So my finger is healing nicely, and I've regained my ability to type. There's still an unsightly blister, but it doesn't hurt, so I take that as a good sign. However, as a precaution, I only used white tackly glue for my Ore hex.
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| Carved Ore from Floral Foam |
I saved this resource for last because it was the most laborious as well as the most time consuming. I actually worked on it at the same time as my other resources, but needed to allow for drying times. I started this hex with a block of craft foam, available at your local craft store. Michaels was having a sale on their dry floral foam, so I bought a bulk pack because I wasn't sure how many I would screw up before I got it right. If you haven't used floral foam before, it's messy. It crumbles everywhere, and you get covered in a fine mist of green foam. To try to contain the mess, I did most of my "carving" in a plastic bag. I used one of my sculpey shaping tools to score around the brick on an angle. Then literally ripped it apart at the seams. The result was some jagged pieces of foam sticking up on both pieces.
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| Painted mountain/ore |
Using the same tool I did for scoring, I whittled away excess pieces until I got some pieces about the right size. I sized them up against my hex, and carved out recesses for my number token. Once they were the shape I wanted I dunked them in mix of equal parts white glue and water. Are you noticing a podgy theme yet? Once dried, I painted them with a base coat of silver paint. You may need to do 2 coats, depending on how absorbent the foam is, and how much glue you used in your podgy mix. The decorative painting consisted of painting the shadows a dark gray, and the highlights a light gray. Sounds simplistic right? The key is to blend. It looks really weird if you just glob blobs of light and dark on, you have blend it so it looks more natural. After I was satisfied that my carved pieces of foam actually resembled rocks, I sprayed them with a triple thick gloss glaze to ensure the foam wouldn't crumble after being handled repeatedly.
I went to Peru a few years ago and was in awe of the wild orchids growing around Machu Picchu. To try to recreate the mountain flowers, I added my multi use moss to bits and pieces of the ore, and painted orange and red dots on them. Admittedly, they look nothing like Peru or orchids, but I thought it was a nice touch anyways. I also used flat nosed pliers to crush some rock/slate I found outside and made a tiny pathway, which I painted small dabs of silver on to match my mountain.
Up next - Settling the Settlers. You didn't think I made all my hexes the same did you? Of course not - where's the fun in that? And what would Settlers of Catan be without the people settling it? Stay tuned...
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| Completed Ore/Rock/Mountain Resource |
