Cave Tutorial
What you will need
The general items you will need are:
- Polystyrene, either of a similar shape to what I have used or a shape you would think would be a good cave or you can use several pieces and build up the shape of the cave yourself
- A knife for cutting the polystyrene, a good craft knife is suitable for this job. Always take care when using knives not to cut yourself.
- Sandpaper
- Kitchen paper or toilet paper
- PVA glue
-Paints (your choice of colour really but I have used:)
-Paintbrushes
- Any add-on such as flock, fake grass etc.
- Toothpicks or small pointed sticks
- Polystyrene, either of a similar shape to what I have used or a shape you would think would be a good cave or you can use several pieces and build up the shape of the cave yourself
- A knife for cutting the polystyrene, a good craft knife is suitable for this job. Always take care when using knives not to cut yourself.
- Sandpaper
- Kitchen paper or toilet paper
- PVA glue
-Paints (your choice of colour really but I have used:)
-Paintbrushes
- Any add-on such as flock, fake grass etc.
- Toothpicks or small pointed sticks
Making the Cave
First off, none of these instructions are absolutes you must follow, they are mainly guidelines to get you making a piece of scenery that you want, if you want to add extra stuff or cut more off, it is completely fine. In time you will get better at creating scenery and a bit of experimentation never hurts (even if doesn't work out and fails completely) because you can learn what to do different next time.
|
So here you can see the piece of polystyrene I began with, it is pretty big having a height, width and length approaching 30cm. The hole at the back going to be the cave entrance itself.
|
Here you can see the main shape of the cave after cutting it out of the big piece of polystyrene. I trimmed the roof of the cave back so that the base was longer in comparison and I removed the edge jutting out at the same time.
|
|
|
This is the back of the cave I began by simply trimming off the back at an angle taking to pieces off. Then I trimmed the front edge of the base turning it from a harsh corner into the beginnings of a base that would transfer nicely from scenery to game board.
|
Inside the cave where the wall meets the roof there was a sharp corner so I cut that off to keep the look more natural. Next I decided to rough up the cave entrance because it so perfectly square cut and caves aren't square at all. I made sure to do inside the cave as well and not just the outer bit.
I then further trimmed the front of the base lowering it a little bit more. |
|
|
I then cut off a small piece on the front, starting to get rid off the unnatural dent in the base which I don't want.
After that I took an off-cut, made when I was cutting out the main body, and turned that into a rock piece that will sit on top the cave entrance giving it a slightly rounded and more rocky look, whilst eradicating the harsh flat line of the top. |
I also made a smaller rock to go on the other side adding a bit more shape to the whole thing.
To fix both of the rocks in place take half a toothpick or a small sharp stick, put some PVA glue on it and put half into the rock and place it where you want it to sit pushing the other half of the stick into the resting place in the process. This really secures the rock in place once the glue has dried. |
|
|
I decided to really cut into the cave entrance giving it some real shape and completely destroying the super squareness of it
|
I then levelled out the floor, flattening it out because it was far too thick, making sure to rough up the surface so that the smoothness is completely gone, giving the floor some real texture.
By cutting into the polystyrene I gave the cave a more rocky look, being sure to destroy any line that was straight even if it only became curved a bit ragged. By slicing in at one angle then at another you can create some nice rock-like edges or by making multiple small cuts near each other to create a time-worn effect. |
|
|
At this point I decided I was happy with the shape of the cave and didn't want to do anything else to it. So now is the time to use the sandpaper. You want the sandpaper to be fairly fine so it won't destroy your work. What you do now is sand down the whole thing removing all the bits of polystyrene that you don't want sticking out and also honing the edges as you can see in the pictures.
After you have done the sanding coat your piece of polystyrene in a mixture of 1/4 PVA glue to 3/4 of water then leave to dry. By coating the polystyrene in glue you are preparing the body for when you add the papier mache which helps it to stick. |
It's time to papier mache the polystyrene now. Using a solution of 1/4 PVA glue and 3/4 water begin by dabbing some of the solution on the cave. Then take some torn up kitchen/toilet paper and place it on the PVA you just put on the cave. Starting from one edge of the paper brush more PVA on top making sure that you remove any air bubbles as you go. Coat the whole thing with tissue paper, even the bottom and leave to dry.
The pictures only show the first layer of papier mache but you want at least two layers for solidity. Then it's time to paint. |
|