Update: Picture of finished base here and here.
Saw this outside our house, looks like a grill from some old airconditioning unit. From here I decided to try something I always wanted to do, which was to make a base for a diorama. In making the base I wanted to use materials easily found around the house so that it won't cost so much.
Was looking for a base that was cheap and I thought of using an old can cover for the base. I first punched a hole in it using a nail and a hammer. The purpose of the hole is to snake a metal wire through.
I snaked a wire through and used a pair of pliers to afix it in place. The purpose of the wire is so that the plaster of paris has an area to grip on so that it won't easily fall off the old can cover.
The idea for the diorama base that I had was to have the grill on top of two towers, sort of like a bridge. To make the towers I cast some plaster of paris in some plastic egg containers.
The grill was too big for the base so I decided to shorten it a bit. I got my hack saw and sawed it in half.
Turns out that the grill was already brittle after being exposed to the environment for such a long time already. So I just used my fingers to break it in half. As you can see it ended up in bits.
Washed it in the sink to remove the grime
Afterwards dried it out in the sun.
After an hour it was already dry along with the plaster cast in the egg container. So I just plopped that out.
Mocked it out a bit so I could test the look I was going for.
Afterwards applied the plasted and placed on the towers, the grill and the grill bits. The plaster was smooth when placed on and I wanted it to look like it was on a soil surface. To accomplish this I used one of the grill bits to poke into the plaster of paris to break it up and make it rough.
When the plaster dried I sprayed on some primer to prepare the base for painting.
I didn't make the grill permanent yet on the base so that it would be easy to paint it. Once I'm done painting I'll just use glue to stick it on.
So far that's it, will try painting it tomorrow using water based acrylics that I bought at an office supply store.
That went well and I'm happy because I got the look I wanted. My problem now is painting. I suck at painting with a brush and making an object look realistic. But then again that should be expected because this is my first time in trying to make a diorama base. Hopefully this will be a good learning experience for me.
