t turns out you're still not satisified (or at least curious to see exactly how much further one man can babble on about model mushrooms). The next level up is to start sculpting the mushrooms. This is not nearly that hard. In fact, it's not quite sculpting as much as it is just mooshing some Green Stuff, or Kneadatite, is the most common two-part epoxy that sculpters use to craft miniatures. This is not due to any wonderful sculpting properties (in fact, it sculpts somewhat like chewing gum), but because it's heat resistant enough to survive the vulcanizing mold process. Most miniature stores carry this now.Green Stuff together on a pin, wire, or paper clip.

Pins are perfectly sized without any Green Stuff is also excellent for securing larger pieces together, in addition to pinning and gluing. After testing the fit, place a small doughnut of green stuff on one piece, glue the other piece, and press them together. The Green Stuff should expand to fill in the gaps as you push the pieces together.Green Stuff -- sculpted mushrooms can easily become too large for 25mm-28mm scale. In fantasy, though, this is completely fine -- even man-sized mushrooms can be the norm in some realms (for an example, check out Peter Lee's Mushroom Tutorial at CoolMiniOrNot). Don't worry if your first ones are too large.

Though scale becomes trickier when sculpting mushrooms, the advantages are tenfold. Using green stuff allows you to put more detail and texture into the little fungi, as well as providing you a medium to go the extra distance with detail. The basics are the same as what's automatically provided with a pin -- start with a stem and a cap.

It's always a good idea to work your green stuff mushrooms around a pin or small piece of wire. First and foremost, it gives you a solid base to work upon. Second, this allows you to insert the sculpted mushrooms into a base exactly the same way as you would a simple pin.

Beyond that, the sky is the limit. Hopefully I've shown that adding visual interest in the form of sculpted mushrooms isn't difficult. It just takes some invention, a semi-steady hand, and a tool with a fine point (such as the tip of an Exacto knife). The collar on the stalk of the caterpillar mushroom, for example, was made by winding a length of hair around it, then dabbing a dot of glue to keep it in place. On the pin mushroom, the wings of the fly were made by cutting small triangles of plastic and setting them into the still-soft green stuff with tweezers.

Finally, here are some examples of various types of miniature mushrooms in all their painted glory. Notice how the two mounted mushrooms -- the green stuff ones with the caterpillar and the fly -- fit into the final base.