Swamp template No. 2, part 3

The rotting log has been finished, sanded, painted and glued into place. It's a pretty light-duty glue -- when the Envirotex dries, it'll hold the sucker in place far better.

It's just successive layers of brown, each lighter than the last. I think I ended up using two washes and five shades of brown; after it was in place, I added to light touches of green-brown to the part that will be below the water line. Later, I'll be brightening up the top half a little more, moving it toward grey, but that's not going to be until the Envirotex is in place. When that's dry (or mostly dry, depending on if I'm willing to destroy a brush), I'll be adding more green-yellow to the side of the log at the water line, and maybe even have some float on the top of the Envirotex to simulate pond scum.

I ditched the other plants I'd sculpted; I couldn't get them to work right, but my Milliput is acting weird, too. It's crumbling and falling apart; I don't know if it's old or I didn't add enough of the yellow part to the white part. (Milliput's an epoxy -- it has two substances that, when combined, become a workable putty that dries to a sandable finish. It's good for creating detail-light structures or for making cores to build up from; that's because it's easier to work and it's water soluble. However, it cracks very easily and doesn't hold fine shapes like green stuff.) In either case, the plants are next to unworkable and I'm having the damndest time getting branches on them. I'll try again with new sculpts on swamp template No. 3; this tree turned out not bad, so I feel l ought to keep trying to sculpt.

To add a little more to the final swamp, I ended up grabbing an old pewter tree I've had lying around for at least six years -- before I moved down to Orange County -- and I twisted it and bent the branches so it looks forlorn and droopy. It's going to hang over the other elements, but it's thin so it should come out looking OK.