Ancient Ruins Reclaimed by Nature Jungle Paludarium with DIY Waterfall Statue Face

i've been working on this project for months now and i'm so excited to share it with you it spans several disciplines from sculpting to building aquariums and plants more on that as we get into this but enough talk let's get to work i'll begin by creating the face with pottery clay i built it up onto this board here to achieve the appropriate shape once i did i made a few marks to indicate where the features will go i carved along these accordingly at first i liked the results but i quickly became dissatisfied so i pulled off the clay off the board and started over this time i tried carving it out of foam i wanted the face to have a lot of angular features and i thought it would be easier to pull that off with foam this was promising at first but again i didn't care for the progress i went back to the clay and as they say the third time's a charm i followed the same process as before but i shaped things a little differently as i did my goal was to take a stylized approach in doing so i took a lot of inspiration from the easter island moai statues i wanted something that looked human but with as little detail as possible my thought was if it looks too human it will likely appear creepy which is not what i'm trying to do here anyway i went around and carefully carved everything as desired as it came together i dressed the mouth i want the face to spit water from here so i was mindful of how i created this i went back and smoothed out the surface of the clay i also scraped excess off the board to clean things up here's the result i think it looks pretty cool and will make for an awesome design as is clay won't work for a tank so i'll cast a mold of this using viable materials to make it happen i chopped up two by fours and locked them together with screws this fit perfectly around the face like so i wanted this to look like a statue that's been reclaimed by nature i felt that cracks and other features would help portray that so i went on to make a few cracks scuffed the surface with a wire brush and created dents with stones i like how it looked before but i think this distressed appearance will better create the look i'm imagining i also ran some hot glue along the edges to seal everything off i'll fill this form with the silicone mold to create a negative of the face it consists of two separate components that when combined together will cure to pick up the detail from my carving i poured them into a different bucket and mixed them together until consistent then i place the mixture into a vacuum chamber to remove air bubbles for the best results it's optimal to pour this into a single spot from high up that way the material levels itself without introducing air bubbles i let this sit for 24 hours so the silicone could cure after that came time to release the mold i flipped it over and removed the screws then i used a chisel and putty knife to separate the pieces i carefully peeled the silicone from the clay to reveal direct negative of the sculpture this will be used later on but there's more i need to make i also wanted to include some hands under the face i built up clay around a few boards that will help support the structure as i did i created two outstretched hands like the face i didn't want an excessive amount of detail just enough to get the point across i distressed these just like i did before here's the result i think they look cool but again i need to create a mold i secured a wooden box around them accordingly then i mixed up some more silicone i poured it in like before but i only filled in half of the form i also placed two dowels near the top i removed these from the mold after it cured to create two holes more on those later after that i filled in the second half of the form and let the silicone cure after all of that i was able to separate everything and reveal the mold i had an issue though i failed to apply a release agent between the layers which made them bond together and negate some of what i did earlier i just cut through the pieces instead and removed the clay finally i sprayed off the molds to remove any residual clay the result is a two section mold for the hands and another for the face now that i have these i'll cast the pieces with an aquarium safe urethane resin it's easy to use but i need to experiment first i mixed up a batch to cast for a control to see how it looks on its own for another i pressed sand and other materials onto the sides of the mold to embed it into the outside of the resin i mixed these materials into the resin itself for a final option i let it cure and pulled them from the form based on what i see here i think the second mixing technique will work best for what i want to do now i can cast the pieces i sprayed some water in the face mold this allowed sand and other materials to stick to the sides i repeated this for the hands [Music] as i did i had to ensure that none of this remained where the silicone lines up [Music] i pressed them together and locked them in with some tape that said i had to put foam on the sides because the tape won't stick to the silicone you'll see here that i also taped a bag around all of it to ensure that nothing leaked out now then let's cast the pieces i measured out the resin parts and mixed them together then i poured the mix into the molds and let it cure luckily that doesn't take very long after waiting i anxiously deformed the pieces because i couldn't wait to see how they turned out there was some spillover from expansion so i had to clean up the pieces i cut off as much as i could and addressed the rest on a belt sander i'm ecstatic with how these turned out they look exactly like what i carved before and appear as weathered stone or concrete which is exactly what i wanted as i said earlier i also custom built this tank that will house everything to build it i followed the same process as usual i cut out glass to the