Testing block

Over the last week I’ve been working to try and get our cobblestone (well, technically I think it’s flagstone) method just right. I’ve tested out a ton of different methods, so I thought I’d post up everything I’ve done up to this point so you can see all the iterations. I’ve tried drybrushing, washing, tracing with markers, priming/not priming, adding texture, and more. I think I finally got something pretty close to what we want, though there are still a few things to try out. I was quite surprised at how well something as simple as a gray marker has worked. I’ve been using it to add depth not only through coloring the grout, but to force a deeper imprint and fix up some areas that didn’t stamp so well.

The first thing I tested was using spray primer on the foam. I knew that this would eat away at it, but I was hoping that a light spray would eat away just enough to add some nice texture to the stones. I primed first and then used the stamp to imprint the cobblestone. As you can see, I sprayed too heavily on the sides here and it ate into the foam way too much. The middle section was “usable” but the texture from the spray was too porous and didn’t look very good. I also tested out tracing grout with some paint markers here.

On the other side of that block I tried out several different methods. For the top left section I stamped it, outlined the grout with a marker, attempted drybrushing and dabbing with a sponge, and then outlined the grout again with a grey marker. The top right section I painted black and then washed with a gray. For the bottom right section I traced the grout lines with a paint marker, painted over it with gray, then tried various drybrushing/washing techniques. I painted the middle right black, drybrushed with 2 shades of gray, and then outlined the grout with a gray marker. Finally, the bottom right section I pressed a stone into for texture, then painted it black, drybrushed gray, and outlined some grout with a gray marker.

Priming didn't go so well...

Testing block

The next several photos show a few stages of my next attempt. I traced the grout lines with a gray marker first. This helped me clearly define where the stones actually were. Also, for sections that didn’t make a deep enough imprint or where large/odd shaped stones showed up I simply hand drew a pattern in making sure to push hard enough to imprint the pattern. After that I just painted over it with black as a base.

Based

After that I drybrushed on two shades of gray. I didn’t drybrush enough or use light enough colors, because it still looks black.

Drybrushed with gray

And finally, I traced the grout on the right half here with the gray marker again. You can see the difference it made. The grout lines stand out more.

Tracing the grout

I based another corner of that block black (after tracing all the grout lines). I decided to try my hand at some washing. Here are several different washes with various consistencies and colors across the two blocks.

Lots of washing!

The last three photos are a series of photos showing off the drybrushing and grout tracing after the wash. This first one is after the first drybrush with regular gray and a second drybrush with a lighter gray.

After washing and the first drybrush

This photo shows after a third drybrush with a near white gray. I think this went a little too light.

After the third drybrush

And finally, I traced some of the grout line with the gray marker to make them stand out more. I’m starting to like the look of the marker, though I want to try washing over this with a dark gray to darken the grout some.

Tracing the grout

I think I kind of like that final test, although there are still a few things to try. I want to try the original wash with a darker gray, as well as washing a second time AFTER drybrushing. I also want to try out various shades of lighter and darker gray during drybrushing to see which ones look best. While this piece looks good, it’s just a little bit too bright. And finally I’d like to try out adding some more texture by pressing some stones on the foam before stamping it.

As always, let us know if you have any suggestions!

Related Posts

• Better Cobblestone Pictures
• Making a Cobblestone Stamp, First Attempt
• Cobblestone Painting, Take One
• Final Cobblestone?

No more foam!

We knew the first couple terrain blocks would mostly be practice blocks, so it’s not surprise that things have already gone wrong with both the well and the meteor. We spent too much time just tossing things together without enough planning, and we had to essentially scrap the well piece. We also made a mistake with the meteor that we MIGHT be able to fix. Since most of the time you only ever see the great successes of terrain and not the many failed attempts on the way, I decided to post the failure here so that people can learn from our errors.

First, the well piece was looking good, but the attempt at creating cobblestone from the talus didn’t work quite how we expected. It just looked like a pile of gravel, not cobblestone, and it wasn’t flat enough for a playing surface. We had to think up a new way to do the cobblestone. While we did eventually find something that we think is going to work (look for a new post in the near future with the new cobblestone attempt) we had to try and remove the talus. There simply was no way to clear the block, so we had to scrap it (well, break it up and keep it for testing stuff on later anyway). We’re keeping the well itself to put in a new piece with working cobblestone.

It just wasn't flat enough... and it didn't look much like cobblestone.

No more foam!

Testing out some painting techniques.

The other problem we had was with the meteor piece. Everything was going great with that one… except for one small detail. We forgot to test the effects of the resin on the foam. Apparently the resin will eat through the foam (and possibly the texture spray as well). So, the water puddles that we put in not only messed up the meteor trail a bit, but also ate through to where some blue foam is showing underneath. I’m not sure how we’re going to fix this yet, or if we can even fix this block. We may need to scrap this one and cut another 6″x18″ piece to use. Here are some pics of the resin damage.

Bits of blue foam showing under the water.

More resin damage.

We may have lost these pieces but we have learned a lot in the process so it hasn’t been a total loss. We now know that we need to find a way to prevent the resin from eating through the foam. We also figured out a better way to do cobblestone that I think can save us some time and money in the long run. As soon as we get some more pictures and work out the last few details of the new cobblestone method I’ll put up a full post with pictures AND a short “how-to” guide.

Related Posts

• The Well