Nice! I really like the rough look of the pier.

The gull looks good to me, maybe you could paint the fish a silver blue?

Ajlafleche, thanks for the comments, and I agree with you, the sea gull is a bit stocky. Maybe he's been hitting the local gym. The fish, again, I agree is very green. Ok, really green. Especially when you consider I was aiming for something like this:

So, clearly (!!!) I didn't get the colors to match, haha ! As for the string, I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I think white or an off white/beige is a good suggestion. I'm not sure what kind of technology an 18th century fisherman would have on hand so I really didn't know what color to make it, this is all in my imagination.

Thanks again!

I think the gull looks fine...a bit stocky, but otherwise fone. If I were you, I'd reconsider the color of the fish. While some tropicals can be brightly colors, most fish are less colorful. You might wasnt to paint the fishing line an off white/beige to look more like string. The copper color seems to some through in the picture.

Vespa Boy, thanks for the comments. I've seen your work on bases as well, which is outstanding, so I really appreciate your compliments! I was hoping the stand off would be easily visible. I was a little hesitant about adding the fish and gull though, considering they don't look very real at all. In the end, I'm OK with that since this is a gift for somebody and isn't being entered at a show.

That is very cool. I really like the details on the base and the water. Really well done. There is a lot of fun tension in the stand-off between the pirate and the gull. Gulls are ruthless when it come to getting food!

Geez, I didn't see the face. Man that pirate is scary!  The close-up in the thred you had the link for may be enough to give me nightmares for the summer.

So, he use to be the joker. That explains the belt-buckle, and the huge all-teeth smile.

[shudder]

You also said that you use to have a good army of G.I. Joe recruits. I guess I out to join you with that. I'm sort of a collector. I mainly collect the equipment and wepons for them, but I do on occasion get some more soldiers for the fight. I plan to do some sort of out-door display for some photos. As soon as I get my 21 century toys M-5 Stuart running again.....

Rail, thanks for the comments! I can try do a separate thread regarding the fish and sea gull. Its not too hard, just shape 'em and let 'em dry. Then paint!

Ryan, aren't pirates suppose to freak you out? Any how, I appreciate the comment. Did you get a chance to see the pirate up close HERE? Once you get to know him, he's less freaky...

Thanks again!

looks great, I am a little freaked out by the pirates face though.

Well, that's a lot better than what I could do.

I saw an article on modeling fish (like trout, salmon, and big-mouth bass) in the Garden Railways magazine a few issues back (I can't remember the month/year right now) I gave it a shot, and it looks good, if you like fish that look like a battle-ship fell on them.

Your fish and the seagull look exelent. Can you do an article or another thred outlining how to make one?

EDIT: Is that Jack Sparrow?

Finally finished. The pictures aren't as good as I thought they'd be...I really gotta set up some kind of photo booth. Any way, the finished vignette is different from how I intended it to be initially. The idea of the sea gull staring down the pirate for his recent catch just popped into my head and I ran with it.

The pirate's fishing pole is made from a real stick and the line is copper wire with a thicker piece of silver wire fashioned into a hook. Both the fish and the marauding bird were sculpted from miliput. Making things, especially living things, from scratch isn't my thing and this was the first time doing it.

To be honest, I'm on the fence about it. The fish and the gull are less than realistic looking but I think they are essential as I think (in my opinion any way) it displays an interesting situation. What will happen? I made the fish green simply because I wanted to add more color into an otherwise drab scene, similar to what I did with the star fish.

Any how, please feel free to comment and critique. Love it, hate it, indifferent, doesn't matter. I'm anxious to know what you think!

Thanks

Well, I'm glad your wife didn't find out, and I'm also glad the accident can be replicated without accually replicating it to the letter.

Let's see now, take the rear of paint brush (I assume, the handle) and run it along the back of the foam on the brush, let contents fall from brush and let dry. That shouldn't be too hard. Thanks.

Suppressionfire nice pic! I'll try to replicate that look as best I can

Railfan thanks, you may certainly 'steal' my idea. I don't consider it stealing any how. What we're here to do is learn from each other and share ideas and techniques. So, give it a shot! As far as the bubbles is concerned, its not a difficult accident to replicate. You're suppose to be able to create these bubbles by using the foam brush provided in the pack to sort of stipple the water but I didn't find it working well for me.

