Snowed in? Build a temple! <-- Finished, 2/15/14

[mikedemana]

Thanks, everyone. Receiving praise from masters like yourselves is quite the compliment.

The weather warmed up enough for me to spray paint the three pieces black, this afternoon. I hope to go over that with a brush-on black acrylic paint to give it a solid undercoat, tonight.

Mike Demana

[d phipps]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this piece painted. Looks amazing so far! 

[mikedemana]

The temple with its two coats of black

Not a whole lot to add, at this stage. I did discover, much to my frustration, that Tacky glue does not stick to styrene. At all. Pretty much every piece that had been glued to the styrene popped off while I was priming the temple back. I kept my cool and didn't hurl the temple at the wall. That would be very un-Buddhist -- ha, ha!

So, I scored the styrene to try to give it a grip, and then used 5-Minute Epoxy to re-attach all the pieces that came off.

Next up was priming the whole thing black. Since it is still winter here in Ohio (and likely will be till April, the way it is going!), I set up a cardboard box in the garage for priming. I spray primed all three pieces with Krylon flat black arylic paint. After it dried, I then did another coat of brush-on primer. This was ordinary black Ceramcoat paint.

This is where it stands now, as you can see in the above picture. Next step will be to add texture to all the non-brick surfaces.

I appreciate all the positive comments...stay tuned!

Mike Demana

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

  Looking absolutely lovely! 

[FramFramson]

That's really come together!

[Wolf Girl]

Looking great! 

[mikedemana]

Where I left off -- the temple black primed...but will those smooth surfaces look good once painted?

As I sat looking at my black-primed temple, I realized I had been in too much of a hurry. I should have found a way to put brick on the sides of the false "second story" so that it better matched the main level. It looked cool, but once I started painting it, I had a feeling that the paper mache sides of the second story would look less than impressive. The best way to salvage the temple, I felt, was to give those sides some texture. I decided to give it a rough, sandstone look. Many of the temples at Bagan in Myanmar had a stone facing that has fallen off after centuries, revealing the brick core. So, the lower level of my temple would be exposed brick, but the upper level would be standstone.

I took white glue and painted all the exposed pieces of paper mache, as well as the entire roof except for the foam block that the paper mache box fit around. This included the tin bells and acrylic rod decorative railings and the mini-stupas on each roof corner. It did not include the Hirst Arts stone pieces or the statues, though. I then poured sand across the surfaces that had been painted with glue, which stuck on nicely, giving it a rough texture.


White glue painted on the smooth surfaces and sand poured over them to add texture

 I let it dry overnight. Then I watered down black acrylic craft paint 50/50 and painted it over the sand. I was really surprised how easily and thoroughly the watered down paint covered it, making it all black again. I had expected to have to fight to get the paint in the nooks and crannies of the sand surface, but the watery paint flowed well over the surface and into every bit of it. I'd been dreading this stage, but it was actually a breeze. In addition, this glue, sand, and paint coating has likely cemented the whole build together. I shouldn't have to worry about pieces popping off again.


A base coat of brown, with two dry brushes of "Raw Sienna" and "Spice Tan" have been applied at this stage

I pulled up my travel website to look at pictures of Bagan, again, to help me choose the colors. I decided to go with a brown base coat that had just a hint of red tone to it. I took a large, flat brush and wet brushed this over fairly thoroughly, but leaving some of the black undercoat showing through. The next day, I did my first dry brush of a Ceramcoat color called "Raw Sienna." It is an orangish-brown color. I followed that up with another Ceramcoat color called "Spice Tan." This is a lighter, more yellowish color, but in the same tone as the Raw Sienna. Finally, I did highlights with "Dunes Biege." The effect on the Hirst Arts stone pieces and the wood trim and columns was slightly different than on the sand, but they don't look jarringly dissimilar.


The final dry brush of "Dunes Beige" lightens the temple up considerably

The one thing I mulling over in my head is whether to do an ink wash over this. Looking at the stone pieces, columns and wood trim, I definitely feel a black ink wash would enhance how it looks. I'm worried that putting it over the sandstone parts will hide some of the layering of the four different colors, though. I'm also afraid it will darken it up too much. I will probably wait to make that decision until after I have done the brick surface, which is next.


