Do it yourself basing

A good base makes the whole miniature look much better and it's so easy to do.

STEP 1

Get some aquarium sand from a pet store. The aquarium sand comes in various particle sizes and you might have to get two packets. One packet of fine sand and the other packet of courser sand. I bought two grades of sand and mixed them in a cup,

. A mixture of two types of aquarium sand

STEP 2

Once the base has been glued to the miniature, paint on some undiluted PVA glue, with an old paint brush, onto the area of the base that you want sand to stick to. Don't worry about getting glue on the side of the base as it can be wiped off before it dries. The main concern is not to get glue on the miniature. If the the glue keeps shrinking away from the edge of the top part of the base it's because your glue is too thin, let it dry out a bit and try it again. Thicker glue is better as is will sit where it has been painted on.

With the glue in the correct place, hold the miniature over the container that holds the sand mixture (I use a plastic cup) and sprinkle a little bit of sand with your fingers over the base. Because of the fact that the sand is already mixed, one will get a very random placing of the different sand grains and this will lead to a more natural looking base.

The sand mixture is glued to the base

Don't be concerned about the very small bits of sand that settle on the feet of the miniature. If you haven't put any glue on the actual miniature, you will find it very easy to remove the dust with a soft toothbrush when you have totally finished the base.

Wait until the glue has dried (about 1 hour for our purposes) before proceeding to the next step.

STEP 3

When the has dried it will seem that many of the sand particles are only just glued on and they will come off easily. Don't worry because the next step of painting the base with it's first colour will help the bind the sand more firmly to the base. Dark brown (Citadel's Scorched Brown which is similar to burnt umber) was thinned with a little water so that the paint would seep down into the sand on the base. The side of the base was also painted. The side doesn't have to be painted too carefully at this stage as there are a few more layers to go on yet.

Dark brown paint is brushed over the sand

STEP 4

Once the first layer of paint has dried, it's time to roughly dry brush (lightly paint over the top surfaces with a brush with hardly any paint on it) a light brown (Citadel's Bubonic Brown which is the colour of yellow oxide mixed with a little white) over the top of the painted sand. One only has to be careful about getting the paint on the miniature. It doesn't really matter if one brushes a little too much paint on the painted sand because any mistakes will be covered up with the next step.

A lighter brown is dry brushed over the dark brown

STEP 5

When the dry brushed paint dries, the next step is to cover all the base with a wash of dark brown ink. I use a mixture of Citadel's Flesh Wash and Armour Wash.

A dark brown ink is brushed on over the paint

STEP 6

When the ink dries (it usually takes at least an hour and I'd recommend longer), carefully dry brush just over the top of the sand with the light brown again to create the final highlight. Two coats of dark brown (or green if you prefer) is then painted around the base. When the sides are dry, dab on some PVA and apply some static grass. Static grass is very easy to use as all one has to do is just take a small pinch of it an drop it onto the PVA. A little tap will shake off most the excess static grass and a little blow will will get rid of any other grass that isn't stuck on. The blowing also helps the grass stand up a little better.

The finished base

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