Alright, so I got really hooked on the whole Zonaite thing lately. Those forges, you know? The look, the glowing green stuff… just cool. I thought, hey, why not try and make my own little version? Not a real forge, obviously, but like a model or a diorama piece for my desk.
Getting Started
First thing, I had to figure out what I actually wanted to build. Just a simple forge structure? Something more complex? I decided to keep it fairly basic to start. I sketched out a rough idea on some scrap paper – just the main forge part, maybe a little platform, thinking about that greenish energy glow.
Then came the materials hunt. I rummaged through my craft boxes. Found some air-dry clay I bought ages ago, thankfully it wasn’t totally dried out. Grabbed some acrylic paints – definitely needed black, grey, metallic tones, and of course, various shades of green and turquoise for the Zonaite effect. I also found some old bits of plastic sprue and some fine sand for texture.
Building the Thing
Okay, step one was building the main structure. I took a chunk of that air-dry clay and started shaping it. Made a sort of blocky base first, then tried to build up the forge walls. This clay was a bit crumbly, honestly. Had to keep wetting my fingers to smooth it out. Took a while to get a shape I was okay with. I used an old sculpting tool, basically just a pointy stick, to carve in some rough stone patterns.
While that was drying a bit, I worked on the ‘Zonaite’ pieces. I thought about using actual green translucent plastic, but didn’t have any handy. So, I just made some smaller, rough shard shapes out of the same clay. My plan was to paint these super bright green later.
The messy part: Painting. Once the main forge structure was mostly dry – took like a whole day – I started painting. Base coated the whole thing in a dark grey. Then I dry-brushed lighter greys and some metallic silver over the stone parts to make the texture pop. It looked okay, kind of like ancient stone.
Now for the glow. This was tricky. I painted the areas where I wanted the ‘energy’ to be with a bright white first. Then layered on different greens and turquoise paints. Tried to make it look like it was glowing from within. Painted those separate clay shards bright green too. Honestly, getting that glowing effect with just paint is tough. It didn’t look exactly like the game, but it had the vibe.
Problems and Fixes
- The clay cracked a bit as it dried fully. Had to mix up a slurry of clay and water to fill the cracks and smooth it over. Annoying, but fixable.
- Getting the ‘glow’ right with paint was harder than I thought. I ended up mixing some fluorescent green paint I had with white to get a brighter base, which helped a bit. Still not perfect, but better.
- Attaching the little green ‘Zonaite’ shards. Glue wasn’t looking great. I ended up carving small indents into the main structure while the clay was still slightly soft and just pressing the shards in. Looked more natural.
End Result
So, after fiddling around, letting things dry, fixing cracks, and messing with paint, I finally got it finished. It’s sitting on my shelf now. It’s definitely handmade, you can tell. Rough around the edges, paint isn’t Hollywood quality. But honestly? I kinda like it. It captures that Zonaite forge feel I was going for. Was a fun little project, took my mind off things for a bit. Just messing around with clay and paint, you know? Good times.
