Propnomicon

Brazen and Bold Productions not only brings us this fantastic Anubis mask, but details how the rusted steel finish was made.

Primer: Black spray paint.

Basecoat: Instant Iron/Rust by Tricoat. Let rust develop over night or for at least 4 hours. (Brush)

Details: Drybrush gunmetal acrylic paint on elevated areas. (Brush)

Weathering: Rust and dirt colored pigments by MIG Productions, brushed on dry, especially in nooks and crannies. (Finebrush)

Dust off the excess pigments to reveal parts of the gunmetal paint. (Paper towels)

If you want to create faux artifacts and items that look real you need to duplicate the look of the genuine article.  Luckily, we're able to draw on the knowledge and expertise of an entire profession dedicated to that very thing.  I'm speaking, of course, of forgers.

As usual when I bring this subject up I'll point at that forgery is a scourge in the world of art and artifact collecting.  That said, the people cranking out all those fakes have developed an incredible amount of technology and expertise that propmakers can draw on.  Unfortunately, they're notoriously close-lipped about exactly how they accomplish their work  The next best thing to consulting them directly is getting tips from the experts that help identify fakes. 

Australian collector Louis McWhinnie has been kind enough to share some of his advice at his website.  It's a good general introduction to the subject of artifact forgery and has some great insights.  The first reaction to a lot of it will surely be "Authentic drill holes?  Isn't that a bit over the top for a prop?"  In most cases, yes, there's no doubt it's excessive.  But it's also an incredibly immersive way to to demonstrate what that high-level Archeology skill is good for in a tabletop or live-action game:  "Your examination reveals that the hole in the jade amulet has an odd hourglass shape, characteristic of being drilled with a friction drill in primitive conditions."

This is another obsessive project where I spend an unreasonable amount of effort trying to capture a particular look for a prop. In this case, I wanted to duplicate the appearance of a fired clay idol that had been buried underground for a long time.

I'm certainly not the first person who's tried to duplicate the patina of an excavated artifact.  In fact, reproducing the combination of dirt and soluble salts that accumulates on those items has been a favorite of forgers for centuries.  Get the patina right and you can turn a 2 piastre clay figure from the souvenir stands of Cairo into a genuine archaeological find worth considerably more to a gullible tourist.

Unfortunately, I couldn't use the traditional approach of placing the "artifact" in the water tank of a toilet and waiting for the whitish haze of lime and salts to develop naturally.  That process takes months, although the results will pass even close inspection.  Worse, my material of choice was cold porcelain clay.  When dry it does an excellent job of duplicating the mass and hardness of real clay, but it's considerably easier to work with.  It's also water soluble, which means exposing it to water once it's dry will just turn it back into a malleable lump of PVA and cornstarch again.

That meant the patina had to be a combination of surface texture and a convincing paintjob.  Sculpting the actual idol went relatively quickly.  I wanted something primitive, but not too crude.  There had to be a certain refinement to the lines of the piece.  I eventually settled on a shape that looked like a ball on top of a curved cone.  I wanted to have as few features as possible so that it could pass as an odd skull fetish or maybe a decorated hand tool.  At the same time there had to be enough detail that someone familiar with the Mythos would recognize it as far more than a glorified hammerstone or pestle.

Here's the final result. I'm skipping the entire sculpting process, mostly because it looked terrible right up until I applied the final paint job. It probably didn't help that I tinted the clay a dark reddish-brown, so it looked uncomfortably like a lump of...well, something unpleasant.


A view from the right. Building up the texture of the encrustations was a two step process. On the first pass I stippled the entire surface with paper clay thinned down to the consistency of heavy cream. The second application was a spot application using a thick, intentionally lumpy mixture. The entire piece is about six inches long.


This shot gives a better look at the contrast between the terracotta base surface and the patina treatment. I wanted the reddish brown "clay" of the idol to peek through the accumulated salts and lime.


The patina buildup is heaviest on the face area of the figure, but the eye sockets only have a light layer of calcium haze.  That seemed to make sense if the idol had been dropped and then buried.  The weight of the head would have positioned the idol face down and tilted at an angle, leading to more buildup on the lower surface.



Click through on this shot to get a good look at how the final paint treatment came out. The base coat was a thin layer of terracotta over the existing red/brown surface of the idol. On top of that I did a wash of thinned white paint to produce the hazing effect, followed by drybrushing with burnt umber, light tan, and a touch of white.

All in all things turned out pretty well.  The result looks convincing, but the patina buildup may be a bit heavy.  I should knock it back with a light wash of terracotta. What I found interesting is that this style of patina is applied exactly the opposite way of a normal finish.   Normally you start with a dark basecoat and apply increasingly lighter highlight layers.  In this case the dusty appearance comes from starting with a midtone base and then a pure white wash, followed by a darker layer of burnt umber and a light drybrushing. 

