In honor of the current Golden Hat XLIII Standard Bearers I decided to throw together this quick tutorial on how I create green stuff banners since I use them regularly!
- Find a mini, look it’s a Red Bard boar rider! How appropriate. Roll a good hunk of green stuff, biased slightly toward the blue in the mix. Too sticky is your enemy here. Roughly check the size by making a rectangle or whatever shape you want. I only used these tools (SHARP blade, medium-stiff silicone brush, dental pick) and my finger but some nicer metal burnishing tools could also help.
- Spit on a plastic cutting board (I use this green board for smoothness as even my black cutting mat transfers some texture and grips the stuff more). Spread spit around on the board, place the green stuff rectangle on that and smear that up real good too. Apologies for the narsty lather pic but pic was included for completeness. Buckle up it’s moist from here on out lads. Try to get a thin (1mm ish) thickness somewhat uniform, mostly use a wet finger here. It’s probably going to fight you but try to keep stabilizing fingers relegated to the edges or a planned place you will cut off. Use SHARP knife dipped in spit to get it to a shape you like. Don’t lick the knife… use a spit cup… or a puddle on your cutting board.
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Reaver, why this Slaaneshy spit talk? Trust me it’s better than water… Forehead/side of nose grease also works well but this application requires… a lot. I’m too stubborn to spend money on sculpting lube.
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Going for a ragged banner is much easier than a clean cut on all edges. Continue using sharp blade to make some cuts at the bottom and gently peel from a top corner. If it sticks you may need a do-over, otherwise you’re going to have scarring all over the back of the banner, and probably some frustration. This is the hard part. If it thins out at the bottom near the ragged edge as you pull, all the better.
- Place your spit lathered cloth on the pole. sigh … Use your tool to make some texture folds as it drapes over the crossbar. Don’t worry about making these perfect. It’s very good to wait until this fully cures and make some nice ropes or straps that tie off around the bar, don’t try to fight it now. Focus on your flag.
- Touch up a bit around the droopy drapes. OH NO I made it too thin and some holes appeared… OH WELL heckin leave em there. Maybe stab your tool in those holes to make them purposeful. Slaanesh wills it!… Use the silicone brush and plenty of spit on your tools and surface. You could add some texture on the front here if you’d like. Scratches, creases, etc.
- Test out the fit a bit. If you want some creative folds try to let it cure in the direction you want it billowing. I use a vice with a few axes of movement to get it balanced the way I want. Tac/poster putty can be useful here to keep jigs in place.
- Check in on it every 15 minutes or so. See if it’s draping the way you want. You still have time to tweak given how thin it is. Once it’s fully cured I carefully and minimally use superglue to stiffen up the edges. You can probably still force changes in its shape with the glue to cure it. Have a paper towel on hand to mop up superglue overflow. Only once that’s all dry should you go back to add embellishments, rope tassels, straps, knots, etc. If you don’t like some of the results, dangle a skull on a chain to hide it and as a bonus, make your banner more rugged.
Full disclosure it’s pretty rare that I get the right thickness, consistent thickness, a nice clean pull off the mat, and the size/shape I want on the first go. Experiment with it and see how it works for you! Feel free to share your results here or add to this tutorial any Green Stuff banner methods to help those that follow.
Painted Examples:
