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Post by tauster on May 23, 2015 12:04:12 GMT
The pasta I got recently finally received some crafting love. The initial idea was to use them as giant flowers, but then someone in my brain added tentacles to the open end...  ...and there's the flying squid swarm!  After that was done, I textured some bits of wire for the flower stems and glued them in the pods.  The final idea: How about linking both flowers and squids? I mean, they're going to be used mostly in the Underdark and Feydark, so the more weird the better. I simply added one tiny tentacle to one flower. The players might notice it or not, but at least they'll have been warned when they're attacked by flying squids in a field of large flowers.   [update] Didn't expect to have that much free time today, but sometimes you just get lucky...   
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Post by curufin on May 23, 2015 12:33:22 GMT
I really like those. I'll have to keep my eyes open for that type of pasta. I have never seen it either. I think it could make some great plant type stuff too.
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Post by tauster on May 23, 2015 13:22:28 GMT
I really like those. I'll have to keep my eyes open for that type of pasta. I have never seen it either. I think it could make some great plant type stuff too. Yep, they're great. If I had the stprage space (and time), I'd immediately sit down, make a giant tree and hang it with these pasta fruits.
Some progress on the casting front:  [update]  |
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Post by sgtslag on May 23, 2015 13:23:07 GMT
If you spray the textured rods with a lubricant (in the USA, Armor All is recommended by the Sculpey company -- works great!), they can be rolled across a sheet of Sculpey to give it texture -- then bake it (NOTE: run it under water before baking to rinse off the lubricant). I have done this using plastic texture sheets, for cake making. Worked well. Thanks for sharing! Cheers!
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Post by curufin on May 23, 2015 15:07:36 GMT
I really like those. I'll have to keep my eyes open for that type of pasta. I have never seen it either. I think it could make some great plant type stuff too. Yep, they're great. If I had the storage space (and time), I'd immediately sit down, make a giant tree and hang it with these pasta fruits. ....or the bat creature tree from 'The Beastmaster'   You really dole out the inspiration with all of your neat finds and builds. I love this thread.... sooooooo much awesomeness! |
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Post by tauster on May 23, 2015 15:12:25 GMT
Some aluminum foil mushrooms glued on:  |
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Post by dragon722 on May 23, 2015 16:11:52 GMT
I really like those. I'll have to keep my eyes open for that type of pasta. I have never seen it either. I think it could make some great plant type stuff too. If you find them here in the states let me (AND everyone interested) where you found them. I am most interested and have a few ideas already what to make with them |
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Post by SpielMeisterKev! on May 23, 2015 22:14:29 GMT
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Post by tauster on May 24, 2015 11:50:02 GMT
Flocked with coffee grounds...  ...and some with glue-soaked pencil shavings. This is the first time I try Scotty's method, can't wait how it looks painted up!  |
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Post by tauster on May 24, 2015 12:23:25 GMT
Just found a great solution for modular fly stands that doesn't use magnets:
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Post by tauster on May 24, 2015 12:31:02 GMT
If you spray the textured rods with a lubricant (in the USA, Armor All is recommended by the Sculpey company -- works great!), they can be rolled across a sheet of Sculpey to give it texture -- then bake it (NOTE: run it under water before baking to rinse off the lubricant). I have done this using plastic texture sheets, for cake making. Worked well. Thanks for sharing! Cheers! Just tried out a different idea: Foamcore.   Additional texture with a piece of bark and an old handbrush  It seems to work absolutely great. I'll soak this in whiteglue to harden it up, then make a little test-paint. My gut tells me that this is so vastly easier than texturising clay, greenstuff or milliput that I'm tempted to declare the method a gamechanger. But I'll save the final verdict for when I'm done with experimenting - at the moment I've just started and have to take care that I'm not over-jeerful.  |
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Post by sgtslag on May 24, 2015 14:01:42 GMT
What are the dimensions of those rods? They look like they're around an inch thick! I expected them to be much smaller. That makes their price easier to accept. Keep us posted: the foam core technique would be incredible if it pans out! Cheers!
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Post by tauster on May 24, 2015 17:27:03 GMT
diameter: 1 inch toal length: 14 cm length of the texturised part: 11.5 cm The whiteglue has dried, and the pieces are reasonably hard. Now on to painting. [update] Close-ups of the drybrushed pieces. lightly drybrushed with grey, then some highlights with white. I could have done a better job with the painting, but that's not the focus here. Textures from left to right (as indicated in this shot): - left: only rolled with the texture rolling pin - stippled with handbrush after rolling - rolling a piece of bark over it, then stippling with the handbrush - bark treatment only  I like the 2nd piece with the irregular round stones the most:  This technique has so much potential. You can texturise a foamcore strip of 11.5 cm width in literal seconds. If I'd try to sculpt that, it would take me a hundred times longer or more (can't even calculate the factor as this method is so fast). Going over it with some bark and/or an old brush gives you all lots of possibilities of weathering the surface. Sure, the depths are the same and that makes it look a bit artificial, but it should be enough to fool the casual eye - i.e. good enough for gaming. If you really want to add more depth, you can take a sculpting tool (or if you don't have one, simply whittle a popsicle stick until you're satisfied) and deepen the texture here and there. Now what's the next? The big question of how to use these sticks on a large area, i.e. with multiple legths of the stick... |
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Post by chiefsgtbradley on May 24, 2015 20:24:17 GMT
Thank you for sharing these sticks. The price is high, but the foamcore idea is great. Should work with polyurethane (i mean the purple, blue or green not-bubbly styrofoam), too.
