I had drawn a rough outline of where I wanted the cave
walls before I added the hot glue but since my foam trays were too small to do
the frame sides
in solid pieces, I decided I needed to make a pattern.
(Not sure what I’m talking about?
Check out my D&D
Tile series from the beginning). I’ll wait.)
This was easier said than done. I found a piece of lined
school paper and started by overlaying the edge along the cave mouth & left
wall. I traced the outlines on the frame (it helped that I had drawn them in black
marker). Because the walls are farther into the frame,
I was able to keep the
outline within the length of my paper.
Then I rotated the paper, matched up the top corner and
traced the top side. I repeated the process on a second sheet of paper for the
remaining side as well as the larger stalagmite bases I planned to make out of
foam.
Then I cut the pattern pieces out, matched them up and taped them
together to match the frame. I made sure to test my pattern against the frame
to make sure everything fit where it was supposed to. I also made sure to
include
the cut line for the hidden chamber in the top right corner.
Once that was finished, I traced the pattern onto my
foam, marking any seam lines on my pattern. I cut out the base layer and glued
it into place using my mod podge and paint bottles to hold down any stubborn
pieces.
While it was drying, I took my pattern and cut the second
layer of cave wall. I made sure to vary the seam placement on the top layer. I
ended up cutting out most of the seam lines later but having solid foam pieces
cover
the base seams was worth the extra effort.
I also cut my corner cover for the hidden chamber and glued
it, making sure I staggered the connecting edge so that the inset holds it in
place slightly better. Then I beveled all the foam edges and textured all the
foam with a foil ball.
I mixed up another batch of the dried tea and mod podge
that I used on the Cave Floor Tile and covered the rest of the floor. I added
some of the small rock scatter as well as some dried oregano and rosemary from
my spice drawer to simulate blown in leaves and sticks.
I really liked how it all was looking, but the back cave
wall was too bare.
So, I grabbed a small skull bead out of my stash,
a couple
of toothpicks and my hot glue gun and got to work.
First, I filled the hole in
the skull bead with a small dot of hot glue and smoothed it out with the side
of the tip. I could also have tried cutting away the edges of the hole so that
it looked like the skull had been punctured
(maybe by a pickaxe or war hammer). Perhaps on another tile.
I cut the toothpicks down to about an inch long, maybe an
inch and a half and put small blobs of hot glue on each end. I used the tip of
the hot glue gun to shape the blobs into bone type shapes, with a hip socket on
one end and a kneecap on the other. Once they were dry, I carefully broke one
of
the bones most of the way (but didn’t separate the pieces).
Then, I arranged the skull and bones in a small pile
against the cave wall and added more leaves and sticks (oregano and rosemary) for
flavor.
Isn’t he fun? I was pretty impressed by how well the
bones came out.
Not too bad for hot glue and toothpicks.
Here’s the frame with the hidden corner:
And here it is with the corner removed:
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