A Bit About My Bones Basing Basics

I had a question from a reader about what I used to base my figures, so I thought I would take the time today to tell a bit about my basing technique. As I have mentioned in my posts before, I like to glue all my figures onto a fender washer that has been primed with flat black spray paint.  I usually use the cheap .96 cent flat black from Walmart for this. I like to us fender washers, because I line my storage boxes with magnetic sheeting, and these washers help the figures stay in place when transporting my figure boxes.  I use various sizes of fender washers, and tend to pick the size that fits the inherent figure base best.
  So, after I am finished painting a figure, I paint it with a brush on matte varnish by Ceramcoat.  This helps protect the figure's paintjob while I'm flocking it's base.  To flock the base I used a mixture of three different Woodland Scenics Turf products.  I mix roughly equal parts of these into an old metal lunchbox that I use for my basing

To adhere this turf mix to the bases, I mix cheap brown craft paint with elmers glue at about a ratio of two parts paint to one part glue.  I keep this mixture in an old plastic 35mm film container that has a nice airtight seal.

I also have a number of household items that I sometimes use in my basing. Shown below are some of these: Cheap Oregano (which makes nice scattered fallen leaves), coarse sand, dried coffee grounds (which make nice dirt), and dried tea (which makes nice dirt or dead vegetation).

 I also cut short lengths of undyed rope to make tall grasses, and use a bag of chamomile I have for dried or dead grass.

 Of course, I have also gathered a number of Woodland Scenics products over the years, including Clump foliage, static grass, long grass, and various shades of fine turf.

And I have a number of different small stones I sometimes glue on bases. Shown below are: gray kitty litter, decorative gravel, and brown aquarium gravel

Also, handy is various plastic foliage, which can sometimes be glued on to bases, though I usually use this for larger scenery projects.

So, on to the actual basing.  To begin with, I paint the base with my glue and paint mixture, being careful not to paint up over the figure's feet.

Then I add any odd scatter I  want to include on the base.  Here, in the photo, I'm sprinkling some coffee grounds onto the wet paint, to make it look like loose soil on the base.

Then i dunk the whole thing in my turf mixture and gently swirl it around a bit, so I make sure all the base is covered.  I then let it sit in here for a few hours to let everything dry.

Afterwards I take the figure out, and gently tap the base to remove any loose turf.  Then I use white glue to glue on any decorative elements I choose.  Here in the photo, I'm gluing on a bit of dark green clump foliage to make a little bush or weed.

And here's the finished basing project show below. (And a sneak peak at one of Monday's figures) I now will let the glue dry for a few hours, and then will spray the whole thing with Testor's Dullcoat to help seal the figure's paint and the flocking onto the base.