This three dimensional treasure pile can be used as an alternative for the treasure chest furniture.
Here are some pics with a sloppy paint job, with a goblin for scale.
First, cut a disc out of some thin corkboard, or whatever you want to use for a base. I used a cork coaster from the fabric/hobby store.
Then start piling on some glue. I used some kind of puffy '3d' glue meant for paper crafting, but it could probably be most any kind of normal glue that dries thick. Regular Elmers should work fine.
I started with a sort of backwards C shape so I could set a skull into the gold. When it finished drying, I carved out enough room for the peg to fit into.
The idea is to build it up one layer at a time. Start with the general shape you want the bottom of the gold to be, and fill it in without letting it run over the sides.
The glue should be dry before you add another layer. This will take some time.
When you are satisfied with the size and shape of the pile of dried glue, it is time to add the gold.
Find some glitter with the biggest size glit you can. This won't cost very much.
For jewels, get the smallest rhinestones you can find. This will cost a little more, but it's not very expensive.
Cover your glue pile with some more glue, and put the glitter all over it. Paint it gold. Seraphim Sepia looks good here.
Glue the rhinestones on the gold, then add a glob of mod podge gloss so it looks cool.
Put a little more glitter on and around the edges of some of the jewels for realism. Try not to get gold paint on the jewels. Difficulty: Hard
Paint your base.
If you got silver glitter, add a fleck or two here and there with your sealer to add some pieces of silver. I use mod podge matte. The light i used in the pics makes the miniatures look more shiny than they do under normal light and viewed with the naked eye.
Easy, cheap, and looks great in HeroQuest!
