TABLETOP GAMING - "Making a MAMMOTH CAVE" Pt.6

The modular CAVERN TUNNELS are complete...the MAMMOTH CAVE PROJECT is DONE!!

I wasn't sure I was ever going to finish this thing. But in spite of feeling under the weather this evening, I wanted to post, so I could get you all updated with the last of this series. It was a bit more involved than I expected...a solid 2 months to finish everything. It was a bit too much fun, so I'm gonna "retire" from making terrain for a season, and catch my breath.

This set of tunnels was intended to be "modular" so that it could be arranged in whatever configuration was desired. There are enough bits to make a couple of separate passageways. I started with two markers taped about "2 characters" apart. I then drew all over a piece of masonite board...making it up as I went along without a sketch.

Then, as with all the other pieces in this series, I cut out pink foam with my band saw to match the shapes I had cut from the board. (The saw cuts the foam like butter!) I then started shaving off edges with a hot-wire sculpting tool. (Thanks for the loan of that, Jaye...couldn't have done this without it.)

Once all the segments were finished, I painted on a layer of wood glue mixed with sand, to give the floor of the tunnels some texture. After that came a coat of glue mixed with brown acrylic. I then went through the crazy assembly line process of glazing and dry brushing everything to match the other pieces in the Cave Series.

When I was all done, I decided that I needed a couple of "proper" entrances to the tunnels...so I quickly made two. I kept the backside relatively flat to line up against the other segments. Below are the finished pieces, with a few close up shots for detail. The BLACK areas are meant to represent deep, deep shafts that drop into nothingness below.

And here's the whole shebang on the floor of my studio...and then piled up on the card table.
Now I've got to figure out how to box it up for traveling...sigh. Thought I was done. Hope you all got some new ideas from following this tutorial. Jaye...have FUN with this stuff!!!

TABLETOP GAMING - "Making a MAMMOTH CAVE" Pt.5

As promised, my little Cave Dwellers...STALACTITES and STALAGMITES!

This week has been crazy busy, and I really pushed it to get these guys finished up tonight. I'm gonna go light on explanations, since the basic building processes have been shown previously.

So here goes...I started with the core shapes made from styrofoam glued to some board. I had a few scrap pieces of board which determined the random shapes. I used a wooden dowel as an armature.

Next came a lot of smaller dowels sharpened on the belt sander, and bunches of toothpicks stuck everywhere. I quite frankly bit off more than I intended...as usual...and made a lot of work for myself.

Next I used the trusty hot-glue gun to cover the stalactites and stalagmites. I then painted a base coat of brown, mixed with wood glue.

Then came the mulch-paper mache...and a little detailing with a tool once it had dried a bit.

Here are all the little pieces covered with mache, ready for the final paint job. The ol' card table is full!!

And here are the completed terrain pieces!
I'm nearly done with this project...next up...modular Cave Tunnels!

TABLETOP GAMING - "Making a MAMMOTH CAVE" Pt.4

Got a new piece ready for the Mammoth Cave theme...a ROCK WATERFALL!

The runoff stream disappears under some boulders into a vertical shaft of darkness. Any brave explorers willing to repel down and see what's there?

I made this set in two sections, to make it easier to store them. They could be used separately as well.

Since I have already shown the basic building process in earlier posts, I won't take too much time explaining things. However, this is a good example of what you can do with leftover chunks of pink foam. I glued together several random pieces, and just started carving away with the hot wire tool. It makes it challenging, but also gives it more interest than with a large flat slab of foam.

I decided to raise the water level of the falls a little higher than the lower section of the stream. So I just carved out a groove into the big rocks...added some little pieces of foam to a board, then hot-glued them into place.

Here is the set with all the carving done.

I did the usual process of covering everything with spackling paste, for added rock texture...when dry, I sanded off the sharp edges. Then I made a mix of wood glue and dark brown acrylic paint, and gave a base coat to the whole thing. When dry...I painted all the rocks and water areas to match with the other sets in this series.

