When I started painting toy soldiers I never thought I'd end up also painting the flags. I decided to give it a go, however, and although the results were far from perfect I found that I really enjoyed it.
I used paper at first, but as this is not a very hard-wearing material I started using aluminium sheets cut from fizzy drinks cans. They turned out to be perfect for what I was trying to achieve. They're lightweight, stiff and cheap and provide a beautifully smooth and non-absorbant painting surface. They're not particularly bendy, however, but I haven't found this to be a problem as I'm only after the suggestion of folds and flutters in my flags.
The way I go about making them is as follows.
You will need....
My kit for fizzy flag making consists of:
A tough cutting surface - I use a sheet of hardboard;
A sharp pencil and pencil sharpener;
A sheet of flattened fizzy can aluminium;
A steel rule and set square;
A length of steel wire;
Pliers;
A small hammer;
A burnishing tool with one sharp and one blunt end;
Superglue;
A craft knife; and
An anvil, for which I use a short section of steel rail.
Not shown is the rotary tool fitted with a grinder which I use to shape the spear points on the flag pikes.
Step 1: making the pike
This is where the hammer and anvil come in handy. I simply hammer away at the end of a length of stiff steel wire (which is generally cut slightly longer than it needs to be), turning it over now and then to ensure that it's more or less symmetrical.
Step 2: shaping the spear point
This is where the rotary tool becomes essential. I wear safety goggles and ear defenders when using this, and try to make sure that the sparks and bits of steel coming off the wire are heading away from me.
It takes only a few moments to create the spear point, and just a little longer to shape the spear socket where it meets the shaft.
As this pike is to carry a British flag I tried to make the spear point a bit rounder and fatter than usual.
Step 3: measuring and marking up the flag
I use the steel rule and set square for this. The dimensions of the British regimental colour seen below are 24mm x 51mm, which will make a two-sided, 24mm-squared flag with 3mm left for the hoist to fit around the pike shaft. This is perhaps slightly larger than it should be at this scale, but it makes measuring out the geometry of the design a littler simpler (as 24 is divisible by both 2 and 3) and anything smaller would not be able to carry as much detail.
To give me a bit of a guide while I'm painting I also like to very lightly inscribe elements of the design onto the metal. This requires a light touch as the aluminium will split along these inscriptions if they are made too deep.
Cutting out is done with the craft knife by strongly scoring along the aluminium, using the metal rule as a guide. The flag will then simply snap out of the sheet with a little bending of the metal, leaving perfectly straight (and rather sharp) edges.
Step 4: attaching to the pike
The kit I use for this is pictured below:
The first task is to bend the flag around the pike. I use the blunt end of my burnishing tool to make sure that the hoist wraps tightly around the pike, but a teaspoon works just as well. With a bit of practice it's possible to get the two sides of the flag to match up almost exactly. When one side is complete, I flip it over and do the same thing on the other side.
When I'm happy with the alignment, the next step is remove the pike and apply the superglue, using the end of a cocktail stick to spread the glue thinly and evenly on the inside. It's important not to use too much glue or it'll squeeze out of the sides when the two halves are pressed together.
I then apply a dab or two of glue to the pike and thread it into the hoist. One has to work quite quickly at this stage, and it's important to get the pike correctly positioned and aligned with the flag. Although the pliers can help with this task, there's really only a couple of seconds available to get this right before the pike sets firmly. If it all goes wrong at this point the only remedy is to bin the whole asssembly and start again.
With the pike safely installed I then press the two sides of the flag together with a couple of clothes pegs and leave to dry for about 10 minutes.
Step 5: finishing touches
I use a tapered, D-section steel micro file to gently file down any slightly misaligned edges, and to take the points off the corners. This helps prevent ...er...blood loss when handling the flag.
The same tool can also be used to help gently shape and bend the flag to create a few folds and flutters. I tend to work from the corner nearest the spear point when doing this as it creates a quite naturalistic effect. The aluminium will take a certain amount of abuse at this stage, but it is not limitless, and I like to keep the folds reasonably gentle as too many creases would make painting much more difficult.
The final effect:
The next step, of course, is to paint them. I start with a thin wash of white enamel which is given plenty of time to dry. After that, it's difficult to give advice as every flag is different and a lot depends on personal preferences. The key thing for me is to take it slowly and steadily, starting with the main field colour and (when this has also dried) only then working gradually thorugh the various details. Bright colours are best when applied on top of a white undercoat if you really want them to shine. Occasionally I'll have a paper version of the flag on the go at the same time so that I can experiment with various details before applying them to the metal. I never do any shading of the folds, however, as I prefer a bold and simple final effect which I like to think is in keeping with the simple vintage castings I'm working with.
The flags are painted first. When these are vanished and everything is completely dry I measure them against the figures that will carry them, cut them to the right length, and only then complete the pikes. The last thing to be done should really be the spear points, as I've found that sticking them into a cork is a good way of holding the flags still while I paint the pike shafts. Once the latter are dry the spear points just takes a few seconds to finish off in gold or silver.
As always, I apply a couple of coats of high-gloss vanish. This really brings out the colours and contrast and provides a tough protective coating to the flags, while also helping to blunt the edges.
The finished result:
I used paper at first, but as this is not a very hard-wearing material I started using aluminium sheets cut from fizzy drinks cans. They turned out to be perfect for what I was trying to achieve. They're lightweight, stiff and cheap and provide a beautifully smooth and non-absorbant painting surface. They're not particularly bendy, however, but I haven't found this to be a problem as I'm only after the suggestion of folds and flutters in my flags.
