It seems a lot of people didn't quite understand my intentions here, which is a bit of a bummer. Perhaps I explained myself poorly, or perhaps some just weren't listening to what I was saying. Anyway, I'd like to make it clear. There are plenty of techniques I could have done. It's not that I don't know about these techniques, in fact most of the things commenters are repeatedly suggesting I should try are techniques that I (ironically) developed or at least helped popularize within my previous videos. I know about texture rollers. I helped make them so popular in the hobby. I even mentioned them in the video and said that I wasn't interested in using them here. I was trying to develop a NEW technique. I was trying a new method and idea I hadn't tried before. This is what creators do. Generally this stuff goes on invisibly behind the scenes and you just end up seeing the successful techniques ending up in projects. I wanted to share the process of trying something new, even if it doesn't go well. That was the whole point. I know there are other ways that work to do what I was doing. I was trying to find NEW ways that work. The goal was to try something different and the hope was that it would show that it's an important part of the hobby and failure is part of that. Failing at trying something new is not bad. Just doing the same thing over and over and over because you know it works is bad.
Assumed the point of the video was to try another creative direction to potentially have another crafting "tool" added to the arsenal. One of my favorite parts of this hobby is that in so many ways there's no ONE right way to do it. Testing new and interesting techniques in half the fun for me at least. I usually have about 2 or 3 odd experimental things sitting around the apartment at all times. There's something strangely satisfying when you manage to discover a new way of doing things, or rig up something you came up with on the fly. On the other hand, some folks just work and think in more efficient brainwaves, and those people just want to know the quickest way to get things done "right". They might not see the value of trial and error, or maybe just don't have the time. Experimenting with new techniques, while exceptionally fun for we dorks what are into it, doesn't always leave you with the same level of satisfaction or sense of productivity you'd get with a finished product. Its a bit like homework in the sense that yes you're (potentially) learning something incredibly valuable, but it's a lot of work for very little DIRECT payoff and that can be a kick to the balls (or ovaries) if you're looking for that feeling of accomplishment. I think of it as an acquired taste, honestly. Like your first craft beer after a childhood of sneaking bud lights from your dad. Great video though, fella! Don't get discouraged. Trust that while many didn't see the value in this video, a lot of us did. And as a side coincidence, I've been working with ways to harden insulation foam bricks (which I learn to make well watching your channel, so thank you), and I've found that painting on a very VERY thin layer of severely diluted, and MIXED Apoxie sculpt will leave a nice hardened layer over the foam. Don't even have to use that much. Been tasting the apoxie on various bits of the foam all week and the results have been extremely positive, particularly when you introduce water. It seems to seep INTO the foam and harden/reinforce it inside and out. Not giving you advice, mind you, just sharing something I've been fucking around with the last few days while trying to work on a ruined castle backdrop for my guinea pig's enclosure, and it seemed relevant to what you were working on. Works AMAZING for bones/skulls/etc, and you don't even have to prep the surface of the foam : D Again though, just blabbing out my own experiments, not telling you what to do. Keep up the great work, fella!
check up lola temprado's video, she's a miniature maker; the video is in spanish, but it's pretty selfexplanatory: czcams.com/video/ZHVElmYS6wM/video.html
lola has a lot of interesting technics you could try or at least check, you know, in order to get new ideas and approaches: czcams.com/play/PL74vdDTGZzs4TZqHmR0KfP-ofP_wHjdau.html
After watching this video, I subscribed after watching a lot of your videos. Everyone makes mistakes, and learns from them. You learned (along with us) different techniques that made us all better. What I really like about this video, you showed your failure, while some people may not have. Glad to join this group!
Something that is too often obscured in research papers is PUBLISHING NEGATIVE RESULTS. Negative results aren't sexy, they don't garner more research dollars, and they can be embarrassing. AND they are as important as positive results because they can save time for other researchers, or provide stepping off points for future work as a process is refined. Thank you for sharing your negative results with us.
Could hardly agree more. Coming from a science background i can tell you that it's much more work to prove that something has no effect/doesn't work cause you have to look at all potential effects and show that your methods are rock solid. And then it's still hard to publish it in high impact journals. We try not to but even we had to ditch lab experiments cause it would become too much work to publish the negative results, also we perfectly knew it had absolutly no effects. It's not good science, but sometimes you have to make a decision if the time you had to invest in would be worth it, unfortunatly sometimes it is not.
This is the video I needed right now! I have half a dozen projects that I've wanted to try, but haven't invested time in due to the risk of failing. Seeing this video, especially how you managed to learn from a project you'd already written off, demonstrates a key skill. "Analysis paralysis" has stopped me from building more than once. Seeing your crafting heroes fail, and that said failure can still turn into a win - that's a really valuable look we don't typically get to see.
This is without doubt the greatest insight one can have and from there only your imagination and willingness to try (and budget) are the only limitations.
My go to is that if it's not great it's still good for ruins. I was making BMC pillars and one fell on the floor as my fiance stepped on it. She gasped and recoiled but I wasn't mad. I told her I planned on making ruined ones anyway, then I said "You ruined it, good work." and went back to crafting.
I have been building and painting since I was 18 (that's 30 years...). And the best way of doing things is... doing them AND learn. Even now I have build my first 3 houses for a D&D session... and I am going to put them in the slums. But I now know what I did wrong and do better next time.
Gotta say, I might like this style of video even more than the regular ones, just off the cuff prototyping. Was genuinely very engaging to me! Thanks bud, keep it up!
Mel the terrain tutor has a modern building project. In an episode he uses foam core and cuts away certain areas of the paper to expose the foam and then carves his brick in it for a recessed look. It's quite amazing!
I think I understand what wasnt that satisfying in this build. You explained it .. things took to long, you didnt care for the brick thickness what was wrong and some other things you mentioned. I know the same here. You have an idea, it works pretty cool in your brain and while processing you recognize too many things that you forgot while "planning". Sometimes it is the best decision, to declare it as a failure and know how to do better the next time. Thank you.
