Painting Project 2: Stratagem pt 3

OK, so I finished the two stratagem. It was not a task without challenges.

First, I tossed the fossil Sculpey into the oven (275 degrees F for 15 minutes). Big mistake. (clicky for biggie)

>Sigh< While the Carnifex skull survived, the plastic of the base did not. Luckily, the Sculpey had set prior to the base literally melting down. A bit of red that I had experimented with on the skull bled through, but it was no big deal. I had one last large base.

 So, to recap, a small bit of Sculpey, an oyster half-shell, tiny crab claw, half of a carnifex skull, and 4 pieces of aquarium gravel (along ith two bases) makes this mess. Obvious mistakes here are all remedied at the  paint/finish stage.

I didn't take a lot of pictures from this point on because my hands were sandy...a very dangerous thing  for a DSLR. So the following steps were taken:

1) Wash Sculpey with a thinned Graveyard Earth.
2) Apply PVA glue (thinned with water) to all Sculpey areas.
3) Reach over to the hermit crab cage and grab a handful of very dry sand...and probaby a bit of crab detritus. Apply to glued areas, shake off excess.
4) Wash the sand with Badab Black wash, then, after it fully dries to set the sand, dry brush with Bleached Bone, Graveyard Earth, and White.
5) Drill the recesses of the skull to make the carni skull a bit more skull like. Paint the claw and skull with black and then white.
6) Dry brush the shell and gravel with white, black, and Gore Red.
And voila!

Oh, those archaeological signal beacons? They're finishing nails with red LEDs glued on top and little yellow and black paint. It was sort of an afterthought after I saw how muted it was overall. I also used a little more Badab Black wash around the skull to create a bit more contrast. (Click below to enlarge)

Oh, and the spiral shells? (Click to enlarge)

The ground cover on this one is yet more crab bedding...I think it's shredded coconut.