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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 27, 2013 19:28:37 GMT
I apologize for starting a new thread, but I figured that since this is more of a demonstration than my first post, I would start a new thread with a more meaningful title. Anyway, some folks asked me to show details of how I made my coin pile and skull pile. Here's how I did it: First, the materials. For this effort I use standard Hobby Lobby modeling clay. Not the oven-baked clay like Sculpey, nor the air-drying clay for making sculptures or pottery. Just the regular clay that takes forever to dry out. The clay I am using has probably been in use over a year and still works fine. Step 1: Roll out your clay. (The miniature is to provide a sense of scale) Step 2: Make your molds. (This first image shows me simply using my thumb to create a depression which is how the coin pile and the skull pile will be started). Step 2a: This image shows all the “molds” pressed into the clay. In each case I’ve shown what I used to make the mold next to each one. For the coin pile I used three different sized wooden dowels, for the skull pile I just used one skull on a stick (I couldn’t find the ones I made, so this is from a set of miniatures I painted a long time ago), for the coffin lid I used an unpainted miniature and for the lion-head shield I used a small toy lion. All I did was carefully press each item down until I felt it was good to go. For the coin and skull piles that meant a lot of individual pressing into the clay to create the effect of a pile. Step 3: Pour the plaster. I use “Hydrostone” which is a super hard plaster that is much sturdier than regular plaster of paris. I also mixed up enough to cast a couple of Hirst Arts molds at the same time so I got a bunch of blocks out of this too. Step 4: Demold the cast items. I just popped them out. It has been too long since my last casting due to buying a new house and moving, so I misjudged the cure time and you can see a crack in the coffin lid where it broke as I demolded it. No big deal, a bit of glue and it probably adds to the actual atmosphere of the item. Step 5: Paint the items. I did a pretty simple black primer, then did a couple of layers of wet and then drybrushing. On the coin pile I used some glitter. The coin pile looks better than the photo, but it didn’t turn out as good as I wanted. Flash photos sometimes pick up certain pigments better than others, and in this case the black paint I used as a wash overwhelmed the gold and silver paint making it look all gray. In real life it looks gold and silver, with glitters. Trust me. Regardless, I think they came out OK. Believe me, it took me a LOT longer to take the photos, edit them and create this post than it took to make this stuff. And as I said, I do this frequently when I'm casting Hirst blocks anyway, so it's just using up plaster that would otherwise get wasted and takes virtually no time at all.
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Post by DMScotty on Nov 27, 2013 20:29:30 GMT
Thanks for sharing this. The oil based clays never dry out and are good for this technique.
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mrbulow
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Post by mrbulow on Nov 28, 2013 17:11:00 GMT
Now I totally got it…. THANK you Very very much… I can easily make this with the kids at work ! Ohhh good can't wait too show them
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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 28, 2013 17:35:36 GMT
The actual brand name for the clay I am using is "Plastalina" which is advertised as "never hardening". I have an unopened pack with a Hobby Lobby price sticker showing $3.57 for a pound of clay. The amount of clay I used in the photo above is about a pound. You can see that it has bits of plaster in it from previous uses, but that rarely makes any difference in it's use. Every now and then I'll pick out some of the junk the clay picks up. I should probably be more careful.
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Post by gallant on Nov 28, 2013 19:32:55 GMT
Ooh, I want to make coffins like that, thanks for sharing!
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Post by drathirbarrastudios on Nov 28, 2013 19:57:48 GMT
Oh wow what a very cool technique! I cant wait to try this. I am totally in love with the lions head. Reminds me of mounted taxidermy.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 28, 2013 20:05:44 GMT
Gallant, if you wanted to, you could quickly make a whole bunch of coffins this way. My only caution is that even hard plasters like Hydrostone are still pretty fragile, so you would have to take care in using and storing them.
