Painting a volcanic cauldron…

[iKarith]

My fiancée is the world's second-biggest Disney fan and somehow she does not own the game Villainous. Her birthday is a month away, so I'm correcting that, along with an expansion with one of her favorite villains. But the game comes with this thermoformed styrene cauldron that's … well, it feels cheap. Etsy to the rescue!



I'd like some advice for painting it. Definitely looks like they're aiming for volcanic rock there, maybe volcanic glass? This looks like a job for craft paints in any case, which is good because those are easy and cheap and I have several, probably everything I'd need already.

Definitely starting with a black base coat. It seems though from there I should switch immediately to dry brushing? I was thinking that a little blue and purple, both light and uneven kind of in streaks would give a hint of volcanic glass. If I do it light enough, it should not really need a wash to darken it since the base is already black, but then go back and with short drybrush strokes of … a light tan or beige on just the tips of protruding bits?

First thing I'm painting from just what I kinda see in my head. Other thoughts? Stuff you might do differently? I don't really know what to finish it with … dull doesn't seem right, but maybe not glossy either. Not sure.

[Kurgan]

Not an expert by any means but I found this, might be a place to start... http://www.centerpieceminiatures.com/painting-dreadfleet-volcano/

I was going to say something about glow in the dark paint and such, but the ones I have don't glow that strongly and who is going to play in the dark (unless you make everything GITD/fluorescent and play under a black light... which for all I know might do damage to the tiles long term I haven't tested that).

An LED light in there might be cool, under some transparent plastic/goop/something. Have fun with it!

[iKarith]

Ooh, aim for purple or green instead of the red and … we'll see if there's any place to stick a battery … yeah!

[iKarith]

So this is what I got my fiancée for her birthday…



Except, the cauldron that comes in this thing is thin vacuformed PVC. It feels cheap, honestly. I had to do something about that. Fortunately there is Etsy!



I could've gotten this in black, but … need to start painting. After a first coat of black, I know I missed a few spots, it was too thick in a couple of spots, all the sorts of "this is the first thing I've painted and it's not ultra simple" mistakes. Whatever, it looks good enough here and I was able to clean up all of my mistakes. Not bad for brushing on the first coat. I see why people spray this stuff now though!



And here's what it looks like with a couple of grays and a light tan brushed in.



My first attempts at drybrushing had me add way too much color in a couple places, but I just brushed a little black on top and that undid most of those sins. I left a few streaks and the like because I thought it added to it, but for the most part … yeah.

I know I LOL at people who prime in black, add a little gray and/or brown, then wash in black and everything they have is basically shades of black … but this is actually supposed to be black so the first thing I'm painting, that's basically what I'm doing! Wash is still drying now, so I'll get a picture of it when I'm done.

I think I might still want to put some evil sludge in there … but I haven't decided yet. It'll depend a bit on how much time I have. Katie's gone and I need to have this put away before she gets back. No time to clear coat it now, which is fine because all I have to clear coat it with is a bit of mod podge or some spray shellac. It's too cold to use any rattle can outside at this hour. If I have tomorrow to see what I can do about adding some acidic goop to it, I will. Then it'll go somewhere out of sight until she's gone again for awhile. I'll have a couple of chances to clear coat before mid-June.

Not bad for first paint job by a blind dude I guess.

[iKarith]

Decided I'm not adding sludge. There's black, green, and purple plastic bits that go in and I don't want to distract from those or have those distract from anything I'd paint. And I like the volcanic rock effect I think I managed perfectly! A couple final shots…





(Not sure the brown/tan is showing up in the pictures, but it's there!)

I'm really happy with this. Like I said, first paint. Not mini scale certainly, but … shades of black painting is never gonna be really easy for me to do real well. Contrast is too low. And to do it as my first project? It looks pretty freakin' sweet if I do say so myself! But then, I'm blind, what do I know?

What matters most is that she is going to absolutely flip. Like full on backflip, wheelchair and all.

[Jimish21]

Interesting discussion. Actually I'm going to try and set up a nice wizards study or witches cavern scene for next year and I need a painted cauldron

[Kurgan]

Revisiting this thread I can't help but hear the Gauntlet Legends announcer booming out, "YOU ARE NOW ENTERING.... THE VOLCANIC CAULDRON!"