Cheap basing tutorial - bubbling swamp / tarpit

When I was doing my Terrorgheist base with the intention of using what I already have at home I thought - why not document all the process and make it a tutorial? So I did exactly that, it was published on Carpe Noctem, now I am moving it here. The TG base is kinda specific, but some tricks could be helpful in other areas

What is used in this tutorial:

- 100x150 base
- pva glue
- 3mm x 3mm balsawood sticks
- wooden dust [I'll explain below]
- plasticine
- small greenstuff balls
- tissues
- super glue
- sand & pebbles
- citadel paints & 'ardcoat
- TG bits and optional decorative bits

On the first picture you can see the basic framework. I already positioned the stones on which the TG is standing - and made a place for the optional Strigoi Ghoul King to stand - inspired by ROB HAWKINS. I positioned the 20mm base where I thought the 'rider' would not interfere with the TG and glued 3mm x 3mm balsa sticks there. I also placed some decorative bits, glued to stones to set the range of the swamp pool and outlined it with a pencil.

After that - as you can see still in the picture above - I cut/filed the edges of the balsawood square, to make it slope easier into the rest of the base. After that, I built the hill to cover the balsawood and some additional mounds with plasticine. Nowadays I would do it with Milliput, but back then I didn't have such things. Besides, it wasn't a heavyworking structural element anyway.

Next - I covered the plasticine with a single layer of common tissue.

And then - I put super glue on the tissue - it absorbs the glue, hardens, joins with the plasticine and makes a rough surface to which sand glues neatly.

Next thing - the PVA-glue-sawdust mix. At first, I mixed PVA glue with a bit of water - about 3:1 and then started adding the dust. The resultant mass is a modeling concrete of sorts - malleable at first, hard then. Other than what I am showing here, it could be useful for some cave / other planet basing ideas.

The mixture needs to be wet enough to actually spread and build with it, but also solid enough to not collapse into a puddle under it's own weight - after some trying out it should be easily attainable.

And using it I made a border for the pool.

You can also see that I added the 'bubbles'. Those are small greenstuff balls cut in half and glued to the base. Every time I have some greenstuff left over after sculpting I roll them into balls to be used later on things like this. The wooden dust takes some time to dry so it's a good moment to add this.

It becomes darker as it hardens and dries and looks not unlike cookie dough being cooked. I tried to speed the process using the heat of my lamp, but the plasticine started to 'sweat' from beneath the tissues - I don't know what that was, but I didn't like it - so be warned.

In the meantime, I also glued some larger pebbles onto the base.

When it's ready it's time to sand the base as you would normally - I use sand one can find on the beach for this purpose, glued with PVA glue to the base.

Now the painting process for the base. The first step was to spray it all with Chaos Black paint. Then I added a very, very heavy drybrush of Burnt Umber acrylic paint - it's cheaper than Scorched Brown / Rhinox Hide and looks almost the same. I use lots of it on this step and the quality of the paint doesn't really matter now. On that, I apply a heavy drybrush of Mournfang Brown / Bestial Brown.

Next step is adding a drybrush of Steel Legion Drab / Graveyard Earth. The last one is a light drybrush of Ushabti Bone / Bleached Bone. You can also see here that I painted all the scenery elements - it's good to have them all done before continuing further, especially for everything near the pool.

And now it's time for the swamp/tarpit!

I am using a water + PVA glue mixture to get the liquid for the base. At first, I tried using a 1:1 mix and then 2:1 with more glue, but that wasn't a good idea. I'll explain later why.

All the swamp painted with watered glue:

And after drying - as you can see - it was way too watery, pooled close to the bubbles, stones and scenery and didn't leave almost anything on the actual surface.

So, the next mixture was more like 3:1 or 4:1 with more glue than water. It became more viscous and seemed kinda uneven at first.

Don't get anything unwanted stuck in the glueswamp!

And after drying - it's much better, but there is still some texture of the base showing through.

So I added yet another layer of the thick mixture - and this time, after it dried - it was good enough for me. Using so much water made it sticks very much to anything in the swamp so it looks very thick and viscous in the end. It's all right when it's tar - but you'll need to use more glue and less water when trying to make something less thick, like blood or normal swamp.

When it dried it was time for painting. I painted it black using a big brush - the glue absorbed water somehow, so to make an even layer of paint you need to brush kinda quickly - but even if there are some faults, you can always paint it over once again.

Too much blackness was kinda dull for me, so I decided to add some color variation to it. I washed all the swamp with water and then added small splotches of dark green paint into it - it flowed and dissolved in the paint, creating watery/swampy effects. I recommend using various shades of greens, browns and greys for this particular kind of dirty pool.

And after that is done it's time for the Hardcoat - or any glossy varnish to be precise. It's important here to use a soft and big brush and also to water down the varnish a bit - it needs to flow freely and make an even surface. I did three layers of it. The last one was pure varnish straight out of the pot with water added later - I poured some drops of water on it and then tilted it until water created a smooth surface. Be careful for anything to land in the varnish while it's drying - I got two small hairs inside and it's impossible to get it out without destroying a large portion of the varnish. Leave it on an even and horizontal surface and wait for it to dry - and that's all!

Thanks for checking it out!