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!

The last of the Ushabtis... The road to Adepticon begins again.

Well, on a sad day in Wappelville, we have some Tomb Kings to reflect on one positive thing.  The Adepticon Warhammer Fantasy Championships have been expanded to 2400 points, which has allowed me to try and squeeze in some of the more interesting converted and scratch sculpted pieces into my army.

In fact, the Ushabti would be the only part of the army that is not scratch sculpted or massively converted.

I am tempted to include them, since they do look nice, and they have a specific place on my display board.  Fortunately, the expanded points allow me to get both my scratch sculpted Colossus with Great Bow and Heirotitan into the list.  This is very important, for as all of you who followed the Tomb Kings project know, there are two very specific spots on the army board for both of those big guys!

To all the newcomers who may not be familiar with the Great saga of the Tainted Pharaoh, you can look under the heading Warhammer Fantasy Tomb Kings, and you will see nearly 80 posts that cover not just the building and painting of the army, but also the construction of the display board and even the stories and fiction behind it!

So, if all this is news to you, I suggest you peruse all that and have some fun!  It is by far my most elaborate project to date...

Alas poor Yorrick...another Incubus conversion for Adepticon

Today we have one more Incubus!  This time it is all GW bits and plasticard.  You can see the parts laid out here.  I had to make a back pole/thing, since I am running out of the GW ones.  I made it the same way as the Klaive.

Most parts attached.  I didn't want to have to sculpt horns on the helmet for this one, so I took various Kabal weapon blades and filed them down to fit on the back of the collar and on the helmet.  The Klaive has been attached to a gun piece that was cut away.  You can see the pin hole drilled into the Wyche arm that I used...

OK, the Klaive is attached, and trophy bits onto the back pole that I carved from the plasticard.

I sculpted a tuft of hair to fill in a gap between the metal skull and the Space Marine helmet, and another little piece of string to tie all that together.

One more to go for this unit to be Adepticon ready!  Yea!