How to recycle scratched CD/DVD's into useful terrain : Tutorial

Posted by porkuslime on 15. September 2010 09:56

Here is a wonderful way to make some useful scenery from junk/trash. First.. you need a supply of CD's. I work in a computer facility and as a result, we throw out a LOT of CDs. However, you can also ask your local Video Store for any that they might be discarding, or maybe use that Twilight DVD you don't want in the house. However you go about it, you will need a couple CDs.

Next item on the list, for this tutorial, is Pine Bark Mulch. Seriously. There is a local landscaping/mulch company in my neighborhood. I went in and asked them if I could to scavenge opened bags of Pine Bark Mulch for large-ish chunks. They have ripped bags and just sweep the lot and throw away the spilled stuff, so they were quite happy to let me take what I needed from their lot. I took a plastic bag, and was able to fill it within 5 minutes.

 Next, you will need to make sure the Pine chunks are dry. Pine retains moisture, so leave the bark in a dry cool area for 3-6 days. I left them for a week, in the basement.

 Once those 2 elements are acquired, and the bark is dry.. here is what you are going to need.

CDs

Pine Bark Mulch chunks

X-acto knife

2 Paint brushes you don't care about (one big, one little)

Craft paint (in this case, gray and brown)

static grass flock

PVC glue - watered down

Super Glue

Start by deciding how you want to lay the bark down. I did a couple of styles, one being a stack, and the other taking one bark bit and using the Xacto to shave a flat area on one end, so that the bark would look like it was sticking out of the ground. 

When done, I glued it with super glue to the CD, and since there is a hole in the center of every CD, I had to put another smaller chunk covering that hole. 

Using Super Glue, this was dry within 10 minutes. 

and

A quick hit with Black Primer, and we get..

Then, taking the larger of our two brushes and doing a heavy gray drybrush technique on the bark with the craft paint..




and.. the stacked bark base..

Wash the brush, get out the brown paint.. wait 5 minutes for the gray to dry (In general, by the time I was done with the 3rd base drybrush step, the 1st base was ready for the brown paint). Using more paint on the brush, do a heavy drybrush/light base coat paint job on the CD. If some paint gets on the gray, it is not a big deal, it looks a bit more natural if the rock is not totally gray.The brown I used was streaky over the black primer, but it looked pretty good for a rocky area like that.

and...

Switching paintbrushes to the smaller size, take the watered down white glue and paint it into the crevices between the bark chunks, and around the base of the bark. Immediately sprinkle/dump your flocking onto the glue, count to 10, and dump the excess flock onto a pie plate or something, for reuse with the next base. Once again, neatness is not neccessary, as it will look fine if you get some ground cover onto the rocks.

After the "trouble areas" are flocked, you can go back and expand your ground coverage to make it look however you want it.  I left some areas brown to make the area look "muddy" but.. that is personal preference.

So, these 3 bases that I did took me an hour. That includes time for paint to dry AND photos, but the white watered down glue holding the flock down did take overnight to completely dry. My total outlay for this project was less than $5 (but I did have the glue on hand and didn't buy it). I now have 8 of these bases, plus enough Pine Bark to make another 4-5.

In addition to the rocky outcropping, I have also done several CD bases using GW's current building walls and ruins..