The way I go about making them is as follows.
You will need....
My kit for fizzy flag making consists of:
A tough cutting surface - I use a sheet of hardboard;
A sharp pencil and pencil sharpener;
A sheet of flattened fizzy can aluminium;
A steel rule and set square;
A length of steel wire;
Pliers;
A small hammer;
A burnishing tool with one sharp and one blunt end;
Superglue;
A craft knife; and
An anvil, for which I use a short section of steel rail.
Not shown is the rotary tool fitted with a grinder which I use to shape the spear points on the flag pikes.
Step 1: making the pike
This is where the hammer and anvil come in handy. I simply hammer away at the end of a length of stiff steel wire (which is generally cut slightly longer than it needs to be), turning it over now and then to ensure that it's more or less symmetrical.
This is where the rotary tool becomes essential. I wear safety goggles and ear defenders when using this, and try to make sure that the sparks and bits of steel coming off the wire are heading away from me.
It takes only a few moments to create the spear point, and just a little longer to shape the spear socket where it meets the shaft.
As this pike is to carry a British flag I tried to make the spear point a bit rounder and fatter than usual.
Step 3: measuring and marking up the flag
I use the steel rule and set square for this. The dimensions of the British regimental colour seen below are 24mm x 51mm, which will make a two-sided, 24mm-squared flag with 3mm left for the hoist to fit around the pike shaft. This is perhaps slightly larger than it should be at this scale, but it makes measuring out the geometry of the design a littler simpler (as 24 is divisible by both 2 and 3) and anything smaller would not be able to carry as much detail.
To give me a bit of a guide while I'm painting I also like to very lightly inscribe elements of the design onto the metal. This requires a light touch as the aluminium will split along these inscriptions if they are made too deep.
Cutting out is done with the craft knife by strongly scoring along the aluminium, using the metal rule as a guide. The flag will then simply snap out of the sheet with a little bending of the metal, leaving perfectly straight (and rather sharp) edges.
Step 4: attaching to the pike
The kit I use for this is pictured below:
When I'm happy with the alignment, the next step is remove the pike and apply the superglue, using the end of a cocktail stick to spread the glue thinly and evenly on the inside. It's important not to use too much glue or it'll squeeze out of the sides when the two halves are pressed together.
I then apply a dab or two of glue to the pike and thread it into the hoist. One has to work quite quickly at this stage, and it's important to get the pike correctly positioned and aligned with the flag. Although the pliers can help with this task, there's really only a couple of seconds available to get this right before the pike sets firmly. If it all goes wrong at this point the only remedy is to bin the whole asssembly and start again.
With the pike safely installed I then press the two sides of the flag together with a couple of clothes pegs and leave to dry for about 10 minutes.
Step 5: finishing touches
I use a tapered, D-section steel micro file to gently file down any slightly misaligned edges, and to take the points off the corners. This helps prevent ...er...blood loss when handling the flag.
The same tool can also be used to help gently shape and bend the flag to create a few folds and flutters. I tend to work from the corner nearest the spear point when doing this as it creates a quite naturalistic effect. The aluminium will take a certain amount of abuse at this stage, but it is not limitless, and I like to keep the folds reasonably gentle as too many creases would make painting much more difficult.
The final effect:
The next step, of course, is to paint them. I start with a thin wash of white enamel which is given plenty of time to dry. After that, it's difficult to give advice as every flag is different and a lot depends on personal preferences. The key thing for me is to take it slowly and steadily, starting with the main field colour and (when this has also dried) only then working gradually thorugh the various details. Bright colours are best when applied on top of a white undercoat if you really want them to shine. Occasionally I'll have a paper version of the flag on the go at the same time so that I can experiment with various details before applying them to the metal. I never do any shading of the folds, however, as I prefer a bold and simple final effect which I like to think is in keeping with the simple vintage castings I'm working with.
The flags are painted first. When these are vanished and everything is completely dry I measure them against the figures that will carry them, cut them to the right length, and only then complete the pikes. The last thing to be done should really be the spear points, as I've found that sticking them into a cork is a good way of holding the flags still while I paint the pike shafts. Once the latter are dry the spear points just takes a few seconds to finish off in gold or silver.
As always, I apply a couple of coats of high-gloss vanish. This really brings out the colours and contrast and provides a tough protective coating to the flags, while also helping to blunt the edges.
The finished result:
Aha !! You paint the finials to give them the "basket" effect (?)
ReplyDeleteYep, it was as simple as that!
DeleteI've yet to tackle an eagle, mind, for which something altogether more sophisticated will be required.
A really good tutorial.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting it.
All the best. Aly
Thank you Aly. I would have done it earlier, but kept forgetting to take the pictures.
DeleteAs I think I've said before, it's just like making paper flags really, but with more swearing.
It all looks so professional the way you do it - I'm always bodging it with the inappropriate tools resulting in far less precision - luckily my 25mm flags are bigger so I can get away with some of it. I was interested to hear that the fizzy can sheet metal snaps where scored - I use thick gauge aluminium foil - from trays containing pre-prepared duck legs for cooking in the oven. It's firm and malleable and the edges aren't dangerous so not sure I'll go down the fizzy can route. Apart from that the method's pretty similar. Looking forward to the horse painting tutorial.
ReplyDeleteMy workspace is never really that neat and tidy, Rob. I'll say this for fizzy-can aluminium - its really tough and stiff, which is very reassuring to know once the finished flags been painted and mounted.
Delete