My DIY snakeroom part 2, Backgrounds.

[Tsubaki]

Part 2 of painting (part one on previous page)

Added a part of the highlights, the picture is bad sadly.


A last close up before i have to let it dry until i can continue.




It looks a lot better irl than it does on pictures, but it gives a pretty good idea Just a lill touch up painting left to do, and then i can add the epoxy resin! Once thats on, it's 100% done. Snake can move in, and i can move onto the next tub...

Only a few... heh what the hell did i get myself into..
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...psgfb9ffqg.jpg

[jjhill001]

Are you going to add anymore lighting?

[Tsubaki]

I don't really see a reason to add more lighting. It is already bright enough that it supports plant growth. Thats without any natural light reaching the terrariums, during the day with the sun on the window i could turn the LEDs off even. Anyway, first 2 pics i had the wrong settings on my phone camera they do look a bit dark. The last picture was taken without flash - after dark. No additional lighting on either.

[Albert Clark]

Fantastic job boss!

[Tsubaki]

Thanks Albert

[Chris72]

Looks amazing.

Good planning and hard work make great results look easy.

Can't wait to see the final results with critters "installed".

C&H

[Tsubaki]

Thx Chris, me neither

[millertime89]

Originally Posted by Ballchris

your right on that lol, never paid attention to were shes from.

were would be a good place to order some foam like this?

Not a clue, never worked with the stuff.

[trennad]

this is just amazing I love the work you have done.

[reptiledude987]

Looks great. now just looking forward to seeing it occupied!

[Tsubaki]

Thx! Finished the painting today, it's ready for sealing !! i just need 2 consecutive days off to seal them... Not sure when i will have that, i hope soon!

[Tsubaki]

I took pictures of the finished and dried paint, only some detailed shots because you can't really see the difference otherwise. It ended up looking a lot like stone, i'm very happy

[Chris72]

Originally Posted by Tsubaki

I took pictures of the finished and dried paint, only some detailed shots because you can't really see the difference otherwise. It ended up looking a lot like stone, i'm very happy

Could you post your materials list and application proccess to get the foam to look like that? We are still thinking of hanging an arboreal box for a GTP in the downstairs living room. A background like that would be very pretty.

Thanks
Heather.

[Tsubaki]

Materials so far is pretty simple,
Styrofoam.
Glue. (Make sure it's viable for the foam, some glues melt styrofoam)
Tile Glue.
Paint.

Other stuff i used:
A lighter to melt some parts (didn't use it much)
Natural sponge to paint.
Brushes to brush on tile-glue and paint

I cut thin strips into rock shaped pieces and glued them all on, covered them in several thinner layers of plain grey Tile-Glue. After it had a satisfactory coverage, painted it to make it look as natural as possible. After this i'm going to seal it all with epoxy resin, to make it 100% waterproof. That's all there is to it, a lot of cutting, gluing.. The rest is just creativity. Making a test piece really helped a lot.

[Tsubaki]

Alright here we go, Epoxy!!

The amounts for the mixture have to be exactly right, best to use a scale!! It applied fairly easy, have to use gloves though (And after applying it you'll be glad you were wearing gloves, the gloves deteriorated badly) After the first layer, i can not believe how good it looks!!! i hope it stay this way, because i absolutely love it! It doesn't translate well onto the photo's, but i swear from a normal point of view, it looks JUST LIKE STONE! After i finish the last layer, i will do my best and try with my Canon DSLR to take a more truthful looking picture.