paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Nov 29, 2013 23:44:39 GMT
Hello dmscraft community ... first of all I want to say thank you, DMScotty, for igniting a spark in my digitally numbed head when I stumbled over your YT-vids a few days ago by accident ... googling for 'battlemat' or something. I knew instantly, that I want to have some glue and paint on my fingers - leaving the Wacom alone for some time. So, I have started an experiment today. I slapped some thin layer of cheap plaster on 16x10 inch cardboard (my chosen size of 'modularized' dungeon/terrain tiles/boards/mats). Beside that, my cardboard is strictly cut&glued the dmscotty-way, just convenient stripes of 'wall borders', all flat, several halls/hallways ready-made per 16x10. The plaster turned out to be a nice special effect gimmick. You can get all the dents, scratches, cracks you want - meandering aimlessly with a spoon or knife over the half-wet surface. I try to make some tiles for an Ancient Cave Temple, so I need the rocky/withered look. Right now, the test tiles are somewhat BENDING due to the amount of water (as expected), but let's see, if some heavy stuff could help over night ... . Still too early for some pics here, but I plan to document how it turns out. I just wanna say, that I prefer 'natural' material to work with - like cardboard, wood and cork. I am aware of Styrodur/Styropor (nice modelling possible), but imagine some limitations of colors/sprays, if used, also some overall 'glossiness', which I dislike. Man, was I happy today! Greetings, paladin
|
|
mrbulow
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 124
|
Post by mrbulow on Nov 29, 2013 23:53:07 GMT
Welcome aboard, I am excited to see the finished result
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Nov 30, 2013 0:10:23 GMT
Thank you, mrbulow - I am excited too ... . If it curls up over night, I will sit on it tomorrow, the more cracks the better ... .
|
|
|
Post by grym247 on Nov 30, 2013 1:25:18 GMT
Indeed Welcome to the Community , cant wait to see the pics
|
|
|
Post by drathirbarrastudios on Nov 30, 2013 1:36:41 GMT
Welcome paladin! Cant wait to see your finished tiles!
|
|
|
Post by wilmanric on Nov 30, 2013 3:29:14 GMT
Right now, the test tiles are somewhat BENDING due to the amount of water (as expected), but let's see, if some heavy stuff could help over night ... . Maybe, just maybe, if you glue TWO sheets of cardboard together with the "grain" on the two sheets cross-wise against each other, you might see less bending. I've been successful in strengthening cardboard that way. YMMV. Looking forward to seeing your finished work!
|
|
|
Post by DMScotty on Nov 30, 2013 6:35:04 GMT
Great to have you.
|
|
Luciano
Cardboard Collector
Live each day with joy! Because every day is a good day!
Posts: 42
|
Post by Luciano on Nov 30, 2013 13:42:38 GMT
Hello Paladin, welcome! As Mrbulow, would love to see that! :-)
|
|
|
Post by thedmg on Nov 30, 2013 13:45:21 GMT
Double layer cardboard all the way. You can insert kebab skewers into the bottom layer to prevent the bending, plus having the second layer adds strength and durability.
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Dec 3, 2013 0:08:20 GMT
Sorry, guys, for my belated reaction to your kind support, I was offline the last days (very rare in my case, indeed!), because of ... CRAFTING . Yup, mrbulow, grym, drathir and Luciano, I will upload the first pics very soon ... good feeling. wilmanric and thedmg (oh, I know some of your awesome stuff on YT, too ... ), thank you for your advice on double-layered cardboard. Yes, my first test-piece is double-layered with somewhat thicker plaster smeared on, it isn't bending at all, but too small for any indication of behavior of a larger piece. Here in Germany I get high-quality special cardboard for book cover at the artist's shopping center (1 to 3 mm thick, very stiff and absolutely flat in (nearly) all situations of mistreatment (water). Price is between 2,30 to 5,- US-Dollar/qm - so it would be affordable. But my testtiles are of package/paper box-quality for now ... I thought of using wood sticks to strengthen and straighten the back of single-sided cardboard, anyhow ... . The strange thing is, that during the process of plaster hardening and painting, the larger tiles started to relax/rebend ... maybe due to a little secret of plaster treatment, I will share with you ... . So, I will prepare the pics right now. Greetings and thank you all, paladin
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Dec 3, 2013 2:10:29 GMT
So, I started with 10x16-inch-tiles the dmscotty-way ... just covered with a very thin layer of cheap Plaster of Paris, all messed up. As you will know, cheap plaster is very chalky and brittle. It started to flake a bit, but not in an alarming amount. Bending of the single-layered cardboard is acceptable (to me). The mini is a 28 mm-scale Halfling, the cheap Toy Spider should be Large in D&D-terms. So you have a reference scale. Not much space on a 10x16 tile, but they're easy to stack away and transport, I guess. I plan to lay out several of them next to each other, building the dungeon on the fly. The walls are all CLOSED by default, I will mark some openings/archways/doors by counters or full 3D models (made of Styropor perhaps).