Stacey Ransom offers up a great aging technique using spray adhesive and powdered grout. I've used a similar method, but wasted a lot of time blending colored powders from charcoal and chalk pastels ground in a spice grinder. It never even occurred to me that such a cheap and readily available supply of colored powders was available.

"One of the easiest methods for aging glass, mirrors, silverware or any other materials is to lightly spray the item with spray mount (aerosol glue) and then use a sifter to dust the item with dirt, baby powder or any other fine powder. Powdered grout (found in the tile/ceramics section) comes in a HUGE variety of colors, such as browns, grays and greens. Pick the smallest, cheapest bag – you won’t need much. Spray mount can be found at any hardware store or art store. Get one with a “light” hold."

Dave Lowe brings us this quick and dirty tutorial on painting faux rust.



You can see the transformative effect of that painting technique, along with some of Mr. Lowe's inventive craftsmanship, over at his blog.

Now that I've had some time to think about it I wanted to write a little bit about the process of physically aging photos. If you've ever Googled the subject you're probably aware that there aren't many resources available. Because of that lack of information I was flying blind with my own efforts, other than the knowledge that most of the techniques used to age paper were probably just as useful for photos. Here are some quick thoughts on what worked and what didn't.

Edge wear- I went over all the edges of the photos with fine sandpaper, paying particular attention to the corners. The result not only appeared worn and shabby, but felt that way as well. I can't overstate how important that is- for props that you're actually going to be handling the texture of the object, the way it feels in your hand, is a big part of it's immersiveness. The appearance of the worn edges was considerably enhanced after I applied a staining solution to the whole photo.

Surface wear- I lightly sanded both the front and back of the photo with fine sandpaper. I wasn't happy with how this turned out, since it looked like...well...someone had gone over the photo with sandpaper. The wear patterns and scratches seemed unnatural. I think the key here is to use a very fine abrasive like steel wool.

Baking- After rinsing off the sanding residue from the prints with water I placed them on a cookie sheet in the oven to dry them out. The heat was set for the lowest setting, around 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and the door was left open a few inches to keep the heat from building up. The result was a very convincing curling of the edges identical to what you find in old photos and a pleasantly aged "crinkly" feel to the paper.

Age staining- I applied a weak tea solution to the entire print. The stain colored the back of the photos quite nicely, and produced a convincing darker stain along the edges, but it just wouldn't stick to the front of the prints. I think I can solve that problem by either using the aforementioned steel wool treatment or spraying a layer of matte varnish on the print before trying to stain it. I'll try both tonight and see how it works out.

Update: The steel wool did the trick. The emulsion still acts as a barrier to keep the paper backing from absorbing the stain, but there's enough "tooth" to it now that the color can get into the fine crevices and produce a nice tint. The prints probably still need a coat of matte spray to make the effect permanent.

Risachantag over at Deviant Art has a great tutorial on creating realistic metal finishes on props. It's aimed at the cosplay/anime crowd, but the technique is applicable to anything that needs to look of real metal.

Artist Dave Lowe has posted an excellent how-to for creating creepy old books at his blog:

I love old dusty books that look like they came from another time containing forgotten knowledge or secrets. I thought I'd make a few to accent some of the interior decorating this year.

The results speak for themselves. While his tutorial is more concerned with static props than producing Mythos tomes the utility of the construction technique should be obvious. I've used the paper towel faux leather technique to create covers before and the only real problem I encountered was cracking along the joint where the cover flexed when opened. Using a flexible adhesive like, not surprisingly, flex glue helps take care of the problem. If you try Dave's technique the only change I would make is to mix your base colors of paint into the glue when you decoupage the paper towels to the cover. That will save you a step when you start painting and produces deeper, richer colors.

I came across a great tutorial on artificially aging wood over here at Xrestore, a clock restoration site.

New wood looks a lot different than old wood. Old, unfinished wood often has a dark, dull gray color resulting from oxidation over time. When stained and/or finished, new wood will continue to look noticeably different than old. In order to cleanly integrate new parts into an old case, the new wood needs to be aged.......

Aging of wood cannot be achieved with stains or finishes. What is needed is a means to actually oxidize the wood fibers, but in a much short time than occurs naturally.

There are products on the market for aging wood and they all work to one degree or another. As an alternative to commercial products, I have found that some common household products can be used to very effectively oxidize and age wood.

The needed solutions are simple to make an use. The results are very impressive..............

Combine this treatment with some careful physical distressing and you can convert a cheap craft box from Michael's or the Hobby Lobby into an ancient coffer suitable for all kinds of eldritch artifacts.