Difficulty: Beginner
Materials: Thin napkins (without texture is best), tin foil, foam core or cardboard, pva glue, water, squirt bottle, skewers/toothpicks for support (optional) Cost: $1-$3 I love making organic, natural shapes to use as scatter on my table. These rocky formations are so simple to make, look great, are lightweight, and are sturdy enough to actually place minis onto them!
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Steps:
1) Cut out an organic shape for the base out of either thin foam core, cardboard, or chipboard. The material doesn't matter too much so use whatever you have on hand.
2) Crumple some tin foil and then open it back up, shaping it into the desired shape
3) Use hot glue to attach the tin foil to the base with the foil folded over the edge of the base. For pieces requiring more than one piece of foil for coverage, hot glue the pieces together at the seams.
4) Finalize the shape of your structure and then cover the tin foil in a thin layer of PVA glue. This will help the napkins adhere to the structure.
5) Place a single layer of napkin over the structure. I don't usually wet the napkin just because it takes longer to dry and I'm impatient but it does lay nicer when the napkin is damp.
2) Crumple some tin foil and then open it back up, shaping it into the desired shape
- If you are building a tall structure, you can add in some internal supports to drape the outer foil over with toothpicks, skewers, or even rolled up spare tin foil glued to the base.
3) Use hot glue to attach the tin foil to the base with the foil folded over the edge of the base. For pieces requiring more than one piece of foil for coverage, hot glue the pieces together at the seams.
4) Finalize the shape of your structure and then cover the tin foil in a thin layer of PVA glue. This will help the napkins adhere to the structure.
5) Place a single layer of napkin over the structure. I don't usually wet the napkin just because it takes longer to dry and I'm impatient but it does lay nicer when the napkin is damp.
- If you want to be able to use the underside as well (for floating islands for example), make sure to cover that side with napkins as well to achieve consistent texture
6) Cover the structure with a 50/50 PVA/water mixture. I keep mine in a condiment bottle from Dollar Tree for easy use. Use an old paintbrush to ensure the napkins adhere to the texture of the tin foil and make sure all of the foil is covered.
7) Leave your masterpiece to dry or for faster results, you can hit it with a heat gun or hair dryer to evaporate the water from the glue mixture.
8) Once dry, paint your structure how you would like. I usually start with a darker brown base and drybrush the whole structure with increasingly lighter browns. I will also use a round sponge brush with those same colors on the flatter surfaces to give more dimension.
7) Leave your masterpiece to dry or for faster results, you can hit it with a heat gun or hair dryer to evaporate the water from the glue mixture.
8) Once dry, paint your structure how you would like. I usually start with a darker brown base and drybrush the whole structure with increasingly lighter browns. I will also use a round sponge brush with those same colors on the flatter surfaces to give more dimension.
Want to take this craft to the next level? Check out the Floating Islands tutorial for an elevated project for your table using this same technique plus some new ones. |