One can never have too many skulls...

Yes, I know, we have all seen skulls galore on everything Fantasy or 40k.  They are everywhere!  

However, it was time for me to make another 80 mm base insert to match a set I did years ago.  This one is very Inquisition inspired!  I have used it on my own Grey Knights and Sisters of Battle.

The process begins with a layer of cork.

Then we add a layer of baked sculpey, which is then carved and shaved to fit.

My next step is to draw out the design which will be etched into it.

More circle guides to get my pattern symmetrical.

Design drawn!  Time to etch!

Here is my primary tool.  This 'V' shaped carving tool is great.  You do have to be very careful when pressing this tool into your sculpey, since you do not want the cuts to be too deep.  It is better to make a few passes with the carving tool than to make one bad cut, from which there is no return!

For the finer elements, and for the small weathered cracks, I use a scribing tool that Cathy pioneered.  Thank goodness she discovered this technique, as it has been as much of an aggravation/time saver as the rocks were for the previous two base sets!  Yea Cathy!

This view lets you see all that work a bit better.  Ideally, you have deeper cracks and shallower cracks.  This creates more interesting details.

Sand and gravel added, along with a broken bit of marble.

More to come!

Let it snow! Finishing the next apoxy sculpt rock base

Once I had all of my rock textures pressed into the apoxy sculpt, I let that set up for a bit.  I wanted some rocks that would be big enough to stick up through the snow piles, so I found the biggest ones I could and set them into the oxide paste.

I used a little more oxide paste to put down a foundation layer for the flex paste, which has a tendencey to skid across smoother surfaces.

Time for the Flex Paste!

I watered down the flex paste a little to get a better flow on the brush.

It is important to apply it as smoothly as possible, since it is supposed to be snow, after all!  Watering down a bigger flat brush can help to smooth out the top of the snow piles.

While the flex paste was still wet, I put some snow flock on top.  Normally, this goes on top of my painted snow bases.  However, since these were being cast for production, nobody is going to know about that trick!  So, this will get that flaky snow texture for the casts.

I also applied the flock to the snow along the bottom of the base.

Finished!

Rock on! Using more rocks to make rocks....

Hey folks, it's way early in the morning, or afternoon depending on where you live, so that means it must be time to have more fun with rocks!  This next base has a slate texture to the rocks.  As you might have guessed, we are going to start with actual pieces of slate...

These will be pressed into the apoxy sculpt.  Just like the previous base insert, I used some tin foil to fill in this big chunk of rock, cutting down on the amount of apoxy sculpt.

Wrap the apoxy sculpt around the tin foil, put some water on it so the rocks don't stick...

And press some rocks to create the texture!!!

That first rock was a 'platform' for this next rock, so we are back to wrapping tin foil with the apoxy sculpt again.

Almost completely wrapped...

Yea!  Ready to press some texture.

The rock has been 'texturized', and we will carry on to the next step.

That next step is to create some snow piles, so that this base matches the original set.

Stay tuned!!

Looking into the Crystal Ball... the conclusion

Today was about the most frenetic day I can remember, and that is saying something.  Both of us on the phone at the same time trying to figure out a path to survival, crazy journeys, bizarre endings, twists and turns everywhere.  And that was all before 2 PM!

Anyway, I can finally get around to finishing off the post on the crystal rock base.  As you saw in the last post, wrapping the apoxy sculpt around the tin foil saved on time, material, and made things lighter.

You can see what effect pressing the rocks into the wet clay (literally in this case, as the water prevents the rocks from sticking to the clay!) can have.  I try to use one rock in my left hand to "hold" the thing in place while pressing more texture with the rock in my right hand .  This prevents fingerprints, and gives you more rock texture with each press.

By the way, it is best to let the clay set up for a few minutes before pressing, so that it won't slide around or smush too easily.

The sharper and pointer ends of the rocks are great for getting into crevasses like this...

You can even create channels and cracks if the rock is pointy enough.  

Now you will find out why the crystals were carved first!  Since the clay is still soft, all you have to do is press them into the clay!

Try to create patterns that contain one big crystal surrounded by smaller and smaller ones.  It is also best to work in odd numbers.  One big crystal, two smaller ones nearby.  Avoid symmetrical placements like two right next to 2 similar sized crystals, etc.

I am still trying to lave empty space for the miniature to stand...

Here are some views of all the crystals in place.

Then it is time to break out the handy Oxide Paste and gravel!

Finished!

More rocky bases to come!!  Stay tuned...

Between a rock and a hard place: using real rocks for sculpting...

It's gonna be a crazy day today, so bear with me.  I have a two part post here showing how I use real rocks to get rock texture.  I started out years ago trying to use tools to create various rock textures.  This was time consuming and not always the result I wanted.  

Fortunately, Cathy came up with the idea of pressing real rocks into unbaked sculpey to get a wide variety of textures... slate, lava, etc.  All we had to do was find the type of rock that we needed to create!  We began collecting "stray" landscaping rocks that would invariably find their way out onto the sidewalk.

These were collected over the years as we walked the dog around the neighborhood.  The stones above will  be used with some apoxy sculpt to create a rock and crystal base.  The tin foil will be explained later...

To make the crystals, I use a very sharp, pristine exacto blade, and slice away at chunks of baked sculpey.  This is done to make the facets.  There will be times where they crack or break in an unexpected place, so be prepared.

I cut large and small pieces...

In this process, those crystals had to be ready in advance.  The rocks you see here...

Were used to create the textures you see here...

I am working on another 80 mm insert here, so this thing is pretty big.  To use less clay and provide some structural support, I fashioned pieces of tin foil into a rough shape.  This will allow me to wrap the apoxy sculpt around it like this...

Here I am placing my sheets of clay around the tin foil pieces.  It's OK if there are irregularities, since these are rocks, after all!

The first piece is completely covered and attached to the insert.  Now the next piece is attached and more clay wrapped around that one.

Almost there.  I am trying to be aware of the final shape.  I am trying to balance a place for the big figure to stand, but also a few 'levels' of rocks...

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion tomorrow!