It has begun, sort of...


I've noticed the instruction video says to smooth the plaster blobs out over the cloth, but we're in that dry season in our home, so water gets sucked out of the plaster pretty fast, it's enough just to get it shaped before it starts setting and the overlaps smoothed out. I'll be adding some plaster to the base coat to fill it in and get a nice surface.

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The benefit of winging it is being able to stop and go hmmm, a cave with a campfire maybe, and I need to work a few flat spots into this area so we'll let everything dry over night while I shop kits and accessories

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Got started with the plaster today after shifting gears to take advantage of Iowa's faux spring. I thought I had the lightweight hydrocal in my hand at the store, turned out to be the shape sheet stuff when i got home, but used it anyway, the first batch I mixed too thick, the subsequent batches went better, but the plaster cloth still sucks the moisture out of and turns it to clay rather quickly, going to need another carton of it, probably just get plaster of paris at the craft store, looks to be the same stuff and it's a lot cheaper.
 
PP is cheaper but heavier. Just keep that in mind. (For a point of reference, I used PP myself for the cheapness of it. I bought a 50 lbs bag and I have used maybe 1/4 of it. It should last me quite a while.)
 
I'm finding the trick is to mix it fairly thin, pour it on and use a paint brush to kind of encourage it to flow where I want it, because after about 10 seconds on the plaster cloth, trying to work it typically results in it pulling up like a layer of modeling clay

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Had half a gallon of latex "eggshell" paint left from the trim in the studio, and I needed a change of pace, so I started painting, big difference from the raw plaster, started playing with some tree placement, got some hemp twine I'm going to use with wire to try my hand at some bonsai looking cedars here and there. And I found a use for my dad's safety wire pliers in making them, I'll try to get a video of the process.
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Coming along nicely. It sure make a difference when the white disappears and a couple of trees are poked in the ground. Waiting for more updates.
 
Nicely done. If you add a bit of vinegar ( I think ) the plaster of paris will stay wet longer. You have the right idea with the paint brush.
 
I'm back, I tore it all down in July, managed to salvage most of the track, trees etc too. All neatly boxed and sitting on a shelf in my new shop, waiting to be reborn in our new (and final) home way down there at the end of the finished basement, where I have a roughly 6' X 16' free and clear.20170919_022809.jpg
 
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