The results of mad science...

OK... so all the bright colors have been painted on the bases.  Now for the big experiment!

I knew before I started that I may not get the results I had been hoping for, since I was unable to find the kind of crackle medium that I originally wanted.

This was a stopgap measure... something that I found on Amazon and got a small jar just to try out.

The whole idea was to mix in the darker paints, in the hopes that the medium would provide not only random tiny cracks, but the extra 'dimension' of height.  No matter how well I could paint in a lava crack, it would always look painted on, since there was no sculpting involved.

Hoping that I might get this result, I mixed in the dark colors with the medium

I tried to apply it in the same places as I had set out earlier with the oranges.

I had no idea what was going to happen, or even how long I should wait before any sort of cracks should appear.  What would the result be?

Well, the result was very similar to other crackle mediums I have tried before, which was a bummer.  Whether it was applied thick or thin, the same kind of tiny cracks appeared.

That was nowhere near what I was looking for, so I will not even bother with the ice experiment.  I will just have to wait until I can find the Testors crackle medium.

However, this might still work for the decaying mural effect that I want to try!  That is one more experiment I am willing to try with this medium.

Needless to say, not every experiment works out the way you hope.  There have been many times where I tried something that didn't work out as planned or hoped, which ended up becoming the cornerstone of other techniques!

The moral of the story is, just keep on trying and see what happens!!

Never be afraid to experiment... part one

There was a great deal of discussion at Reapercon about using Crackle Medium in a variety of basing techniques.

For this particular experiment, the idea was to use crackle medium with the fluorescent paints to create a lava effect.  I began by priming the bases white.

The rest of this first phase is pretty standard.  Some white paint mixed with intense yellow and the fluorescent yellow.

Gradually, more of the regular yellow and fluorescent orange is added.  I am trying to set up a semblance of the patterns now, to see if I can take advantage of that with the Crackle medium.

More and more of the Fluorescent paint is added, strengthening the darks.

OK.  This was the last layer before I tried to add the paint/crackle medium mixture.

Stay tuned!