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Post by tauster on May 25, 2015 15:25:09 GMT
DMScotty's pencil shaving technique seems to work fine so far. After the 2nd protective layer of whiteglue cured, it is really rock-hard. No chance of chipping on the game table or during storage.  Now on to painting... Basepainted the whole base dark brown 
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Post by tauster on May 25, 2015 15:35:49 GMT
Ever since I started making silicone molds, I wanted to try paper maché as casting material. However making this stuff involves making an unholy mess, and takes quite some time. So several months back I ebay'ed me an old but sturdy kitchen mixer for an apple and an egg to make paper pulp. What happened? You guessed it - I never came to use the thing, which was taking up space in my craft room and gathered dust. No more! Presenting... Tauster's pulp adventures What you need: All the stuff in the pic below, plus paper towels and whiteglue.  Fill the mixer with bits of ripped newspaper. Add a good amount of water and some whiteglue. Can't give you advice on how much of each as this depends on your mixer. Trial and error...  ...pulp!  Use a sieve to press most of the water out. Remember that while you press out the water (which you want), you'll also get rid of the glue (which you don't want). In short: You'll have to balance it out somehow. I don't have a clue (glue *g*) whether or not I did it right. Guess I'll see it when it dries...  Finished.  Some lessones learned. Mostly simple stuff that all should know anyways... - having water next to electricity (see pic 1) is an idea whose dumbness approaches epic levels. Nothing happened though, but it was dumb nontheless. - don't forget paper towels. When you did, don't start before you got them. - clean everything up in the end, especially the mixer. Even if it's cheap, you want to use it again later, so it pays to care for your tools. - when pressed into the mold, cover the pulp with some pure whiteglue. This stuff will soak in while it dries, giving it extra strenght. Or so I hope... [update] If you happen to have the same dubious luck of having a wet basement* that has to get dried, you can hasten the drying process with several thousand watt of power.  * ...the sad tale of municipa utility increasing the pressure in the city-wide water pipeline network while not upgrading connections all the in due time. Added bonus: Not realizing your pipeline is leaking just outside your house's bedplate for two years, until the mold starts growing and the water finally seeping through. Good luck trying to get these id**ts to acknowledge it's their fault...  But at least the household insurance pays... |
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Post by tauster on May 26, 2015 18:46:55 GMT
Finished two of the giant faerie flowers... For the greens I have found my favourite color scheme. If you remember my difficulties with finding colors, you might guess how much I'm beaming while typing this. This was more a lucky shot than anything else, as the first combination I tried worked. I have several other green colors at hand, but I like the looks of these three greens so much that I don't feel like deviating from that at the moment. Step by step: Heavy drybrush with dark green with V iridian Green, a cheap acrylic hobby color. The hotglue stems get this as a basecoat, but only a thin layer. Since this is a rather cheap color, it has less pigments in so the hotglue keeps some of it's tranparency. In front of a bright lightsource, the stems will glow on some pieces.  By the way: Here's a shot showing the difference between the fresh and dried color. Lesson learned: It really pays to know your colors beforehand! You have to be able to anticipate how it will look when dry, or you might have some bad surprises. In other words: Play around!  A slightly lighter drybrushing of Snot Green  And an even lighter drybrushing of Camo Green, a light olive green with a hint of yellow.  Now on to the flowers. Again, I was quite unsure what to do here. The general idea was to stay at one color and vary the brightnesses, going from light base color to dark highlights. My hope was that the bright colors peaking through create something of a glowing effect... Tentacle Pink and Space Wolves Grey (which is a very bright blue, if you ask me)  Take an old brush and carefully paint some stripes on, similar to drybrushing but with less pressure and more control. (Ice Blue and Warlock Purple)  Repeat with darker colors (Hawk Turquoise and Liche Purple). You see on the blue flower what happens if you paint with too much pressure: Ugly splotches...  Final step: Washes (Asurmen Blue and Leviathen Purple)  I'm mentioning the colors explicitly for two reasons: First so that others have a chance to replicate the color scheme if they like and second because the more I use miniature colors, the better I like them. For more than 2 years about I've scoffed at them as they are way more expensive and come in tiny pots compared to hobby colors. It seemed more like a well-done marketing scheme to me (especially with all those flowery names). However that was in a time when I painted almost exclusively terrain pieces and not miniatures - the few times I used my hobby colors on minis, the results were quite sub-optimal (adding to me being a total newbie on painting minis). I found a compromise in patiently hunting down online auctions where people sell whole boxes of colors, so I get the price down to about 1 € per pot, and then of not course using them on large terrain pieces. |
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Post by tauster on May 27, 2015 17:57:53 GMT
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Post by chiefsgtbradley on May 28, 2015 11:35:36 GMT
Bam! The paper maché idea is Booyaah-extraordinaire-awesome-amazing-great!!! I didn't think about that before.
Thanks again for your effort. You rock!
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Post by tauster on May 28, 2015 17:05:54 GMT
Bam! The paper maché idea is Booyaah-extraordinaire-awesome-amazing-great!!! I didn't think about that before. Thanks again for your effort. You rock! Well, to be honest, I'm not completely convinced with the outcome: It's quite a lot of much work, and I'm not sure the advantages are large enough for that. ...although I haven't painted the pieces yet, so it's too early to judge. The pieces have dried - they are leightweigt and mostly rock-hard. Compared to casting with hotglue, they are much more rough, so if you don't want smooth surfaces and want to go for an old, eroded/rusted/pitted look, paper maché is a way to go. If you want fine details, use hotglue or other materials instead. That can happen when the paper isn't completely pulped: The pieces can break apart when you take them out of the form. Which is probably easy to repair - just glue them together with hotglue (the best time is when the material is still wet/damp).  My 3 yr old boy has a toy lawn mover, who has some pretty cool-looking parts. I want to use that yellow part in my Dwarven Mine project. And that means I'm going for an old, eroded look.    |
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But at least the household insurance pays...
