Obssesed with huge water waves/splashes

Why? You wouldn't admit I was right. What Mike just did is show ALL of us that even when we know the materials and the techniques, there's no guarantee the "magic" and artistry of a true master can be duplicated. And I appreciate him taking the time to show ALL of us the best answer to the initial question anyone could hope for. I'd pay just to watch him work. I'll bet I'm not alone.

 

He makes it looks so easy and yet impossible at the same time...in awe.

 

Well done Michael....

 

Well George, Mike said, "The reason and ONLY reason I added the "pm sent"to Jeffs post was so that people would see that someone DID want to take the time to help him instead of not replying at all like he stated he was expecting. For anyone that took that as a tease I appologise. I'm sure tackier things have been done on this site George."

Lol, THATS why George! Its ok though, I know you still love me... :-*

 

Mike you are one bad mother!! Now come down and kill some gators with me dammit!

 

Thanks Mike! Great Info.

Still better to PM and help someone than to make a rude useless comment not answering the question at all........ Thats Tacky!

 

Mike, I know hes ready to, we chatted about you and that subject. You KNOW hes going to be looking up to your ceilings in your building when he gets there, too, lol.

 

MUD AND GRASS

I wanted a lush look to the waterhole habitat with some green in it to take an otherwise drabby colored peice and give it some flare. I start by foaming in my mudbank then giving it a shot of spray adhesive to give the smooth foam a texture for my mud to adhere too. The adhesive is allowed to dry. Or you can rough it with a rasp.

Next my grasses are prepared. I by my grasses and foliages from either www.comercialsilk.com or www.autographfoliages.com. These are from Autograph.

Most plastic or "PVC" grasses need heat treatment to give them realism and character. So I grab this tuft with needlenose pliars and lightly apply heat from a heatgun while shaking the grass side to side. Heres the modified grass next to the unmodified.


Now the grass tufts are glued into the middle of "real" dead grass tufts to add realism.
When dead grass is collected in summer the roots are set in a blob of plaster before storing and drying. A trick from George Dante. This makes installation fast.



Now my mud is prepared. The main base of this mix is wallpaper paste. Dirt and housepaint are added until the desired color and thickness is acheived. This mix can take up to a week or longer to fully harden depending on thickness but it gets hard! I dont use resin for mud because it gives it an unnatural glossy look insted of a wet earth look if that makes sense.


The foam is first painted with a generous layer of mud.


Forgot to add also that if you want deep holes from hooves and legs to add that first in your foam. I didnt do this but should've. Depending on what kind of earth I'm trying to create I'll add fillers of different sorts to give the ground different textures. For this base I wanted the look of clumpy muddy earth that has been moved and trampled so the filler was mattress foam similiar to what you would use for camping. This was tore into peices and covered with mud.


The base was covered with this. Any "sharp" foam edges that caught my eye after placement were simply given a dollup of mud.

Dead crumpled grass is added and dry dirt back away from the waters edge.

Next I started grabbing grass dipping in mud and placing where needed. The smaller clumpls can be punched in with a srewdriver. Since the female buffalo was supported by her lips in the water I didnt need to worry about having to hide anything and the grass was kept short for the most part to excentuate the free space around the drinking animal.



I forgot too add earlier that dozens of holes were drilled into the casting to accept the grass that would go in the water. do this before permanently attaching the casting so you can clean up the mess underneath.

Now these grasses are dropped into the holes down to the plexiglass underneath and glued in with Gloss Modpodge.
Dont forget to take some of the single blades up into the mud and dirt as well.

 

Loose dirt and grass are glued down "dont get it on your water" and were done.

 

Thank You again Mike. I'm sure many copies of this tutorial will be made. Very much appreciated.

 

Thank you Mike. Thats one of the damnedest things I've ever seen.

 

Thank you for taking the time to show us your skills and technique. It is appreciated!

 

Wow, wow, wow! That is amazing. Thank you.

 

You are really awwwsome! I know it probably took you years to master that. I just hope some day I can be half as good as you. Thank you so much for sharing!

 

A big thank you from me Mike ! I have been practicing with clear casting resins etc with limited success, but your thoughts and ideas have answered many questions.
John

 

I've gotten some pms with questions so I'd rather answer any further ones here. I know it is all appreciate so no need to thank me. I'm tied up with a project for another couple weeks. When I'm finished I will do an article on building a streambank with current water and some wicked ice effects and get into more detail on my methods for easily mixing resins and controlling set times etc. After that will be a rock coyote base. We might as well go full bore with this!

 

I cant wait !
stick it on a DVD Mike, I for one would buy it.
I do have one question, I have Frank Newmyers water DVD, and he uses the clear resin, now I can not get this resin shipped over here so I have to use our own versions of it. Is the WASCO stuff clear polyester casting resin ? using a MEKP hardener ? all of "our" clear resins dry tacky, unless an additive is used.
John

 

When the rest of us were playing with silly putty and play-do you must have been playing with epoxy and resin...

 

Mike it looks outstanding, could you tell us where you get the surfboard glass.
Again it looks great.

 

Wascos clear casting resin is the same stuff that is catylised mith mekp. I bought a large quantity of the glass years ago out of NY somewhere. If you google it you'll find it. Dont know if a series of high quality manuals would be better than a dvd. Someone could spend up to $10 grand to do 1 dvd "To do it right". I just always have things that are more important to spend money on lol.