its base. The production version in Substance 3D Painter translates that reference into the working asset while remaining consistent with the materials already developed elsewhere on the staff.

The brass collar plays a small but important role in that continuity. Its aged finish connects visually with the brass already used throughout the headpiece, horn bands, and grip fittings. Together, the wood and brass help the growing collection of individually authored sections read as parts of the same constructed artifact.

The reference also gave me a clearer roadmap for what comes next.

Immediately below the brass collar is a short, darker carved-hardwood transition. Beneath that will be something materially different: opposing diagonal leather strips forming a repeating diamond pattern around the shaft. That crossed leather construction will get its own material pass rather than being treated simply as a surface pattern.

With the curved wood and brass collar complete, Tu’lia’s Staff is continuing to take shape from the grip downward — one material transition at a time.

Development Status: Material Authoring — In Progress