"Fail faster. No idea in made fully formed.Your ideas can't be precious, your ego can't need protecting, every failure is a chance to get it right." -Extra Credits Team
Failure is often our greatest teacher. Fail hard! Fail often! It means you are pushing yourself. Really appreciate you posting a video showing that everyone fails at least some of the time.
White glue actually does help act as a bonding agent for concrete mixtures, and is actually used as part of the process for some concrete finishing. Feel free to add watered down white glue to your grout mixtures. You can also prime a surface with the glue and apply the grout while it is still tacky, and that works as a method to bond as well.
so something I was shown in modelling for theatre production using foam core, when it comes to brick you can peal off the outermost layer of paper on the foam core and simply cut the brick into it, if you rip the outer layer in pieces you can have the bricks peeking out from under stucco or whatever texture you want. This was a trick we used for set model making, where it has to be to scale and match the set design, but also needs to be made quickly. the inside of the foam core is a little harder to work with because the cells are very large but with some modpodge and painting texture it can look pretty good.
I like to use realistic stairs but i add slots for tongue depressors to slide in so that if a player lands on the stair its still usable by sliding in the half of the depressor
I love to see people try and fail and LEARN from that. We all fail, even our heroes. I'm not into the actual hobby itself (no space, I'm literally-literally living out of a bedroom packed with all my crap) but I love watching these. One of these days, when I get more room, I'm planning on messing around with this but until then, these videos are a good replacement.
For realistically sized stairs you can make a character platform out of the opposite side of the stairs. Just paint it up like you would your other stairs. A great example of this can be seen in some of Runehammer's old crafting videos.
I 3d print my terrain. I tune in just to see you build something cool. I don't see this video as a failure. I found it interesting as I do all your videos.
Failure is a great teacher, though sometimes an expensive one. As for the technique, I've done brick streets fow WW2 models by pre scoring the surface with a blunt pencil. That combined with the grout may have the look you're going for
There is no such thing as a failure. Everything is a learning experience, and it also gives you a sense of looking at piece and understanding when it just isn't working. Thanks for another awesome video man!
I really like the fact that you showed us that not everything you do turns out and what you tried to do to fix that. I thought that was wonderful. Thanks. I would love to see more of how you go about fixing a proublem as you're building.
I have to agree with the comments here and on you site as well. It is only a 'failure for the purpose that you intended but not as a learning tool. It is not natural to have everything work out every time you try something. Just the act of trying new things is a benefit in itself and often leads me to finding different ways to solve a problem. Thank you for making and posting this video. It is good to know that the crafters we follow have issues at times and that there are ways to work with them. I think of the phrase " happy little accidents" at times like these.
I love when people show their failure not only because it make us realise we are not the only ones to f*** things up but also because it can give new ideas and we can all learn from those "mistakes". sometimes it can even lead to happy accidents, the polyurethane chemistry have been discovered by accident and look what we can do with it now.
I use an old bucket of premixed grout I had laying around for lots of places like where walls meet the ground for a good texture. It also adds really nice weight to pieces.
BMC, on stairs like the first one you cut out. I found that taking my knife and cutting a slit in the back of the step as a way to slide in a mini's round base area into the stairs themselves. This allowed me to have realistic looking stairs, but also allowed players whom have to stop mid way up on them a place holder so that the mini's could be held semi-tight while resting on them. Thanks for the videos, keep them coming.
Just wanted to say the grout over the edge of the bricks , gives it a feeling / look like its ready to crumble. Very good video, even the best of us have new things to learn 😊
adding glue to the grout would make it MUCH stronger/tougher, single foam core building, Card stock/thick paper "bricks", will be not much of a ride/layer change and would be easily covered by the grout, great video, it is important to try things and how to recognize that sometimes things don't work how we like, so hay, love your stuff!
This was very helpful. I am selling my work and although I do not build terrain I have adopted many of your ideas to fit my needs when building miniature fairy houses and castles. I love that you said "You weren't feeling it". I too have learned if its not working, its an utter struggle, and your not feeling it....move on. Thank you so much!
Black magic craft is a great way to learn creative skills. I've have use his advice and some of my own and started my own CZcams channel for crafting. You are the man! Keep up the amazing work you do good sir.
I really appreciate this video. Thanks for being secure enough to show a time where things didn't work out the way you wanted, and that every failure is a learning opportunity. If you take risks, sometimes it won't work out, but sometimes it will result in something that surpasses your wildest dreams.
I got better at thinking like this thanks to Adam Savage, it's made me so much more productive and now whenever I get a chance I like to intentionally fail just to understand a material or technique better.
I love the honesty of your channel. The trying and failing both being displayed as you craft. It's really great to have accepted failure and continued on to make it an exploration into more instead of just giving up. Amazing work!
Good on’ya for showing us the whole process, failure included. It’s nice to know that even the pros’ ideas don’t always work out. It was great to see the learning process even if it didn’t pan out the way you wished it to. Gives us all food for thought. Thanks for the great videos, sir!
I finally got the courage to try my first bit of terrain thanks to this channel. I made a set of modular tavern pieces, and a small floor space for them, with a sheet of foam core, a utility knife, some tacky and hot glues, and, of course, my own batch of Black Magic base coat! Thank you so much for this channel, your easy and entertaining tutorials, and thank you for the constant reassurances that it's okay to be a beginner.
Ever since the stucco video I have wondered if the grout could be used without the fame keeping the liquid in. Thanks for demonstrating this. Not all projects work out I’m glad you were still able to learn from it.
i have found these latter videos you are posting to be very good about experiments and failures, more importantly that you have them too! dont be afraid to try is an important lesson, its how we grow our skills. the next time i see your posts i will not just think "he makes it all seem so easy" i will know the effort behind it and not feel so useless when one of my projects turns out bad.
As a compromise for realistic and playable stairs, why not remove the risers? Bases can slide into individual stairs, while the stairs themselves can be reasonably sized. A 5-6mm gap should fit any based mini. That gap is only a couple inches more than modern building code, in scale.
Thank you for sharing! Half of my problem with crafting is pushing through rather than stopping or innovating. I really appreciate seeing all of your work and methods. Ps. I got my Proxxon and also the SL guider. It's made SUCH a difference. Thank you for recommending.
