DIRT GROUT MIX RECIPE:
Full guide is shown in the basing minis video :)

Brown and black unsanded tile grout
Dirt cooked in the oven and filtered through a sieve. You want to grind this dirt up with some kind of improv mortar and pestle into smaller grains - it doesn’t need to be dust like the grout but should be otherwise pretty small. I strain it through a sieve to get rid of anything too big.

The ratio you want here is going to depend on the colour of your local grout
I just mixed in a bit of black at a time until the colour darkened down to match the original dirt.
I ended up with about a 4:2:1 ratio of dirt:brown grout:black grout

I now add 1/2 a ratio (shot glass) of natural earth yellow pigment to make the reddish tint go away, without turning it grey by adding more black grout or grout mix. I added this to 12 (should be 16? Update video comments?) dirt, 8 brown, 4 black grout. So its more like adding 1/8 of a glass to the minimum ratio shown above (4:2:1 then 1/8th of pigment)

LEOPARD SPOTTING TECHNIQUE:

Update 2024
2:1 mix of carbon black to burnt umber ink mixed with 40 drops (not 40:1) with water seems to make a nice tan rock (deserts)

Pure carbon black with 7:1 water makes a nice neutral stone grey

Adding panes grey gets some interesting colours but often ends up looking blue, green or unnatural on a tile I found when placing on existing tiles

Painting Mountain/Cave Stone

Over grey foam I start with a coat of 2:1 neutral grey and tan, mixed with 1 part matte mod podge. This may look more tan that you might expect, in my experience it tends to dry more grey when painted over grey or black.
If your foam isn't grey you can start with black mixed with mod podge, and then do the tan-grey layer over it. This is what I do over styrodur pieces.

layer up with drybrushing, firstly with a heavy drybrush of a 1:2 mix of neutral grey and tan, which gives an earthier, more natural look to the stone but keeps the cold grey in the recesses.
Again, this may look more tan that you might expect, but also bear in mind the wash will settle down the colour quite a lot.

final drybrush of white over both. I drybrushed in all directions for a more even spread.
I found this was best to do over sharp edges and sticking out areas of stone only, rather than across the whole piece. This draws the eye to interesting areas of the piece while also adding variety across the pieces and making them look less monotone.

You want to be careful when drybrushing that your paint doesn’t dry completely out. This may sound counterintuitive, but when drybrushing, you want barely any paint on the brush, but you do still want the paint to be wet (from the paint, not added water!). Once it dries you want to get the bulk of it off the brush with some quick brushes on scrap paper towels, then reapply wet paint and wipe most off.

Once these were done and completely dry, as in I let them dry for 12 hours at least to avoid the wash rehydrating the paint, I gave everything a coat of homemade black wash. I do this over a few layers of newspaper, which is good at soaking up excess wash rather than letting it pool and dry, staining the bottom of the pieces, as long as you check it periodically as it dries. I move it slightly, or to fresh newspaper if needed and mop up wash collecting at the bottom of the tiles with some paper towels, again so it doesn’t pool and leave marks at the bottom.

If you've made this kind of wash before it's basically the same as the black brown wash I usually use except it's pure black ink, and no brown. The recipe is listed below.

I then added some dirt grout mix in areas where mud might gather, cracks mostly, and seal with two layers of scenic sealant (as shown in the video)

Finally I add two layers of matt varnish to dull the mod podge down and seal it, as said in the video.

SCENIC SEALANT RECIPE:

This stuff is really easy to mix, I use the following formula:

1 part mod podge
4 or more parts water - you can make this as thick or thin as you like, and just use more layers to make it harder.
A drop of dish soap (fairy liquid type stuff) or flow improver - this helps it…well…flow :)

The more mod podge, the darker and more 'wet' the dirt will look when dry. But you can use multiple thinner layers and build up strength that way too.

MAGNET SAFETY:

Don’t use around small children or animals, if ingested these can be dangerous. Never let very strong magnets slam together, especially thin ones. They can and will smash under a lot of force, and then become very sharp, highly magnetic shrapnel. Not good. Easy to avoid though, just take care.


GROUT/SANDING/WIRE BRUSH SAFETY
Wear a dust mask and ideally have good ventilation or an extractor fan on over your workspace when doing these activities.

