Giant mushrooms for underground & fey dungeon dressing
Aug 4, 2013 21:56:01 GMT -5
Efilion likes this
Post by cogfus on Aug 4, 2013 21:56:01 GMT -5
Hello all,
I've recently discovered the DM's Craft videos and have been cranking out tiles for my campaign like a madman. I made a lot of terrain from sticks, rocks and other natural bits in the early 90's but never had access to a hot glue gun before... lets just say that my interest in hand-made terrain has been rekindled... maybe better to call it an inferno
The PCs in my primary campaign are currently deep underground, and I made a few accents that I would like to share.
These mushrooms are made with round artist sponges for the heads and the stalks are chunks of trimmed poly foam wired together with floral wire. I found the artist sponges in a $5 bag at hobby lobby, there were two round sponges per bag any many other natural sponges that I have used for general flora and a nice violet fungus mini.
Painting:
The only thing I painted before assembling were the mushroom heads. I put a dime sized spot of paint on a damp artist sponge then squeezed the sponge until the color soaked all the way through. Messy but fun! For the black one, I just applied spray paint without any issues. Allow the "heads" to dry completely before assembly. The rest of the painting was done after assembly.
Assembly:
I ran a piece of floral wire up through the stalk and through the artist sponge, then twisted a large knot in the top and pulled it into the middle of the sponge. A little dab of hot glue keeps the poly foam "stalk" attached to the head. At the base, I made a large quarter-sized coil of wire, applied a large pool of hot glue, then pressed the coil into the glue.
For the mushroom with two stalks, I just used a larger piece of poly foam and split it into two stalks down to about 3/4 inch from the bottom. I used a single length of floral wire bent into a U shape with a coil in the middle to make the stalks rigid.
The floral wire is flexible so the stalk can be carefully bent into different configurations. The pieces are light-weight but a little bulky. The whole piece is rigid enough that the head can support four standard-size minis easily.
Make sure the base is large enough to support weight on top of them... the first time I introduced these I had Gibberlings climbing them and leaping into the middle of the party. Since then, the party archers have been using them for perches during combat if they can find a way to get on top. I use a thin vinyl sheet for the base (it is also magnetic, got a big roll for cheap from ebay for a previous project) and paint them to blend into my tiles like so:
I would be more than happy to answer any questions.
Best,
Brandon
I've recently discovered the DM's Craft videos and have been cranking out tiles for my campaign like a madman. I made a lot of terrain from sticks, rocks and other natural bits in the early 90's but never had access to a hot glue gun before... lets just say that my interest in hand-made terrain has been rekindled... maybe better to call it an inferno
The PCs in my primary campaign are currently deep underground, and I made a few accents that I would like to share.
These mushrooms are made with round artist sponges for the heads and the stalks are chunks of trimmed poly foam wired together with floral wire. I found the artist sponges in a $5 bag at hobby lobby, there were two round sponges per bag any many other natural sponges that I have used for general flora and a nice violet fungus mini.
Painting:
The only thing I painted before assembling were the mushroom heads. I put a dime sized spot of paint on a damp artist sponge then squeezed the sponge until the color soaked all the way through. Messy but fun! For the black one, I just applied spray paint without any issues. Allow the "heads" to dry completely before assembly. The rest of the painting was done after assembly.
Assembly:
I ran a piece of floral wire up through the stalk and through the artist sponge, then twisted a large knot in the top and pulled it into the middle of the sponge. A little dab of hot glue keeps the poly foam "stalk" attached to the head. At the base, I made a large quarter-sized coil of wire, applied a large pool of hot glue, then pressed the coil into the glue.
For the mushroom with two stalks, I just used a larger piece of poly foam and split it into two stalks down to about 3/4 inch from the bottom. I used a single length of floral wire bent into a U shape with a coil in the middle to make the stalks rigid.
The floral wire is flexible so the stalk can be carefully bent into different configurations. The pieces are light-weight but a little bulky. The whole piece is rigid enough that the head can support four standard-size minis easily.
Make sure the base is large enough to support weight on top of them... the first time I introduced these I had Gibberlings climbing them and leaping into the middle of the party. Since then, the party archers have been using them for perches during combat if they can find a way to get on top. I use a thin vinyl sheet for the base (it is also magnetic, got a big roll for cheap from ebay for a previous project) and paint them to blend into my tiles like so:
I would be more than happy to answer any questions.
Best,
Brandon