So I have heard that Bark chips and mulch works great for making light cheap realistic looking rocks.

How do you prepare the material to paint? does it need to be washed first or can you paint it when you get it?

Also how do you fix the material to the base you are putting it on, do you use just PVA?

_________________
Check out my WIP> viewtopic.php?f=50&t=26737

PVA is fine.

It depends on how dirty it is. I have put a small section in the microwave to make sure the bugs/eggs are dead.
Prime it black.

_________________
"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

If you do use a microwave, make sure you stand there and watch what's happening.
After several seconds the chips can catch on fire. Be careful here.

Bugs/eggs surely the paint will kill/get rid of them?

_________________
Check out my WIP> viewtopic.php?f=50&t=26737

I hadn't thought about the eggs, I like to pick up some organic material in the fall before the snow comes, I store it in the house so I can use it during the winter. I wonder what might be living in my walls now I'll have to zap a few things tonight

Do you usually buy the stuff or pick it up from your local playground garden etc.?

_________________
Check out my WIP> viewtopic.php?f=50&t=26737

I do a little bit of everything. Sometimes you can find bargains for sale. Other times it is more cost effective to pick up found items. I make trees from hedge trimmings or pruned branches. Every October I pick lichen on my brothers property. I process it outside in boiling water and glycerin. I pick up large sections of pine bark too. There is so much that I can pick and choose so most of the larva have already hatched. The boiling water does not hurt. I do not pick Spanish moss myself. It is full of invisible biting bugs and is cheap enough not to worry over it. I have to buy tumbleweed it does not grow in the eastern woodlands. You may not be able to find pine bark where You live. I can't get cork.

_________________
"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"