D&D Dungeon Tiles (Pt. 4): Adventures in Resin

I admit, this step was the most intimidating for me. I had never worked with resin although I had wanted to get into it for some time. After watching a few more terrain videos, including this one, 

I went to the hardware store to grab some clear 2-part epoxy.
 
(Not sure what I’m talking about? 

Check out my new series from the beginning. I’ll wait.)
 
Since I was more concerned with price and cure time than perfect clarity or bubbles, I came home from the hardware store 

with a couple of the larger size tubes of this:

I found them for about $5 for the smaller size, and $6 for the larger size. Since I wasn’t sure how much resin I would need, I grabbed a large tube for each tile. I used clear plastic disposable cups to mix and color my resin (the medium, straight sided ones). Each epoxy tube came with a small wooden applicator, but they were too small, so I grabbed a couple of craft popsicle sticks 

and a few toothpicks to spread the resin.

 
I also used blue painter’s tape to dam up the edges and grout lines that went beyond where I wanted the resin (on both tiles). This was nit-picky and obnoxious and was a bit more work on the water tile than was really necessary (it was, however, very useful keeping the acid pools separate).
 
I started with the Water Pool. Once I had mixed the resin, I added a drop each of 2 different colors of blue craft paint. This was far more than I needed and made the resin much more opaque than I had hoped. I decided to go ahead instead of tossing the resin and mixing up another batch. I carefully poured the resin onto the recess on the water tile, using the toothpicks to drag it into crevices and smaller gaps between the foam squares. Due to my inexperience, I overfilled the water pool, leaving the top uneven 

and a weird divot over a set of grout lines. 

I have since tried using Gloss Mod Podge as a fill/ texturing agent to help repair the weirdness of the water pour. It’s better with the ripples and waves, but I plan to add at least 1 more layer for depth 

before I call the Water Pool Tile done.

And now for the Acid Pool. 

This time I only used 1 drop of electric green paint for the entire tube of epoxy. This gave the acid a much more viscous, slimy look while still allowing details to show through in the shallower areas. It reminds me of ectoplasm from Ghostbusters. I was much more careful with my pour for this one 

and managed not to overfill it. 

A fun aside about this epoxy. Acrylic paint doesn't mix into it completely; so as it cures, some of the paint starts to fall out of suspension and settles into the crevices. This exaggerates the appearance of  depth as the color intensifies at the bottom. I’m quite happy with how this tile came out.

I ended up using resin on another tile (in the Desert Set) and on the last Frame I made. The builds for those sets were more elaborate, so I’ll touch on the resin more once we get there. I also made some light weight, free floating scatter pieces including a couple of foam tables and a fire pit. 

Originally, I had planned to make a throne room out of one of the castle tiles, but we didn’t like how it sat in the playable area. I hope to make a set of toppers using 9”x 9” cake boards that will sit on top of the frames. 

My current plans for Castle Toppers include 

a Throne Room, a Cathedral and possibly a barracks.  
 
Now, on to the next set.
 

 

Next up: Building the Desert