Floating Islands!
Since I finished the Oak of Ages I decided I wanted two more large pieces to go on the table top. Inspired by this piece of art from the Realmgate Wars book I decided to try and create my own freestanding islands with waterfalls. I've been playing around with realistic water a lot so I think it will work well for the waterfall, however its the constructional elements that will sell these pieces and whether or not I can successfully hide the supports.
I started out with three basic components - some 15mm think MDF which I want to use to support the base. Thinking about it now I should have routed out the pool, but instead I am going to build that up with cork bark. It will give the pieces some height and may even work as a bit of a line of sight blocker which could be interesting. The top will be plywood with blue foam underneath so it is lightweight. The trick here will be not making the top section too heavy, so some artistic license will be needed. To join the two pieces together I have used 3mm perspex, glued together and then bent to create brackets which I have screwed to the two wooden pieces.
Each island is about 45-50cm high, so they are pretty sizeable. In the drawings the water pools off the edges of the islands, but I think to make it work I will have to have more of a pool at the top for he water to flow from. This will make the building easier.
I ordered two aquarium ornaments to go on the top. Both needed cutting down to fit the space. I then glued them down using mitrebond. I'm now at a stage where I have filled all the gaps to make the pools watertight and I am going to sand the first one and add the details for the underside. Hopefully painting will not take too long.
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