Tauster's Toadstools, or: Mushroom Mayhem

[tauster]

Thanks for the praise, all! *blushes*
I have built a reputation among my players for having an unhealthy bias towards tentacled monsters, but so far they don't suspect that mushrooms can be a menace that's even greater. I only say 'hallucinogenic spores'!

Oh, they'll learn soon...
And after a few psychedelic encounters with talking rocks and plants, I'll let them tumble through a not-very-visible portal during a combat. They'll think it's just hallucinations again, but this time it's the Faydark! *hahahar*

---

I originally wanted to just glue the mushrooms to the rock bases I made just for that purpose, but then I spontaneously decided to go Magneto and use neodyms on the 'shrooms and scrap metal on the bases. It's more work, but it pays: now I have nine more magnetic general-purpose bases AND I can use the all mushrooms on all the other magnetized terrain.

Lessons learned:
1) Never be lazy when crafting.
2) Magetizing your stuff scales up in the long run.

Here's a WIP snapshot: Most of the mushrooms are painted up and magnetized, plus the bases that were already finished got scrap metal glued on and basepainted black. This will also serve as a way of finding out how to overpaint existing texture...

[fayegrimm]

Threw together a tile of the straw growths last night and you've officially inducted me into Mushroom Mayhem. Its a bit down the road but my players will for sure be facing a dungeon fraught with fungal frights. Now about getting some beech nut and lotus pods while living in a desert...

[tauster]

fayegrimm, can't wait to see yout fungus stuff!


I had some more time this evening, so I finished more than expected:
I painted the bases and I'm quite hapy with the camouflage effect. You still see the metal scraps, but it is easy to ignore / willingly overlook. They're not nice, but a nod towards usability.
As you can see, there's a lot of work waiting. And what's on the picture isn't all - I still have some more unpainted 'shroomy shuff waiting on the crafting table!




I was a bit surprised to find that all finished mushrooms fit on two large and one medium base, if crowded together:



Hmmm..
Its quite easy to get addicted to mushrooms.
Like tentacles.
Now what if you could combine the two themes?
*pleasant shudder*
 

[tauster]

Painted some more mushrooms today. What a surprise, eh?

Some got a complete repaint, others only minor modifications. I also included a few unpainted specimen that had gathered dust on my craft desk for months, or were buried under other unfinished projects. Which is nice, because I suddenly had more to paint!

At one time I had some mixed color left over, a greenish-brown-grey shade. Not enough to save it but too much to throw away, so I went lightly over the rock bases. I absolutely love result, as it looks like mold growing on the stones.





Still, for all that playing with colors, I still don't have a real good idea how to paint the mushroom monster (the one in front of the whiteglue). But I'm optimistic that some serendipity will finally come. Even if it's from a  spore-induced hallucination.

[tauster]

I finally tried to paint Mykonid Number One. I'm not particularly satisfied with how he looks right now, so I might repaint him. Or I just let him as is and make another one. Or a dozen...

Btw, why do I refer to it as 'him'?
Nevermind...


Since it lacked texture, I added some hotglue:




Basepainted dark grey, some dark green washing (not pictured), plus a bleached bone drybrushing to highlight the texture:




I had added some pits and holes on the cup because the sculpted bumbs alone looked a bit boring, then basepainted the holes first white and then in bleached bone (because the white didn't look good). After that I carefully painted the whole cap dark purple, some light purple and again the same dark purple over that. The idea was to get some color nuances. It didn't work out too well, so I added some greens and browns.

[tauster]

FINISHED!

As I said before, I used too many colors, so there's kind of a unintended camouflage effect that instead of bringing out the textures, hides them. Well, I'll try to do better next time.



All in all the project was fun, apart from sculpting the greenstuff (which was a bit frustrating). I'll probably use air dry clay next,but I probably will cover it up with hotglue again because I like those stringy texture - really looks like fungus mycelium!

[edit]
Miniwar October entry
[/edit]

[tauster]

Some dried funnel-shaped decoration mushrooms I bought last year but never used so far...



I think these funnel-shaped mushrooms are called 'Kalix', but I'm not sure. They are quite brittle, so I'd probably have to apply some hotglue to the underside.

[tauster]

Ever used bullen nails for mushrooms?



Hold it with pliers and stick the nail part in the nozzle of your gluegun. Press some glue out until you like the amount and drop the nail in cold water.



 


If you want, you can texturize the head, but most of these nails already have an interesting texture.