A close up of the roof (which comes off of the main temple), and the false second story (which pops off also, held in place by the snug fit of the paper mache box around a piece of foam.

So far, I am very happy with how this temple is turning out. Architecturally, I think it is very sharp looking. I'm hoping once the brick is done it will "tie it all together," looks-wise. As always, feel free to weigh in with comments or suggestions!

Mike Demana

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Looking absolutely amazing! 

[FramFramson]

Great stuff!

[d phipps]

Excellent! I really like that heavy textures. Definitely feels like a lost jungle temple. 





THANKS

[General]

Simply amazing!

[Valerik]

Oh.

WOW.

This is simply stunning to gaze upon.

I can only imagine staring UP at it from 28mm,
looming out of the steaming, foetid jungle as night falls...

I can smell the fear.



Thank you

Valerik

[mikedemana]

The build is essentially complete after this stage. Only the flocking and interior need to be added.

For some reason, I was really worried about this stage. I had a feeling that the styrene brick pattern would be difficult to paint and make it look realistic. I planned on painting the mortar a light tan color and then dry brushing the reddish-brown for the bricks. Just about all the dry brushing I'd done before typically featured a lighter color atop a darker one. This would reverse that, and I wasn't sure if my dry brushing would fill cover the mortar. I even read up some on painting patterned styrene brick on some other threads on this forum. The advice I gleaned was to hold the brush at a 45 degree angle and to do successive lighter coats instead of bearing down and try to cover it all in one coat.


The styrene brick pattern was not nearly the pain to paint up as I worried that it might be!

The advice worked like a charm, I was relieved to discover. I painted the mortar the same shade as the highlight layer on the sandstone -- Ceramcoat Dunes Biege. I figured this might work with the eye to tie the color scheme all together. I let it dry overnight, and then sat down and began my dry brushing experiment. The advice also said to turn the pattern around and dry brush both "up" and "down." I was very pleased with how the color -- Iron Wind Metals Red Brown -- stayed inside the lines of the bricks, for the most part. I tried to do a highlight color atop it but it simply wasn't showing up. So, I decided to see what it looked like with an ink wash. Wow! It transformed it completely, and made it look so much more realistic, I thought. It really brought out the different tones I'd tried to do with fewer or more layers of red brown dry brushing.


Sand glued to the surface of the bricks represents the original outer surface of the temple which has fallen away in many places

I was so pleased with how it looked I almost abandoned my idea for the next stage -- attaching plaster to the brick walls in fragments as if most of it has fallen away. After staring at it for awhile, I decided to give it a go. I painted the surface of the bricks here and there in an irregular pattern -- covering maybe 25% of the surface, at most. I then poured sand across it, which stuck nicely to the glue. After drying for a few hours, I primed it black and let it dry overnight.


Another highlight of "Dunes Beige" was given to the columns and the top trim, as well as the Hirst Arts stone pieces

The next day, I replicated the sandstone color scheme with Ceramcoat colors "Raw Sienna," "Spice Tan," and "Dunes Biege." After completing this step, I decided to go ahead and do another highlight on select areas of wood trim and Hirst Arts pieces on the temple. They had gotten a tad darker than I wanted with the ink wash, and felt they needed to be lightened up a bit. I dry brushed "Dunes Biege" over the upper portions of the Hirst Arts stone pieces, the wood trim, columns, and finally, the guardian statues and their pedestals.

Only two stages remain in this build. The next will be the flocking of the ground around the temple. The final step will be to print off textured paper to glue on the inside of the temple to represent its floors and walls. Who knows? Maybe I'll even construct and paint up a Buddhist or Hindu altar to be placed inside. Either way, the actual construction part of this temple is now complete! Stay tuned for the final touches...!

[Doomsdave]

Well done Sir.  I had my doubts about your temples.  But the finished product looks very convincing.  The brickwork came out lovely as well.   

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

This is looking really good, I'm glad the brick work came out right. This will look amazing on your games table!