Making A Stone Circle

This week after a few recent games and whilst awaiting an order of mdf figures, I fancied making some more terrain. If I'm honest this is one of my favourite parts of the hobby, as I just love making stuff, much more so than painting figures. As quite a few people have commented on how much they like my terrain, I thought I'd start a series of posts as to how I go about making it.

So to start with I went for something quite simple and also it's something I've been meaning to make for a good few years, namely a stone circle. Nothing too fancy and an easy was to show how I go about the whole process. I will go into more detail in other posts, but to start with I'll just focus on the basics.

The following photos will take you through the process from start to finish, with notes alongside. So without further ado:

Pretty much all of my terrain is based on either 2mm mdf or 3mm hardboard. For this project I used the latter as they were offcuts from some DIY at home. The stones were collected from the garden where a previous owner had laid a gravel drive. The tools you see are the basics I used but will be covered at a later date. I decided upon a 4 1'2" diameter circle as it was a reasonable size but not too big, which can be a problem once on the table. I chose some stones that were similar size and texture so they had a cohesive look to them. I pondered as to whether to use 5, 6 or 7 stones, but ended up with 6. 

I arranged the stones so that they all looked like they were pointing into the centre. Little details like this make a big difference IMHO as to how a piece looks. Maybe it's my design background but I like to get this right before anything is glued down. You can also see that the edges of the hardboard where shaped and sanded so as to have a gently slope to an edge, which helps blend the piece when on the table. 

With all the arrangement sorted, it was then a case of fixing the stones in position. For small pieces like this I find that fine surface polyfilla works well, but you could use hot glue, epoxy adhesive, contact adhesive, No More Nails etc. Just make sure that you wash the stones beforehand to remove any dirt and grime and that they are thoroughly dry. Then leave the piece to thoroughly dry, normally overnight at this time of year.

With the polyfilla fully dry, it was a case of adding the grit to the base. I use diluted builders pva for this as it's much cheaper than the better quality pva wood glue, but does just a good job for this sort of work. I dilute it slightly with water, so it's more like single cream. I just find this works for me. For the grit, I've used sieved builders sand to get the big stones out and keep it in a box so that it stays really dry. This is the same grit that I use on my figure bases and other terrain, so it matches, which to me is important.

When the piece is dry, again normally overnight at this time of years, I then tap off and brush off any loose material, of which there is plenty and am left with this. Don't worry if the grit has missed bits as it will all be hidden later on.

I then give the stones a diluted coat of black paint. Nothing fancy but it provides a good even colour for later on.

The base is then painted to a simliar dark brown colour that I use on my figure bases. This I mixed up by adding some black and red to a small colour matching pot from a DIY store until I got a colour that was close enough. If you were doing a lot then it would be worth getting a small tin mixed up to order. Again leave this to dry thoroughly, again overnight normally.

With the base completely dry, I then dry brush various areas in the same colours I use for the bases of my infantry. I have no set plan for this but just look at how the grit has stuck and work from there. Keep turning the piece around to get a good view from all sides as the light can throw up some areas for highlighting that you might have missed.

With the base done, I then drybrush the stones with various shades of grey, personally preferring a blue grey rather than a warm grey, as I think it stands out more when on the table. This is where having similar stone textures makes a difference as if you had say slate and sandstone pieces, they would look very different when painted and to my eyes 'wrong'. I wet brush the first coat to get a good even coat, but still leaving some black areas showing. I then drybrush a highlight on top of this, focusing on the high points of the stones which enhances their shape.

With all the painting done, it's then a case of flocking. Initially I was going to add a variety of different textures, but when painted, I decided to keep it simple and go with simple flock. Again this is my standard flock that I use on all my bases and terrain. Again this helps give a unified look to the whole table which, to me, is important. I use diluted pva as before and keep adding flock on as I go round, to help prevent a big build up off glue which can cause problems. I then leaves this to dry overnight.

When I'm sure the glue had dried, it is simply a case of turning the piece over and knocking off all the excess flock. Job done!

I hope this has proved a useful guide as to how I go about making my terrain. In total this took two days to do as I was able to speed up the drying processes over the radiators. In Summer things dry considerably more quickly, by leaving them on a windowsill in the sun etc. I reckon taking out the drying times, the actual making time was 2-3 hours, with the painting and flocking taking up the most time. I often spend quite a bit of time thinking about how I want the piece to look, which can be longer than the actual process itself! But for me this is important as then I know I will be happy with the finished result.

I aim to do some more posts soon and I have other items ready to go and more ideas too. Really I should paint figures but I'm in the terrain making mood at present. So until next time stay safe and keep healthy.