Sure Karl, here you go, my friend.
OK, so here is the recipe....this technique is used a lot, specially by women and children since its a very safe and non toxic material, cheap, and that will last forever. In Mexico is called "migajon" or bead crumbs.
- Materials:
- white bread. You can also use whats left from the inside of baguettes, just make sure is plain white bread.
- Two tablespoons of baby oil.
- Two tablesppons of white glue, I think is also called wood glue.
- One teaspoon of vaseline
- One shot of lime...you can actually have two and have a shot of tequila...
By tthe way... I'm using expired bread. There are stores in Mexico where they sell almost to expire bread (1-2 days) at 50% off.
So, cut all the sides of the bread. you only need the white stuff.
Then cut again the bread to make smull chunks of bread.
Then with your hands, jus grind it to make a finer bread...I guess you can use the mixer but I have not tried it. it should look like this afterwards:
Now, add the lime juice, baby oil, white glue and vaseline...
And now, just mix with your bare hands...just as if you are making cookies or a cake...keep mixing...you know it is done when you get the same kind of texture as cookie dough...also your hands should be clean without any residues....you can add more white glue if its not "stiking"... DO NOT USE WATER!!.
you can use this modeling bread to model anything!!....if its too much and you dont use it...just put it in a sealed container like a ziploc bag...and put in fridge,,it could last upto 10 - 15 days so you dont have to hurry on using it.
Now,, how do I made the sand bags...
Roll the dough and make worms...the "fatter" the worm, the bigger and "sandy" the bags will be. I used my tank to figure out a "human" manageable sandbag.
Now use a popsicle stick and push down the roll , this will flat down the roll.
Now with the same stick, cut the sandbags with the side, this will make nice bags...
While the dough is still soft, I posed the bags in the tanks and make also a pile and line, use your imagination and thinking how a heavy bag would conform to the surrounding and gravity. I used a plastic sheet to protect the tank.
I used the tip of the Xacto tool to make the texture of the bags..,before cutting into smaller pieces.
.
Finally, dont move them..let them air dry for 24 to 48 hours..
I then made a mix of white glue and water 50-50 to make a wash...use a brush and apply the wash over your pieces. This is why I used a plastic bag to protect the tank. It will serve as bonding agent and a final sealer. After another 24 hours, you can then move the pieces...this subassemblies are easier to manipulate and paint.
I painted them with a primer of dak and red brown with the airbrush, then used raw umber oils and made a wash and applied, finally I made a lighter oil color of the base and gave some highlights...
There you gooo..... non toxic modelling clay and very very cheap. Of course I would not recommend using it as dio ground base, but it is very useful for this small type of things,
I also made a couple of rocks I will use in the dio.