More Cake Toppers and Zombies!

Those of you who have been following me for a while will know that I offer a service to create custom wedding cake toppers. And they’re always some of the best projects around.

Here are some photos of the latest zombie fighters. These two are on some desperate ground right now, and I’m afraid they’ll be overrun soon.

And for the couple that wanted the bride to be the zombie, here is a set of dancers. You know it’s love when you’re tied together by spider webs.

Anyone whose new to the site can see some of my other zombie creations over on the Geek Wedding Cake Toppers page.

Worn Leather

I often get compliments on the ways that I paint worn brown leather. It is actually a fairly easy process.

First, you need some way of getting a dark and fairly neutral brown base coat or shading coat. Normally, I either paint a neutral brown color on, then shade it with a brown ink, or just start out with a very dark brown. If you start out with a neutral brown with ink, then you should apply your highlight layers with a little water in them to help the lower colors show through more. If you started out with the dark brown, you should mix the dark brown into your highlight layers in order to create a smooth transition.

The next step is to highlight using a very red brown (like P3 Bloodstone or Citadel Vermin Brown). This is going to be a very prominent color, so go ahead and cover up most of the layers underneath (you just want those layers for shading).

You will now have a very red looking brown color. The next step is the trick to making your leathers look worn. Highlight using a very yellowy brown color (like Citadel’s Snakebite Leather or P3 Rucksack Tan). Keep your blending good as you highlight up and you’ll be able to maintain the illusion well.

In the end, you’ll have a brown color that is more red in the shadows and more yellow in the highlights. This gives the impression that the leather has been out in the sun and is worn.

As always, I have some finished examples:

You can also experiment with these kinds of colors on non-leather surfaces, like the brown scales on this dragon:

Instant Mold

I found this out from Coolminiornot. They've just started selling stuff they're calling Instant Mold.

Apparently, this stuff is sculpable like green stuff, but it become maleable when warmed, and hardens when cooled.

The potential for this stuff was immediately obvious. You can't sculpt with it, but you can make press molds with it, and create some pretty impressive stuff.

I'm looking forward to trying it out, probably using some of Scibor's techniques in creating a press mold.