Creating Rustic Bricks From Aluminum Foil
May 16, 2015 by HamsterCageStudio
It has been said necessity is the mother of invention and this proved true for me when making the stone base for my Wolfen project. With limited resources and time I decided to experiment with making bricks out of aluminum foil.
My goal for the scene was a very ancient ruined building in a forest setting and figured the stones would be heavily worn and pitted from decades of neglect and exposure to the elements.
The aluminum foil appeared to provide lots of irregular texture when crumbled up into tiny brick shapes so I thought I give it a try. The light weight nature of aluminum served well in building the half arch doorway as well.
Step 1
First I attached an interesting piece of very dry tree bark to my wooden block and started adding sand, crumbled pieces of cork, dried roots to form a foundation for the cliff.
Step 2
Next I crumpled small pieces of aluminum foil into cube shapes using the flat surface of the table to create edges and really concentrating on making each cube very compact. I wore rubber gloves during the pressing and handling of the aluminum bricks to minimize getting them dirty from the oils on my hands.
To make the arch I carefully drilled a small hole with my pin vice into each side of the bricks and connected them with wooden toothpicks and Elmer's wood glue.
I continued arranging the aluminum bricks to form a cascading broken stairway leading up to the once beautiful archway.
After all bricks and landscaping dries the wooden base is masked with painters tape and is given a coat of primer.
Step 3
Next I used joint compound (gypsum) to even out some of the texture on the aluminum bricks using a small palette knife and shot the base again with primer.
Step 4
With the aid of the airbrush I base coated and highlighted. Then I followed up with brush for finishing details.
The Finished Product
And there you have it. Mount your model and finish the rest of the piece up! I hope this article helped you to create you own quick and easy brick work. Remember to share this article as much as you can and check me out over at my page and blog! Links down below in my bio section.
