【DIY】tank decoration.

[hamsterown]

I want to make my whole tank look like ancient greek sunken city.
after searching many local fish store, couldn't find things that i need.
(those sold by fish store look like "toy" to me)

then i go bought some "air dry clay", and see how people do clay sculpting on YouTube.
I decide to make POSEIDON statue first.

my first statue was too muscular, so i changed hair style, and paint it black.
(I'm not using it for my reef tank)

then I started to do my second sculpture, and it's finished now.
I will put it under direct sunshine for couple of days ( to make sure it's 100% dry ) before putting it into my reef tank.
I made it 100% clay without metal wire inside it. It's really hard to shape it without wire.
It took my whole weekend doing this. *sad*

I'm preparing to make some temple pillar now ...

 

[4FordFamily]

That's pretty cool, and far advanced from anything I could do myself! Kudus!

 

[DracoKat]

You got talent, man!

it's nice to see people decorate their reefs beyond the typical rocks. I can't wait to see it all done!

 

[hamsterown]

thanks ^^.
I'll take picture as soon as i put this into my tank.

 

[revhtree]

Looks cool!

 

[hamsterown]

ty^^

 

[rovster]

Wow that's amazing. Did you do that from scratch? Did you follow a drawing or model? Jeez that's good!

 

[Mandrew]

Epic! I'm here to see the tank with these decorations!

 

[hamsterown]

Wow that's amazing. Did you do that from scratch? Did you follow a drawing or model? Jeez that's good!

just buy a clay, and screwdriver, then google poseidon statue.

 

[hamsterown]

Well...my friend take my POSEIDDON away.

Since I'm newb to this sculpting job, I don't want to wasting my time doing the same thing.
I want to try something new...something that can be useful.

I want to make something ....something that can hold one of my dead-rock.
so I make this...

Since dead rock is quite heavy....so this time i must put metal wire into the statue.
and all the metals were coated with silicon.

after 2 hours........

I have 2 option....god or demonic creature.
still looking for saltwater-proof LED bulb for the eyes. If I got it, I'll make a demonic statue.

 

[clsbgirl]

That is awesome.. I say def go for evil demon I so want to do a predator tank thats just straight up evil looking in contrast to my pretty happy reef

 

[Untamedrose]

air dry clay is reef safe?

And like to add there some serious talent there...hell could open an etsy shop of something

 

[hamsterown]

First experiment with korean air dry clay was failed.
I put this statue into fresh water, and after 1 hour, it's "melting".

I made another one using "Monster Clay", and seems like its water-proof.

but monster clay is not "HARD" enough to hold the whole rock. so I can only make simple statue with it.

Best option will be "POLYMER CLAY" but it's too expensive (in my country)
I will try one, maybe next week or next month.

 

[hamsterown]

air dry clay is reef safe?

And like to add there some serious talent there...hell could open an etsy shop of something

coated properly, i think it's safe.

this is my first work about 3 months ago. coated with "MR. HOBBY" paint and resin.
everything is fine until now (picture taken 5 minutes ago)

 

[hamsterown]

Make a record before painting & coating.
9 hours working, 30cm height.

I made this in the kitchen, since this wax need to be burned.

size compared with water bottle.

size compared with the test sample i made before.

【Sculpting done】

prepare to coat with clear resin....

 

[hamsterown]

100% DONE ...

coated with AB resin, thick and hard enough.

I will put this into fresh water for 1-2 days before putting it into my reef tank.

 

[cromag27]

Wow, very cool! let's see Medusa next.

 

[hamsterown]

I put in my tank already.

I will give it direct light for 1-2 months to get it covered by algae.
Then i will move it to low light area

 

[Heath78]

What an amazing talent.....seriously. Great idea!