"I don't know if this is a good approach or not, but, hey." Honestly, that's the best approach. I did almost the same thing for last weeks session and, while still disappointed, slapped it down on the table and distracted the players with the abyssal abomination trying to eat their faces. It worked. Then I blew up the tower...
Thank you for sharing this process. It really helps show the humanity to the personality. Too many content creators will only show the awesome successes, leaving learning experiences on the cutting room floor.
LET'S GO! It's always good to fail, even when you're at this level, because then you can get EVEN BETTER! I start building miniatures terrain a few months ago and I failed 1000 times doing a lot of random stuff. Your videos helped a lot, but the experience of always trying and learning new techniques it's completely different then just watching videos. So, I guess when we actually fail, if we don't give up, things can get FREAKING AWESOME. Love the channel, I'm here every week!
This was still a good and informative video. It would have been fun to try to salvage the failed building too. Glue some sand, slap some grey and pour some wash, it would make a playable piece!
Observations: First - cut the shit, that thing looked awesome! I really loved your efforts to “fix” a “broken” thing. Second - Perfect is the enemy of the good. Third - no third thing. Just wanna say we all love you and you could smear cat shit on the side of a building and we’d all get a new technique out of it. 😝
10:00 Stairs in scale(ish) and able to take a miniture: The trick is to do just the edge of the stairs. Then make each step out of a coffee stirrer or thick card and leave enough room between each step to slide in the base of your minitures in between each step - you can make it quite loose. Glue all the steps onto the edge pieces and paint the space behind the stairs black or very dark brown. Then paint up your steps as usual. Now when you come to play your minitures will slot into each step, their base will hang between each step and you'll have stairs that look correct. Admittedly this won't work well if you have really thick bases or loads of rocks and stuff on your bases. Or if the model is huge. But it should work fine for the majority of situations. Certainly will for the scale of Frostgrave minis.
Your idea is better than what I had in mind ! Here is the idea I had : for the stairs thing, maybe you can make an angled platform that will fit on several realistic stairs and allow the figurine to be located on these stairs ? Maybe issue a platform for each building you make ? Maybe make it in a transparent material ?
Cool video. I like to see failures and mistakes in these videos because it happens to us all, and it also engages the critical part of our brains and makes us think about how WE would solve that problem. It already has me plotting ruins of my own to try out something that I think would work.
The broken floor idea is cool, next time you could try lining the bottom floor with rubble and debris before setting the floor so looking in from the top will just reveal damaged bottom floor
I really liked this video. My non-crafting friends are always happy when I make a failure, I still finish it and they get a decent looking build I don't want😅
I find the idea of sitting down with no plan and just trying to figure out something both refreshing and inspiring. As I was watching you I was thinking I'd use the peel away foamboard. Scoring and peeling away sections to reveal foam and then carving the bricks with a pencil. For the stucco look I've always used Gesso. It stiffens everything up pretty well and has enough texture to look like stucco without keeping all the brush strokes. I'll see if I can give that a try next week and let you know how it goes.
A useful video. I often experiment and if I'm honest about half of them fail but when one goes right I view the previous failures as achievements because they are adding to my knowledge. And lets face it some of the materials we use are not always predictable ( as wonderfully pointed out with the grout on Foam you thought it would crumble away but it didn't )
The Roses of Success is a good philosophy for learning from mistakes. The whole song is great, but the main phrase is "From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!"
Every experiment is an opportunity to learn something! Loved the natural, real-time learning feel of this video - keep ‘em coming! Serendipitous too, as I’ve been thinking about exactly this type of finish... You gave me ahead start on where to begin with my experiments. 👍
You tuber 'Laser Creation World' lots of dioramas from World War 2, but his house and ground work are phenomenal! A truly gifted modeller you might get some wall / buildings inspiration there. Enjoy your view, so keep up the good work
Rubbish in rubbish out did a video about a similar effect for bricks under chipped plaster. Essentially you engrave an area of bricks into the foam that is a bit bigger than you want showing, then mask it off with painter's tape, leaving a tab on one side to make peeling it off easy. Then use filler/spackle to create a stucco texture on your wall. Let it set up a bit until it isn't completely hard but fairly firm, and peel the tape off. Boom, plaster texture with bricks showing beneath it.
Option for the stairs, which I might try, cut a popsicle stick gap in the front of the stairs (or create the gap by making the stairs in sections) ans space so them so that you can fit multiple players on the stairs. When you need to put a player on the stairs, insert a cut down popsicle stick and place the mini on the stick. This gives you stairs that look pretty much like normal stairs but you can still put pieces on them.
In my opinion, I didn't even know what game you were talking about, the only thing on my mind was "ruined building", and the multi storey effect you gave that piece was on point, at least in my view, bricks were ok, yeah sure a bit thicc, but still ok. Make more of these "straight from the mind" type of videos from time to time, it really is creative and good for your channel, in a way. I think I can safely say you inspired me to make miniatures for my D&D session's after I saw you make a fountain with a statue from the same foam you used in this video.
This was not a failure at all... you got some important information! Thanks for this one. It’s important to learn lessons and not just give up when things don’t work....
Here's an idea, for your broken sections of walls. How about using a thicker foam core, and removing sections of the paper where you want the stones showing through. Then detail the foam to look like stone. Just a thought, and no I have not tried it, so I don't know if it will work.
PS If you google Tudor buildings with crumbling plaster, you will see that this look is not only for American southwest. Biggest problem is bricks sticking out under plaster, as you say. Fixed by not adding bricks but merely cutting them into areas of foam board with no "plaster." I love "Failure videos" because they show us that it doesn't always go perfectly to plan and one can either try to fix that, or, as you did, use it as a prototype practice piece or chuck it. So thank you!
Love your stuff. Just joined your patreon fellowship. I was just watching this video and thought about the part where you got to your stairs and commenting on how if they are properly scaled, you can't put player miniatures on them. I think an easy solution would to make small stair bases that would fit under the miniatures and allow you to place them on to your stairs when playing. Basically a small section of upside down stairs that you can sit on the stairs and your miniatures can then sit on for play. Please keep up the good work. I love your content and the manner in which you talk in your videos.
