Hi all. Just thought I'd share some groundwork I tried out. Its all natural, and no paint was used. Everything you see is made up of dried spices and other stuff from the kitchen (curry powder, chillie flakes, coffee, tea leaves, etc). I find that there are endless combinations one can mix and match to get the right sort of soil for a dio, from dusty summer to muddy spring.

For example, instant coffee powder, when heavily doused with hairspray, looks like thick mud. Different types of chillie and curry powders give a great dry soil look. Peterselie looks just like leaf mould. Coarse chillie flakes look like autumn leaves.

The base I've shown was for a 1/16 fig, but by grinding the spices finer they can be used for smaller scales. I had added some twigs and dried moss, but I've removed most of it, along with the the fig so that you can see the ground better.

Word of warning: your workroom's going to smell like an Indian curry shop for a while, but the smell of the spices soon fade, especially when you use hair spray to set it. I didn't use glue at all, just several layers of hairspray and spices so that the texture is preserved.

The second pic is with a flash so the colours are a bit off but its sharper.

I've used this technique on most of my fig bases as it's a lot cheaper and looks ok. The third pic's an example. Hope you can see what I mean. I'm also using it for my July FOTM entry which I will submit soon.

Man it must really smell like a spice shop.. :-)
I've seen the pictures.. they're in your gallery right? Looks good.. But I don't think I'll ever use curry powder for my sand.. Thanks for sharing with us your idea though.

Can a staffer help pls? I've followed all the instructions but I can't get the pix to show. HELP.

http://

http:/https://gallery.kitmaker.net/data/500/DSCN2076.JPG

Hi Spooky
Ground work looks good. I still like to paint though, because you dont really know if the colours will change in 6 months time or not. Also because all is organic, it might rot away.
Your figure looks good as well. The face and eyes are extremely well done. I dont likethe "dirt" on hishands, as it looks like a painting mistake. Other than that, nice one!

Very nice base/groundwork.I use a fair amount of the natural stuff myself.Try Italian seasoning as it has a variety of greens and green-yellows as well as a mix of shapes and textures.Very nice fig.I also agree about the hand.
cheers!

Thanks, Frank! Thought those pix were lost.




Sealing everything with hairspray makes sure nothing rots. There can be a certain lightening of the colours but that depends on what you use.

Have to admit, the ground work looks great. The only problem is, spices are pretty expensive. It's a lot cheaper to go out in the yard or to a construction site and dig up real dirt. I have found 6 colors that I keep in large jars. I use a fine grade sifter I bought at a grocery store, go out and get a huge container of dirt and sift it onto a newspaper. save it in a jar ad use a couple of colors to make my ground work. I buy bunches of dried flowers/vegetaion from one of those "Artsy" stores like Hobby Lobby or Michaels for a few bucks. Besides, I use my chili powder and curry powder in cooking ....I wouldn't wat to take a bite out of my diorama :-)

Hey, cool idea, everything looks very realistic! You can also seal everything in with diluted white glue/water, that way it won't rot either. Yes, spices can be expensive, but I have seen in dollar stores lots of different spice bags and jars, they're probably pretty old, but are very cheap, and will last a while! Great idea! You'll have the best smelling vig in the club! :-)

Spices are dirt cheap :-) over here in Sri Lanka! I've also found that it works better to scale than real dirt. Soil particles somehow look oversized at 1/16 or even more so at 1/35. Curry powder represents packed dust much better than real sand!

You are so right! LOL :-) :-) :-) :-)

Anyway. It's great what you did make. I like it very much!

Very realistic ground base. I myself used some oregano and different tea as leaves for my trees.

The pix are a bit blurred, Alexandru, but the trees look cool. My attempts at trees have been disastrous so far.

Did you try this:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/135