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Post by gallant on Nov 29, 2013 22:47:15 GMT
Gallant, if you wanted to, you could quickly make a whole bunch of coffins this way. My only caution is that even hard plasters like Hydrostone are still pretty fragile, so you would have to take care in using and storing them. Thanks for the tip, luckily we always play at my house so at least I don't need to pack them in bags. I will see if I can find suitable clay and plaster
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robagd
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Post by robagd on Dec 2, 2013 18:25:38 GMT
Is this the plaster you are using ? plaster.com/HYDROSTONE.html So how much do you figure you used making those four items ? Just wanted to get an idea of consumption. Thanks -Robert
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Post by adamantinedragon on Dec 3, 2013 1:12:38 GMT
Is this the plaster you are using ? plaster.com/HYDROSTONE.html So how much do you figure you used making those four items ? Just wanted to get an idea of consumption. Thanks -Robert Robert, what I get is called "Hydrostone" but I buy it in 50 lb bags, so I cant be certain it's the same stuff, but I'd say it's a very high probability that it is. How much did I use for those four items? A negligible amount. I suppose I could say something like "an ounce or so" but I really don't know because I didn't measure it. I made my normal cup size for pouring two-three Hirst Arts molds and used a tiny fraction to fill the clay molds at the same time. I'd say there's as much plaster in these four items as in six or seven Hirst blocks, or maybe 1/3 of a Hirst Arts mold. But even that sounds like more than I actually used. I don't think it would even be worth mixing up hydrostone just to get enough to make these four items. And I probably wasted nearly the same amount scraping the extra off the molds.
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robagd
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Post by robagd on Dec 3, 2013 5:53:59 GMT
WOW, 50# bag ? You must be looking to cast a crap ton of stuff....
What the heck are you building ?
-R
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Post by adamantinedragon on Dec 3, 2013 6:20:51 GMT
WOW, 50# bag ? You must be looking to cast a crap ton of stuff.... What the heck are you building ? -R i'm on my third bag of Hydrostone. So I've used more than 100 pounds of the stuff. Considering that adding water increases the weight, I've probably got 200 pounds of plaster I've cast so far. So, what am I building? Not as much as I'd like. Right now I'd say I'm casting a lot of blocks and putting them in bins. For a while I was casting a few molds every day, which meant I was filling bins right and left. I've got a dozen of these 12x12x2.5 inch drawers that I had pretty much filled up with blocks. I guess I've got about two square feet of plaster I've cast. Not all of it is Hirst blocks though, a good bit is custom molds I've made, and a significant fraction is organic terrain stuff like hills or random rock walls and stuff. The Hirst blocks I've cast are mostly still in the bins I'm afraid. I have built a couple of towers, a bridge, a cavern, a couple of rooms and some huts. But most of my blocks have been turned into modular dungeon elements that I use to lay out dungeons. I've got two sets of modular elements, one fieldstone and one cut stone. The cut stone I use as dwarven or "Imperial" architecture and the fieldstone I use as dungeons or rural architecture. I need to get off my lazy behind and build stuff out of the pounds and pounds of blocks I've cast but haven't built anything with. I havent bought any Hydrostone in about a year I've got so many blocks unused right now. But after building my dice tower last week, I was recasting blocks to replace the ones I used. Go figure.
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Post by tauster on Dec 3, 2013 9:16:22 GMT
WOW, 50# bag ? You must be looking to cast a crap ton of stuff.... What the heck are you building ? -R i'm on my third bag of Hydrostone. So I've used more than 100 pounds of the stuff. Considering that adding water increases the weight, I've probably got 200 pounds of plaster I've cast so far. So, what am I building? Not as much as I'd like. Right now I'd say I'm casting a lot of blocks and putting them in bins. For a while I was casting a few molds every day, which meant I was filling bins right and left. I've got a dozen of these 12x12x2.5 inch drawers that I had pretty much filled up with blocks. I guess I've got about two square feet of plaster I've cast. Not all of it is Hirst blocks though, a good bit is custom molds I've made, and a significant fraction is organic terrain stuff like hills or random rock walls and stuff. The Hirst blocks I've cast are mostly still in the bins I'm afraid. I have built a couple of towers, a bridge, a cavern, a couple of rooms and some huts. But most of my blocks have been turned into modular dungeon elements that I use to lay out dungeons. I've got two sets of modular elements, one fieldstone and one cut stone. The cut stone I use as dwarven or "Imperial" architecture and the fieldstone I use as dungeons or rural architecture. I need to get off my lazy behind and build stuff out of the pounds and pounds of blocks I've cast but haven't built anything with. I havent bought any Hydrostone in about a year I've got so many blocks unused right now. But after building my dice tower last week, I was recasting blocks to replace the ones I used. Go figure. 200 pounds?!? I would love to see all the results of that casting in one pic!