If you are in need of ideas on what to build, may I suggest changing environement? You did snow and verdant, why not desert stuff like sandstone buildings, hills, or even pyramids!
have a door on first floor but have the wall collapsed covering access to it. take a Soldering iron with sharp tip and draw in a circle shape then bricks in the foam.
You mentioned frostgrave...... I have not played the game myself ....but the minis are nice . The 28mm Gnolls are beautiful. Hey man thanks for doing what you do. I have learned so much by watching you. You rock !
Try removing the paper from one side of the foam board and scoring your brick pattern into the exposed foam. This can make the foamboard a little flimsy, so maybe score it after the building has been assembled. I used Sellys spack filler, and applied it with a little hobby trowl thingy over the edges of the brickwork. Came out a treat when painted. 😉
I did what I think you are trying to do on a dollhouse build. (It's a Tudor building with Pub and kitchen on first floor and family's chambers on second. Then attic under roof.) Anyway, I put a covering of foam on wooden base wall. Then I covered the foam with a coat of plaster. (I used spackle very thinly covered. and I added PVA to the spackle just to make absolutely sure it would adhere enough.) I made sure the spackle was nicely textured with the kinds of marks that would have been there when it was applied to the building. While I was putting it on, I left areas uncovered. Then I went back into those areas and cut a brick pattern into the underlying foam and painted plaster areas and brick areas appropriately. Viola! A plastered wall with bricks "underneath" showing through area of damage. Looks great and everyone says, "Hey, how did you do that?"
I loved this video! What about creating some wall sections using molds based on the same method you used for the terrains bases? You could think of them as "larger bricks" to build the sections where you actually need the ruined walls textures for example :) What do you think?
I went this process many times, I started the hobby as a crafting DM for my d&d table, and one of my friend and player ended up joining me at some crafting, we spend a lot of time building stuff and we been through a lot of frustration due to material limitations we have in my country or simply when something just don't work well, but we still keep going on the process of building something nice for the table, and even if the result is not the best, or what we had in mind when we started building it, we still use it at the table, because its the whole point of taking the time on building something cool for a tabletop game, and even so, we still enjoy having that piece at the table for a memorable moment of the game, failure it's really valuable in terms of knowledge.
Okay so I'm posting this at 0:17 in into this video and I'm going to go say this right off the bat "failures are lessons that lead to success" I know, I know, it sounds like I should be writing Hallmark cards or fortune cookies but it's so true. Keep up the good work Jeremy.
Sounds like to me you need some kind of CNC Hotwire sculpting machine I know they would probably be expensive but I know that there has to be something out there for sculpting bricks on styrofoam. Actually I think stepcraft has something along those lines but are a very expensive.
First off, I love your videos and now have a genuine interest in the hobby. Second, I was wondering if you could possibly make a video combining your style with Wyloch’s tiles. Is it even possible to create a thinner foam tile? Could you make those tiles out of resin?
To fix the stair issue you could have one or two additional pieces that match the stair case steps, then when a player ends their turn on the stairs, you simply palce that tile below the character so that the miniature does not fall over
Something you can try that will allow realistic stairs *and* playability is to make a piece of foam that matches the stairs but is only the size of the base of a mini. Then, in the off chance that a mini ends its move upon the stairs, turn that piece of foam upside down and place it on the stairs so the mini has its flat, square inch to stand on.
I use a version of this grout technique for adobe buildings. Adding PVA and your base colour to the mix gives you a strong, quick start to a build. Applied over a cork tile carcass works best as the bond is superior.
I love your take on failure and learning! :D Personally, I've never used grout, but I do like to make my own newspaper paste. I blend newspaper in water, strain out most of the water, then add pva glue to desired consistency. It's easy, cheap, and the result is hard as a rock :) It just takes a while to dry if you're impatient lol
It seems a lot of people didn't quite understand my intentions here, which is a bit of a bummer. Perhaps I explained myself poorly, or perhaps some just weren't listening to what I was saying. Anyway, I'd like to make it clear. There are plenty of techniques I could have done. It's not that I don't know about these techniques, in fact most of the things commenters are repeatedly suggesting I should try are techniques that I (ironically) developed or at least helped popularize within my previous videos. I know about texture rollers. I helped make them so popular in the hobby. I even mentioned them in the video and said that I wasn't interested in using them here.
I was trying to develop a NEW technique. I was trying a new method and idea I hadn't tried before. This is what creators do. Generally this stuff goes on invisibly behind the scenes and you just end up seeing the successful techniques ending up in projects. I wanted to share the process of trying something new, even if it doesn't go well. That was the whole point. I know there are other ways that work to do what I was doing. I was trying to find NEW ways that work.
The goal was to try something different and the hope was that it would show that it's an important part of the hobby and failure is part of that. Failing at trying something new is not bad. Just doing the same thing over and over and over because you know it works is bad.
Assumed the point of the video was to try another creative direction to potentially have another crafting "tool" added to the arsenal. One of my favorite parts of this hobby is that in so many ways there's no ONE right way to do it. Testing new and interesting techniques in half the fun for me at least. I usually have about 2 or 3 odd experimental things sitting around the apartment at all times. There's something strangely satisfying when you manage to discover a new way of doing things, or rig up something you came up with on the fly. On the other hand, some folks just work and think in more efficient brainwaves, and those people just want to know the quickest way to get things done "right". They might not see the value of trial and error, or maybe just don't have the time. Experimenting with new techniques, while exceptionally fun for we dorks what are into it, doesn't always leave you with the same level of satisfaction or sense of productivity you'd get with a finished product. Its a bit like homework in the sense that yes you're (potentially) learning something incredibly valuable, but it's a lot of work for very little DIRECT payoff and that can be a kick to the balls (or ovaries) if you're looking for that feeling of accomplishment.
I think of it as an acquired taste, honestly. Like your first craft beer after a childhood of sneaking bud lights from your dad. Great video though, fella! Don't get discouraged. Trust that while many didn't see the value in this video, a lot of us did.
