Mulch and Marble

 

As I often do, I will make many bases at once, instead of just one at a time for a particular project at hand.

 

Also, I wanted to experiment a little more with some newer materials that are part of the Bark and Branch variety of bases.  I tried out a piece or two of mulch a few months ago, since pieces of that stuff kept getting stuck in my lawn mower.

 

After kicking it out of the push mower blades, I noticed that it looked an awful lot like rocks!!

 

As you can see, with a bit of paint, and some additional gravel and ballast... voila!!

 

The piece in the front of the image was actually a different kind of tree bark that I found in a different part of the route that I usually walk to the grocery store.

 

It is more difficult to work with than the normal bark that you see me use, as it is very hard, and not 'flaky' like the other bark material.

 

While I was painting them, I realized that I could use all the same colors on some marble bases that had been waiting for paint for a long time.  I think two of them were bases that I created as part of one of the kickstarter videos!

 

The main color was Reaper Stained Olive, and into that was mixed some seafoam green, and even a light elf flesh.

 

Working with the larger #8 round craft brushes, I was able to work very quickly, and take advantage of wet into wet painting.  I even used my finger a number of times to smear around the initial layers of paint.

 

The white 'regular' sculpey is the perfect surface, absorbent enough to hold the paint easily but smooth enough to allow you to apply the paint very easily.

 

Showing the collection together in this shot demonstrates just how close the colors were!

 

Of course, there are some color variations and accents that aren't readily visible in these images, but in some places, I did a bit of a red/deep green glaze using the Reaper liner paints.

 

In addition, I used a few of the Vallejo glazes.  These are the semi-opaque versions, which are fantastic to add in the occasional deep crevice. 

 

I will be adding various grass tufts to the 'rock' bases, but that will happen once I have set the figures on them.

 

In the meantime, I have a bunch of bases available for just about any kind of figure you can think of!

 

Stay tuned for the next post, because I use one of them on a new Raging Heroes figure.