Dark Elf: Cauldron of Blood

And so we come to the last model in the army.. the final piece in the jigsaw.. the last nail in the coffin.. the keystone to the bridge of Dark Elfs.. and other some such metaphors to say that this army (aside from basing) is finished!

This was the last one mostly because it was a model that we had attempted a few times with no success. The first attempt was the original Cauldron of Blood idol, but it looks like a guy with a stick up his posterior.. so we decided on a scratch built option..

So for this we had to come up with a plan.. the plan was pretty decent as the client brought forth a small bronze Turkish cup of sorts. This he then glued skulls, chains, shield designs, etc to. I filled it up with foam shavings, white glue, putty, and green stuff in balls. I then applied multiple layers of Liquid Green Stuff to it to get a top layer on it.. and to give it some levels and layers..

The stone work is just insulation foam. I took some and stacked them on top of each other gluing with super glue. Knowing that some of it would be eaten, but at the same time knowing it would hold. Cutting into the foam, I made some rough stone like markings, filling in the gaps afterwards with the Black Lava from Vallejo. More to give it some structure, but also to try to simulate mortar in the stones. The top ledge is an off cut of balsa wood, again with Black Lava applied over it. A 20mm hole was cut into this also, so that the character had a place to stand, but could also be removed as needed. Extra pieces like the Twilight Kin's cup stand, and some candles were added. Once the candles were attached however it was clear that it needed more, so I tried to make some out of green stuff. They didn't turn out too bad I think. And in the end, a spare slave girl was added to the base, just to show that the Dark Elf Cauldron has a sacrifice on hand just in case it is needed.

Coloring was pretty basic..

• Cauldron:
• Pot was started with covering of GW Tin Bitz
• Accents were painted with VGC Brassy Bronze
• Everything was washed with GW Delven Mud
• Silvers were started with GW Boltgun Metal, Highlighted with VGC Silver
• Skulls were VGC Khaki, then VGC Bonewhite, then washed in GW Devlen Mud
• Blood was a base of GW Merchite Red, GW Blood Red, Tamiya Clear Red, VGC Purple Ink, VGC Black Ink, more Tamiya Clear Red. 
• Stones:
• Base of black
• VAC Medium Sea Grey, then VAC Light Sea Grey, then VGC Stonewall Grey, GW Badab Black Wash
• Candles:
• VGC Khaki base, VGC Bonewhite
• White base for the flames, GW Foundation Yellow, then Orange, then GW Blood Red, thin layer of Tamiya Clear Orange, then Clear Red on top, then Clear Yellow at the bottom. 

I really liked how it came out in the end though. It took a bit of work, and the stone stairs and platform have been redone a few times. This was the best one that I had created, the rest might end up as terrain pieces in the future. 

So with this piece completed.. we will now be focusing on the touch ups across the entire army, and then working on the basing aspect. Should have some much better photos coming up in the coming weeks as I borrow a DSLR styled camera, and set up a proper photo shoot for everything. Lets hope they come out great, and I can get the proper lighting set up also to show the colors and painting off at its best. 

More pictures below..