How to add water to your diorama

Adding Realistic Water to Your Diorama

Adding water to a diorama is one of the best looking little tricks that you can do. It really changes a diorama and brings it to another level. There are a few different ways that you can add water. You can cut clear sheets of lexan or plexiglass, you can add casting resin or you can use a woodland scenics product called Realistic Water. I have done all of these techniques and the one I like the best is the Realistic Water. It is easy to use, there is no mixing and it comes out looking great. This tutorial shows you some water adding tricks and shows you how exactly to do it.

Clear Casting Resin - (ETI Castin Craft Casting Resin 16 oz)This stuff does work very well for diorama water and I have used it but it does entail a bit of work - you have to measure it out correctly and mix it with the appropriate amount of catalyst. It is also pretty strong in odor so you have to make sure you do it in a well ventilated space. I don't recommend you use this. It is much easier to use the Woodland Scenics Realistic water. It comes ready to pour and dries in 24 hours. It is simply much easier and mess free. It can be found in any hobby shop or can easily be found online.

Realistic Water

Realistic Water for Dioramas -( Realistic Water, 16 fl oz )This is what I use. It is non-toxic, water-soluble and odor free. It comes in 16oz containers and is very easy to work with. 1 bottle will cover approximately a 17" diameter area at a depth of 1/8 inch thick.

How to add water to your diorama

Adding water to this diorama

This is the diorama we will be adding water to. I have already prepared it for the water and I will explain how to do this.

The water will be added to the diorama in two different places. In the upper left corner you can see the blue area. This is one place I will add the water. And in the lower right corner there is a greenish/brown/grey area. I will put water here too. The first area looks like normal water and the second area is rather swampy and marshy.

Preparing the Diorama for water

- The first thing you have to do is seal off the area where you will pour the realistic water. You do this by painting and using glue. I painted the surface and this will form a pretty good seal. But I also added strips of cardboard that stand straight up - This makes the area like a container. I sealed these areas around the cardboard using white glue. If you don't seal off the whole surface where the water will be applied it will soak through the plaster shell. Water soluble paints are ok and will work fine.

the water wall on the diorama

Here is a close up of the wall I built out of cardboard. See how it forms a nice little area for the water to be poured into? Think of it as kind of like making a swimming pool. If your water area is somewhere in the middle of a diorama you probably don't have to do this. But if your water is on the edge you will need to do this to contain the water. I used white glue to seal the edge between the diorama and the cardboard. Make sure you let everything completely dry before you add the water effects.

Pour the water

Now just pour the water right into the diorama. Only pour it to a thickness of 1/8 of an inch. If you need your water to be thicker then let it sit 24 hours to harden and pour another layer. Keep adding layers every 24 hours until the desired thickness is achieved.

Some Tips

Do not use a paint brush to move the water around. You are fine to move the water around to get it into the smaller areas and cracks but use a toothpick or small wooden implement. Using a paintbrush tends to apply pressure and peel up any paint on the diorama.

After a couple of hours, once it starts to get some solidity you can add bristles that stand straight up. These will look like weeds protruding from the water. you can also put small stones or talus in it. When you add a second coat the stones and weeds will look really great because they come out of a lower casting so they are right in the water.

Remember that whatever color you painted under the water will show through very clearly so make it the color you desire like blue for clear water or brown for brackish and swampy water.

This is a Storm The Castle Website