I am no medical expert, but the advice I have found seems to be of the mind that a little exposure your body can deal with and expel, but larger and especially longer term repeat exposure can cause problems -all easily avoided with a proper dusk mask.

AIRBRUSH/SPRAY CAN/ENAMEL PAINTS/SUPERGLUE/ISOPROPL ALCOHOL SAFETY
To be clear - superglue here refers to extended use. Quickly using some superglue is, to my best knowledge, harmless, which is why nobody bats an eye at it normally. But if you're in an unventilated room with highly liquid superglue for hours on end? That's a bit different, wear a filter mask!

as a general rule, these things should always be done while in a VERY well ventilated space OR while wearing a fume filter mask, if not both. I tend to use an extraction fan and mask, and open the window in the room when I'm done.

Iso, unlike the others (as far as I've been able to ascertain) can be metabolised by your body, albeit with a bit of a nasty headache. It basically gives you a hangover, which kind of makes sense given what it is…

CUTTING FOAM
The research I've done into the subject points to the standard white fumes being mostly harmless carbon dioxide (the stuff you breathe out anyway). That said, much like hotboxing in a room without ventilation, its generally a good idea to not let CO2 build up in a room you're breathing in, or you'll get a nasty headache as your body metabolises it.

Black fumes from burning foam ARE harmful and should be ventilated/avoided if possible, but these rarely occur when using a hot wire cutter like we do - its just something to be aware of.


DIMENSIONS:
Card STL stamp:
1/16" chipboard
triple stack of 2.5"  square pieces, glued over the centre of a 3" square piece
cut 1/4" strips to 2 and 9/16" long and sharpen one side

You should just start making videos of you putting together scenes from all your terrain, I would watch the crap out of those

Magnetic dirt, and it actually works... back with another game-changing innovation I see.

What?! I just got into dnd with my husband running a game for the kids, and I thought, “I’m a crafty mom….let’s see what props there are to make.” My mind is blown away by Matt’s genius and dedication.

This is absurdly cool. You might actually have a viable product range here, it looks so useful and way better than needing an entire additional room to store terrain in.

The return of the king !

Congrats on 100k Matt. you really deserve it!

Me, turning to my partner who builds terrain and dioramas with me. "THIS MAD LAD..."

Literally every time you post a video, it's a complete game changer.

Also, so is your magnificent mane.

Your commitment to magnetism is epic and admirable.

Matt... just incredible. I dont know why I'm surprised, your work is always a cut above, but it's still continues to amaze to see you innovate so much.

I feel with this iron blend you are approaching peak modularity! I can't wait to see what you do next and live my crafting dreams vicariously through a much more skilled artist 😂

I remember early in the pandemic, everyone was making their own battle mats with drop cloth and caulking. Now I'm wondering if mixing iron powder into the caulking would work while still being able to be rolled up.

The attention to literally how to hold tiles as you spread the materials over them is what amazes me. Thank you for considering all aspects of the creative process. ❤

Love the format of the videos, too. Such calming voiceovers.

00:58 So proud to be here at some point in the future!!!! :D

Great to see you back Matt and Congrats on 100K 🥳🥳🎉🎉🎊🎊

Suggestion for sourcing iron powder: I blacksmith as another hobby, and one of the side effects of grinding is a buildup of iron dust under the grinder. If you can find a friend who has a bench grinder, or make friends with someone in a local metal fabrication shop, they'll be happy to let you gather all the iron dust you need, since it helps them keep their shop clean.

After all those years of crafting I would love an extended video tour of all of the things you have and maybe a sped up example build video.

Great stuff. I wish I had the endurance to craft like this. I use Battle Systems terrain because its easy, very flexible and fullfills most of my needs. But I always come back to your channel because what you have is simply amazing.

Somtimes I wish I could give videos more than one thumbs up. So much information here. And an amazing finished product!

Yes, the legend is back! Thank you for your video! Always a pleasure, to watch these tutorials.

I can always count on 2 things watching your videos: 1. you're going to do something so innovative it feels like a magic trick, and 2. I'm going to be super inspired to craft afterwards. Thank you for sharing!