How would you do a realistic (as in as much photo-realistic as possible) frozen lake? What stuff would you use for the ice itself, the type of paint and so on? I am planning a Christmas diorama featuring a frozen lake (more like a pond). I already started pouring layers of WS Realistic Water. I wonder how I'll get the top layer to look like real ice. Thoughts?
Sounds interesting. I've never done ice, but my first idea I think I would paint the under layer shades of light blue and white, but in relation to the thickness of the ice you want (white= thick, blue= thin), not the depth of the water, though Ice does tend to be thinner in the middle where its deep. Then, after pouring the WS water, I'd take fine grit sand paper to the surface, roughing the white spots more so than the light blue. Thinner ice always has more transparency, so the rougher white would be more opaque. Then to top it off, I'd give the banks a good cover of snow, and lightly dust the ice with snow as well. But again, I've never done ice. You've got my interest spiked though.
You might want to put on a thin under coat of transparent blue for reflection. A semi opaque ice white can come with putting a small of white pigment into satin Modge Podge. Work thin over the base liquid water.
I gave a shot to the sandpaper trick. This will do great for a well used skating area. It removed just enough "gloss" to make things look right IMHO all the while looking like proper skating scratches. I think I got my colours upside down. I painted the deepest spots the darkest. opps. It's not too late. I have a whole month to backtrack before the Holy Night. I'll try to share the results with you all once it's done.
Hi Virgule, Living up in the north like you do, you could use the real thing. All joking aside, have you thought about using plexiglass for your ice. It would have a somewhat reflective surface and when seen at an angle with color under it should give the illusion of depth. A light sanding on the bottom side will make it more opaque. As for the color on a clear day the ice would be reflecting the blue of the sky with a tint of whatever color of the water it is on. For example the ice we get here in the middle of nowhere KY is blue with a brown/green tint becaue the water has a brown/green color year round. On a cloudy day the ice looks black. Have fun Gary
The ice on lakes in winter time tends to look very dark, almost charcoal grey. This is because the sun is low, there is less ambient light, there is often more overcast, etc. It is true that the sky is reflected, and it will be on your layout if you have a backdrop, but a blue-tinted compound meant to look like ice...won't. I would get Envirotex or a generic two-part epoxy, or you could use poly-urethane. Pour two or three layers over whatever sub-surface 'vessel' you use to make a smooth lake surface. The ice doesn't often freeze showing waves, so it can be smooth, as you pour it. You can tint most pourable finishes with acrylic craft paint, as long as you don't use a lot of it...maybe 1/2 drop per cup of the product poured. I would mix one pour with a bit of medium grey and let it harden. Then, a second pour the same if more depth were desired, or pour a tint-free layer to give the impression of clear ice. Over the ice, you could spread a white thinned plaster of paris or hydrocal here and there to simulate a thin snow cover in drifts.
Crandell, I think you gave a better oversight of color than I did. I found this picture online that shows the colors I now would use. Charcoal grey with a hint of that blue I was talking about in the lighter areas. Also, notice how the more opaque areas are laid out, especially along the cracks. Then notice how the darker ice is a reflection of the trees behind the lake. Depending on your scene, your ice will reflect different colors. But most importantly, notice how there is no gloss. We're in the dead of winter.. any droplet of water is going to freeze, and when dirty water freezes, it's always opaque. If this were early spring, you'd see gloss as the ice thaws, leaving the surface with layers of water.
Just a thought, is this a "Christmas" theme or "Winter" scape? In my humble opinion Christmas themes need to be more "merrier" than "realistic". Don't worry too much about how real it looks. Let it lean a bit more toward "Disney". If it is to be a winter scene then yes, you might want to go the distance to create a frozen lake with skaters.
Plexiglass, 1/8" thick. Paint the underside a mix of grays and light blue, much the same colors you would use for a cloudy sky. Lightly sand the top side, use a sharp hobby knife to carve in some cracks (frozen lakes always have cracks). Dry brush some patches of white onto the top side. For even more realism, build up the edges to simulate the broken ice that results from the ice sheet moving around on the water.
Mark, if you want opacity in a pourable mix, I found that Plaster of Paris does a good job. Again we're not talking about a tablespoon of the stuff in a half-quart of poured compound, but maybe 1/2 tsp that in that volume.
That picture on the first page is a good one to model from, if you're looking for realism. I'd start with a dark base, but with some white lines to indicate sub-surface cracks. The mottled color is also something to do with the underlying paint. I would use Envirotex, and tint the lowest layer a dark blue, a second layer light blue and then the top layer either clear or white, each with just a bit of acrylic paint mixed into the pour. Each pour should be about 1/8th inch thick. Ice skaters, ice fisherman and snow would add to the scene.
Mr. B, if you tint a clear medium blue, it looks blue. I thought we had established that ice on a frozen lake doesn't look blue. It may reflect blue on a sunny day, but the underlying hard stuff will not look blue, and certainly not on duller days. So, for me, it would be a matter of getting the more natural tint to start with, and that would be a medium grey, with some variation, including some whitish weathering for crazing and cracking, but the actual shiny surface should still accomplish the blue reflection artefact you want if you view the surface at the right angle and with a nice sky-blue backdrop situated nearby. You get the best of both worlds by making the medium actually most like the real thing. I have seen 'water' tinted blue in various shades, and it has never been very convincing....to me, at least. It always appears to me to have been an "oops!" It looks like an aquamarine embedded in a layout's surface. I could believe model swimming pool water contained in a blue liner, as seen when you fly over cities, but not on a frozen lake up where I live.
