Stone Slabs Street Showdown - building the base

It was a learning experience.
(This turns out to be a very long entry and got a lot of photos... )

I made a lot of mistakes, acted on impulse and bought a lot of material out of impulse as well.  So as it turns out I don't need a lot of the stuff I bought and I wasted a lot of material along the way as well.

I did a mock up by just putting together some stock paper and wood.

Then I just stuff the spaces with a lot of clay, really, a lot of clay. but as I realized that it was a waste I started to use more wood to set up the base first, to fill up the spaces so that I don't need so much clay.

got to love Juweela bricks.  I had been using them on a lot of my models.  This time around I learned something more about them: don't prime them, just paint on them.  I made such a mistake and it took me a lot more work to get it look real.  Also, it pays to put some space between them.  In reality they won't be so neatly packed together like that.

This is how it looks like after I filled in the tiny gaps between the bricks, primed, washed and added a lot of pigments.

Canon EOS 40D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
1/6s f/5.6 ISO:800

So when I had learned my lessons I used a lot more wood to make some framework under bigger wood panels so that I don't have to fill the spaces with expensive clay again.

And when It's done I just put a thick layer of clay on top, and start sculpting the surface to make them look like stone slabs.  I smooth out the surface by dripping a lot of water on top of it and smooth it with finger. It was quite messy actually. I sprinkled some sand on it so that it got more stone like texture.

This is how it looks like after priming an air-brushed.  Back when I was trying to smooth it out I used a lot of water, so at the end there were a lot of 'spikes' as the clay behaved like whip cream.  I ended up having to clip away the spikes to make it look more natural.

Canon EOS 40D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
1/6s f/5.6 ISO:800

I know it isn't a good thing to re-cast, but this is only for me and I am not selling it so I hope secret weapon won't mind.  I got a huge 50mm base from Secret Weapon's sack of crap, and re-casted a sewer cover (man-hole) with green stuff. It then was put near the path that cuts through the stairway.  I am hoping that it would create a sense that there is something more out there outside the boundary of the base.

This is how the path looks like.  I traced lines on the path so that it looks more like concrete road in Hong Kong.

Canon EOS 40D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
1/6s f/5.6 ISO:800