Weathering Scalescenes with Watercolour

[Chubber]

Following a request to explain how I weather Scalescenes papers with watercolours, I have decided to show how I have weathered a kit-bashed version of John's arched bridge. Much easier to build now, the latest version includes a fully printed arch which obviated the tiresome and difficult method of cutting a strip of individual bricks before 'bending' it around the opening.

 

I shall show some weathered-out soft bricks that plants have gained a foothold in, some lime washing down from the mortar, some mould and green partly obscuring the lower bricks and some dented bricks done by lousy drivers. My aim is to make it look 'dirty' yet still transparent, something watercolours does admirably.

 

WARNING - I am using genuine Epson 'DuraBrite' inks which have a reasonable resistance to water, the printed paper is wetable, but the inks don't run. Before you try this on your masterpiece, have a little trial splash somewhere out of sight. All is not lost if you are using cheapy inks, a VERY light spray with Lidl waterproofing spray, sold for suede shoes and anoraks [O.K. here then...] may help, but too much will make it too impermeable for these techniques.

 

The colours I am using are Windsor and Newton 'Cotman' colours, very reasonably priced and available in a huge range of colours. I've chosen Burnt Sienna [a brown], Ivory Black [a less inky black colour], Cadmium Yellow and Paynes Grey. The latter, though a 'grey' is based on a very dark mix of blues, as you will see, when mixed with yellow, it makes...yes, green!

 

You'll need two brushes, a Number 6 soft for splashing on watery mixes, and a Number 1 for putting little blobs of colour here and there. Synthetic are fine, but neither will cost more than £2-£3 for a really good one, and well looked after will last years and years.

 

Don't mix up a great dollop of whatever colour you think you need, put two colours alongside each other on a white surface like the inside of a margarine tub lid or an old saucer, and 'draw' them together with a moist brush. Then, each time you go back for more you'll get a natural, subtle difference in your colours.

 

 

 

 

You'll also need some tiny scraps of foliage stuff, I keep all my waste bits......and some PVA

 

 

Right! Cut out some brick shapes...

 

 

and with the side of your larger brush dipped in clear water wet the cut-out area and the whole distance from there to the 'ground' . Everything else happens while the paper is still visibly wet, so with the little brush, blob some white paint into the cut-outs and quickly draw it down the wet stripe to the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mix some blacky-brown and dab a little in the wet white cut-out, add a tiny bit of PVA and stick on the plant material of your choice

 

INSERT 635

 

Now for the dirty area at the bottom where earth slashed up has gone greenish [this works all round buildings, too] wet up about 1/4"- 6mm

 

 

 

and as we are adding a 'bushy thing' which in turn will attract moisture and dirt, do a big splash, add a dollop of your green and watch it spread out naturally without any unrealistic brush marks.

 

 

 

 

 

Add some more 'bush' and allow to dry.

 

The finished result is a subtly dirtied finish with no deliberate brush marks. The original printing shows through, and the Chines white has sedimented on top of the paper like efflorescing salts really do. All the white stains have been applied 'wet-in-wet' as a watercolour artisit would say, and looking at the joins of the wing walls and pillars the dark staining has been added in the join by the same technique.

 

Clumsy drivers have dented the arrises either side of the entrance, shown by pressing the edge of a steel rule against them into the underlying card. The width markers were in fact made from steel strip in the pre-plastic age and as such show rust marking where the fastenings go through them. The signage is chipped as little boys knew very well that they gave a satisfying 'clang' when hit with a stone from a catapult.....tee-hee!

 

 

 

 

I hope this will encourage some of you to try watercolours as a means of weathering texture papers,

 

 

Doug

[Mustermark]

Good job! I like that a lot. It's very effective.

[gastwo]

Excellent lesson Doug.

Many thanks for it, and keep them coming. I really look forward to your posts.

 

ATB

Shaun.

[Phil Howe]

Great tutorial Doug, and fantastic results too.

 

I've got a small warehouse that has nowhere to live ( I built it as practice because it was free) that just looks too pristine for a working building. I'm sure that it must have suffered at the hands of some less-than-attentive lorry and forklift drivers over the years.

 

So it'll be out with the knife and brushes. And it's pocket-money day. And I've got a voucher for 20% off at Hobbycraft.

 

Phil

[Theakerr]

Interesting idea to waterproof using shoe spray. I have used mat "PODGE" (dont know what it might be called in the UK) with some success and have used transparent artists paints, also with some success on Metcalf buildings and brick paper. The biggest problem i have found is that the surface starts to "separate" and show the card beneath the surface with any more than a couple of brush applications due to what appears to be water penetration.

[Campaman]

Excellent work.

 

I think Doug also does this but you can use a watercolour wash to subtly re-colour texture papers by washing over the whole thing, I have succesfully re-coloured Scalescenes Grey Stone Walling texture to a more sandstone colour with this method.

[Scalescenes]

Many thanks Doug,

 

Another really effective technique to include in your book . Great to see a build of the low clearance option that I included in the Arched bridge kit.

 

I have also been playing around with similar effects on South Oak Road. I used white pastel and Tamyia Weathering Master B to add some subtle limescale and very small strips of Woodland Scenics Medium and Light Green Foliage (Catalogue No’s F51 and F52) were worked along the ledges and into the corners, great to conceal any ’slightly dodgy’ gaps as well as visually softening the structure.