"Casting" surface texture in PVA glue?

[Rhoderic]

Regarding the Amera stonework, that's interesting to hear. The only kind of plasticard I've encountered so far is of a stiffer kind. But keep in mind that a plain stonework/brick pattern won't look right when bent around a corner. Two sides of the stone/brick need to be exposed. My idea was to cast strips with "extra long bricks" to bend around the corners.

Does latex dry faster than PVA glue? If so I'd gladly switch to that instead.

I'd not thought about simply making the moulds out of plaster. There'd be no undercut so presuming the latex or PVA can be easily peeled off from the plaster in one piece, I might go for that too.

[Col.Stone]

yeah that's the problem with bending, i used mine as a basis for adobe buildings so it wasn't an issue for me.
extra long bricks might just work great

I'm rather interested in seeing how this turns out, it's something i've been thinking of myself too

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

Does latex dry faster than PVA glue? If so I'd gladly switch to that instead.

Definately. Latex is great when  applied in a thickish layer. Put the cast under a 60watt lamp to speed up the setting process. If you do 2 or 3 layers it will be easily robust enough to be applied as texture. A word of advice though, dont put it on too thick or pour it as this will increase the drying time by many hours!

PVA is supposed to be used as a glue, so has really annoying bonding properties, plus it sets wierdly sometimes, and will shrink unevenly and generally big a great pain in the back side to model with.

LARP weapons are painted with latex, and they can take quite a beating, so I think it will work for what you want. My friend made an excellent cover for a book of the hobbit he gave to his brother. He made and painted up a reflief of golum's face out of latex. It worked really well, and he just painted it with acryllics.

You should definately experiment with mixing paint into the liquid latex. Ive never tried it but it sounds like a good plan...

[Dewbakuk]

Check your paints first though. Some paints affect the strength and drying times of latex massively! Off the top of my head I can't remember what effect acrylics have.

[Argonor]

Why not use latex for the final piece?

I was about to suggest that, too. Liquid latex is not as cheap as white glue, but I think the final result will be better.

If you do a silicone mould and then use latex for the brick pattern you should be fine (I think).