Some of the best basing materials can be found outdoors, even in your own garden. A nice touch to any base is a tree stump, a branch, a dead tree. Unless your sculpting skills are far more superior than mine, the easiest way to achieve a realistic effect for these is to use natural materials.

Small twigs are nice to simulate tree stumps or fallen trunks, as used on my Red Karnagh Drune's base.

But to be used as a small tree, they are usually not suited. The best solution can be found underground: plant roots often have the gnarled, twisted shape one needs for a fantasy-themed base.

A good example can be seen in this WIP (Rackham's Souffre Toile from earlier this year, a project which I have abandoned for now).

Last weekend I was removing some rose bushes from my garden. I admit some of them look a bit crude since the bushes were quite big and old, but I decided to add them to my collection nonetheless.

First of all: what's a wet palette? It's used to keep paint from drying. It gives you more time to work with the same mix, or simply to keep the paint wet when working in dry environments (for example outside).

I don't use a wet palette that much. Sometimes when the weather is nice and I want to paint outside or when I create a mix which I want to use during a long painting session. No matter how much you use it: it's a great tool, and it's cheap too! I'm amazed that some companies ask more than €10 for a wet palette when you can make one yourself for less than 1 cent.

The materials you need are a small dinner plate, some paper towel and baking paper (I use brown, but I guess white works just as good). Take two sheets of paper towel, fold it two times so that it first on the plate and hold it under the water tap. Soak it, but not too much so that there's a pool of water on top of the towel when you put it on the plate. Cut a piece of baking paper so that it fits on top of the plate and put it on the wet paper towel.

There's your wet palette!