These are some quick-and-dirty terrain pieces made from household detritus that I had been hoarding like a packrat. Inspired by the crafting videos from Wyloch's Armory, but boiled down a bit, I made these by spraying the base color, gluing on greeblies, heavily drybrushing with silver, and then drowning in a black wash.
This first piece is what I like to think of as some kind of alien computer or scientific instrument. As you may have guessed, this is the plastic blister from a AA battery pack, with a couple of sprues from old Warhammer bases glued on top.
Next is a power generator made from the tray holding the cookies inside the box. You get bonus points if you recognized it as coming from Girl Scout cookies (unfortunately, I don't remember which kind). In addition to the plastic sprues on top, I glued water bottle caps to this side, and some unused bases that came with some WizKids unpainted miniatures to the other side.
Last is this device, maybe some sort of engine or other mechanical contraption, from the packaging that once held an electric toothbrush. Add some sprues and the plastic fasteners that come with cold cuts from my supermarket deli, and we have a nice piece of alien machinery.
While Wyloch and other crafters use browns, grays, and blacks for that grimdark aesthetic, I wanted my sci-fi terrain to be more colorful, like
the fantastic images from my youth. The spray paints I used (Rustoleum Paint + Primer Satin) looked bright when first applied, but the weathering toned it down the right amount to make these pieces look like they belong together on the tabletop. Not bad for what started out as a bunch of junk!
6 comments:
The wife often eyes my trash collection box in the games room....then she is often shocked at what comes out of it.
Those look very convincing. Nicely done.
I’ve discovered all sorts of tasty produce I would have never tried, except I just had to have the packaging!
That is an awesome practice, and the pieces look purpose-built for a sci-fi set.
FWIW, the red one probably came from either a box of Tagalongs (aka the chocolate covered ones with peanut butter in them) or Samoas (or whatever silly name they have now for legal reasons - the ones with a hole in the center and coconut & caramel on them with a chocolate drizzle). Think they're the only ones that have that 15-pocket layout, which keeps them from sticking together in the box and makes them the least cost-effective and most environmentally-unfriendly of all Girl Scout cookies.
There's reasons thin Mints do so well every year... :)
Excellent work!
Do you do anything to toughen up those fragile packages, or just use them as they are?
Thanks, Marc--I'm lazy so I just use them as they are.
And thanks, Mr. McGee, now I know more than I ever thought I would about cookie packaging :D
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