mikemiller1955
Lieutenant General
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2008
- Messages
- 17,490
I made this little diorama this weekend...it's 20"s wide x 15"s deep x 12"s tall... I found some really nice fast techniques to building this...
first...almost all the rocks are foam (blueboard) stacked and glued together...and then touched lightly with the tip of a wood burning tool...I found it melts the foam super fast and creates the most spectacular rock formations...you can build any rock formation you want...and really fast too...
second...then I coated the entire top and the walls with Plaster Cloth (which I bought from Treefrog)...pressing it into the cracks and around the shape of the rocks I melted...which was really fun and fast...it reminded of the stuff we used in school as a kid...I was amazed at the strength of it when dried...incredibly strong...
third...the painting technique was also totally different from anything I have done before...where I usually paint everything a base coat and wait for it to dry...then dry brush different colors into it...again waiting on drying time...this time I used a foam paint brush and just dabbed the watered down paint randomly onto the rocks...not having to wait for any drying...I used just 3 colors on the rocks in random splotches letting it all blur together...a tan...a brown and then a black wash for depth...I painted the entire diorama in less than 10 minutes and I love the blurred look...super fast...
lastly...instead of staining and applying polyurethane the frame I built...which is time consuming because of drying time...I just spray painted it with a glossy black enamel...
the mountain walls are made of foam and the exterior of them is covered with a textured stucco patch...all of this has made this diorama incredibly strong...
this was the fastest and most enjoyable project I have done in a while with what I think are nice results...I hope to sell it at the Texas Show...
first...almost all the rocks are foam (blueboard) stacked and glued together...and then touched lightly with the tip of a wood burning tool...I found it melts the foam super fast and creates the most spectacular rock formations...you can build any rock formation you want...and really fast too...
second...then I coated the entire top and the walls with Plaster Cloth (which I bought from Treefrog)...pressing it into the cracks and around the shape of the rocks I melted...which was really fun and fast...it reminded of the stuff we used in school as a kid...I was amazed at the strength of it when dried...incredibly strong...
third...the painting technique was also totally different from anything I have done before...where I usually paint everything a base coat and wait for it to dry...then dry brush different colors into it...again waiting on drying time...this time I used a foam paint brush and just dabbed the watered down paint randomly onto the rocks...not having to wait for any drying...I used just 3 colors on the rocks in random splotches letting it all blur together...a tan...a brown and then a black wash for depth...I painted the entire diorama in less than 10 minutes and I love the blurred look...super fast...
lastly...instead of staining and applying polyurethane the frame I built...which is time consuming because of drying time...I just spray painted it with a glossy black enamel...
the mountain walls are made of foam and the exterior of them is covered with a textured stucco patch...all of this has made this diorama incredibly strong...
this was the fastest and most enjoyable project I have done in a while with what I think are nice results...I hope to sell it at the Texas Show...
