Miniature bases update

It's been rather a long time since I've posted an update, but I haven't been idle.  Among other things, I've been progressing with the miniature base designs that I've been wanting to get into for a while.

These are ceramic pieces intended for use with painted miniature figures, such as are seen in Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, or other tabletop roleplay games.  There are many different base designs out there, but 99.9% of them are plastic, which is all well and good, but I don't think I'm alone in saying that I prefer something a little more solid and unique than that.  If you've spent hours/days painting a beloved miniature, I just feel it deserves something more than a piece of mass produced plastic. 

To that end, I've been working on creating the sorts of designs I myself would like to use.  In fact, having spent *way* too much money on several Kickstarters over the past year or two (Reaper, Blacklist, and Dungeons & Lasers, I'm looking at you...), I very likely will be using these myself.

It's a very long process, to go from an initial idea and sketch through to a piece that I'm happy with putting up for sale.  It literally takes months, and that's only if everything goes to plan.  Things have not always gone to plan with these bases, as I've been trying new techniques and seeing what works and what doesn't.  I've had a few mishaps, a few 'learning experiences', and a few outright futtock-ups.  But I'm getting there, and finally feel in a position to start putting some of the images up.

So, without further ado...

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Here is my 'Lava Cavern' base.  It's intended for standard 28mm sized miniatures, which is the size of the Elf Ranger I've added for scale. 
It's white stoneware clay that's been fired with a lava glaze, and then has had the rocks painted with acrylics.  The clay is primed first and then sealed with a matt varnish, making it very durable. 
I intend to sell both painted and unpainted versions, with the price adjusted to suit, and to have black clay optoins.

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Staying with the lava theme...  This one hasn't quite gone to plan, but it's not far off, and it won't be long till I have a fully finished version that I'm happy with. 
The lava glaze is just turning out a little darker than I'd like over the black clay, but I think I've solved that particular issue, and will know for sure after the next firing.  Even so, I thought it was worth painting up to get an idea of how it looks. 
I've included a work-in-progress that was made with white clay, so the lava glaze is closer to the colours I'd expect.  The dragon and rocks have only been primed, not painted yet (obviously), and if you zoom in you can see the lovely interchange of glaze where the lava glaze meets the 'moon' glaze that I've used for the shore.  The moon glaze forms a texture that resembles lunar craters - thus my name for it - and works really well as a pockmarked volcanic beach leading into a pool of lava.

This is quite a large base, measuring around 9cm in width at its widest point.  The Fire Giant is a 'Huge' miniature, measuring 12cm tall.  I may look at making smaller versions designed more for the standard 28mm if there's interest (so let me know if you would like a smaller scale version).

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As above, here's the ice version of the dragon skeleton miniature base.  This one, for hopefully obvious reasons, won't ever have a black clay variant, but like the others, will be available to purchase both painted and unpainted.  The unpainted versions will of course come with the glaze.

I'm really loving how close the glaze has finally come to what I originally imagined.  It took a lot of experimenting, and in the end took a bit of an odd combination to get the effect I wanted, but I'm finally happy with it and have a bunch of these coming through just waiting to be painted.

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I've got a few other pieces to show, but I'm not quite ready to post them yet.  They include a necromancy-themed smaller base with a skeleton rising from a pool of green energy, and an arcane base that comes in various different colour themes.

If you have an idea you want to suggest, feel free to pop it in the comments and I'll see what I can do.  😊