Like the previous post (crafting tents) of this series, this little project is (a) experimental and (b) beginner-friendly. For this tutorial / how to / you name it… I wanted to build a campfire for different wargaming or TRPG purposes.
There are a lot of good tutorials on the web, showing how to craft campfires with an integrated LED light effect. Here is an excellent example from Tabletop witchcraft.
But I wanted to build a very analog campfire, that could be “lit” and “extinguished”. The plan was, to craft a campfire with a removable “fire”.
Materials
Most of the materials used for this project are rather straight forward.
Assembly
1. I cut out some irregular ovals of various sizes. I wanted to craft a few campfires „factory belt“-style.
Then I glued some stones around the edges. My Google-fu revealed, that this stone circle is called a „fire ring“… I learned something new here 🙂
2. Afterwards I broke several leftover bits of balsa into log-like bits. Using an exacto knife, I cut into the edges in order to give them a less artificial look.
3. After adding a generous amount of glue, I placed the firewood. It took me some time (and patience) to arrange them properly.
4+5. Time to add some „ashes“ to our fireplace.
Before the glue dried, I arbitrarily sprinkled some seashell fragments over the built. Afterwards I covered everything with fine sand and let it dry properly before shaking the excess off.
Put on some paint
Before applying some paint, make sure the glue cured properly.
The pictures below describe the painting process better than words 🙂
the fire
Crafting the fire was terra incognita for me. I am familiar with the popular „hot glue“ fire effect, but never tried it myself.
1. Since I wanted the fire to be removable, I had to be ingenious.
I covered the campfire with baking paper. Afterwards I molded the fire with the hot glue gun on the baking paper.
Once the hot glue has cured properly, I peeled the „fire“ off the baking paper. It should now fit (more or less) on the firewood.
2. I cheated painting the fire. I used Zealot Yellow from „the army painter“. In a previous project I noticed, that it dries with an orange/red shade in the recesses. A fact I wanted to exploit shamelessly.
3+4. The final product 🙂
happy crafting
D.