Waterfall Tutorial

[Steve]

How to make a waterfall

MATERIALS NEEDED:
1) Liquid Nails “Clear Seal”

(it does not dry “milky”) It worked great for me. You could try a substitute….but why would you…LOL!
2) A non-stick cookie sheet (don’t use your wife’s)
3) Cotton balls (use your wife’s)
4) hairspray (your call)
5) Toothpick
6) Craft Knife
STEPS:
1) Prepare the area. This includes finishing (texture and color) all the terrain around and BEHIND the future waterfall. What method you use is entirely up to you (in this case I used Sculptamold and paint)
In the photo below, you will notice(in the red circle) that I made the edge, where the water will spill over, protrude further out than the rest of the rock face. This will allow the "water" to fall without interruption all the way to the bottom. This would not be necessary if you planned on a series of smaller falls spilling into each other on the way down.

Part 2 next...

[Steve]

Part 2

2) Measure the length and width of the falls. Add a half inch to the width and a full inch to the length to account for shrinking (I didn’t notice any).

3) Run beads of the sealant to the proper length and width.


4) Work it with a tooth pick in downward strokes to pull all the separate beads together and rough up the surface.


5) Pull the sealant out to the sides at the bottom. This is where your falls will strike the surface of the lake/stream etc.

When finished let dry a few days. It remained tacky even after waiting but that actually helped with the installation.

6) Carefully peal the “water” from cookie sheet (it may stretch a little…don’t worry about it) and cut to size.

7) The backside of the sealant will be very tacky…use that to attach it in place.
Make sure the waterfall is taut and straight. I used, small pieces I trimmed off, at the bottom to simulate the “splash” of the falls entering the water.



Now, you can stop right here (especially on a short waterfall) or take it to the next level and add the spray effects...

Part 3 next...

[Steve]

Part 3

Spray effects...

8) Take cotton ball


And pinch a little between your fingers and pull it carefully away (keeping it attached)


Keep going back to the ball itself and repeating until you have a lengthy, wispy looking piece of cotton.


9) Place on the fall. Move it around and see where you like it. It should stick on its own, at least temporarily,(if not use a FEW TINY SPOTS of white glue to help).
Make as many as necessary and don’t forget about the sides of the waterfalls (this really helps make it look like the water has volume and isn’t flat!)

10) Once everything is where you want it…spray with hairspray (a few light coats are better than one heavy…bet you heard that before…LOL)
Sometime in the future the cotton may become dusty or discolored…you can always pull the cotton off and replace it….good as new!
Looks good in person….looks good in pictures!


This last pic was taken by the friend I made the waterfall and diorama for



There are many ways to do one of these...this is ONE way
But I will say one thing for this method...It is very easy and almost "Steve Proof"!

[Trainman1965]

Very cool post Steve. Thanks for showing us this I will be giving it a try just to see if i can make one look like yours.

[lyates]

Looks good Steve and I think you have come up with a lee proof way on that waterfall technique. I have used many other methods befor and was not satisfied with the results but this is a lot easier and therefore less room to make big boo-boo's. Thanks for the tutorial Steve it is appreciated.

[TallDude]

Great tutorial Steve!! I can't wait to try this myself!

[CentralPhoenixRR]

Great tutorial I'm pretty mad I won't be able to use it
Chris

[ak-milw]

Steve,
Great step by step on how to make liquid nails, clear seal cookies!! (I think that is what he was trying to show us)

Just kidding, really nice job, the tutorial was real easy to follow and the pictures were good to get the point across. I give it 3 stars
I'm in the same boat Chris is, no big water falls in this part of Wisconsin either. Thanks for sharing, it will be very helpful to those who want to build one.

[Steve]

Thanks everybody...I appreciate the kind words

[Trainman1965]

Thanks you for the helpful tip.