LXXXV. The Cemetery Project vol.5

This week I built a piece of rough area terrain featuring stone tiles, empty planters and a small tree.

This piece was built almost entirely from scratch, and was a pleasure to do.

Materials used:

• MDF base
• sand + acrylic gel for the earth texture
• plaster tiles and miniature bricks
• home made planters and vases
• a branch and leaves from the Citadel Wood kit
• static grass tufts
• birch seed leaves
• paints and pigments

I used those planters I talked about in vol.2. The bead vases are here, too.

Just as I was preparing to invest in a few packs of Mini Natur grass tufts for the cemetery project, a friend told me about his recent discovery: Gamer's Grass. You can find a review in this month's issue of FPM and Old Fogey wrote about these tufts on his blog last week. So I'm just going to say that in my experience both the product and service are of good quality. At the same time these are more affordable than other brands I've used so far. I know where I'll be getting my grass from now on.

The rectangular tiles are Juweela bricks, and the square ones are of my own making. Step-by-step presented below.

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How I made my stone tiles:

I used a plastic movement tray for my mould.

Poured plaster in the tray.

Cut a grid using a ruler and markings on the sides as guides. This is best done when plaster is solid but still quite wet. I messed up a bit this time - some of my lines are visibly wobbly. I should be more careful next time.

When it dried completely I removed the tiles from the tray. Before applying them to the base I sanded their edges a bit and added cracks and other damage here and there.

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The Garden of Morr iron fence received a painjob as well. I have to admit the result is a tad underwhelming. Perhaps the stone parts are too dark? Not sure... I am planning to buy some Mini Natur ivy and make it grow on the fence; perhaps this will liven it up.

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