Snow and lava

[Amazon warrior]

I\'m trying to decide on bases for my Circle Orboros minis, and I like the idea of snow, lava, or a combination of the two. Has anyone ever tried to mix lava and snow on bases before? The opinion I\'ve been given from the PP forums is that it would look strange. Can you help?

 

[Einion]

Snow and lava? Interesting idea, if a bit unrealistic (not that that should stop you )

Originally posted by Amazon warrior
Has anyone ever tried to mix lava and snow on bases before?

I\'m trying to remember. I think I might have seen something but no specifics come to mind (might be an illustration I\'m thinking of, not a miniature).

I like the idea of this but I\'d want it to \'make sense\', so the snow would have to be separated from the heat of the lava for me I think.

Einion

 

[Amazon warrior]

Well, you do see it in nature:

I was thining of having the minis standing on top of hardened lava blocks, with snow on top and hot lava flowing through the gaps between the rocks. After all, they\'re druidic contol-the-elements types, they should be able to summon up a personal lava flow if they want!

 

[Thunderhawker]

If you could come up with a convincing \"melt\" I think it could work.

 

[demonherald]

just throwing ideas into the mix here......

mystics and magicians.. well I ould say that if the magician or elemental or whatever is the one creating the snow then there isn\'t a real worry about having it melted.. They could create enough around themselves to sustain and you wouldn\'t get any melt just straight to steam....(That\'s wat I think anyway..?)
The other way round the mystic creating the fire than you\'d get melt... melt is fairly easy to do just use a wet or water effect type substance instead of glue to apply your snow material and use the wet effecets to create water as usual...


I\'d say your trickiest challenge in this is deciding wether or not you want to do a lightsource from the lava and how your gonna pull that of on the snow?? I ain\'\'t seen many do it but would certainly be interested to see it take form...

In fact I have a diorama in mind for a while I have the combattants I have the scene.. I just need to know figure out a couple of the technical aspects like the one you mention here.........certainly got my grey matter working for the time being...

 

[Amazon warrior]

I think I\'m going to try a test base, which will let me practice both techniques and tell me whether this will be feasible at all.

@demonherald: Some good practical advice there. I\'ll post my failures (or successes!)- might be of help to you when you do yours?

 

[demonherald]

no worries doing a base is a good idea .. once I catch up with everything at the moment I may well do the same....

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Amazon warrior
Well, you do see it in nature:

I have to say the melt zone is waaay smaller than I expected it to be. But anyway, fantasy mini - we can do what we like (magic effects included )

Originally posted by demonherald
I\'d say your trickiest challenge in this is deciding wether or not you want to do a lightsource from the lava and how your gonna pull that of on the snow??

See lighting in photo ^^^^^

Einion

 

[demonherald]

yup ...that pic is a beaut .. now to pull off a snow effect that can be coloured and worked in that way .....anyone with any model examples with coloured and shaded snow??????


I\'m thinking the bulk of the snow I\'ll use the microballoons and resin method as it gives a nice solid paintable surface with maybe some softer snow surface...hmmmmm ....

 

[Talonicus]

I have seen yellow snow.

lol

 

[demonherald]

no doubt tried writing your name in it as well... mind you it\'d be a struggle to write peeing in the sitting position like you do....

 

[Talonicus]

lol lol lol lol lol

Toilet humour ... my favourite.

I have to sit, not tall enough to reach standing up.

 

[demonherald]

Originally posted by Talonicus
lol lol lol lol lol

Toilet humour ... my favourite.

I have to sit, not tall enough to reach standing up.

gotta love it.........:beer:
I\'ll send you the little ones toilet step he\'s just about mastered it....lol

 

[Mourner]

okay, now to get back on topic, you could try and incorporate some VERY subtle faces into the lava, or even the snow, suggesting elemental forces at work.......

why wouldn\'t normal OSL work on the snow, i\'d say you would have to do it VERY carefully and very subtle, but other then that, i dont see a problem.

 

[demonherald]

It should be ok the problem is the unpredictability of painting on snowy surfaces coupled with the control needed for OSL....

 

[Talonicus]

I think the problem will be as Rob mentions the unpredictability of painting on the \"snow\" surface.
Anything with a heavy texture will tend to pool the paint.
On a darker colour I think you can control and mask this easier.
The white may end up splodgy.
I may be talking rubbish, the best way is to try.
I would be tempted to at least seal the snow texture first.

Nigel

 

[Amazon warrior]

Some interesting thoughts here, thanks all!

My next question would be: What do you recommend for a good snow flock? Baking powder? Dandruff? (Not that I\'ve got any!) GW snow flock? I also have some Woodland scenics model water that I\'m using as the lava part on my test base, and which could also be employed to make a melting look round the edges.

Also, how would you make icicles? I was thinking of dipping a piece of transparent thread into my model water and building up the layers, but it would probably take ages. Another possibility is to cast some, I suppose, but I don\'t quite know how I\'d go about doing something like that- I have no casting experience whatsoever!

 

[Amazon warrior]

Is it thread necromancy if it\'s your own thread? ???

Anyway, finally got round to slapping some paint and flock on a test ice-and-fire base, and here\'s the result. Thoughts?

 

[daemon boy]

it looks good, but i think it needs more osl up the side of the rocks
other than that, its cool

 

[Amazon warrior]

Originally posted by daemon boy
it looks good, but i think it needs more osl up the side of the rocks
other than that, its cool

Thanks! I was thinking that too. This was a quickie to see whether the general concept would work and for me to practice the techniques, so it looks a little rough in places.