Tutorial - Making fresh snow bases

This is a tutorial on how I made these bases

Materials are simple;

Cork Bases
PVA glue
White acrylic paint
Bicarbonate of soda

To make the cork bases you just need cork and a plastic base, you can see more detail on how I make mine here.

The first step was simple - drybrushing in the colours of my choice. I went from a base of two coats fenris grey 1:1 water, up to skull white through shadow grey and space wolves grey. The last drybrush was a very sparse one around the very edges.

Originally I'd planned to have quite a bit of the base showing through the snow, and so spent quite awhile painting them. However they ended up mostly covered. Plan how you want them to show through the snow before you end up spending ages on something that will be hidden.

If you want them completely covered just leave the cork bare - I have a set I'll be finishing tomorrow that I did not paint the cork with anything at all.

Then I made my snow! This is pretty much done by eye. The way it sits in your mixing container is how it will sit on your base, so it'll be easy to see if you're mixture is too runny.

Splurge in some pva and paint first, then bircarbonate. I added too much bicarbonate and thinned it with a water: glue mix. This is what my gloop looked like before I started adding it to my based. The more glue/paint/water there is the smoother and newer the snow will be. The more bicarbonate you add the more of a churned, trodden, used look you can give the snow.

This was enough to do well over 15 bases

I used one of my sculpting tools to apply the snow. I apply it in small blobs at a time working from the bare based up. Just scrape it on then gently push it to where you want with the end of the tool. Depending on how thick your snow is it will 'settle' down to a degree. This make it easy to get a smooth coverage. If you dont want a smooth even coverage either wait for it to dry a bit then poke it around, or add a bit more pva glue before you throw it on. It will hold bigger shapes better that way.

Add more snow everywhere else it would pile up

 When it comes to the rough slopes that would be completely covered it is actually possible to drybrush the snow mixture on. Just stamp an old brush into the snow and brush it gently over the ridges. Wash it off before it dries!

To get the powdery finish of new snow drop the base into the bicarbonate and shake it gently. If you want the snow to be flat you can press it down but if you have shaped it slightly you only need to let it touch lightly.

For a more frosty ice finish sprinkle the top layer with scenic snow.

Enjoy the snowy bases!