I would love to hear your opinions of using real earth mixed with pva and acrylic paint as ground material on a diorama. Is this a crazy idea?

many thanks,

Kris

not at all,

this is a method ive always used to great success.

it looks real, because it is real!

havent got a pic where ive used it but it works a treat.

just spread pva on your base etc, then cover with soil. let it dry and your away!

cheers

joe

Ola ChromeLotus

Actually it is not a crazy idea and I know a lot of modelers who use the technique for years. I personally prefer the Wallspackle/birdcagesand method because the grain of the Birdcage sand is very fine and more realistic in 1:35.
But definately the mix White Glue mixed with sand or other natural stuff is often used. Often they also throw in a few drops of Acrylic paint to precolor the stuff.

why would it be a crazy idea? what can look more like a real dirt/earth than the real thing itself?

anyway, i've done it and im satisfied with the results...

here is a sample:







Its white glue mixed with some water and real earth

I picked up an old flour sifter at a garage sale that I can use to make sure the texture of the dirt is fairly consistent and more or less "in scale" ...

Same here, I went in the back yard with a sifter, and spent an hour filling up a old cookie jar with super-fine topsoil. I either add glue/water mix to my base then add the dirt, shake off the excess when dry, or make a slightly thick mud, and add it to the base, and "sculpt" any divots, bits of road, etc.
It has been mentioined that mold can end up growing on the dio, but after I did my first dio three years ago, the glued up dirt is still fine and no bacteria on it what so ever!

Thank you so much for your replies and tips! :-) Thats a great help! I wondered if there may be issues in using organic matter from the earth, I'm so glad to hear its a good way of getting this effect!! Thanks again!

kris

Real dirt is all I use in my dioramas but I never use it straight from the garden. I always sift it through a very fine sifter. The end result looks more like dust than dirt but when applied with white glue looks really good and in the right scale.

Once it is dry I give it a dark gray base color followed by several brown washes and then a light colored drybrushng.

It's a good idea the microwave it before you use it. This to kill any spores or eggs that may be in it.

GREAT tips guys, thanks!!

My neighbor was doing some digging and uncovered a vein of extremely fine dirt. He let me have some and it is great in 1/35th scale. I add a few larger "chunks" to this almost powdery dirt to break up the uniformity.

Sealhead

I have been using real earth for all my dioramas and they turn out great, of course it depends what sort of soil you use though.

hi there

using earth from you garden is perfect for dioramas but if you have kids who love your dioramas, i give you the advies to boil you gardensand before use it.

it sounds crazy but boiling will reduce the pathogenic germs in your diorama and we all know how young kids are, they put everything in there mouth ...

i'm not joking i'm a medical student

kind regards

dmd

Here's a tip that works for using real earth or many other things. I got six 5 inch diameter wooden hoops like they use in needlepoint. They are very cheap. Then I found different materials to use as screens.

Then I can take even regular sand and put it through the finest screen (barely stretched pantyhose) and get a super-fine sand. That way you can sift out big lumps of anything, but put a few back in for realism.

Sealhead

This is the technique I have always used, a flour shifter or a tea strainer works well but even a fine meshed screen will do nicely. I have used it with white glue and woodland senics matte medium. The biggest debate I've seen with this is to paint or not to paint I personally prefer to paint it, paint everything. I always try to use natures best when working on a dio, everything from twigs to small rocks, it is the cheapset source for this hobby.

Well, James, similar thing happened to me on the latest contest... i won 4th place with my dio, judges said that 3rd place diorama looked "more full of life" than mine???!!!

Actually 3rd place dio was a Junkers airplane landed in some snow, with opel truck parked next to it (like they're re-loading some stuff), only problem was that i couldnt find ANY LIFE in that dio, maybe becouse THERE WASN't any figures on it? But, hey, maybe some ghosts landed the plane and parked the truck....

and my dio is currently ON DISPLAY here :-)
that shows (and means) much to me!

cheers, and im sorry im a bit

Mirko

I have always been using fine sampled natural eart on dios and many times without painting it seriously if it was right with colour i wanted to use .

Many artificial modelling soils look so fake that i wouldnt even look at them

Thats also the reason i have used natural plants and vegetation and i am now experimenting on preservation techniques .