appropriate sizes sanded the edges with wet sandpaper taped it all up and assembled everything with silicone i applied more to the inside smoothed it out and removed the tape after it cured i was able to adjust the details for the sculptures i set the face and hands on a separate piece of glass for reference then i marked for the mouth so i could determine where to drill a hole i traced the outline of a diamond tipped hole saw for reference from there i built up a ring of clay around the marking to create a reservoir of water i drilled through this and continued onward i placed the foam board on the back of the tank to properly align the glass i applied silicone along the edges to lock it in and let it cure after a little bit of work the tank was ready to go i double checked to make sure all the pieces still fit as expected they did so i went on to apply silicone to the back of each piece and set them on the glass after all of that the tank looked like this i'm very pleased with the result because it took a lot of work to get here we gotta bring the jungle to this design though to create the background i decided to keep it simple with some tree fern panels i placed these in the tank and removed bits so they fit perfectly around the face i applied silicone to their backs and secured them since this is comprised of multiple panels i had to blend them together simple enough i applied black silicone along the cracks and pressed tree fern debris into it this all made for a cohesive look driftwood will tie into this as well i have two pieces of manzanita driftwood to start i oriented them so that they wrap around the face once i like the placement i secured them with super glue in addition to these i have a few branches of jungle wood i wove and glued these within the other branches although simple i really like how this looks i'll do more shortly but i want to install the pump and do a water test first i'll create a barrier for the pump so that it won't intake debris i put a piece of fine metallic mat on the bottom to filter out substrate and other large particles then i placed a fine filter sponge on top of this to keep off the fine particles out as for the pump itself i have a c chain micra a modified return piece and a vinyl tube i combined these together and hooked it up to the back side of the face's mouth let's see how it works [Music] this is very close to how i imagined it would look and i absolutely love it with that addressed it's ready for plants first i want to cover the branches with java moss to keep it properly hydrated i utilize cargo mesh which will wick moisture above the water line i attached it to the appropriate areas with zip ties as for the moss i'll use fishing line no we won't be catching any fish with it but if i could catch a like and a subscribe that would be pretty cool anyway i wrapped this around the moss to keep it secure until it naturally attaches to the surfaces it was a lot of work but well worth the effort plus the combination of cargo fabric and moss will make it easier to add the other plants i began by nestling rabbit's foot ferns in areas where the roots are hydrated by the moss these will add a lot of texture and grow well in this environment a few neo-agilia bromeliads seemed like a great addition to add to the jungle vibe i also included a photonia red vein for a pop of color i glued tolancia ionantha throughout for texture lastly i added a few kryptanthus nubucola the result is a densely planted jungle that contrasts with the face before i move down to the water feature i'll include biological filter media i put all of this into a filter bag and dropped it in the back of the tank after that i moved it over to the shelf and hooked it up to an led aquarium light i also added a simple scape to the bottom i went with a few black lava rocks as for the substrate i mixed up black sand black gravel and aqua soil the combination blends with the lava rocks and retains the dark mysterious jungle i'm trying to create after addressing all of that i could fill it back up and add various aquatic plants i began with the largest plant in this area adorf aquarium lily once i got that secure i added a few stems of pogo stem and stellaris octopus i really like the fine textures on these then i filled in the left section with hygrophila corombosa lastly i filled in the mid ground and some of the foreground with krypticorini lutea after all that i went back above the rim and added some java moss around the hands [Music] i topped off the water feature with salvinia minima that more or less completes the design aspect of this tank all i have to do now is introduce the inhabitants and enjoy the finished product i'm keeping it light with a few zebra nerite snails and endlers [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] introducing the complete forgotten forest reclaimed paludarium as i said in the beginning a lot of work went into this project and i couldn't be happier with how it all turned out my vision was very specific and although there are things i would have done differently if i had more time i think the result is awesome my vision was to create a statue or ruins that have been overtaken by nature erosion and flooding has caused the statue to almost be completely submerged in water but what remains has created a waterfall nature has nearly reclaimed this section of the jungle and the wildlife is happy to call this home as usual i think the peace speaks for itself and it's one that i'm very excited to finally share with you for now though that's where this journey's gonna end as always i really hope you all enjoyed the video and learned something new until next time serpa squad take care and peace [Music] [Music] you

Channel: SerpaDesign

Views: 1,460,171

Keywords: paludarium, aqua terrarium, aquaterrarium, fish tank, aquarium, jungle, planted tank, ancient ruins

Id: 3OYP0CMIcf0

Length: 15min 39sec (939 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 25 2022