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robagd
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Post by robagd on Dec 3, 2013 15:11:03 GMT
I was looking at some of those molds, and while it is something I would like to tinker with the $ investment for the amount of use would me minimal. I am currently working on a HUGE Dwarven campaign using the Dragon Lance Thorbardin maps. Given the size I was looking at maybe building the map tiles in 2d with a few props for flavor. But I really like 3d doors and floor props when I can manage it. Did you post up your dice tower? I have been kicking around about making one for the guys to use. I personally use an android app for my dice rolls ( Dice Bag its actually pretty good ). Love to see what you put together with all these cast blocks -R
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rifken
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Post by rifken on Dec 3, 2013 19:31:58 GMT
So where do I find this Hydrostone? or will just about any plaster work? And how do I convince my wife I need a 50lb bag?
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rifken
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Post by rifken on Dec 3, 2013 19:33:47 GMT
And my mind is seeing all the little things I dont like crafting....chairs.....barrels.....chairs
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Post by onethatwas on Dec 3, 2013 20:36:22 GMT
As I don't work with Plaster I can't help with A. B) You can always pull the "But honey..." Strategy.
"But Honey, I can use the plaster to do crafts with the kids. It's educational."
"But honey, I was getting it to make something special for your birthday/x-mas/our anniversary."
"But honey, I need to have a hobby to keep my stress levels down. You know how stressed I get at work, and my doctor says I should watch my blood pressure."
OR you could just get it and if she asks, tell her you got it to do awesome crafting. Sometimes Honesty is the best policy.
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Post by tauster on Dec 3, 2013 21:08:25 GMT
So where do I find this Hydrostone? or will just about any plaster work? And how do I convince my wife I need a 50lb bag? Dunno if that helps, but here's what happened to me recently: My wife got a book full of ideas and instructions for DIY toys you can craft for your kids out of either junk or cheap crafting materials. Her mother had already used that book to craft stuff for her and her brother, so it has some family history. She chose to craft an octopus made of a cotton wool ball for the main body and pipecleaners for the tentacles, plus a bead at the end of each tentacle, glued together with PVA glue. She showed it to me and after one glance at the list of required materials I said without missing a beat "I have all that. Give me a minut to search for that stuff. Oh, and I also have some moving eyes we can glue to the head." She only looked at me and grinned without a word... Of course it took me longer than a minute to find all that stuff: Not because I have too much crafting stuff but because I have too little space. After I found everything, the room looke like this - and the rest of the room looked the same: full of piled and/or opened boxes, filled with crafting materials. In the past I had some spirited discussions with my wife in the past about my collection of junk crafting materials taking up too much space (and of course she's right to a considerable extent!), but when you can prove that the rest of the family does profit from your craft skills and junk collection from time to time, chances are good that you can buy that 50 lb bag of plaster.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Dec 4, 2013 1:21:59 GMT
"Hi, my name is Adamantine Dragon and I'm a plasterholic..." They warn you about this on the Hirst website. If you are thinking about following an impulse to get into caster plasting, be warned, they aren't kidding. What does 200 pounds of cast plaster look like? It looks like a four foot high tower of plastic drawers full of unpainted, unglued blocks stacked alongside a half dozen shoebox sized plastic containers with miscellaneous plaster items and a shelf full of plaster modules for making dungeons. Rifkin, there is a mold full of things like chairs, beds, desks and other miscellaneous items. It's called the Tavern Accessory mold or something like that. It's not the mold I would start casting with though. I do need to get off my behind and make stuff out of all these blocks. I'm constantly on the verge of a building bonanza, and then real life gets in the way. Oh, the dice tower looks like this:
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robagd
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Post by robagd on Dec 4, 2013 4:14:33 GMT
Ok that tower kicks ass !! I was look at the Common Inn Accessories Mold #58, the Cavern Accessory Mold #85 and Unique Inn Accessories Mold #59 I could see myself going way down that rabbit hole if I had the $ to drop on them all. BTW cast up my first coin piles tonight, using the clay and some cheap plaster from Hobby Lobby
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