After I had poured the water effects, I was trying to spread it around evenly and in doing so tilted the base. Well, the angle of tilt was a weeeeee bit tooooooo extreme and I wound up spilling some over the side and onto the kitchen table ...my wife would have my neck! So I tried to soak up the spill with the foam brush and have it drip back onto the base. Well, it wasn't dripping from the brush to the base fast enough so I tried to help it out. I took the rear end of a paint brush and ran it down along the foam, hoping to press out the excess water effects onto the base. In doing so, this action foamed up much of the stuff on the brush and from there the bubbles were easily put where I thought they should go.

If it wasn't for the spill, I wouldn't have gotten the bubbles. Hope this made sense at least a little bit. Thanks again!

That looks great. I hope you don't mind, but I think I may "steal" your ideas for making the barnacles and use them for a diorama I may start soon. I'm not sure if I can replicate your accident, though. (Man, that's the one thing I needed for the scene. Mabe I'll try to do a "synthetic accident") I will be using this for refrence, that's for sure. Thank you for posting.

Arr Harr!

Found this colorful photograph of a pirate you can use for reference!

a gift to your sister, thats nice.

What I meant though, is to use a resin casting kit, to make copies of it.  Ya can sellem at the beach!

Thanks guys! Normally for me, modeling accidents don't result in a happy ending or a decent looking model. But in this case, I'll take it.

Smeagol, thanks for the kind words! I wouldn't even know where to begin selling these things, but you're the 2nd person who's told me I should. However, this will be a gift to my sister so this particular one is not for sale.

I have seen WORSE work for little ceramic crap on sale down the shore.  You should cast that beauty and sell it.

Very nice, I really like the way the water turned out. The foam looks excellent!

Steve

Looks pretty good. I guess your sea foam accident happened in just the perfect spot.

P38j - Thanks for the comments! I was thinking the same thing. I'll just have to make it look more so like a wave once I start to add some texture to it, like small white caps. Maybe give it a sense of direction as it flows past the pilings.

Suppressionfire - Thanks for looking! I knew that building looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. As for the pirate, he'll come soon enough, however I fear I may have not produced this base in a scale big enough for him so he might end up dominating the scene, a little more so than I'd like. We'll see.

Gamera - Thanks for the kind words! The sea foam was a bit of an accident. This realistic water stuff, if handled roughly, will make bubbles. It will also get kind of frothy on the brush that I used to spread it. So I used it to my advantage.

Thanks all for looking!

Nice! I really like the starfish and the sea foam.

Looking good Oddmanrush!

Interesting how the package of 'Rippling Waters' used a picture of Frank Loyd Wright's famous architecture in a vignette. A nice salute to his work.

Your scene looks excellent & I can wait to see where the sea dawg, barnacle bustin' one eyed bandit will be positioned. (pirate) Arr Harr!

Looking sweet.. looks like a wave just washed up, and is withdrawing back to sea...

Good evening all. I got some better pics to put up so I won't waste any time.

I don't have a very nifty photography set up like most of you cats so I have to make do with my kitchen table and snazzy table cloth....some people use giant pennies for scale, pfffft, I use paper towels...

The flash isn't very flattering so I turned that off for the following pictures. Any way, above you can see I created two echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea, otherwise known as star fish. They were shaped from miliput and painted in what I thought were attractive colors for an otherwise drab looking base.

No flash...its a little hazier, but not nearly as harsh.

One of my favorite shots I think.

This was my attempt at making the little wood borers and barnacles and other such organisms that are commonly found on pilings. I did this in the same fashion you would use to mask something with salt, except I left it on rather than removing it. Then applied some washes to vary the color.

This is what I used for water. Never used it before but it worked like a charm. A little expensive I think but fairly worth it. It spread easily and allowed me to create the foamy, bubbly look you see in the pictures.

All that is left to do is the subtle waves and the dock. Its getting late so I won't get to that tonight. I hope you all enjoy this...perhaps you like to vacation here, or fish. Makes me want to go fishing. Comments and criticism is more than welcome! Thanks for looking.