Faux Molten Lava/Metal Effects
Friday, July 1, 2011 at 01:15PM When i saw this photo I already knew what it was going to be about and I stopped to read it. I love hearing how movie props are made. Mostly because the people who make these things are ingenious at hiding the really mundane by making it look amazing! Yay PVC and melted plexi.....
Faux Molten Lava/Metal Effects: "
Another day, another awesome project email from Craig Smith. Craig wrote in to share with us some details about the faux molten lava effect he achieved on his recent Mustafarian Panning Droid he showed off at the Celebration IV Star Wars convention. He writes:
More:A lot of people who saw my lava panning droid at Celebration IV asked me how I did the molten lava cauldron. It was made with a big light reflector for the bottom. Various large diameter PVC pipes were used for the rings, outer wall, inner wall, and small pipe segments in the four notch-outs. Everything was countersunk screwed together and filled over with putty and then painted. The lava was a yellow piece of plexiglass bought from a sign company. After the circle was cut, a heat gun was used to soften areas, and with gloved hands, I pushed a chunk of concrete into it to form 3D effects. Glued in place, the plexi was then spray painted black on the high points, red along that, and the yellow was left in the low areas. Illuminated with a cool fluorescent light from underneath, it gives a very realistic glow effect.
See all of Craig Smith’s projects covered on MAKE