And as a side coincidence, I've been working with ways to harden insulation foam bricks (which I learn to make well watching your channel, so thank you), and I've found that painting on a very VERY thin layer of severely diluted, and MIXED Apoxie sculpt will leave a nice hardened layer over the foam. Don't even have to use that much. Been tasting the apoxie on various bits of the foam all week and the results have been extremely positive, particularly when you introduce water. It seems to seep INTO the foam and harden/reinforce it inside and out. Not giving you advice, mind you, just sharing something I've been fucking around with the last few days while trying to work on a ruined castle backdrop for my guinea pig's enclosure, and it seemed relevant to what you were working on. Works AMAZING for bones/skulls/etc, and you don't even have to prep the surface of the foam : D Again though, just blabbing out my own experiments, not telling you what to do. Keep up the great work, fella!
check up lola temprado's video, she's a miniature maker; the video is in spanish, but it's pretty selfexplanatory: czcams.com/video/ZHVElmYS6wM/video.html
lola has a lot of interesting technics you could try or at least check, you know, in order to get new ideas and approaches: czcams.com/play/PL74vdDTGZzs4TZqHmR0KfP-ofP_wHjdau.html
After watching this video, I subscribed after watching a lot of your videos. Everyone makes mistakes, and learns from them. You learned (along with us) different techniques that made us all better.
What I really like about this video, you showed your failure, while some people may not have.
Glad to join this group!
well done for posting a vid where you do make mistakes and learn from it . its the only way to grow as a crafter
Something that is too often obscured in research papers is PUBLISHING NEGATIVE RESULTS. Negative results aren't sexy, they don't garner more research dollars, and they can be embarrassing. AND they are as important as positive results because they can save time for other researchers, or provide stepping off points for future work as a process is refined. Thank you for sharing your negative results with us.
Could hardly agree more. Coming from a science background i can tell you that it's much more work to prove that something has no effect/doesn't work cause you have to look at all potential effects and show that your methods are rock solid. And then it's still hard to publish it in high impact journals. We try not to but even we had to ditch lab experiments cause it would become too much work to publish the negative results, also we perfectly knew it had absolutly no effects. It's not good science, but sometimes you have to make a decision if the time you had to invest in would be worth it, unfortunatly sometimes it is not.
This is the video I needed right now! I have half a dozen projects that I've wanted to try, but haven't invested time in due to the risk of failing. Seeing this video, especially how you managed to learn from a project you'd already written off, demonstrates a key skill. "Analysis paralysis" has stopped me from building more than once. Seeing your crafting heroes fail, and that said failure can still turn into a win - that's a really valuable look we don't typically get to see.
FAILURE and SUCCESS are simply matters or perspective.
This is without doubt the greatest insight one can have and from there only your imagination and willingness to try (and budget) are the only limitations.
My go to is that if it's not great it's still good for ruins. I was making BMC pillars and one fell on the floor as my fiance stepped on it. She gasped and recoiled but I wasn't mad. I told her I planned on making ruined ones anyway, then I said "You ruined it, good work." and went back to crafting.
Or you can just do something.
I have been building and painting since I was 18 (that's 30 years...). And the best way of doing things is... doing them AND learn. Even now I have build my first 3 houses for a D&D session... and I am going to put them in the slums. But I now know what I did wrong and do better next time.
Gotta say, I might like this style of video even more than the regular ones, just off the cuff prototyping. Was genuinely very engaging to me!
Thanks bud, keep it up!
It is more familiar to the organic crafting process ;-) I love it.
It's what got me into crafting terrain. I like his approach to the craft....no pun intended
Well Jeremy. True to your word, that dire Croc still ain't painted. LOL
Mel the terrain tutor has a modern building project. In an episode he uses foam core and cuts away certain areas of the paper to expose the foam and then carves his brick in it for a recessed look. It's quite amazing!
I was about to mention that too, didn't know Mel had a video about it.
Yea that is how I would do it. To help with the edge between the brick and smooth wall so it doesn’t project outwards so much.
As soon as the video started I was thinking about tearing sections of the paper to reveal bricks. Isn't that what everyone does? haha
My job is to try new things guys!
Black Magic Craft yes and when those don’t work, you go back to what does! *cracks whip* 😝
I think I understand what wasnt that satisfying in this build. You explained it .. things took to long, you didnt care for the brick thickness what was wrong and some other things you mentioned. I know the same here. You have an idea, it works pretty cool in your brain and while processing you recognize too many things that you forgot while "planning". Sometimes it is the best decision, to declare it as a failure and know how to do better the next time.
Thank you.
"Fail faster. No idea in made fully formed.Your ideas can't be precious, your ego can't need protecting, every failure is a chance to get it right."
-Extra Credits Team
Failure is often our greatest teacher. Fail hard! Fail often! It means you are pushing yourself. Really appreciate you posting a video showing that everyone fails at least some of the time.
Thomas Edison is reputed to have said something like " I didn't fail a 1000 times. I learned a 1000 ways not to do it."
DaMn! Good quote!
He also said "Hey watch me electrocute this elephant to death."
Meanwhile...Mr. Tesla on the other hand lmao
Was thinking the same.
@@jessicalee333 I thought it was a cow.
White glue actually does help act as a bonding agent for concrete mixtures, and is actually used as part of the process for some concrete finishing. Feel free to add watered down white glue to your grout mixtures. You can also prime a surface with the glue and apply the grout while it is still tacky, and that works as a method to bond as well.
"Experiment and learning is never a failure"
a great quote and an important lesson for us all. Thank you.
so something I was shown in modelling for theatre production using foam core, when it comes to brick you can peal off the outermost layer of paper on the foam core and simply cut the brick into it, if you rip the outer layer in pieces you can have the bricks peeking out from under stucco or whatever texture you want.
This was a trick we used for set model making, where it has to be to scale and match the set design, but also needs to be made quickly. the inside of the foam core is a little harder to work with because the cells are very large but with some modpodge and painting texture it can look pretty good.
