Rat's Gonna Be a Problem

Good and bad news. I think I figured out how to make my swarm, but I have no idea how I'm going to do it.

I was digging through my old Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures, and I found this.
It's just what I'm looking for: a swarm of rats! I had the idea to use some Instamold to cast a copy of this, which I could then use to mass-produce a bunch of tiny little rat swarms that would combine in to my chittering mass.

 
The castings actually went really well. The great stuff about Instamold is that you just need to reheat it and start again. I decided to make two molds, though I honestly wasn't sure why. Making one didn't seem like enough, and making three seemed silly.


As I looked at my success, I realized something. When you put circles next to circles, you get lots of diamond-looking holes. While that wouldn't be a bad thing per se, I don't like the potential headache it could cause.

I can proceed in a number of directions. Here are the three main options I see:

• Roll with it, stick them in rows of two, and stick the Stolen in the gaps. When it comes to Hamelin, I'll be able to stack them to the point that you wont be able to tell they're discs.
• Roll with it, and cut out clumps of rats to fill the gaps. In a swarm of hundreds of black, brown, and white vermin, you won't be able to tell the difference.
• Get a square-shaped master mold so that individual pieces will line up properly.

Obviously the third is my best option. With that, I could even roll out my rat wave in an unformed mass of greenstuff (an epoxy clay), and then use the square mold to "stamp" my rats in to it. With a solid 30-60 minutes before the greenstuff loses its best features, I think this could be my best bet. Hamelin's personal mass may need to be a separate piece that I attach later, but overall I think using a square mold would eliminate any potential complications I could encounter.

Tomorrow I'll try to get a good sketch of the terrain I want to put him on. I suggest you bring rubber boots and a hazmat suit.

See you tomorrow!