I'm back again, with my crazy flower-trees...
After my last experiment, I got to wondering if the clay product I was using - DAS Clay, an art product which seems to be paper mache impregnated with clay - was strong enough to create a tree base with on its own. It definitely dries hard, and even has a ceramic "ring" to it when tapped.
So I took my plastic flower, set it on some scrap paper, and traced the outline of the "canopy" to give me an idea of the size of base I wanted. Then I took the flower stem, bent a right angle in it, clipped off the excess, and began pressing clay around it to form a base.
I let the base dry for two days - and when it still wasn't dry, I set it near a light bulb to get some of the heat. As it dried, the edges of the base slightly warped - curving both up and down.
To get the base to lie flatter, I used a file to remove some of the problems from the bottom. I also filed the edges where they weren't sloping downwards the way I wanted them to.
To make sure the plant stem stayed attached to the base, I applied superglue to the bent wire on the bottom.
The picture of the bottom of the base shows how the clay acts as it dries - different areas pull apart from each other, opening cracks. You can also still see the impression of the paper towel that was under the base when I originally molded it!
Finally, I again coated the base with Renaissance Ink "x-fine" flocking gel and dropped it in my bowl of flock. When it dried, a good spray of Testors Dullcote helps seat the flock (and cut down on any "shine" from the flocking gel).
- What worked:
- The DAS clay seems quite strong enough to use to make bases on its own. The weight of the clay easily holds the tree down. Since I used the "terracotta" color, I didn't need to paint the base.
- What didn't work:
- The base isn't flat. Probably flat enough for wargaming purposes, but it looks a bit amateur.