Pyramid Power - NO PEEKING players! You know who you are. :)

[BlueMeander]

That carbon paper really does look cool and it seems like something you could make use of in some other project!

You know, when I'm trying to do tin type stuff, I take multiple layers of tin foil and put them together with spray adhesive. If you use a tool of choice to smooth it over well, then you won't get any wrinkles or bad foil crinkles and you can customize the thickness of metal you want. It might save your hands! (plus then you can choose if you want to start with shiny or matte metal! n.n)

That washi tape is perfect though. You definitely saved yourself a lot of labor there and created a great effect with it that would have taken maybe days otherwise. Smart thinking!

[ableman33]

Oh sweet succor of technology!

As I tried to psyche myself up to pick up my embossing tool with my already bruised fingers, I remembered I'm a teacher, and that I have THESE.






SO much better. I just did half a metal sheet with only a quarter the discomfort!


@ BlueMeander - I will definitely try experimenting with the layers of regular foil and spray adhesive in the future. At this point I'm committed, but that sounds like a really good technique.

You're right about the carbon paper. If I ever need to make an X-Ray effect, I know right where to go.

And you're right about the washi tape. I wouldn't even have considered attempting something like that without it. Trying to print something out on my printer for the hundreds of linear feet I'll need for my movable wall and pillar pieces would have been way too expensive. I would likely have just done a band of some sort of dappled paint that looked like it might have had carvings on it long ago.



Back to embossing!

[ableman33]

Decorative roof panels nearly complete.

I had SO much trouble with these. My first instinct was to go over all the embossed lines with a fine-tipped permanent marker. But no matter which of my markers I used, they soon stopped drawing. It was almost as if the channels in the metal were just the right size to mostly not engage the tiny felt tips so that the markers slowly stopped working as no new ink was drawn out by the old ink leaving. Very frustrating.

This was the best I could accomplish.







I then tried brushing on various paints and rubbing them off, but to little success. Most of my paints didn't stick well and would crack off, and the embossed channels were too shallow and widely sloped so that when I rubbed to remove the excess paint, it would be removed from the grooves in random patches.

Eventually, after even more trial and error, I grabbed a normal-tipped permanent marker and it went on like a breeze. I guess my fine-tipped markers were either just not the right size, or else every single one was nearly dried out.

The lines ended up being fatter than I'd originally hoped, but it makes them much easier to see, so I guess that's good.








I plan to fill in the circles on these with red, blue, and green for the matching elements and colors on the statue puzzle. The one for air I'll either leave as it is or maybe hit it with a silver marker.

I'm tempted to clear coat everything once I have the panels secured in place, just so the marker won't be rubbed off with time. My experiments on some scrap pieces with polyurethane look good.

[ableman33]

I coated my statues with a matte finish intended for sealing miniatures and it stopped my stickiness problem perfectly!

Here they are in place. They start turned away from the center. Once they all face the center (death), the central sarcophagus can rotate toward the sheut/void symbol on the wall (again, death) and reveal the passage below.














Turned to face the center...






And the passage revealed.






My backup sarcophagus surprised me by arriving yesterday evening after all. It is made of the exact wrong material, the same flexible plastic that the forever sticky octopus was made of, but I gave it a shot anyway. It should do for the contest at least. I can replace it with my other one when it arrives later.








Getting close!

Good luck everyone.

[ableman33]

And done!

I still need to take my final photos and make my submission entry, but the piece itself is done.


I made a cutout in the ceiling to accommodate any tall figures while preserving the strength of the bracing.






I then colored, cut out, and glued on the decorative panels before taping the edges with some plastic gold tape and clear coating everything.

I think it turned out rather well.














After a long night scrubbing his armor, scout trooper checked out the results of the contractors' efforts.






And test the capstone room for fit.

Why is the gilded capstone still almost pristine while the rest of the pyramid is decaying? There must be magic afoot...








Best of luck everyone. See you at the finish!

[BlueMeander]

I didn't realise that's what you intended with the metal, but it's a good finish to the piece. I'm surprised you had that much trouble though. When I do stuff like that I usually just smear craft acrylic into the channels and then wipe off the excess with a paper towel and it's usually NBD.

Side note, I was looking through my stamping plates and it made me want to tell you about them. Not sure if you are super familiar with stamping plates, so excuse this if you are, but they're basically laser cut metal that are sort of like mini screen printing tools meant for manicures, but I was thinking of using them in miniatures (like printed newspapers, posters, or graffiti, etc.) I was pawing though my collection for inspiration when I saw a pharaoh head and thought of how you could have used something like that. Although your washi tape looks great, using stamping plates would be a good way to customize designs with a way better clarity than you'll get from a printer if you end up making anything more in this theme and want more designs moving forward or if you run out of washi. They carry over a ton of detail perfectly-- even super fine lines. Real good for small scales too since they're all usually scaled for fingernails!

Here's a google of some Egyptian themed plates so you can see what I mean. http://tinyurl.com/egyptianplates

[ableman33]

@ BlueMeander - I had no idea such things even existed. A whole new world. Thank you so much for bringing these to my attention.

[BlueMeander]

haha! Sure, no problem! I've gotten quite into doing nails lately which is why I decided to cross over so many new techniques and materials from my new hobby into terrain for this competition.

This was one of my inspirations for going crazy unicorn candy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C429pf4EOtE

[BlueMeander]

Oh, P.S., I did the pharaoh head and took a picture so you could see, but I didn't want to throw it on you if you weren't interested. Since you seemed to be into the idea, I thought I'd show you the head I have and how it looks.


    

You will probably see this plate pretty often. It's very common. I do recommend if you do this though that you get one of these clear stampers. They were originally made with solid colors but they came out with these that you can look down through like a ... what's that pirate thing? Scopey look through it and see faraway-ma-deal. Like one of those. 



The reason why this is TELESCOPE, sorry it's a telescope. You knew that, huh? You were probably going "telescope, dude!" the whole time you were reading that. Anyway, the reason why it's good to get a see through one is that you can layer prints and find out what you're doing. Good for building a pattern or for placing, say, a metallic over a solid so you get a drop shadow or accent effect like this. (Finger in there for scale! : D)

Anyway, there you go. Also, this is on cardboard. So it does tend to stick to most things without a ton of trouble, but obvs you'd have to experiment with metal. And maybe using some sort of a spray or paint on coating or light sanding and other obvious possible considerations and experiments.

[ableman33]

Final entry is posted!

Best of luck everyone.