54mm Imaginations: Gabions WIP

"I tell you it's the latest in siege work - everyone is going earth tones this year!"

~  Marshal Vauban

A British officer waves from behind painted and unpainted gabions.

Gabions WIP

As my 54mm Imaginations model line progresses, I've been thinking about terrain and other accessories that I'll want for the tabletop.  Having yet to figure out how to make a starfort with my laser-inator, gabions seemed like a great place to start. 

Side-ish view. Oh, I've made barrels, too!

Believe it or not, these were a lot trickier to design than they look.  The weaving needed to look organic and not "digital", so I referred to period Renaissance and 17th century block prints, which helped greatly.

WIP pike defend the WIP redoubt. This battle will go quickly!

The Gabions are two sided flats with mirror images. Currently I've made single and double set pieces, but may go for a larger version of  three or four combined, with a lower piece or logs to create a proper gun emplacement.

More WIP guns showing off gabions.

A troop of cavalry inspect the defenses. Cav painted by Stanley Stinnett.

Painting Sticks and Dirt

I've only painted one gabion so far, and took the approach of a tinted print - a period look. This was more or less achieved  by staining the shadows with Citadel gryphonne sepia wash for the shadowing, leaving the mid-tone wood the actual wood, and then adding a bit of white for highlights. Dirt is painted with Vallejo flat earth (my go-to "ground" - see what I did there!) with a bit of tan earth and white mixed.

One Last Bit - For the Heart
It is February and I totally enjoy the challenge of Valentines. I used to do a unit of 14 figures incorporating a heart motif back in the day, but now that I'm happily married I focus my artistic endeavors of the holiday towards the Mrs. This being the year of Richard III, I kinda went with that theme and made this.

Nothing says love like attempting gilding with 22k gold leaf (at 2am).

Finished and framed.

Pro tip - even if your India Ink says "Waterproof" on the side, test it first. As soon as I started laying color on this piece the black ink mixed in. I countered by spraying it with varnish, then painting in. That meant I needed to hit the gold with a gloss varnish to make it shiny again....The things we do for love!