Technology

Wooden crates

Materials needed: balsawood (approx. 1-3mm, thinner is better), piece of harder wood for crate's 'core' (approx. 20x12x12 mm).

Firstly glue balsawood over each side of the core like this. Next cut straight lines in the surface which will imitate planks.Finally add detail to the planks - make some little, irregular scratches . Most dificult thing is to glue the frame - slices of balsawood used here have to be thin (< 1mm). After gluing the frame and reassuring that glue hold firmly I add scratches to it. Final product looks like this.

It is important to make good frame design before starting the work!

Making crates this way takes a lot of time, so it would be nice to have a method to copy it easily and fortunatelly such method exist. I may event write about it in a few years ;)

Plaster

One of the materials I use most commonly is plaster. Its basic applications include:

• Making small sculpted bits of terrain - i.e. reliefs (see: Ruins).
• Casting - plaster may be used to make casts of many parts of the scenery (however it is not durable enough for very small or very detailed items such as figurines).
  There are different types of plaster which vary in graininess and durability of the cast as well as hardening time. The best solution for casting is hard dental plaster which unfortunatelly may be quite expensive. I also use regular builder's plaster, sometimes mixed with sand (i.e. for imitation of concrete). If you need very smooth surface (at the price of durability) the best option is ceramic plaster which can be found at art stores.