Welcome to our city...

Photography got me again, yesterday was the sunniest day since months and so I went out to take pictures of some sights.
Here are some impressions on Dresden :)
We also wanted to thank all of you who read our blog, it is really enjoyable to know that hundreds of persons read our site and articles!

Left to right : The residence castle, The Hofkirche Dresden (the saxon cathedral)  and the Semper Oper

Dresden Neumarkt

Spring around the corner

Yesterday I walked home from sport and noticed, that a big park near me was full of half melted ponds.
I read some tutorials about photography anyway and so I thought get home, get your cam and take some pictures.
Walking through that park was really enjoyable, little birds singing at every place, first little flowers coming out and so much life everywhere.
I am really in love with life when that moments decide to happen to me, or I understand once more my decisions let them happen.
Who doesn't leave the trail, won't explore the world they say, and damn this is right!

I made my first tryouts with hdr software and was shocked, how different the same picture can look but it is really interesting to play around and get into it.

Fast molds with two component silicone SI6GB

Hello out there!
You can find many tutorials about silicone molds in the Internet (I suggest the HirstArts homepage), but today I want to show you something which was new to me.
My friend Mati aka Badsmile (you can find him over at http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/ )
told me about this very useful stuff, called SI6GB two component silicone.

The greatest advantage is  simple, you don't have to mix a big amount of silicone with a tiny amount of curing agent (which can be very hard to do and destroy your whole work if done wrong).
Instead you take 50 % of component A, 50 % of component B mix them together and you are ready to mold.

The second advantage is the time you need. While the old silicone I used (Silcotin HB) took hours to dry out (a whole day until you could actually cast something) the new one needs 60 minutes do get hard enough to get your master out and just 3 hours until you can start casting.

So it is easier, faster and I couldn't notice  big differences in price.

You can buy the silicone at ebay in different amounts.

Notice that you should not mold and cast whole minis from manufacturers!
It is illegal and you hurt the company (especially little miniature manufacturers need every cent they can).
This is for self-created stuff and little bitz you might need.


And now how to mold:

The things we need:
- some lego to build our mold
- SI6GB two component silicone
- a few cups (take the ones you just use one time, for you will never be able to clean your favorite mug)
- an old brush
- some sticks to stir
- your master
- mold release agent

Build the  form to pour the silicone in, best for that is lego, because you can build thousand of different forms again and again. Silicone is expensive, you shouldn't waste some with to large forms!  Be sure to glue the stones to your ground plate (which should be water resistant). I use double-sided tape for that.
For this tutorial, I will mold a little cogwheel, because I had no other masters around.

Take dry rice (or anything else you can through in, should be dry and non-sticky) and fill your form (with master in it).

Now take the rice and weigh the amount. This will give us a rough amount of silicone we will need.
I usually take 5 to 10 gram more to be on the safe side.

Now take the release agent and your first brush (be sure to clean it very careful or better use a new one later) and brush the whole form (for better release) and the master. It is very important that you don't take to big amounts, we don't want detail to get lost. Everything should be smooth and there shouldn't be visible brush strokes or hairs.

 By the way this are the two components:

Start filling your cup with component A (or B if you prefer, no difference at all) and weigh carefully!
It should be 50:50 and differences can slow the drying process or even make it impossible!

Then fill the next component, be sure to have the same amount. Then you have one to two minutes to mix them up, you should stir slowly and careful, we don't want to much bubbles (I never get it without, so don't worry a few are ok). Be sure to stir at the edges too.

The result should look mint green.

The components before mixing and the ready silicone.:

Then take your second brush and a small amount of silicone. Brush it to your master and be sure to push all the bubbles out and silicone into every small crack and hole. This ensures that every detail will be molded.

If you don't notice your photoslaves taking shots of you, you are just focused enough :)

Pour the silicone in. It works best if applied beside the master, so we don't push our first brushed layer away. After filling, knock against the table to shake out air bubbles. This can be done for five minutes, was enough for this example. Let it dry (and don't....DON'T be impatient) for 60 minutes.

Be sure to put all your projects far away from silicone and molding.

If you want to use your tools more than one time clean them instantly.

