[DJboston]

Just wanted to show this before frog day. I'll have the 12 pound real rock and a duplicate I made using a simple technique. The fake rock weighs a half a pound, tops.

I have a few tanks where I sculpted foam and coated in cement. It's obviously very common in the hobby to do this as it's cheap, requires little talent, and is quick and can look good. It can also be shaped many different ways, though texture is usually lacking. If the paint is right though, it can be just as fooling to people.

This technique here is not a secret or anything, nor did I invent it. Though very few people in the hobby actually use real prototyping and tooling art techniques.
I figured it would be cool to write a tutorial if it could be added to the caresheets here. As you can see, the detail of the real rock has been captured 99.9999%. The only variations is obviously paint jobs and weight.

The fake rock is made of a hollow resin. For the test piece seen here, I filled it with a soft expanding polyfoam. It's basically a foam that comes in two parts and expands twenty times it's size in second. This stuff is expensive but I can't use great stuff for this type of application.

Anyway let me know what you think. If anyone is going to frog day, stop by my table to say hello and check it out. I can answer any question on how it was made.

By the way, forgot to mention, this is a Frog Day magnet I'm selling at frog day. I have a limited quantity with me in various bright metallic colors. A lot of colors a wife or girlfriend wouldn't mind on their fridge! lol

 

[fleshfrombone]

Well, how's this for starters, I can't tell which one is real. My guess is the one on the left.

 

[DJboston]

Correct. The one on the left gives it away as I made the rock open instead of rock all around. Reason being is I wanted people at frog day to see the thickness of resin and foam.

So I propped it up on top of plastic bag to make it appear the same as the one on right. The bag is showing a bit lol Whoops lol

It's actually basically identical to half the real rock.

If I made them as a kit or something, they would be identical to the rocks they were made from, except not rock lol

I guess that's a compliment though right? haha

 

[Arizona Tropicals]

Awesome job, those will be a hit for sure!

 

[fleshfrombone]

Yes it is a compliment, well done.

 

[boabab95]

the left ones the fake??? wow...i thought that was the real one, propped up for comparison... your rock looks more realistic than the actual rock!!!!!lol

 

[frogparty]

Are you selling any? I would be interested for sure

 

[DJboston]

Yes these are for sale, though my website isn't launched yet and I haven't paid for sponsorship on the forum yet. I didn't want to abuse selling here until I was contributing to the forum.

My website launch will be maybe a week after frog day. Sponsorship once I have a banner made. I have a vinyl banner for my table, just not a digital banner lol Sort of got side tracked with website because of frog day.

By the way, the production copies of the rocks won't be filled with foam as it's not needed. I did so just to cover the rotational cast resin on the inside and give it a cool foam skinned feel for display at the show.

If anyone wants, I can do either or: Same as you see, cast in hollow resin. Or, I can cast them in a RIGID foam. The foam would actually be lighter weight, if that's even possible.. Please don't confuse rigid foam for great stuff type foam. Rigid foam is professional foam used in production for many industries. I guess an example of a softer rigid foam is maybe nerf products. Or, basically anything made of a hard foam. A lot of children's toys. The rigid foam would just be lighter but wouldn't actually perform any differently.

I will say that the rigid foam, in a humid tank, might rot at some point in 15-20 years. The resin will not. Though resin will definitely be more expensive.

Sorry to post this here but I wanted to answer this question: I'll be selling the fake rocks as a kit at first, then later they will be sold as singles in my catalog. The set of 10 rocks will be 10 unique rocks. From 4 inches across to 10 inches across. Will definitely fill a huge space in a tank with the weight generated negligible.

Honestly, the only issue right now is start-up costs. It might take me a couple months unless some people shared start up fees some how. With the statues, frog day, magnets, and other cage furniture like backgrounds/drip walls of big importance, I am just spread thin money wise. Not to mention I could be signing a lease in the next 2 weeks for a studio/workshop I found just a mile down the road. Very cheap hole in the wall but has potential to look and function great! Parents are lawyers so they're taking care of the legal end of starting a small business hahaha.

I work around 12 hours a day on my projects now though. Very motivated. So basically I'm not all talk. If I say I'm going to do something you better believe it's coming soon.

anymore questions about future projects, please PM me.

I'm so thrilled everyone likes it. I know people show a lot of fake rocks but I'm using techniques stolen from the theme park and fake rock industry. By that I mean the people that make huge fake rocks to hide pool pumps, keys, and other stuff for peoples landscaping or front lawns. Or for people who need big rocks that are too heavy to move to their yard. The ones in this industry look OK, but they obviously don't put the time into very detailed paint jobs. A few quick colors is enough to fool someone, but I can't help trying to match it even closer.

D

 

[bshmerlie]

Very cool... ill definately stop by and see you at your frog day table.