Here's another "simple but effective" base.  After completing the Monkey King, I knew I had to make something cool to place him on.  This Sky Cliff diorama is very simple to do and took me roughly 4-5 hours overall.  The base is the standard $2 wood ones you find at Michael's Arts and Crafts with styrofoam cut out, glued together in three levels with plaster poured all over it.  Sand, rocks and gravel added, painted, then moss covering glued in various places.  Easy stuff.

One thing that I never tried before was sanding that plaster base out - carving the plaster for some Chinese words.  Of course it didn't have the same effect as a blade carving, but it looks decent enough. There's not really much to say here since that's about all to it to making a diorama.  I'll think of something else to fill up the page on my next diorama, I promise.