I like to use realistic stairs but i add slots for tongue depressors to slide in so that if a player lands on the stair its still usable by sliding in the half of the depressor
This is actually brilliant, im surprised this doesn't have my likes
I love to see people try and fail and LEARN from that. We all fail, even our heroes. I'm not into the actual hobby itself (no space, I'm literally-literally living out of a bedroom packed with all my crap) but I love watching these. One of these days, when I get more room, I'm planning on messing around with this but until then, these videos are a good replacement.
For realistically sized stairs you can make a character platform out of the opposite side of the stairs. Just paint it up like you would your other stairs. A great example of this can be seen in some of Runehammer's old crafting videos.
I 3d print my terrain. I tune in just to see you build something cool. I don't see this video as a failure. I found it interesting as I do all your videos.
Failure is a great teacher, though sometimes an expensive one.
As for the technique, I've done brick streets fow WW2 models by pre scoring the surface with a blunt pencil. That combined with the grout may have the look you're going for
This is what I was thinking
There is no such thing as a failure. Everything is a learning experience, and it also gives you a sense of looking at piece and understanding when it just isn't working. Thanks for another awesome video man!
I really like the fact that you showed us that not everything you do turns out and what you tried to do to fix that. I thought that was wonderful. Thanks. I would love to see more of how you go about fixing a proublem as you're building.
I have to agree with the comments here and on you site as well. It is only a 'failure for the purpose that you intended but not as a learning tool. It is not natural to have everything
work out every time you try something. Just the act of trying new things is a benefit in itself and often leads me to finding different ways to solve a problem. Thank you for
making and posting this video. It is good to know that the crafters we follow have issues at times and that there are ways to work with them. I think of the phrase " happy little
accidents" at times like these.
"From failing, you learn. From success, not so much."
I love everyone sharing their favorite quotes about failing
I love when people show their failure not only because it make us realise we are not the only ones to f*** things up but also because it can give new ideas and we can all learn from those "mistakes". sometimes it can even lead to happy accidents, the polyurethane chemistry have been discovered by accident and look what we can do with it now.
I use an old bucket of premixed grout I had laying around for lots of places like where walls meet the ground for a good texture. It also adds really nice weight to pieces.
BMC, on stairs like the first one you cut out. I found that taking my knife and cutting a slit in the back of the step as a way to slide in a mini's round base area into the stairs themselves. This allowed me to have realistic looking stairs, but also allowed players whom have to stop mid way up on them a place holder so that the mini's could be held semi-tight while resting on them. Thanks for the videos, keep them coming.
Just wanted to say the grout over the edge of the bricks , gives it a feeling / look like its ready to crumble. Very good video, even the best of us have new things to learn 😊
adding glue to the grout would make it MUCH stronger/tougher, single foam core building, Card stock/thick paper "bricks", will be not much of a ride/layer change and would be easily covered by the grout, great video, it is important to try things and how to recognize that sometimes things don't work how we like, so hay, love your stuff!
The power of FAILURE! Thank you for sharing your experiment, even when it didn't go the way you wanted.
Coming from a tile guy.
I wouldn't mix any glue with grout.
Could you use a wire/string to texture the grout like bricks??
That idea with doors on the second floor with stairs leading up to it was actually quite frequently used in the Middle Ages for fortified townhouses!
There is definitely value in seeing failures. It’s a nice reminder that it’s okay to pitch an idea and start fresh. Thanks for sharing your process!!
This was very helpful. I am selling my work and although I do not build terrain I have adopted many of your ideas to fit my needs when building miniature fairy houses and castles. I love that you said "You weren't feeling it". I too have learned if its not working, its an utter struggle, and your not feeling it....move on.
Thank you so much!
Love the prototyping. You should do more of these test build videos. Experimentation is fun!
Black magic craft is a great way to learn creative skills. I've have use his advice and some of my own and started my own CZcams channel for crafting. You are the man! Keep up the amazing work you do good sir.
I really appreciate this video. Thanks for being secure enough to show a time where things didn't work out the way you wanted, and that every failure is a learning opportunity. If you take risks, sometimes it won't work out, but sometimes it will result in something that surpasses your wildest dreams.
I got better at thinking like this thanks to Adam Savage, it's made me so much more productive and now whenever I get a chance I like to intentionally fail just to understand a material or technique better.
"Failure is always an option" ~Adam Savage
It takes a brave person to put out something you were trying for the first time out there and didn’t succeed. Yet you learned a lot so win!
I love the honesty of your channel. The trying and failing both being displayed as you craft. It's really great to have accepted failure and continued on to make it an exploration into more instead of just giving up.
Amazing work!
Good on’ya for showing us the whole process, failure included. It’s nice to know that even the pros’ ideas don’t always work out. It was great to see the learning process even if it didn’t pan out the way you wished it to. Gives us all food for thought. Thanks for the great videos, sir!
I finally got the courage to try my first bit of terrain thanks to this channel. I made a set of modular tavern pieces, and a small floor space for them, with a sheet of foam core, a utility knife, some tacky and hot glues, and, of course, my own batch of Black Magic base coat!
Thank you so much for this channel, your easy and entertaining tutorials, and thank you for the constant reassurances that it's okay to be a beginner.
Ever since the stucco video I have wondered if the grout could be used without the fame keeping the liquid in. Thanks for demonstrating this. Not all projects work out I’m glad you were still able to learn from it.
i have found these latter videos you are posting to be very good about experiments and failures, more importantly that you have them too! dont be afraid to try is an important lesson, its how we grow our skills. the next time i see your posts i will not just think "he makes it all seem so easy" i will know the effort behind it and not feel so useless when one of my projects turns out bad.
As a compromise for realistic and playable stairs, why not remove the risers? Bases can slide into individual stairs, while the stairs themselves can be reasonably sized. A 5-6mm gap should fit any based mini. That gap is only a couple inches more than modern building code, in scale.
Thank you for sharing!
Half of my problem with crafting is pushing through rather than stopping or innovating.
I really appreciate seeing all of your work and methods.
