DIY base Material during the lockdown

[Myzyrael]

Hey Community,

there Is something that I need your help with 😉 I’m here with many models awaiting some paint and indeed this actually happens oO But now I have seen that my battlemire paints are pretty empty. A whole orc army is still awaiting basing and I thought maybe we can turn the situation around. 

What could be possible basing materials taken from stuff we have at home, in the nature or in general food stores?

For example, there is a roundabout not too far away where I could harvest shale. But just covering the base with that? Don’t think that looks too good  

What ideas do you have?

[Charleston]

Acrylic Paint (the cheapest one around you can find) and fine sand. You could even utilise paint that is meant for painting walls. Main criteria here is low price and a color you are happy with.

Fine Sand means some fine beach sand (or "playing sand" for children/hamsters with 0-1mm diameter). You should be able to buy this cheaply in any pet store or, if possible, in any bigger hardware store if there is any open around.

I know that people use sodium instead of sand too but I for my own prefer the uneven size of sand grains.

How to use? Just mix both together and stir it until you have a homogeanous paste. Don´t be shy with the sand, as long as the sand is covered with paint the paste will work fine and won´t go off. Meanwhile, having too much paint with not enough sand leads to some parts of the base not beeing covered with basing material but instead only paint which looks thin.

[The oblivious magus]

Hi!

I feel your pain... As said by Charleston, battlemire paint is easy to replace if you have some sand/small gravel at hand. Just mix it with some PVA glue + a drop of paint. If you don't have any sand at hand, go get a look at the pet section from the food store. I use the sand that is usually destined for chinchilla and octodon because it's fine, clean and cheap.

Shale is an amazing material! Complement it with a hammer and you can do some nice rocky bases with it. There are some nice example on minisocles (warning: very, very french). If you have milliput at hand (the yellow grainy kind), you can use it as an alternative. Make a fin layer, let it dry and then chip it with your hand. You can also make thicker layer and break it with a hammer for additional volume.

Example using milliput:

Spoiler

Finally, if you're lucky and live near a forest, there are some basing material to find there. Scoop up some dirt, leave it to dry and then sieve it. You will be able to recover plants roots to use as wood or sticks on your bases.  Coniferous bark(only take the one on the ground! don't hurt the tree) and dried leaf are also nice. Dried moss can be used to make small bushes. And special mention to the birch. The small scales of the fruit can be used to make nice looking leaves on your bases. Also if you're lucky and courageous, you can find owl pellets. It's a mess to clean but you can recover tons of rodents bones in them. Just give them a quick bleach and you're good.

example done with forest material:

Spoiler

Hope it helped and good luck!

Edited March 29, 2020 by The oblivious magus

[Myzyrael]

Great tips! Thank you so much. 
i think I will visit the pet store next week

[zilberfrid]

Wood glue is also quite good, unthinned, you can make a lot of subtle changes in terrain.

I use kitty litter for stones (there are lots of different sizes of kitty litter), and wood filler for other terrain, but am now doing stucco with glue.

Dead plants will give you all sorts of organic basing material, and some leftover insulation foam makes for great medium to make things like stonework.

[Myzyrael]

So I went for the shelve and crushed it very very small, until I had even some dust. Mixed it with black, white and brown acrylic paints. The result is quite nice. But it was a lot of work for one army. 

[Arael]

Done this with some plaster laying around from last house renovation, 

Put some cracked part on it while it was drying, once cured I have given 2-3 hands of diluted vinavil 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Arael