What have I been doing [ Warning : Long Post ]

Vacation

its been a while since I post here. I was having a little "me" time. by saying "me" I mean me and my girlfriend. Alone but with two people. We went to out of time for a couple of days to have some good time together. It was great I did not know I needed a break from everything. The day I came back from our little vacation my friend called me for a forest camp. Without much thinking I grab my camping gear and went into the wild for 2 more days. It was a great experience with close friends, little camp fire and awesome nature. Its been 2 days since I came back from the camp and as soon as I came home I start building something as if I am thirsty ^^ Finally today I feel I am rested enough to make a post to catch up with you.

This build is made out of XPS foam same as my previous diorama builds. This time bricks are 2x4cm , bigger then usual. I did not have anything particular in my mind when I start building this. I just start cutting bricks.

New Crafting Space

But before I want to share my new hobby desk. Its been years since I use the same desk I built myself. It was bigger then it is today. I cut some of the sides to fit it in different houses. We moved 3 times this year. Finally in this home I cut some more of it. Its great for the computer but I need more space to build stuff. Its been really hard to use the surface while the PC on the desk.

2 weeks ago I went to store and bought a desk just for craft and art. Its the cheapest model I can find that suits my needs. I did not look for beauty or sturdiness. It just needs to get the job done and it is enough for me. Okey back to the build.

XPS Foam Bandit/Orc ruins

What was I saying? This time the bricks are 2x4cm in dimension. I use smaller usual size bricks on top of the build. The size of the bricks are big but they look more strong in the base structure. When you first cut the bricks they look super sharp and artificial. You need to apply some techniques to make them more stone like. Here is an example.

Those are freshly cut XPS foam bricks. Straight out of the foam cutter. Those bricks need some damage, weathering, cracks etc. Here is how i do it.

How to make stone bricks

From left to right ;

1 - Original piece from foam cutter
2- Rolled between my hands to soften the corners
3- Pressed with aluminium foil ball to give it a texture
4- Ripped some pieces to give it broken stone texture.

Back to build

Okey back to the build. I wanted this to be a ruins that bandits or orc found. They tried to repair some places to live there. So I made lots of wooden structure to stabilize the ruin stones. The wooden parts are not nicely cut because they are goblins, bandits and orcs. It wouldnt make sense to make them beautiful. I wanted them to look orcish. They just make them to be functional not to look good.

Time to paint

Before the actual paint I cover the whole thing with a special recipe. PVA Glue + Black paint + Dish Soap. This will strengthen the foam and paint the surface and prepare it for later applications. Dish soap works as a flowing agent. Breaks the surface tension of the water so that paint can go in little cracks and details.

Spray paint will melt the foam if you apply it directly. But if you paint the model with this recipe. Not only it will be stronger but also it can be painted with spray paint later for a nicer finish and covarage.

Most of the build is done i'll do the rest later. I made another support structure for the end of the bridge. And a monument for the open space. The support part can be removed its modular. I am happy how this turned out. See you next time.