Ps. I got my Proxxon and also the SL guider. It's made SUCH a difference. Thank you for recommending.
"I don't know if this is a good approach or not, but, hey." Honestly, that's the best approach. I did almost the same thing for last weeks session and, while still disappointed, slapped it down on the table and distracted the players with the abyssal abomination trying to eat their faces. It worked. Then I blew up the tower...
Thank you for sharing this process. It really helps show the humanity to the personality. Too many content creators will only show the awesome successes, leaving learning experiences on the cutting room floor.
LET'S GO! It's always good to fail, even when you're at this level, because then you can get EVEN BETTER! I start building miniatures terrain a few months ago and I failed 1000 times doing a lot of random stuff. Your videos helped a lot, but the experience of always trying and learning new techniques it's completely different then just watching videos. So, I guess when we actually fail, if we don't give up, things can get FREAKING AWESOME. Love the channel, I'm here every week!
I am glad you shared this video. I like to see people try new ideas whether they work or not. You learn so much from experimentation.
Success!!! We learn more about life, ourselves and the world we live in through our failures than we could ever learn through success!!
This was still a good and informative video. It would have been fun to try to salvage the failed building too. Glue some sand, slap some grey and pour some wash, it would make a playable piece!
Observations:
First - cut the shit, that thing looked awesome! I really loved your efforts to “fix” a “broken” thing.
Second - Perfect is the enemy of the good.
Third - no third thing. Just wanna say we all love you and you could smear cat shit on the side of a building and we’d all get a new technique out of it. 😝
Another cheap building material....
I like the fast-build theme music! I had it pop in my head at my job and whistle it...
10:00 Stairs in scale(ish) and able to take a miniture: The trick is to do just the edge of the stairs. Then make each step out of a coffee stirrer or thick card and leave enough room between each step to slide in the base of your minitures in between each step - you can make it quite loose. Glue all the steps onto the edge pieces and paint the space behind the stairs black or very dark brown. Then paint up your steps as usual. Now when you come to play your minitures will slot into each step, their base will hang between each step and you'll have stairs that look correct.
Admittedly this won't work well if you have really thick bases or loads of rocks and stuff on your bases. Or if the model is huge. But it should work fine for the majority of situations. Certainly will for the scale of Frostgrave minis.
Your idea is better than what I had in mind ! Here is the idea I had : for the stairs thing, maybe you can make an angled platform that will fit on several realistic stairs and allow the figurine to be located on these stairs ? Maybe issue a platform for each building you make ? Maybe make it in a transparent material ?
Cool video. I like to see failures and mistakes in these videos because it happens to us all, and it also engages the critical part of our brains and makes us think about how WE would solve that problem. It already has me plotting ruins of my own to try out something that I think would work.
I have made similar walls, cut out some parts of the foam and filled it with DAS clay. Takes some practice, but the brick indents are quite realistic.
I enjoy your videos very much, specially, success and failures put together in the same format.
The broken floor idea is cool, next time you could try lining the bottom floor with rubble and debris before setting the floor so looking in from the top will just reveal damaged bottom floor
@10:46 I almost lent down to grab your pen lid up off the floor. LOL
Engraving the bricks and then plaster to cover the edges could be another test to compare (and no need to add extra layers of foam)
I really liked this video. My non-crafting friends are always happy when I make a failure, I still finish it and they get a decent looking build I don't want😅
I find the idea of sitting down with no plan and just trying to figure out something both refreshing and inspiring. As I was watching you I was thinking I'd use the peel away foamboard. Scoring and peeling away sections to reveal foam and then carving the bricks with a pencil. For the stucco look I've always used Gesso. It stiffens everything up pretty well and has enough texture to look like stucco without keeping all the brush strokes. I'll see if I can give that a try next week and let you know how it goes.
A useful video. I often experiment and if I'm honest about half of them fail but when one goes right I view the previous failures as achievements because they are adding to my knowledge. And lets face it some of the materials we use are not always predictable ( as wonderfully pointed out with the grout on Foam you thought it would crumble away but it didn't )
The Roses of Success is a good philosophy for learning from mistakes. The whole song is great, but the main phrase is "From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!"
Every experiment is an opportunity to learn something! Loved the natural, real-time learning feel of this video - keep ‘em coming! Serendipitous too, as I’ve been thinking about exactly this type of finish... You gave me ahead start on where to begin with my experiments. 👍
You tuber 'Laser Creation World' lots of dioramas from World War 2, but his house and ground work are phenomenal! A truly gifted modeller you might get some wall / buildings inspiration there. Enjoy your view, so keep up the good work
Texture rolling pin with brick pattern on XPS, then the grout. That will work greatly.
He’s done that
Rubbish in rubbish out did a video about a similar effect for bricks under chipped plaster. Essentially you engrave an area of bricks into the foam that is a bit bigger than you want showing, then mask it off with painter's tape, leaving a tab on one side to make peeling it off easy. Then use filler/spackle to create a stucco texture on your wall. Let it set up a bit until it isn't completely hard but fairly firm, and peel the tape off.
Boom, plaster texture with bricks showing beneath it.
Option for the stairs, which I might try, cut a popsicle stick gap in the front of the stairs (or create the gap by making the stairs in sections) ans space so them so that you can fit multiple players on the stairs. When you need to put a player on the stairs, insert a cut down popsicle stick and place the mini on the stick. This gives you stairs that look pretty much like normal stairs but you can still put pieces on them.
In my opinion, I didn't even know what game you were talking about, the only thing on my mind was "ruined building", and the multi storey effect you gave that piece was on point, at least in my view, bricks were ok, yeah sure a bit thicc, but still ok.
Make more of these "straight from the mind" type of videos from time to time, it really is creative and good for your channel, in a way. I think I can safely say you inspired me to make miniatures for my D&D session's after I saw you make a fountain with a statue from the same foam you used in this video.
This was not a failure at all... you got some important information! Thanks for this one. It’s important to learn lessons and not just give up when things don’t work....
You were on the right track with adding a little pva to the grout. But cutting the blocks/bricks into the foam is much easier and faster.
