I am looking for any idea for a habitat scene with a river otter. I was thinking about the otter on the bank with a fish by it's feet, but need grass or weeds around it. Any suggestions. Thanks, John
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and used a sheet of styrofoam with a 1/2 plywood backing to add ridgidity. I glued the foam to the plywood and then ran acetone over it. This gave it a very melted look. Once dry and shaped the way I wanted I peeled off the melted material to leave the under foam. I sealed this and stained it with jacobean stain, which matches up with the colour of the otter fur well. The result is a nice sedimentary looking rock (practice on a couple small foam pieces and you'll see how managable this is to do, try working the material as it melts also for added effect). I then used some tumbled rocks from walmart and lodged them into the cracks I had made in the foam and added a couple small pieces of driftwood. The result looks like a bedrock piece of streambank. I placed the otter with a female harlequin duck under him and it turned out very nice. I had thought about doing the streambank/dirt/plant route, but this worked better for the customer. You could do something like this also, just use the fish instead of a duck.