After 60 minutes you can remove the legos and your master. Now just wait another two hours and start casting. This is our first mold with the new material and it didn't came out perfect but there where some negative conditions (cold around, very impatient as always, my mind was far away at some troubles that haunt me this days).
I sure will show you our new forms, when they are done.

Only one thing left to say, this stuff is awesome, molding becomes way easier with it.

Happy molding and greets!

Apocalyptic Mustang

Hello everyone out there :)

Today I want to show you another project that I began last year because of the Massive Vodoo Mad Max Car Competition. If you don´t know the Mad Max films: watch them! There are .... special ^^ The movies are taking place at a apocalyptic time and everything is looking like crap from a pile of junk.

This is a Mustang Convertible 1968 from Revell. I added some things because at such a time you don´t have the right stuff to repair your car. Everything is good enough. Even a little pig ;)

First step was to choose a color for my Mustang. He will look grey with two stripes of orange that I will add at the end. Next step will be to paint all the little items.

Greetings,

Sandy

Bust Wip No. II

Hey people :)

My little smiling men seems to get better, thanks to Badsmile. It makes a lot of fun but I think to complete this bust it will take many more sessions. First I arranged the face new, then extended the neck. The chest muscle went down and he became ears. He looks more realistic yet :) I´m wondering how this bust will look in the end!

Hope you enjoy the (T)Raumschmiede :D

Personalised stuff with decoupage

Heyho!
Yesterday I saw Romans brushboxproject over at Massive Voodoo ( http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2012/01/start-of-mv-brushbox.html ) and once more I thought about getting such a thing.
The internet revealed that the store which sells them has an own shop here at my city...well now I don't have money left, but am happy :)

The box itself isn't that expenisve, you can get them here:
http://www.boesner.com/boesner/servlet/frontend/articleDetail.html?btUid=bt_Article&iDf_id=c0a8736c:ae3da8:fd09f42bac:5993&2ndKeywordOID=7f001:-47182655:11957deff1b:7f57&showAll=true&1stKeywordOID=7f001:-47182655:11957deff1b:7ddf

I wanted something personal, for I don't want to copy other persons ideas or articles, when it gets to write something down here at our place. (I also suck at freehand painting anyways)

So what to do with it? During last christmas days I remembered a technique I learned years back at some artistic convention. It is called decoupage, and its about paper, glue and some things to change.
A few presents later (with some big fails, but more about this later) I was in love again.
It is cheap, fast and you can do tons of cool things with it.

So I thought I should write a short article about it and here we go:

The things you really will need:

Some decoupage paper (got mine for 1 Euro per page at local hobby store) and maybe small things you want to add. Something to cut on is really good too, if you don't like scratches at your table.
You can also use napkins (just take the layer which holds the picture/color).

 Some stuff you would like to change. You can do this on every material I think, and possibilities are unlimited. (I used it on boxes, books, shelves, bags...whatever). Just coat it with some varnish if you plan to use it outside.

The decoupage glue. You can get it at hobby stores, just ask the nice salesgirl for glue and a date, if she is sweet :) If not, more time to glue stuff. I didn't try other glues, because I got this big package since a few years (it lasts really, really long).

And here is stuff you won't need, but it makes life more comfortable.
strawberries, a biiiig  cup of cacao and Southpark.
Just take things you like.

Well there are no pictures of the actual process...because I don't know what to show.
You cut out the paper you need (in my case I cut the little lizard and measured how much paper the box would need) take a good amount of glue and brush it directly to the surface you want to cover.
You can paint it before that step (if you have a dark surface or edges, like the lizard does) but it will also work without.
After glueing, you put the paper/napkin to the surface, now you could do the following things:
- take a flat iron and smooth the surface, so that all bubbles are gone (put baking paper between the iron and your surface)
- just let it dry (dull finish)
-brush another layer of glue to it (glossy finish, more resistent)

There is one thing you always should have in mind: LET IT DRY
This may sound simple...it isn't if you are as impatient as me :)
I made a jewelry box for christmas, thought it was dry and closed it...a few days later the damn thing was glued together and now nobody can open it.
At my brushbox I touched the paper and ripped off a little bit of it, the lizard covers it but it is really bad if you don't plan to put such a thing on your surface.
If you do boxes, things with hinges etc you have to dismantle them first, as I did with the brush box.