Okay...here's how I made the waterfall. I got a large sandwich bag...cut a strip about two inches wide from the edge of the bag...then spray-glued the inside of the bag together, so it would be a sturdier and thicker piece of plastic.

Next, I taped the plastic to a board...then I used a hot glue gun to make strips all up and down the plastic. I left a gap in the middle, to add interest. When the glue had cooled down, I cut off the excess baggy, and trimmed the ends of the glue near the tape.

Once I had hot-glued the falls into place, I used the hot-glue gun to add splashes to the water, and spillway. I gave the water a bit of aqua-blue glazing with very thin acrylic...then added a bit of white paint to the splashes and ripples.

Here are all the set pieces so far! Actually, I'm getting close to being done with this whole project. Even though I have ideas for making lots more sets, I've been making terrain every week since mid-December...I think I'm ready for a break. But I'll hang in there a little longer...I've got some stalagmites to make!

TABLETOP GAMING - "Making a MAMMOTH CAVE" Pt.3

I finished a new Cave piece...a Stalactite Waterfall with Cascading Calcite Pools!

I won't be spending as much time showing the process on many of the upcoming posts. Mostly because it gets a bit repetitious with techniques. So, here's a quick review of how I constructed this one. I carved my base structure from styrofoam using the hot wire cutter. I wasn't happy with the first stalactite shape, so I made another. The cascading pools were made from 3 sections of foam spray-mounted together, then carved into multiple levels.

I covered the foam core with paper mache. I let the first stage dry, before adding on the little cone pieces and blending them in. I then coated everything with wood glue to give the surface a smoother texture, and to give it a harder shell. I did the same process for the Calcite Pools base.

Once I had painted everything, I got a heavy-gauge wire from a plastic clothes hanger (with the clips on it) and pushed it into the base and stalactite (with a little wood glue on the wire). I then began to make the water effects with a hot glue gun. As I covered the wire, I went back and reshaped some of the glue by rubbing and melting it with the hot point of the glue gun. I also added "splashes" and ripples in the base pool.

When that had set up, I finished off the water with a glaze of white, a glaze of aqua, then coated it all with varnish for a nice shine.

Here's a shot of the piece in the lake. But it could also be a stand-alone somewhere else in the cave. I know it looks like it's floating in the air, but the intention is that you have to imagine the cave ceiling above it. Then again...could be cool to have a levitating fountain.

TABLETOP GAMING - "Making a MAMMOTH CAVE" Pt.2

"Enter The Caverns, If Ye Dare!"

I finished painting the MAMMOTH CAVE ENTRANCE tonight, and decided to stay up past my bedtime to post it. So "phase one" is now complete.

Last time, I had left you with the main structure covered in spackling paste. I won't show you the next two steps: I covered everything with a coating of wood glue, then painted the cave parts with a gray acrylic/gesso mixture. But I'll walk you through the finishing touches. I wanted to add a few more details, so I made a "bag 0' boulders" to have on hand. I also needed some smaller "rocks", so I put some chunks of the pink insulation foam into a blender, and "Viola!"

After strategically gluing the bigger boulders throughout the cave, I then mixed some sand into the wood glue. I painted that in random places where rocks had "fallen" here and there on the cave floor.

Here's the transition from "no rocks" to "rocks" to "rocks painted gray".

And here's the whole scene with the final paint scheme! I wanted the water to be a bit foreboding...it's not the pristine clear lake that some caves offer. This one goes really deep...with potential "scary thingies" livin' in there!!
One thing I did to differentiate the "outside" of the mountain from the inside of the cave, was to paint things a bit "cooler" in tones. The stone is more slate gray, with glazes of brown.

Finally, here are the three separate terrain pieces that can be configured together or apart, depending on the needs of the game.
More to come...got some Stalactites and Stalagmites to make!