Making Mud

As I mentioned in the post on my new diorama base I am going to try to make a late summer watering hole with dried mud as the ground work around the scene. Here is my first try, I am having trouble with areas of the base, especially right up against the grass. If you have any suggestions I would appreciate it. I painted the base and cracked the surface, then painted the texture with a color called MudStone by Americano Acrylic paint. I am ok with the color, but there are some spots where the color is not even (see the light spot in the center of the photo?) and I have tried to paint a second coat over it but the paint will not stay on that spot for some reason.

Here is the photo.
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The crack effect makes it look great!

that crack effect IS AMAZING

Actually, I like the more tan coloring. It looks more like it's a mud flat from a dry region.

SO impressive It looks so real, I almost get thirsty looking at it

Sorry for you about the light patches..does the paint pearl off, or does the material suck up the paint ?
But if you had not mentioned, I would have thought it was on purpose

I can imaginge how irritating it must be for you, but I am sure you will find a solution knowing about all your patience and skill.

looks amazing-I like it a lot!- how did you do the crackles?
I think you should apply all the grass after all the crackled aeras had dried. because it also would grow inbetween the cracks.

entrauner wrote:

looks amazing-I like it a lot!- how did you do the crackles?
I think you should apply all the grass after all the crackled aeras had dried. because it also would grow inbetween the cracks.

I made the cracks by carving them into the mud mix I made. This is a mix of silicon, PVA glue and a little plaster. After it sets up I took an exacto blade and cut the squares. This process took several hours to complete, and the carving was horrible as far as time and I couldn't take a break because I had to do it before it dried. Since I did this I have found a product by DecoArt called Textured Crackle and I bought some. The photo below took about 3 minutes to apply and except for a slight difference in color (you can paint it but I bought the color to match the mud I had already made) I can't really tell the difference.
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This was so easy to use and the results were really nice, the cracks are so fine compared to what I could do by hand that when I need to make a dried mud scene I will use it over my original method.

Amazing that you can save all that time and work

It really looks good, - but perhaps the one you made by hand is a fraction more natural looking

thank you for the tip- that's exactly what I was looking for- to my taste it looks perfect now!

your work continues to blow me away! but i have to agree with Susanne that your cracking looks more natural. It looks just like dried mud, while the other does look like artistic crackling... but maybe that's coz i know that's what it is. I guess it depends on whether your perfectionism outweighs your time budget.
I like the color, and i think the differently colored patches work: I don't know if it's salt deposited on top or what, but i've seen patches like that in mud.

i love following the progress of your work!