And here we go wip and ready:

I often walk through stores and see people buy stuff with such patterns as my shelveboxes for incredible high prices, with a little time and happyness you can make them all alone.
I'am also planning to use this at some miniature related projects, cover sockets with patterns or effects like the old color effect at the first shelvebox or make some wallpapers for little scenes.
Hope anyone can use this, have fun while trying :)

Bust Wip

Hello out there! :)

Wednesday evening Martin and I had a painting session. It´s a while since I sculpted the last time so I thought to mold a bust with a laughing face - A good thing for improving my skills. So we will see who is laughing at least ;P
He or I.
Challenge accepted!

Baibai,
Sandy

PAINting red or I'll do it till I get it

Everyone has his own weaknesses, for some of us it is a special technique like blendings or lights, some don't like the way some colors turn out...you all know what I mean.
My personal enemy is red. I tried it since my very first army (Scab Red with just one highlight...good old times^^) and never was satisfied.
After a great Mini, painted by Raffaele Picca, I decided to fight again and my victim of choice was a skeleton knight from Games Workshop.
I had to paint him anyways for an internal competition and so I started one night, half asleep and with minimum thoughts :)
Until now mainly the red armour took my time and I'd like to show you what I've done so far.

It is GW Scab Red as main color, shadows done with a mix of Scab Red and Vallejo Dark Sea Blue (thanks a lot Raffa for that tip), the highligths with Scab Red/Blood Red/Dwarf Flesh.
First sketching was done with wet in wet technique, than I softened everything with thin glazes.
I also wanted to practice battle damage once more, I did it hundreds of times at my bus, but I didn't highlight the damage  back than.
Painting that little line under your damage is something I have to do again and again but slowly I notice it gets easier.
I would be happy if you drop some words on that little fellow.
Greets Martin

Lasercutting and some impressions on architectural modelbuilding

Today I'll show you my model built for my big draft this term and talk about a very interesting technique, named lasercutting.

Some of you will know lasercutting, there are a lot of companies offering parts or complete kits of buildings.
It is a very cheap and fast method to create two dimensional pieces, which also can be engraved with lines, text or things like that. (And from this parts you can build threedimensional stuff very easy)
Here are a few pieces I made for my draft model :

How does it work?
First you have to draw a vectorbased plan with all the lines you want to cut or engrave (good planning is really important, you have to know which lines shall be cut or engraved at this point because you have to draw them on different layers and there should't be two lines doubled for construction)
and bring it to some file format the lasercutter is able to read.
Then the cutter will follow the lines and burn them out, with high power for cutting and lower for engraving.
I am planning to write a tutorial about this whole thing, with screenshots and everything needed.

Now you may think...for what? Nobody owns such a thing (well, nobody I know)...
here comes the good message :)
I think every university and many schools of engineering own one at their mathematic or architectural faculty.
At least here in germany thats the case.
From now on, I just can talk about my university, but I think it won't differ that much.
They make a special price for students, for ALL students, not just architects and mathstudents!
That means, if you are a student or know one, that would have an hour for you, you CAN use a lasercutter.
Sounds good, doesn't it?

What can you do with this babies?
Well you could make your own buildings for tabletop gaming, detailed facades for showcase scenes, floors with wood, tiles,windows, doors ... and so on.
And it really isn't that hard to learn.
Also most faculties offer pc cabinets with the software needed, or you can use the 30 day trial time if you just do one thing.

This is another example of things possible. It's a very little building extension and you can see, how small the pieces can be:

The tutorial will need some time, another exam needs to be written but I hope I provoked some appetite :)

Now some pictures of my model:
First ones are the working model, where you check proportions and volumes and such stuff...things I like to do at my pc, but it was demanded.

All pieces after the laserwork:

This little tree was an important motive for my draft,so it had to stand out.
I tried an old technique (making trees from wire) with some new material: Liquid Greenstuff from Games Workshop. Used to I made the bark with gypsum or fimo soft, but liquid does a way quicker job and is absolutely fine for building up volume. The modell is scale 1:200 so the bark didn't need structure.
(Would fit perfect for Epic games) but for 28 mm gaming terrain I would do a final step with some putty to engrave the bark structure.

And finally some impressions after beeing ready (with sunrise light after a night of work :) )

Wish you a nice evening, I'll enjoy my giant hot chocolate and paint till my brush catches fire :)