Making a scenic water base using epoxy, step by step, using color to add depth, and then making a mess trying to add OSL and reflections to it.
Our local GW shop makes a monthly painting contest, where a miniature is selected and everyone who participates paints that mini, and at the end of the month the winner is decided by popular vote. This time it was the water witch elf, which I thought it was a great idea to play with epoxy, which is always fun. And almost always ends up in a mess.
First, the concept. Since the mini is holding something magical in front, the idea is that said object glows, and is over a beach/lake. The glow can be orange, then paint the rest as night for that cool orange-blue contrast.
For the base, I used an Andrea wood base. The base MUST be solid wood for this! It doesn’t need to be of great quality (in fact, the very good ones made from root can be problematic because the have lot’s of knots that are very tough). Then with a flat chisel we mark the area we want to carve. Once that’s done, we use a manual drill to make holes as references. Finally, with a curved chisel and a hammer, we start joining the holes, and thanks to the marking we did earlier, it’s not going to break and splinter outside of that area. BE CAREFUL WITH POWER TOOLS! This can all break easily AND BURN so it’s better to go manual for most of the work (you can use it as a helper for the initial hole, but don’t push too much).
It took quite a bit of time to get down to this, however it was a pretty good result. Then I added a ramp for the beach itself, and made space for the rock in which the mini is supported. Finally, with a dremel I started cleaning stuff and made sure it was a good base. With the dremel you can remove lots of material very fast, so ensure it’s not at maximum speed or anything. Your texture doesn’t need to be super super clean, as it’s emulating rock, so don’t worry too much. I used 4Ground Render texture, which is a great aquaplast alternative. Finally, using textured paint (in this case, AK sand), I finished the look.
As for painting, I painted everything black. Especially the sides, you want a very strong black, and do not worry if it’s a little satin, it’s a plinth after all. Then you start painting from the ground up, ensuring that the rock is brighter towards the surface. I also added the OSL, with bluish tint on the far side and red-to orange near the glowing point.
I also added vegetation, using the typical wargame tufts. I did a small trick, and used red-yellow grass near the OSL area, and green-to-purple near the outside. This adds a even stronger effect AND adds color to the diorama, which is cool. Finally, I modelled little fishes with putty. To add to the depth effect, I made a couple of small ones and put them near the bottom, then I made a couple of bigger ones and put them in the middle. Finally, I added the big fish near the surface. This added a very cool perspective effect!
Time to get messy with the epoxy and the water. MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN A BIG ROOM/ENOUGH VENTILATION. First, I added a small mix with a bit of Vallejo Model Color blue (?) mixed with a bit of black. You want to mix very very little paint as the epoxy is colored with very little. This photo I had to use the flash and tons of light to see properly because it was at night and the single lamp wasn’t doing much… I poured it in, then leave it for 24h. Then I added another pour with just the blue. After waiting, a third pour but with even less blue. This should cover even the small fish, but should not reach the top.
Then I fucked up. I said, you know what could be an awesome idea? To see the freaking reflection of the elf wizard on the water! The idea is fairly simple. Since we are close to the surface but still not surface level, we can paint the reflection using very very thinned paint, so it’s transparent (glazing), then with the final pour we add a little bit of water fuzziness and it should look awesome! Sounds like a great idea. Well. In theory. Spoiler: IT WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA. The binder of the paint, which looks fine and transparent under a opaque surface, does not look “fine” in any shape or form over the epoxy. Does not matter how you tint this. I fucked up. Since there was not much that could be made to clean that shit without damaging the epoxy (and I tried), I decided to go full in with the tinting of the reflection.
It doesn’t look great but it was… fine… sort of. I added another pour of epoxy (this time clean, without paint) and the effect was water-y looking at least. I added AKs Gauzy agent to fix some small problems on the surface and ensure it has a shine, bright look. And I fucked up, again. In my idiotic head, I thought, hey, I can make this dry faster using a light, and the heat will surely make short work of this, very much like with acrylic paint. BAD FUCKING IDEA, again. The surface ended up being all cracked!!! I tried to fix it with more gauzy agent between the cracks, but no dice. I tried to use Woodland scenics water effect, which I was planning to use for making waves, but no dice either. Fuck. I ended up polishing the surface by hand, breaking a bit of the wood, then applying gauzy agent again and finally the waves with the woodland water effect. The result ended up being fairly poor but well… It is what is.
The mini was fairly simple to paint, I painted a little bit of the color of each surface then just OSL’d the shit out of it. Very strong blues on the back, even bright ones, and strong reds on the other side, with orange-to-yellow-to-white. To add more pop, I added a bit of fluorescent paint, which makes it pop a bit more.
The end result was a bit me-ish, but I still think that there is potential on the idea… Everyone knows that epoxy bases can look awesome, there’s plenty of examples out there. I just need something else to paint the reflections.
Thanks to the GW shop which made the final photos, they look great (click to show a large version):