Wear And Tear

Over the weekend I finished up the bottled specimens I started last week, applying collection labels and the final weathering treatment.


Here's the "critter" after it was sealed in it's bottle with wax. After a week the isopropyl alcohol doesn't seem to be reacting with the figure's baked Sculpey or the acrylic paint and liquid acrylic coating it, so I'm pretty sure it will be stable enough for long-term display.


Here's the same bottle after the label and weathering was applied. Since I have a tendency to under-weather props I went all out on this one, wearing away the paper of the label and applying multiple washes of paint, cocoa powder, and charcoal dust for a very old and worn feel. The end result looks like this thing has been sitting on a damp, dusty shelf for years.


That cloudy film of dust on the bottle is actually a layer of matte fixative that coats and protects all the weathering once it's done. I've scrubbed it off with a brillo pad in spots because I don't want to cover up all the details of the critter, but I still want that feeling of age and layers of dust.


A medium shot of the finished product. The irregular shape of the wax seal looks like an old, hand applied bit of work. I'm also happy with how the label turned out, with the appearance of paper that's been slowly mouldering and flaking away over the years.

If you like it, why not try making your own? You'll find the basic directions over here, a supply of ready-to-print labels here, and any advice I can offer is just an email away.