Alternate Basing Materials

Coffee grounds!! Coffee has to be my absolute favorite basing substance. If you are like me you have to have that morning java, and if you are really like me you drink the stuff all day! (Did I mention I really like coffee?) Now how do you retrieve your coffee???...well two ways, #1 make your coffee and instead of throwing out those grounds dry them out (I bake mine in the oven)..or #2 buy a bag of that real nasty stuff at the dollar store (for a buck o' bag) and you'll have a pound of basing "flock". I use 50/50 PVA (white glue) and water mix and glue it onto terrain boards or templates. If you want it to look like mud/dirt start with a wash of dark brown, If you would like it to look like broken rocks and rubble start with black paint and work your way to light grey/white or even bone. Now I'm sure most of you know how to paint so I wont go into any more boring details, I will however leave you with a couple of shots of a "rough" terrain template so you get the idea of the finished look you can achieve. The template is basically covered with painted coffee grounds, the only thing other than coffee is the rocky outcrops which were made from some chips of slate (painted also) that Josh.0 gave me in hopes I could do something with them. Well 'J , I did!! I think the painted slate looks pretty sweet, and other then the time this terrain cost $0!! ...well ok, I probably have ten cents worth of paint and glue on it..and the 1/8th" hardboard base (roughly 4"x6") is maybe worth a quarter, so it wasnt completely free...anyway hope you like!

This is really neat Spectre. The Slate pieces look awesome. I have a question for you about the old grounds. Do they clump so that you will get all different sizes once you bake them and will they stay "formed" or crumble apart easily? I guess I could just try it but I have to say with it being 100+ degrees for the next two days I'm not even going close to my stove!

I bake mine at 125 for about an hour, and yes if you dont fuss with them a bit you will get a "cookie"! As the old grounds are drying I check on them about every 5 minutes to ensure there is no clumping (just poke at 'em a bit with a spatula). The grounds will clump a bit, but easily break apart by rolling between your fingers. Also I have tried just letting them air-dry, spread them out on a cookie sheet in a very thin layer and leave them outside on a real sunny day. (just be carefull with this method, because humidity can cause mixed results including mold growth! ) However if you are worried about baking just go to the dollar store (not DG, the dollar store where all items are a buck or less) and snag a bag of "nasty brew"! As far as it staying "clumpy", ground coffee is usually different size "grains" anyway..but if you had some cool shaped clumps I'm sure if you seal them with 50/50 mix they will hold together! That should give you plenty of "grounds" to experiment with! Good luck, hope that helped!

Cool thanks Spectre, I will be trying the recycling method. Awesome post..+rep