I have been using ruined city scape basing for a few armies now, but decided that I should do some experiments to see if I could get another couple of basing styles down. I decided to go for a rocky desert with dead and dried plants. I started the usual way, with rocks and sand, and a few bits from the bits box, and then tested out my new bootstrap leather P3 paint. The moment I dipped my brush in the paint I knew I liked it. It has a very fine consistency and is very smooth. After over-brushing the brown onto the base I dry brushed some foundation yellow followed by bleached bone. It was at this point that I mixed 50/50 water elmers glue and gave some gale force 9 static grass a try. It turned out ok, but lacking any way to easily create a magnetic field, I had to deal with having clumps of grass. Seeing as how I can't stop when I am ahead, I added some forge world rust and dirt pigments to the base. When I sprayed on the dull coat the pigment radically changed what it looked like, and produced what you see in the final photo. These bases are not bad, and can be produce in mass quantities if needed, but they don't thrill me. I might try adding some snow and water effects to them.
I think they look really good. An easy way to avoid the clumpy grass is to use a baby powder bottle. Put your static grass in it and then 'blow' it out of the bottle by squeezing it. There will be a small mess, but it's worth it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice, I will have to give this a try. I need a baby powder bottle first though!
ReplyDeleteI was shown how to apply static grass by putting white glue down and then adding a huge clump of static grass to it... like a whole pinchfull of the stuff. Then press it down on the grass on top of the glue for a couple seconds. Then flip the base over, tap the bottom to break the loose stuff off and then blow on it gently to get the rest of the loose stuff off. What remains should be standing.
ReplyDeleteLike Ron said, that method is the easiest way that I've found to do it, the grass stands up nicely too. Too bad about the varnish messing up your finish, I might just add this to my list of reasons to stay away from the stuff :P
ReplyDeleteI've tried both the above methods, and Oni's seems to work better for me. Technically I didn't use a baby powder bottle, but a "static grass applicator" from thewarstore.com (but technically it's the same thing).
ReplyDeleteThe key is just to aggitate the grass so it stands up due to static electricity. I lined the exit-hole of my applicator with magnets for a little extra punch (though I'm not sure that it helps--it certainly doesn't hurt).
I s'pose if you put some in a balloon, blew a little air into it, and then forced it out onto the model, it would achieve the same effect, but then again, you might just get a lung full of static grass...