TUTORIAL: Plaster Bases

[Sangennaru]

Hi everyone!

Here i share a quick tutorial for sculpting bases with plaster with suprisingly good results... at least, ways better than working with greenstuff!

Here's the tutorial:
http://www.thelazyforger.com/tutorials/sculpting-bases-with-plaster/






Cheers
Jack

[OSHIROmodels]

Very good effect 

One of the few overlook materials for making decent models.

cheers

James

[Andym]

Your bases are cracking Jack!!

[OSHIROmodels]

Your bases are cracking Jack!!

Wrong mix of plaster to water?

 

cheers

James

[Sangennaru]

Wrong mix of plaster to water?

[6milPhil]

Lovely stuff.

[zizi666]

Bloody Marvelous !

 

[FramFramson]

Excellent stuff!

[beefcake]

Very nice tutorial. I have a spare 15kg of plaster and tonnes of bases so I'll give it a go sometime.

[DELTADOG]

Good advice on that technique! Really good results!
Little additional Tipp from me. Spray the Bases with Hairspray before pour in the Plaster. After finishing the Job you can easily rub off the excess Plaster from the rand with a moistered cleaning cloth, without scratching the Surface. Silicon moulds everything on the modell ;-)

[Sangennaru]

Thanks everyone!

For the Hairspray: the plastic of the bases doesn't have any grip with plaster, so i was able to remove all the excess just with my thumb... besides, removing completely the hairspray is always a bit tricky... :S

[matthais-mouse]

A great idea, working with plaster is fun from experience.  I was going to get some plaster my self to do bases and building surfaces. An inspirational piece

[Connectamabob]

Very cool tutorial. One of those brilliant techniques that looks so good because it more or less directly replicates the way the real thing works (i.e. how real stone or concrete chips/carves/cracks/erodes).

Regarding painting plaster: you can actually seal it without effecting the texture by exploiting its porousness. What I used to use back in my art class days was shellack thinned with denatured alcohol, which would soak into the surface before setting up. One or two brushed on coats would both seal the surface and toughen it up slightly.

I've heard of cassien being used in circumstances where the white of the plaster itself was going to be the final finish (referred to as a "milk plaster" finish IIRC), but I've not tried it myself, so can't vouch for it. I imagine that anything that polymerizes and can be thinned enough to soak into the plaster without losing its own chemical strength (too much) would work. Though I have verified that both Future-type acrylic and raw linseed oil don't work. Shellack at least definitely does.

The techniques in the tutorial actually would work with some kinds of epoxy putty. If you cut Aves (and I imagine likely Magic Sculpt too, as I understand they are almost the same) with isopropyl 'till it's sloppy soft, it will cure with a consistency that carves in a plaster-like way, but is naturally non-porous and perhaps a bit more durable. Wouldn't work with Green Stuff due to its rubberiness (and I'm guessing probably not with Milliput; from what I've read Milliput's chemistry appears to be very fussy), but it does with Aves. I've never used that property deliberately as in the techniques in the tutorial, it's just something I've discovered in the course of using Aves as a filler material.

[dampfpanzerwagon]

Another great tutorial.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Tony

[Sangennaru]

Thanks everyone! I love working with plaster in several ways, and i'm going to do some experiments with the Future polish for the coating... although i might look for the Shellack too. In general, i prefere to paint on resin anyway!

Another great tutorial.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Thanks Tony! Maybe one day i'll publish a book too?