writes:We previously profiled some styrofoam skulls and bones from the dollar store, and I thought I'd see what I could do with them.
I'm starting with one skull, two bones, and a 'flower'-shaped wooden base from the dollar store that I've already primed reddish-brown.
I start by lightly sanding the styrofoam to remove the seams, and knock off some of the annoying sparkles.
The skull and bones are then basecoated with tan. Due to the sanding and the remaining sparkles, the styrofoam has taken on a sandstone-like quality.
I followed up with a second coat of tan to try to tone down the sparkles, followed by a white drybrushing. When that was dry, I glued the parts to the base using white glue.
I then applied a brown wash to the bones.
I wanted deeper shadows in the skull openings, so I applied a black wash, tilting the base while the wash dried so that it would be in the back of the eye sockets. (Whoops, I think I missed washing the upper row of teeth!)
And here you can see the finished Giant's Skull, after I flocked the base, and applied a spray coat of matte clear.
Styrofoam can melt when spray-painted, but I gambled that the paint was enough to shield the styrofoam.
The skull has ended up with a very weathered, ancient quality.
I never did get rid of all the sparkles, but their effect is quite suppressed now.
This scenic can now be used as scatter terrain on a fantasy battlefield.
I call it The Giant's Skull because it is quite large in 28mm scale, and would be immense in 15mm scale.