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Dec 3, 2013 2:13:16 GMT
A bit closer ...
|
|
|
Post by thedmg on Dec 3, 2013 2:29:06 GMT
The cardboard bends usually when there is contraction on the top which pulls the edges towards each other. This is usually caused by wet paint drying, but in this case could be plaster drying. When cardboard gets wet it also usually warps as well, this wetting, warping and drying causes the bend.
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Dec 3, 2013 2:29:57 GMT
Here you can see the bending ... . And for the trick of treating cheap plaster the right way: add MILK to it (yes, sometimes, life is so easy). I wanted to cover the plaster with acrylic spray (not very healthy) to avoid the flaking/chipping, but read up some useful information of old Italian masters of producing and polishing Plaster Marble. They used glue-water, linseed oil or milk to make the plaster very hard and polishable like marble, yes, indeed. Linseed oil is enhancing the coloring and is for a shiny effect, but milk could be used for a very flexible modelling mass, which is slow-drying and very hard at the end. I will test this as a cheap alternative to expensive special plasters like Hydrostone or Plastalin Super (which I use). So I just painted the tile with (low-fat) milk - and voila: the brittleness and chalkyness is gone. Strange, isn't it? Some chemical stuff must be going on here ... those old masters.
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Dec 3, 2013 2:40:10 GMT
Yup, dmg, both water and plaster in this case. Putting some weight on it helps a bit ... or using more durable (but costly) material. On with the show ... I still have to high-lighten the painted tiles, so no pics of those right now, but as you can see in the background above, I started something else to put on top of a terrain tile:
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Dec 3, 2013 2:46:00 GMT
This is just a package Styropor piece with some useful dents and a very nice hole in it - I need a Temple of Arachne with some Elder Gods and Spider Sphinxes at the entrance ... so, I cut away ...
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Dec 3, 2013 2:51:28 GMT
I just have fallen in love with Styropor, as the stone effect is very cheap and convincing to achieve ... some acrylic paint with dish soap to make it stick ... and I get this:
|
|
paladin
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
|
Post by paladin on Dec 3, 2013 2:55:40 GMT
And for the Money Shot ... that's all for now, folks! I will continue with the tiles and some plaster experiments.
|
|
|
Post by drathirbarrastudios on Dec 3, 2013 14:10:21 GMT
Here you can see the bending ... . And for the trick of treating cheap plaster the right way: add MILK to it (yes, sometimes, life is so easy). I wanted to cover the plaster with acrylic spray (not very healthy) to avoid the flaking/chipping, but read up some useful information of old Italian masters of producing and polishing Plaster Marble. They used glue-water, linseed oil or milk to make the plaster very hard and polishable like marble, yes, indeed. Linseed oil is enhancing the coloring and is for a shiny effect, but milk could be used for a very flexible modelling mass, which is slow-drying and very hard at the end. I will test this as a cheap alternative to expensive special plasters like Hydrostone or Plastalin Super (which I use). So I just painted the tile with (low-fat) milk - and voila: the brittleness and chalkyness is gone. Strange, isn't it? Some chemical stuff must be going on here ... those old masters. That is a very cool idea. I have never heard of using *anything* that could make the plaster stronger. Thank you for sharing that!
|
|
|
Post by drathirbarrastudios on Dec 3, 2013 14:12:16 GMT
I just have fallen in love with Styropor, as the stone effect is very cheap and convincing to achieve ... some acrylic paint with dish soap to make it stick ... and I get this: Dish soap? Why add dish soap to the paint? I have had acrylic stick well to most of the foam pieces I have painted so I iz very curious.
|
|