Valkeeri Leader Jessica commands her troops from the top of a rocky outcrop. Yes, I've completed another Season of Scenery project!
A while back I was watching some random YouTube scenery tutorials when I came across one that showed how to make rocks from tree bark. Given our house has a forest on two sides, it wasn't like I was stuck for places to get bark, and several months later here we are.
The first thing to do was dig out some 3-inch round MDF bases from their hiding place in the spare room. Then it was a case of putting the bark on a baking tray and cooking it (350 degrees for 10 minutes) to kill any bugs/bacteria and dry it out. After letting it cool I broke it up and stuck random pieces to the bases with hot glue.
I plastered them all with a mix of Mod Podge and black craft paint to seal the MDF and bark and prime it. I cracked out my collection of grey craft paints and started to slap it onto the bark, starting with Pewter Grey and working through Grey, Country Grey and Granite Grey. A quick wash with some very thinned Vallejo Black Game Ink and a final highlight with Antique White and the rocks were painted.
The bases had a few lumps of Crayola clay added so they wouldn't be totally flat — again, I should have done this at the start but this is me we're talking about — and slapped on more black Mod Podge. Once dry they got a few coats of Olive Green before being slathered with PVA and covered in flock blend.
I added patches of light green clump foliage and then went on an expedition into the spare room to find my homemade static grass applicator that I made last year. Somewhat amazingly it was easily accessible (in other words I didn't have to move the bath out of the way) and I even found my bags of static grass in less than 15 minutes. What a day to be alive!
After spreading plenty of PVA over the bases I applied the grass and it went pretty well. I wanted an overgrown look so I used my 4mm light green stuff and I think it works to give a wild look.
To finish them off I added some flock to the tops of the rocks to represent moss, glued on a few small tufts here and there, and stuck on the last of my orange-red flowers. Then I painted the base rims black.
Overall I'm well happy with how they turned out. The bark works incredibly well as rock and it's an easy job to get it looking like the real thing. There was the usual annoying issue with making scenery of having to wait for the PVA to dry, but apart from that I had a lot of fun making these.
More scenery to come soon!
In Memoriam
The magnifying goggles I bought back in late 2018, when it became obvious that my eyesight wasn't up to painting tiny figures, broke the other day. The right arm snapped off just as I was putting them on, so I rushed to Amazon to order another pair. Luckily they're available on Prime and after some suitably grovelling texts to Alicia she ordered a new pair for me so at least I can start painting minis again.
Fantastic work on the Bark rocks Matt, and with so many types of bark there is so many types of stones you can make. Hope your new goggles arrive quickly for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave! I'm well happy with how they turned out. And the new goggles are here and working perfectly!
DeleteGreat work on the bark as rocks, Matt. I remember the days when companies used to take bark and use them to make impression moulds for resin rock piles - I bought loads in my younger days, LOL!!! Fingers crossed your new magnifying binoculars arrive in good time.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Simon! I've seen tutorials where bark is used to make moulds for rocks, and all I could think was, "why go to all that trouble when you could just paint the bark?"
DeleteRocky outcrops look great Matt! Seen some others try to make similar, but I like yours best. Saying that, I think you're going to need double that amount of the things to fill out a table some tho. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dai! I'm probably going to make more as they were so easy to put together. I doubt if I'll be able to fill out a table but they'll work well as scatter terrain.
DeleteWell done with the freebie bark, they've painted up well and look the part. with all the extra bits.
ReplyDeleteFreebie scenery is the best scenery, Joe!
DeletePretty nice, they look so natural!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Suber!
DeleteThe latest bit of terrain looks great, Matt! Hopefully it holds up well over time too. I bought some bark for a project and it is quite fragile. I've only used it in display projects so that wasn't too much of an issue. Slate rocks can work well as rocks (go figure) though the pieces you make end up being quite a bit heavier than they would be otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAs Dave said, I hope your new goggles arrive promptly and intact, especially since we're talking about Amazon and they're subpar packing abilities... Alicia saves the day again!
Thanks, Jeff! The bark is pretty delicate and bits flaked off while I was painting it, but as it's sealed under several layers of Mod Podge and paint I think it'll be OK. I've dropped a couple of them on the hardwood floor and they survived :-)
DeleteWell you fooled me (actually that's not difficult) and I thought that was real rock! :-) These all look really good!
ReplyDeleteCheers, John! They look very realistic and I was surprised at how well they simulate rock.
DeleteHave to say those are pretty cool! Not sure I've seen bark used as rocks before. I'd be hesitant to bake them in the oven, as my Wife might not be crazy about the dried bugs at the bottom of the oven, haha! I've tried goggle before, and just not crazy about them. My goto are cheap reading glasses at 2.x or 3.5x. Those work really nicely for me. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brian! No need to worry about dead bugs in the oven LOL! Heating them up is for killing bacteria :-) The goggles are an absolute must for me, my reading glasses just don't do the job any more.
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