Shipwrek
New Member
I made a new old thing and thought I would share my method. This was an insert for the back of a terrarium I made years ago. Hope someone has a use for this and make sure to show me your creations.
Supplies are simple:
Standard pink or blue insulation rigid foam board
Paint thinner (I used laquer thinner watered down but you can test to find what works for you)
Spray bottle
Brushes, paint and rattle can paint as you like
Vinyl decal material or painters tape or similar
I always liked the archaeopteryx fossil and wanted to add it to the back of a new terrarium I custom made for my snakes and thought that it could be a useful walkthrough for other prop builders and makers. I can also do a general acrylic working thread if people are interested (cutting, chemical polishing, heat polishing, hot wire bending, chemical bonding, etc)
SAFETY STUFF!
This process involves spraying small quantities of potentially flammable and inhalable chemicals. Please take all precautions and use masks, eye protection and gloves. Work in a well ventilated area and always do small trials and tests before hand. Be awesome!
To start, find your shape! In this case a fossil but is only limited by your imagination. I chose the classic bent back archaeopteryx fossil and traced it out on my computer to a vector file and then plotted, weeded and applied to foam board.
This doesn't need to be so complicated however. Use anything that will stick down and resist the effect of the paint thinner. Duct tape, painters tape, or even painted on and well cured plasti-dip may work. Cut out in any way you prefer and stick it down. Do tests and trials.
Spray on your thinner. This is the tricky bit as knowing how much to spray and how much it will melt the foam. This will depend entirely on your sprayer, thinner and foam. Do tests until you're comfortable and go slow! Do little bits and wait until the reactions are completely finished. The foam may react for several minutes. Other methods that work is dipping a paint brush in the thinner and actually painting it on to create long trails and valleys and also flicking the brush over the board to make more random uneven patterns.
Remove your block out stencil material and paint! Remember that foam reacts to many materials so use foam stable paints. Here I done a varied pattern of grey as a base using some pictures of rock as a guide for shapes and tones.
I was surprised at the amounts of pink and blue and other colours in supposedly grey rock.
Enjoy!
Supplies are simple:
Standard pink or blue insulation rigid foam board
Paint thinner (I used laquer thinner watered down but you can test to find what works for you)
Spray bottle
Brushes, paint and rattle can paint as you like
Vinyl decal material or painters tape or similar
I always liked the archaeopteryx fossil and wanted to add it to the back of a new terrarium I custom made for my snakes and thought that it could be a useful walkthrough for other prop builders and makers. I can also do a general acrylic working thread if people are interested (cutting, chemical polishing, heat polishing, hot wire bending, chemical bonding, etc)
SAFETY STUFF!
This process involves spraying small quantities of potentially flammable and inhalable chemicals. Please take all precautions and use masks, eye protection and gloves. Work in a well ventilated area and always do small trials and tests before hand. Be awesome!
To start, find your shape! In this case a fossil but is only limited by your imagination. I chose the classic bent back archaeopteryx fossil and traced it out on my computer to a vector file and then plotted, weeded and applied to foam board.
This doesn't need to be so complicated however. Use anything that will stick down and resist the effect of the paint thinner. Duct tape, painters tape, or even painted on and well cured plasti-dip may work. Cut out in any way you prefer and stick it down. Do tests and trials.
Spray on your thinner. This is the tricky bit as knowing how much to spray and how much it will melt the foam. This will depend entirely on your sprayer, thinner and foam. Do tests until you're comfortable and go slow! Do little bits and wait until the reactions are completely finished. The foam may react for several minutes. Other methods that work is dipping a paint brush in the thinner and actually painting it on to create long trails and valleys and also flicking the brush over the board to make more random uneven patterns.
Remove your block out stencil material and paint! Remember that foam reacts to many materials so use foam stable paints. Here I done a varied pattern of grey as a base using some pictures of rock as a guide for shapes and tones.
I was surprised at the amounts of pink and blue and other colours in supposedly grey rock.
Enjoy!
