Making Custom Icons and Badges
Dear LOers, welcome to the first in (hopefully) a series of informative guides I am producing to preserve my knowledge throughout the generations. Now, I’m not going to start at the beginning. I am planning a guide on how to use various tools, how to pin, how to clean mould lines etc (ie: the bare-bones-basics), but this is not it.
This is an article about how to make consistant 3d green stuff chapter bades, army symbols etc.
I had a lot of people ask me how I made the ones on my Black Dragon minis (see various posts in the Painting and Convertion forums), and I have finally got around to it. With pictures! I am using my Black Dragon icon as an example, because it was what I had in front of me at the time.
Anyway, on with the show!
In this guide, I am assuming you have used GS at least a bit before, and I will not cover how to work with it. There are some great guides out there, have a look on Google, or PM me if you need some help.
The tools
Here are the tools I used for this technique.
- Scalpel – For cutting, and for fine GS sculpting.
- GW sculpting tool – For basic GS shaping.
- Rubber “smoothing tool” – For GS smoothing and shaping.
- Needle Files – For filing.
- Green Stuff – I’m sure you can figure this one out…
- Vaseline – Lubricant.
- You will also need an old brush, pencil, or piece of dowel or plastic rod.
I’m not claiming that you can only use these tools, or these are the best, but these are what I like to use.
I know a lot of people don’t like GWs sculpting tool, in which case use whatever you prefer.
I use vaseline as my GS lubricant as it is more effective and easier to control than water (in my opinion), but if you don’t have any, then use water (or whatever you prefer).
The process
First, mix up a small blob of GS, and apply it to a spare shoulder pad (only if you’re making badges for your space marines… If you want icons to go on flat surfaces, do it on some plasticard or something flat, if you want icons for something else, do it on a spare bit of whatever that it…).
Get it smooth and flat to the surface, about 1mm or so high.
Sculpted
Wait for it to dry a bit, then create the icon you want using the GS. This is the hardest bit of the entire process, so if it isn’t going well don’t worry. Keep trying, and don’t worry if it isn’t perfect first time. Just keep going until you do get one you are happy with. This is what we will use to cast the mould.
Wait for a day or so until it is cured (to cure completely takes about a week or so, but after a day it will be fine).
Mould
The next day, mix up quite a big blob of GS, and attach it to the end of your old brush (or pencil or dowel or whatever). Apply lots (I mean lots) of vaseline (or other lubricant) to the GS icon you carved yesterday. Try to get it so that it covers it evenly, with no lumps.
Push the big lump of GS onto the icon. Try to get some of the edge of the shoulder pad (if that is what you are doing) so you can always align the icon properly.
Pull your new mould away from the icon, and see if it is properly formed. If it hasn’t worked first time (mine didn’t), keep trying. Leaving the blob on the icon for 15 mins or so may help.
Leave your new mould to dry for at least 2 nights.
Negative
When it is finished, you should have something like this. Good huh? This is your mould. Guard it with your life.
Press
When you want to make a new icon, mix up a small blob of GS, and smooth it over a new pad, like you did earlier. Then, put plenty of lubricant in the mould, and push the mould into the GS hard. Leave it for a few minutes, then remove the mould.
The dragon
You should have something like this. If not, smooth it out, and try again. Wait for it to dry, the cut away the excess GS.
Congratulations! You have now cast your first icon/badge/whatever. You can now put the pad onto your finished mini, and paint as ususal. A painted and an unpainted example of mine are shown below. Both were made using this method.
Finished
Finished
I hope this guide has been useful for you, please feel free to PM me if you have any questions =)
-t.
Posted by minus_t
on October 5 2008. Filed under Modeling & Scenery.
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Thanks for all the info and pictures of your work.
It’s inspired me to do the same for my raven guard badge.
May i suggest a more blue – less green mix for the mould GS, as the resulting thing gets harder (you’d need a harder mould than your blob on the shoulderpad)
Thanks for all the info and pictures of your work.
It’s inspired me to do the same for my raven guard badge.
May i suggest a more blue – less green mix for the mould GS, as the resulting thing gets harder (you’d need a harder mould than your blob on the shoulderpad)
What a great idea. Thanx for sharing such a useful process.
What a great idea. Thanx for sharing such a useful process.
you can also do it with rubber and casting moulding!
you can also do it with rubber and casting moulding!
Cool stuff man. Yeah, and I agree MegaLoser, more blue on the model for a hard substance.
Cool stuff man. Yeah, and I agree MegaLoser, more blue on the model for a hard substance.
Dude 0_0… That is awesome, ima try to do that with my blood angels ^_^ Thanks for the turtorial XP
Dude 0_0… That is awesome, ima try to do that with my blood angels ^_^ Thanks for the turtorial XP
That was great! Thanks =]
That was great! Thanks =]
Dude! That is awesome! I can’t wait to try this out! Anything you can advise on designing your own emblem? I’ve got an idea but it’s a bit clichéd and corny…
Dude! That is awesome! I can’t wait to try this out! Anything you can advise on designing your own emblem? I’ve got an idea but it’s a bit clichéd and corny…
this is awsome i use this all the time now
and yes needs more blue
this is awsome i use this all the time now
and yes needs more blue
That’s amazing, i’ll try it with my Ultramarines. But i think only the 2nd part, because i surely can find an alredy existing Ω on one of my models. Thank you, anyway
That’s amazing, i’ll try it with my Ultramarines. But i think only the 2nd part, because i surely can find an alredy existing Ω on one of my models. Thank you, anyway
Ohh guy i love this guide very big thanx… so good idea….
only thing i saw, U should make the eye of the dragon or take a bigger ball and paint it to different colour… would be very bug improvement i think.
Good job, thx for sharing it!
Ohh guy i love this guide very big thanx… so good idea….
only thing i saw, U should make the eye of the dragon or take a bigger ball and paint it to different colour… would be very bug improvement i think.
Good job, thx for sharing it!
How do you clean off the vaseline when your finished with the mold? Have you tried any other release agents…liquid soap, talc, spray oil (PAM), etc….Thanks
How do you clean off the vaseline when your finished with the mold? Have you tried any other release agents…liquid soap, talc, spray oil (PAM), etc….Thanks
Excellent tutorial. Been doing marines since Rogue Trader and this was one of the best articles i can recall ever having seen. I am putting this to use with my latest marince chapter. To Grumnar, try using a water based separating medium instead of vaseline, it’ll clean up easily with a little water and a paper towel and leave you ready to prime. GL out there.
Fuckin awsome guide your a ledgend.
P.S you rock
What do you call those marines!!! I have an idae, how about dragon crusaders
What do you call those marines!!! I have an idae, how about dragon crusaders
This is so helpful, I’ve been trying to think of something like this for a long time.
This is so helpful, I’ve been trying to think of something like this for a long time.
Wow the final result became awsome! Im defenatly gonna try it! And now i can make my own symbol instead of using the ones Salamanders have
(I suck at freehand painting -.-')
Awsome Sargaent you got there to
(The one on last picture, i love Powerfists 
)
I love it! It is not that hard to make your own buttons of badges… Before I was using a site called custom lapel pins, and they were always doing my custom badges and icons for a cheap price. Thanks very much for the tips! This article deserves 5 stars!