Ok, so... Im not sure how to post pictures, but I'll give it a go.
This first project is not focused on the result of the background itself, Im more interested in the process and technique of getting a nice colored surface and structure of the "stone", that is why I have gone for cheaper materials and not really aiming for the "high-end" products perhaps.
Basically I just glued some pieces of cheap styrofoam in place, making a rough estimate of what I might be looking for. I then carved out a structure that I wanted. I was highly inspired by some pictures I have seen here, so don't be offended if it looks like i tried to copy anyone.
I found this product called Hey'di K11. It comes with an acrylic polymer and the product is approved for usage where it is in contact with drinking water (at least in Norway), so it seemed like a safe choise.
I primed the styrofoam with some of the polymere diluted with a little water. I just sprayed it on with a simple spray/mist bottle. The cement (I will just call it cement as it is not quite grout I think) stuck to the styrofoam really well after that, even if I just used a rough brush to brush on a thin mixture as a first layer.
I also added som red pigment in the mix, just to see the effect, it gave a nice brick colored result.
I used a fan to speed up the drying a bit.
When dried you can see that some areas are a bit more glossy, that is from a batch of mixture with slightly more acrylic polymeres in it, and the matte areas had a bit less.
The bottle to the left is glögg, or mulled wine - a must this time of year.
Next I made a thicker mix, and just to be able to se a difference between the different layers I added som darker colors. I tried using a cheap acrylic air brush paint I had laying around.
This mix was stuffed into the deeper and larger crevices only. I choose to do this as one separate step as it is much harder to get in there and I wanted to ensure that these parts got the thicknes and strength that I want. All the carved cracks and crevices were done so excessively, to leave room for a layer of cement.
I bought a nice palette knife for this project. I actually sharpened the sides of it so I could use it to cut the styrofoam as well as shaping the cement and carving it as it started to cure.
On the side I did a test with different mixtures of sand/pigment/polymere and a repetition of those to be wet-cured (those under the plastic), just to see if I can see any differences in strength etc.
While taking these pictures my sweet Sanzinia looked at me like I was crazy, and Im not going to disagree...
Next I will be adding the final layer(s) and trying to get the fine details that I want. As this is such a small scale, the effect of loosing detail in the styrofoam when cement is added is really high, so I ecpect I will have to do a bit ov fine-tuning If I want any details at all.
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Re: Making Fake Rocks
thosa are indeed adult and juvenile cages, respectively.
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