Here's an idea, for your broken sections of walls. How about using a thicker foam core, and removing sections of the paper where you want the stones showing through. Then detail the foam to look like stone. Just a thought, and no I have not tried it, so I don't know if it will work.
Interesting video and VERY good point. Love that you show the process and your failures. We learn a lot more from failures than we do successes.
As someone that just tunes in to see you build stuff this was still interesting, just thought you ought to know ☺
PS If you google Tudor buildings with crumbling plaster, you will see that this look is not only for American southwest. Biggest problem is bricks sticking out under plaster, as you say. Fixed by not adding bricks but merely cutting them into areas of foam board with no "plaster." I love "Failure videos" because they show us that it doesn't always go perfectly to plan and one can either try to fix that, or, as you did, use it as a prototype practice piece or chuck it. So thank you!
Love your stuff. Just joined your patreon fellowship. I was just watching this video and thought about the part where you got to your stairs and commenting on how if they are properly scaled, you can't put player miniatures on them. I think an easy solution would to make small stair bases that would fit under the miniatures and allow you to place them on to your stairs when playing. Basically a small section of upside down stairs that you can sit on the stairs and your miniatures can then sit on for play. Please keep up the good work. I love your content and the manner in which you talk in your videos.
Freestyle crafting? Oh boy buckle up and enjoy the ride!!!
I have learned so much from you and it is SO inspiring to see you continually learning as well. I love how much you push yourself and your craft.
Ive used a texture roller on the foam then glued sandpaper to the surface with torn holes to show the brickwork underneath with some success.
If you are in need of ideas on what to build, may I suggest changing environement? You did snow and verdant, why not desert stuff like sandstone buildings, hills, or even pyramids!
have a door on first floor but have the wall collapsed covering access to it. take a Soldering iron with sharp tip and draw in a circle shape then bricks in the foam.
I loved this video. Love the idea of using it for desert terrain. Been wanting to build some terrain fro Star Wars Legion, and Dracula's America
You mentioned frostgrave...... I have not played the game myself ....but the minis are nice . The 28mm Gnolls are beautiful. Hey man thanks for doing what you do. I have learned so much by watching you. You rock !
Love the grout idea! They can't all be 10's.
Try removing the paper from one side of the foam board and scoring your brick pattern into the exposed foam. This can make the foamboard a little flimsy, so maybe score it after the building has been assembled.
I used Sellys spack filler, and applied it with a little hobby trowl thingy over the edges of the brickwork.
Came out a treat when painted.
😉
I believe these types of episodes would do fine better than you may believe my friend ;-) More like this please!
In the words of Yoda "Do or do not, there is no try"
I did what I think you are trying to do on a dollhouse build. (It's a Tudor building with Pub and kitchen on first floor and family's chambers on second. Then attic under roof.) Anyway, I put a covering of foam on wooden base wall. Then I covered the foam with a coat of plaster. (I used spackle very thinly covered. and I added PVA to the spackle just to make absolutely sure it would adhere enough.) I made sure the spackle was nicely textured with the kinds of marks that would have been there when it was applied to the building. While I was putting it on, I left areas uncovered. Then I went back into those areas and cut a brick pattern into the underlying foam and painted plaster areas and brick areas appropriately. Viola! A plastered wall with bricks "underneath" showing through area of damage. Looks great and everyone says, "Hey, how did you do that?"
I loved this video! What about creating some wall sections using molds based on the same method you used for the terrains bases? You could think of them as "larger bricks" to build the sections where you actually need the ruined walls textures for example :)
What do you think?
I went this process many times, I started the hobby as a crafting DM for my d&d table, and one of my friend and player ended up joining me at some crafting, we spend a lot of time building stuff and we been through a lot of frustration due to material limitations we have in my country or simply when something just don't work well, but we still keep going on the process of building something nice for the table, and even if the result is not the best, or what we had in mind when we started building it, we still use it at the table, because its the whole point of taking the time on building something cool for a tabletop game, and even so, we still enjoy having that piece at the table for a memorable moment of the game, failure it's really valuable in terms of knowledge.
Medieval buildings had white wash stucco on them, that included towers and castles.
Go check out Shadavercity
I'm *pretty dang sure* that this is at least mostly correct. I think it wasn't done in some cultures in very arid climates though.
Usually put around /over timber frames. Not necessarily over brick
I loved seeing you problem solve and talk about your thought process!
I found that grout sticks to a lot more surfaces and becomes SUPER strong if you mix it with PVA instead of water when doing this kind of project!
In Art there are no failures ... only "Happy Accidents"
Okay so I'm posting this at 0:17 in into this video and I'm going to go say this right off the bat "failures are lessons that lead to success" I know, I know, it sounds like I should be writing Hallmark cards or fortune cookies but it's so true.
Keep up the good work Jeremy.
Sounds like to me you need some kind of CNC Hotwire sculpting machine I know they would probably be expensive but I know that there has to be something out there for sculpting bricks on styrofoam. Actually I think stepcraft has something along those lines but are a very expensive.
First off, I love your videos and now have a genuine interest in the hobby. Second, I was wondering if you could possibly make a video combining your style with Wyloch’s tiles. Is it even possible to create a thinner foam tile? Could you make those tiles out of resin?
To fix the stair issue you could have one or two additional pieces that match the stair case steps, then when a player ends their turn on the stairs, you simply palce that tile below the character so that the miniature does not fall over
Something you can try that will allow realistic stairs *and* playability is to make a piece of foam that matches the stairs but is only the size of the base of a mini. Then, in the off chance that a mini ends its move upon the stairs, turn that piece of foam upside down and place it on the stairs so the mini has its flat, square inch to stand on.
I use a version of this grout technique for adobe buildings. Adding PVA and your base colour to the mix gives you a strong, quick start to a build. Applied over a cork tile carcass works best as the bond is superior.
I love your take on failure and learning! :D
Personally, I've never used grout, but I do like to make my own newspaper paste. I blend newspaper in water, strain out most of the water, then add pva glue to desired consistency. It's easy, cheap, and the result is hard as a rock :) It just takes a while to dry if you're impatient lol