Mirko u never go to a contest to win. Since u re satisfied with your job no judge can ruin your effort .. so simply ignore them and try to improve. Win and prizes will come eventually

Costas

if you go in your backyard to get earth, id sugest cooking it a lil to disenfect it unless you want bugs crawling all over your dio!

Frank

Here is an article from IPMS Stockholms online magazine. Its by Görin Nordin.
Hit The Dirt, Modellers!
Might be useful! Another item that should be added to give a real dirt effect is a small amount of static grass. This adds to the texture and also makes it easier to build up the dirt layer. If you have precoloured your dirt using an acrylic paint, blowing a small amount of staic grass with its natural green colour onto the wet mud adds a nice affect, especially if your model has gone through a field or grassy area.

A chance for me to put in my 3 cents worth on my favorite subject, soil or more affectionately dirt. The guys here have already put up some great advice so I'll just add-on a little on the coloring.

I've never painted the soil I've used. It helps to save costly paint and lessen work. Soil color, not to get to technical (after all it is still dirt) is mainly a function of the amount of organic matter and minerals. Organic matter is what makes the topsoil dark and minerals impart most of the shades of red to brown.

If its brownish stuff you need simply dig deeper beyond topsoil which is about 5-10 cm. deep. Depending on the mineralogy you can get shades of yellow to brown to red subsoil. Another way to get different colors is to visit construction sites where excavation is being done. Sieving is a must if you go deeper.

Reddish soils are usually of volcanic origin or iron as in the tropics, so if you know of an area nearby with volcanic (basalt, to be specific) bedrock, the chances are high that the subsoil will have a reddish tinge.

Once the PVA on holding your soil to the dio dries the chances of "monstrous" , alien growth is minimal as long as you store your dio in a dry place away from direct sunlight. So you can actually avoid treating the soil (i.e. boiling), just make sure the soil is really DRY (cheap sunshine is fine) before applying it to the dio.

Sorry if I got carried away but I couldn't help myself, blame it on the dirt. Kris if you want to make cracked mud let me know or anything else on this 'dirty' subject.

Be careful with real earth : you can get bugs, weed, but mostly fungus.
Sand is ok, but any living soil must be avoided !

Thank you so much for the advice! Thats great. I'd love to hear how you make cracked mud! :-)

Jan, I have read that microwaving the soil kills any spores or eggs!

many thanks,

Kris

Since your all ready to get your hands dirty, Kris here goes on the cracked mud. Sorry for the following technical stuff but its kind of necessary to get a good cracked mud pie, Yummy, makes one's mouth water doesn't it?

The mineral part of the soil is divided generally into sand, silt and clay based on their sizes. Clay is what you need to make cracked mud. A little clay goes a long way because its basically clay and organic matter that makes soil stick together. To find out if there's enough clay in your soil first pass the soil through a finest mesh sieve you can get your hands on to take out the sand portion. Grab a handfull and wet the soil enough to make it into a ball. Using your forefinger and thumb squeeze out a ribbon of soil while holding the ball in the same hand.

If you can make a ribbon about 2 cm. or more you've got a good clay content cos remember its clay that holds the soil particles together. Next is to mash the soil you want to use by wetting it to a semi-slurry and smashing any chunks (basically destroying the inherrent soil structure, I know I'm splitting hairs).

Another way to know its clay content is to place a little soil between your front teeth and grind it. Ate a fair bit of soil during my college days so I'll have to say this will not be a good way to go unless your really into being one with Mother Nature.

You can add in a 50:50 PVA glue:water mix to the mess if you wish to use it immediately. Spread as thin as possible over your dio (not more than 1-2 mm. thick). Let it dry preferably under the hot sun for a 1-2 days you have CRACKED MUD. Don't know if you get much sun having the famous English weather.

The trick is if you want hairline cracks spread it thin. Don't you just love dirt.

Finally! An excuse to eat dirt! :-) :-)

HAHA! Just kidding, thanks for tip. We do 'occationally' get sunshine in the UK so I will try that great method for cracked mud out!

many thanks my friend! I will certainly share my results on the forum!

Kris