So when last we left our intrepid heroes, they found themselves exulted, standing triumphant over their... okay, maybe that’s a bit much. I promised a bit more on bases. It may seem like a really boring topic, but if you went and looked at CoolMiniOrNot.com or even most manufacturer’s websites, you’ll probably have noticed that they put their miniatures on some nice scenic bases to set off the miniature. That is all we’re doing here.

An artist frames his images, and so we’re just doing the same for our miniature. What you choose to do with it can often impact how the miniature is perceived by quite a bit. If you have a lot of spare time, crop the miniature picture so it is separate from its scenic base and just put it on a black circle. It changes how you perceive the miniature. So, to continue a bit where I left off, I’m going to throw out some things you can do to create some of the things you might see in some of the scenic bases with a few simple methods, including the title question.

Yes, a Rock

Okay, some might ask why you would waste your time sculpting a rock. Well, not all of us live in a quarry, and rocks are usually quite simple yet nice items to complement a miniature. Think of your hero standing on the edge of a cliff or upon a summit screaming into the sky in victory. That’s a cool image, right? Well, if you can find or buy a rock that would suffice then certainly do so. If you cannot, or do not want to spend time looking for a rock… well, sculpt your own.

We could use green stuff (kneadadite), but it’s not cheap and I hardly want to build a BIG rock with it. The technique I’ll be talking about is illustrated somewhat with this picture:

Obviously, that’s not a cliff in that picture, but it illustrates the simple type of rock that can be made. I made that one back when I first bought some putty, so it’s not exactly an “expert” skill. Heck, I don’t think I have any of those.

In any case, all you have to do is make a ball of putty and smash it flat with your thumb. You use your X-acto knife, put some petroleum jelly on it, and just slide it across the putty and various angles until you can make some pretty flat surfaces. It doesn’t need to be perfect, and each swipe of the blade need not be even. In fact, it’s probably better if they aren’t. Then use the blade to cut some jagged flat or indented edges on the sides and wham-o, it looks like a rock after you paint it. It’s the same principle in making a cliff, you just need a bit more material. And, since it’s for a ROCK, it need not be particularly great.

For cases like that, air drying clay is a good choice. You can sculpt it, it’s pretty cheap, and you can buy it at any hobby store like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or whatever you may have locally. Just use a flat blade, carve out your cliff with a few cuts, use some water to soften it back up if there are problems, smush more clay on it, cut it some more, and you’ll get your cliff. Just be sure to get some angles, and the higher you build the cliff, the more unwieldy your miniature will become.

Slime, Goo, even Blood

Have a taste for the more macabre or want to really get that gooey alien slime? Well, there are a couple of ways of doing it… we’re going to use the less financially risky one. Remember that wood glue or white glue you bought? Well, we’re gonna use it here. As an experiment, put a cord of glue on your finger and just let it dry. It’ll take a minute or three. After it dries a bit, it should now have a gooey semi-clear shell with wet glue on the inside. That semi-clear shell is what the entirety of the glue will look like given enough time, but it will deflate some. That is the basis for making goo. Make a pool of slime, let it dry, and keep adding glue to it over time to get it to the thickness you want.

After it dries, just paint on it. Use some brush on primer if you like, or just water down some paint and put a coat or two on top of it. It will suffice for this purpose. Then just paint it in swirling colors, ink it with a nice bright ink if you can, and generally make it look pretty messy. Now put on some gloss varnish and it will be shiny goo as well. Put several coats of varnish on it, thickly, and it’ll have an odd depth to it. Simple as that. The same can be done for blood or whatever other sticky messes you want to come up with.

Water, water, everywhere... but not a drop to drink…

In this case, you really don’t want to drink it... it’s a two-part epoxy. You can find this in gardening stores and flower shops sometimes to go with fake flowers. It’s just a clear epoxy or resin of some sort. Don’t buy the bulk cheap stuff. It’s… well… cheap. You don’t need a lot anyway. Follow the directions carefully. Here is a more thorough article about just the two-part epoxy resins at About.com: http://miniatures.about.com/od/miniaturebasics/p/epoxres.htm

Other musings and random bits...

These are just a couple of the things that people do to dress up their miniature bases and dioramas. You can do the same quite easily but be inventive if you can. Find random stuff in your house and just glue it to the base, modify it, paint it. Use some of the scenic ideas from previous articles and include them on your base. Use extra bits from other model kits and miniatures. Buying a pile of cheap skeletons is always nice as you’ll always have a ready source of bones, skulls and otherwise to glue to our bases. Heck, there are pre-painted ones out there if you don’t want to even bother with that.

There’s nothing to prevent you from using everything from old computer parts, card games (using images from the cards as pictures in frames or as material to build things needing flat surfaces), bottle-caps, scraps of wire, broken paintbrush bristles, dice, or anything else you can think of to spruce up your bases. You don’t have to do it, but it sure does look cool. Heck, put things on the bases differently. Clip off those tabs on the bottom of miniatures, drill holes through their feet, and mount them anywhere you want on the base! It’s all about having some fun, being as creative as you can, and really showing the miniature off. It doesn’t have to expensive, it doesn’t need to take endless hours of work, but it does have to fun.