Thanks
I made the background today out of hypertufa.
I havent seen any backgrounds made out of hypertufa on the web, it seems nearly everyone makes theirs out of greatstuff-silicon-coco/peat.
Hypertufa is great for making backgrounds for these reasons:
-It looks natural with or without moss growing on it
-Its relatively strong and light-weight (much lighter than concrete, and it gets stronger as it gets older)
-It is porous and great for growing moss
-It is very easy to work with and can be moulded to almost any shape (not less than 1cm thick)
The downside is that it is made with cement, so it takes up to a month to cure and a couple of weeks to leech out caustic salts.
I made an experimental test background a few weeks ago with an old tank and bits of wood
the layout is a bit bung but I like the look of the tufa.
heres a closeup of the tufa
I used a mix of 1 part cement/1 part pumice sand(light weight)/2 parts peat. as it ages the peat will rot out, making it pitted and more porous.
here is a dry run of the background before construction
I painted the back with pva glue to better adhere the tufa
the pipe in the middle is to drain the land portion.
Then I plastered the back with tufa, about 1cm thick
to make a cave and a cavity under the treestump I used two types of sand -black and grey, the grey sand on the left looks like concrete but it is not.
Plastering over the sand with tufa, then removing the sand when the tufa has cured creates hollows for creatures to hide, or they can be filled with dirt and planted. this method is good for making 3d surfaces without the weight of solid tufa.
here I have covered the sand to make a cave. the worm-eaten wood spans the entrance of the cave.
I put sand ontop of the cave and under the driftwood. I plastered the sand with tufa to create a planting hollow.
here it is finished, it took about 30 minutes
It looks a bit messy at the mo, but I imagine it will look sharp once the sands gone and the land area is filled and planted.
but that wont be for 5/6 weeks..
