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I have already painted marines that are all glued to their bases. I want to add some texture without having to carefully paint the base around my painted models. I'm thinking of taking some basing grit I have (which is not sand, some organic something or other) and dyeing it with acrylic inks. And then sticking it on the base already colored.

Anyone ever do this, or am I crazy?

If you were to do that then there wouldn't be any shadows or sense of depth. Maybe if you dry brush it after you glue it. I'm also not sure how well the glue would hold, do a test batch?

It is possible. I've mixed various stuff up in a jar with and ink+water mix. Leave it to soak in the colour. Then spread it out on a tray to let it dry breaking up any clumps that form as it dries.

Hmm, true about the shading. It is just that the grit I have (the only organic grit I could find, unlike sand it presumably absorbs things) is a very light brown. I can't have that. And I also don't trust myself slopping foundation paint all over a base when the marines are already done.

So maybe pre-dyeing to shift the color some, then application of a wash after it's on the base? I think I could handle putting a wash on.

You might be better off using a hobby knife and carefully freeing him from his base.

By "him" you mean 45 marines right? LOL.

Well i won't call it a dye job, but it is possible. Although I would prefer to paint them while on the base. It might be much more of a hassle than just debasing the 45 marines.

Basically you need reall thinned out paints so that the grit paritcles won't bind together. Then you need to dry it. And usually the color won't be enough so you need to dye them some more.

Just debase them. It more manly since you're holding a knife.

I always base mine after the figures are done. I lay down a layer of thinned white glue, dip in sand, then let it dry over night. Then, I use some thinned Liquetex Acrylic Burnt Umber and flood wash the sand. When that i dry, I give is drybrushing of Bleached Bone.

Hmm, I usually go with what requires the least amount of work. Yeah, lame I know. Since dyeing is mostly a passive process, I am going to stick some grit in a jar with water and a crap load of spare ink I have and see what happens. If I don't like what I see after I take it out and dry it, I may have to resort to the normal (gasp!) method that normal people use to base their miniatures.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ifurita wrote:I always base mine after the figures are done. I lay down a layer of thinned white glue, dip in sand, then let it dry over night. Then, I use some thinned Liquetex Acrylic Burnt Umber and flood wash the sand. When that i dry, I give is drybrushing of Bleached Bone.

Whoops, missed this. Hmm.... with my poor ass skills I may be able to handle a wash and a light dry brush. I am just terrified of getting paint on my finished figures... risk is far less with a washing and drybrushing though isn't it...

I wouldn't advice it any day of the week. When you directly apply the sand (or whatever) onto a base with whatever glue you're using, it sticks! (I'm using superglue instead of PVA, as PVA doesn't always quite cut it. The sands will simple fall off often... Not a pretty sight, when you're done painting!)

Basically, you don't wanna glue anything onto painted surfaces, as the paint don't hold it together aswell, as a good glue between two naked surfaces does.

The bases only have black primer on them. The grit is supposedly organic, ground up walnut shells or some such. It is from Gale Force 9. I sincerely hope it will stick on the bases, because otherwise in addition to removing my marines from the bases, I'd have to get the primer off the bases too. Which would royally suck.

That's one of the reasons I flood wash. There is enough wash on the brush, such that capiliary action takes the paint to the figure.

If you are nervous about it, seal the figures first and try it out on a couple of old test figures.