Realistic Scenery
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A beautiful miniature deserves a base worthy of the work on top of it. This is the process I use for most display pieces: texture, crackle, pigment, vegetation, then a resin pour in the low channel.
Materials used
1
Priming and the first texture pass
A simple spray base in any colour, then texture paste pushed around with a silicone shaper while it is still wet. Keep it uneven — flat ground reads as a tabletop, not terrain.
2
Crackle coat for the dry riverbed
A thick coat of crackle medium over the textured area. Thickness controls the size of the fissures, so lay it on heavier where you want the ground to look most stressed. Roughly three hours to cure.
3
Earth pigments and shading
Darkened with earth pigments worked into the recesses, which also ties the base to the miniature that will stand on it later.
4
Moss, tufts and blossoms
The vegetation pass. Placed in odd-numbered clumps and never centred — the eye should travel across the base rather than stop in the middle.
5
Water effects in the low channel
Two thin pours of resin rather than one thick one. Tint the first pour, leave the second clear.
6
Final tone and varnish
A matt varnish everywhere except the water, which stays gloss. Sealed and photographed in daylight.