BLUE Resin Crystals - Medium

A cold tone that sets the mood of a scene

Sapphire and aquamarine blue always carry a signal of cold in a scene. It suits an ice cavern, a wreck buried in snow, an underground lake and equipment on which the viewer is meant to see that energy is flowing. Blue also stands out sharply from brown-gray terrain, so a few pieces are enough and the eye knows at once where to look.

The package holds fifty medium-sized castings. Besides single spikes it also contains clustered pieces, on which there are up to four points side by side. The range of heights stays roughly between nine and sixteen millimeters, and the material is higher-grade resin.

The medium size is an advantage with the blue variant for another reason too. Smaller fragments get lost in dark terrain and large blocks overwhelm a figure, whereas a piece about a centimeter tall strikes a balance between being seen and remaining an accessory to the scene. If you are placing several pieces, it pays to keep them in one color line and to vary only the size.

Placing them on a base

Irregularity gives a better result than symmetry. A group of three pieces of graded height at one edge and a lone fragment on the opposite side look more believable than a regular circle around a figure. A tilted setting, with the point aimed obliquely out of the rock, also matches the way a mineral really grows in a crevice.

A blue surface benefits from two treatments. A white touch drawn along the edges raises the impression of refracted light, and a faint glow painted on the surrounding stones suggests that the crystal is shining through itself. Anyone who wants to go further can sink the root into a clear compound and so imitate ice or a water surface that the piece is sticking out of.