The ones you see here below took me about 10 minutes, preparation included.

´


You can also paint the caps first and add the hotglue texture later. The advantage is that they'll still have a pointy end, so you can easily stick them into a piece of wood or styrofoam for drying.

[grym247]

Awesome Work there dude

[tauster]

Another month, another shroom.

Crumple some aluminum foil (catfood tins, in this case) on a (magnetic) screwcap and hotglue it on.




for the stem I used a strong cardboard roll inside and surrounded it with a thinner one that I crumpled and covered with hotglue.




I glued a neodym on top of the stem (which I had sawed off at a slanted angle, so the mushroom looks a bit sunken).




And that's how it looks unpainted:




[update]

basepainted & drybrushed black




light brown washing

[tauster]

Finished... sort of.
The result is OK but not great, though I don't know what to do to improve the looks...

[sadric]

I guess the cap is to strong textured to "feel" like a mushroom. Since you have made it two parts with a magnetic connection it should be no problem to build something similiar with a smoother top texture. Maybe use toilet paper+wood glue as covering? Most mushrooms cap have a other color then the base.

Sigh, I like to have more time, I would like to make some Mushrooms myself. The bullen nails look cool, too.

[tauster]

Another lightbulb burned out ...and began it's new life as a giant mushroom.


A spackled bulb and some pebbles for weight




wrap aluminum foil around the lower bulb and the other stuff to form the body




add pipe cleaners for the tentacles and lots of hotglue for stringy, ropy texture




...and some stones for more interesting features...




...plus a few weirdly shaped hotglue dribbles.




Then prime the whole thing black.



Now we're getting somewhere: This is beginning to look scary!
Some day, I might do a Shadowdark version where I stop at this point (or possibly add just a glossy varnish layer, but no color other than black). This thing really looks like it lives in the shadows.


Drybrush it grey...




...and a second layer od drybrushing in green. I dusted very lightly over the smooth areas of the bulb to get a soft lighting / fluorescent effect.



...finished!

I like the 'green on rock' effect. Can you imagine a whole cavern overgrown with sickly green glowing fungus? I can!

[DnDPaladin]

nice work !
and when is the character figurine transform where a fungus took its body over ?

[bloodchoke]

Tauster, have you read the Southern Reach trilogy? Your green luminescent fungus reminded me of the tower. And vandermeer uses the terms flotsam and jetsam a few times.

Anyway, love the shrooms, just like all your work. Thanks for sharing your ideas and creations.

[tauster]

never heard of it, but you made me curious. SR goes straight to the top 20 of my reading list.

[michka]

This newest fungus is kinda beautiful in it's own way. Very cool.

[tauster]

Back to the roots mycelia, this time:

I bought a whole full of styrofoam shapes some one or two years back, including one large mushroom (12.5 x 13 cm, see here). And then I promptly shelfed the box away, never even touching the contents.

I had the mushroom on my craft desk for several months now, to avoid forgetting it completely (which I tend to do if I have something shelfed away). Now I finally kicked myself in the butt and ...wow, was this a fast and fun little project!

Guys, I can only recommend again to get this spackle stuff I posted about earlier. It's cheap, you don't need much and it makes beautiful textures in no time. Plus, it is flexible, so using it on cork mats is totally possible.

Long story short, here are the shots.

The styrofoam shape


Spackled. Wait until the stuff has dried a but and re-stipple it with a brush, or else the spackle will flow away and you end up with almost no texture at all. The later you stipple, i.e. the drier the spackle is, the sharper and 'pointier' the texture.




The dried spackle



Basepainted black and drybrushed grey. The first drybrush after the basepainting is still one of my favourite steps in every project. A just love it when the texture starts popping out!



2nd drybrush with Aqua (a kind of 'dark neon blue with a greenish tint')



3rd drybrush with a very light blue, but in only a few places


...finished!


I'm really happy with this one. So much that I consider getting another dozen of them, just to paint them up in different shades. Nothing better than a fungal forest glowing in all kinds of  psychedelic hues!

[Meph]

Nice, I need to see if I can find some of those around here. I have an idea after seeing your pics but I will need a bunch. Have a JoAnns and AC Moore here.

[tauster]

If you get 'em, I'm curious to see the end result!

If you don't find any, you can always look at ebay. If you want a lot, shipping costs become less important. Make sure to check what else the seller got - I have many cool stuff that way.