8 posts tagged “faux”
I've been working on these off and on for a while. I wanted some decorative little founts to toss around the dungeon (not literally toss but scatter decoratively) and I had some casts from the oh-so-wonderful Hirst Arts Cavern Accessories Mold so I decided to have a little fun. Of course, this was after I decided on my 'no new projects' way of doing things. Like anyone thought that was going to happen.
This shows the fountain and the 'water' I used. I tried something different this time. Instead of using resin I tinted gloss varnish and used that to put in a layer of water. As you can see, all the varnish went to the edges of the piece. Not quite what I had in mind. I still used 5 minute epoxy for the water from the spout but didn't really do a froth where it hit.
Backstory. I have time to think whilst making and painting these things. And that was a lot of marble to paint. I actually made four of these founts so it was a lot of assembly line work. Rastl doesn't like assembly line work.
I wasn't being particularly careful on painting the marble so it isn't the best quality. And the lion heads all have some air bubbles. Without the stippling the alabaster is certainly second rate. So here's my explanation for all that.
The contractors building the dungeon must get pieces in the job lots that just aren't up to the standards needed in the BBEG's lair. But they already paid for it and had it hauled down to the job site. So rather than waste it they make up things that will be useful in various 'staff' areas of the dungeon and not really seen all the time by the guy who pays the bills. Now, you would think that the contractors would be doing their very best not to cheese off the BBEG but there's a pretty strong dungeon builder's contractor's union and there are very steep penalties for turning the contractors into undead (sub-contractors need to work out their own arrangements) so it's just easier all around for the less-than-perfect pieces to go into the less visible areas of the dungeon.
And if you're wondering, acrylic paint really doesn't have fumes so I don't have that excuse for what I just wrote.
Note - BBEG is the abbreviation for Big Bad Evil Guy. Essentially the reason for most quests and the fella you find in the center of the dungeon doing bad guy things.
Yes, after much angsting the fountain has been completed. Overall I'm quite pleased and will have some pictures later with it combined with my modular dungeon. But for now, behold it in all its glory!
There's a statue in the middle. Some day I'll be able to take a picture that shows it.
Edit - detail shot that was requested on one of the forums so I thought I would add it here too.
Rather than edit the last post I'll just put them in a new one. Makes it look like I've been doing more work than I actually have.
Well, the fountain is kind of back where it was before I broke it. The difference is that now it has the red granite detailing it didn't have prior to my test of epoxy strength. There's no water effect yet since I want to varnish it prior to putting that in.
I also moved the part with the fountain heads around so they are going to be spewing water in the widest part of the base, like they should have been in the first place. I know there's a couple of other things that are different from the directions but this is my fountain and I like it.
I'll try to get some closeups when the lighting is better.
The arena pieces are painted. I need to assemble a few of them (thanks to an overcharged cat) and then hit them with varnish. I still don't have an arena floor nor do I have all the pieces painted. These were the ones with the stone color on them, remember?
After finishing these I put them aside and started on the next unfinished project. I painted all the accent pieces on my fountain to look like red granite.
Here's a piccie of the base:
Sorry for the blur.
Again I used my buddy Abaroth's instructions and again I used a different color than he showed.
Next step will be re-assembly and varnish. Then I can put in the water effects and call it done. But since I'm at a halt varnishing I'll move on to the next project to be finished until such time as I can spray things.
Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch....
That's how this arena project is feeling. But it is getting done. Over the last two days I got the veins on the marble (with a little assistance from a tasty adult beverage) and the copper painted on. All that is left is the verdigris, the flames and the touchups.
Then I set them aside until the dogs aren't freezing to the lampposts and work on my fountain. (I'm waiting until it gets warmer and I can varnish them, if that wasn't clear from what I just said.)
I stopped by the hobby store and picked up a couple more bottles of craft paint. I got a rust-brown for the granite I'm going to paint and the color I plan on using on the second arena set.
I know I said I was going to use burgundy but I picked up a red metallic instead. I think that will stand out more against the black, which was becoming a concern of mine. And it's .. shiny!
When I said I have a 'boatload of unfinished projects' I wasn't quite with it enough to actually detail some of those out.
The arena piece I'm showing is part of a number of them that are prepped. Prepped = fully assembled and with their grey stone paint. Technically they're done at this point. But I figured if they were meant to be decorative I would make them decorative, darn it.
My friend Abaroth has instructions for painting marble on his site here. Of course, I chose a color he didn't have detailed. I'm currently fascinated with using copper as my metal so I went with blue. (If it isn't immediately obvious to you why copper and blue are good together I recommend a quick read on color theory. Go ahead, I'll wait.) And now I'm completely in love with cobalt blue, which is the base color for my blue marble.
After I get these done I have a fountain that will be getting red granite accents, also based on Abaroth's instructions and also not a color he detailed. See a trend here? The fountain will then need to be varnished before I add the water effects. Varnishing after would dull the water.
Side note. I had already assembled the fountain when I saw that I had the fountain heads in the wrong place. I left it that way until I decided to see just how strong the epoxy bond was. Let's just say that I'll be using more epoxy to repair the breaks in the fountain.
After the fountain I'll be painting up a set of the arena pieces for a friend. We did a barter. He's not getting marble. But I am looking at doing the columns black with gold on the tops. The roof sections will be in burgundy and there will be burgundy runes on the columns to bring the color into the build more. Sounds more complicated than it is. I'll be doing one piece for his approval before painting them all like that.
Believe it or not there are projects after those. I have a Hirst Arts Dragon's Inn to finish. That one just needs a roof and some basing terrain.
The I have two small village shops that need to be completed - magic shop and a take-away food joint. The buildings are pretty much done but all the interiors need work. Lots of fiddly bits.
Lastly I have a huge dice roller that is being completed. It was started as a present for Mr. Rastl. He picked the design. And then 3/4 of the way to it being complete he decided it was too large. That was the third attempt at making a dice tower for him. Current popular opinion is to give him a bag of bricks and a bottle of glue. But I'll give it one more try.
Somewhere in here I need to complete a mini for a mini exchange. That's a double-blind where you put your name in the hat and the organizer picks who you paint for. And they also pick who paints for you. So you don't know who is painting the mini you're getting. I received my completed minis already and they're quite fun. More monsters to kill my players.
OK - I've been peer-pressured into putting together a blog. I truly hate the abbreviation 'blog' as it seems no one knows what it is an abbreviation of. For those interested, it is an abbreviation of 'web log'.
I'm so not a person to put every passing thought of mine into the public domain. I tried something similar with a personal web page and found it too tedious to maintain with any regularity. Perhaps having someone else host everything will be easier.
Currently I'm working on finishing up a boatload of half-finished projects. I made a promise to myself that I can't start anything new until I finish up the old stuff.
Right now I'm working on painting some faux marble on my Hirst Arts decorative gothic arena pieces. Here's a picture of what it looks like:
