Scorched Earth

Laying the groundwork

The lid is to be covered with modelling clay to simulate soil, hence the name ‘Scorched Earth’. I was unsure as to how well the clay would adhere to the lid's metallic finish so I decided to make the clay earth separately and glue it to the lid using epoxy resin. To facilitate this, cling film was laid over the lid allowing it to be used as the base for the clay and be easily separable once the clay had hardened.


The clay was applied to the cling film covered lid. The clay hardens in air and does not need firing in an oven. (Good job too since the lid is made of plastic!)


As you can see, I ran out of the terracotta coloured clay and had to finish the job using white. The clay was shaped using fingers and then textured using a particularly gnarled scouring pad which I had been saving for this job.


It was during this process that the skulls were pressed into the soft clay to form indentations. This would give the finished mod the appearance of the skulls being half buried. Now you know why I had to make the skulls first.


As well as the skulls I also made an indentation for a familiar case badge!