Eggs!

Tonight, I made a basket of eggs for my hens in progress. Well, Lyssa made the baskets shown in this post, but the eggs were made from clay tonight.

I mixed up five different colors of clay, all similar in tone, to mimic the natural variation of real life eggs. The particular breed I am emulating has lighter color eggs than the brown ones I buy at the store.

Eggs are not an easy thing to get right in clay, at least for me. The shape is somewhere between round and oval. Overall, I’m pleased with the way they turned out, and I can always pick the good ones to show on top. I made a lot more than I needed for that reason. My two hens would be exhausted laying all these eggs!

I do have a smaller basket from Lyssa, but I like the way the eggs look in the lighter color one. Perhaps it’s the number of eggs or the color of the basket I’m drawn to, I’m not sure which.

I borrowed the Heritage for a backdrop. :D

Categories: Miniatures
July 7, 2012 | 0 comments

Grahame

Grandma called and said she swore she saw something on the side of the house.

When she went outside to investigate, she found a varmint on her front porch! :O

I found the artist *Reve* on eBay while looking for a miniature furred cat or small dog for grandma, but when this badger popped up in the listings I couldn’t resist! He’s so well made and realistic that I swear he’s going to dart across the lawn at any moment!

Categories: Animals and birds
July 4, 2012 | 0 comments

Heritage – The Tree, part 2

Continuing work on The Tree. I had considered carving bark texture into the putty but decided it was probably more work than it was worth. Instead, I did a quick sanding over the main trunk with 60 grit sandpaper. This removed the obvious smoothness and provided a nice texture. I also cleaned up any excess putty from around the roots.

Diane says most trees are more grey than brown, and when I was out today I noticed what she was talking about. :D

I started with an undiluted mix of Neutral Grey and Traditional Burnt Umber, both by Americana. This initial dark coat of paint really brought the tree to life!

The branches twist and turn just like the real thing. I stippled the paint on to create additional texture which you can see here on the branches.

I think the lower trunk and root structure turned out great! :D

The next few steps were messy, so I didn’t take photos throughout. I did my second coat of paint with an undiluted mix of Asphaltum and Neutral Grey by Americana, with a dash of black. It darkened the tree too much. I followed that with a heavily diluted wash of Traditional Burnt Umber. It made the tree too brown. I followed that with a heavily diluted wash of Neutral Grey and Traditional Burnt Umber (like my first coat of paint), and that seemed to set things right. All these layered washes bring out a depth not achieved with a single application of regular paint.

On some of the bare portions, I scraped away where branches have fallen from the tree during its lifetime.

Some I made larger than others, carving out an actual hole.

I then painted these individually to darken them. Now, if I wanted it to look like the village just came through to trim the trees along the street, I could have left them. :D

I love the texture on this tree! I am so pleased with the results.

Love, love, love it!

And, like any good haunted tree, you should be able to see faces in it. :O

The tree will remain dormant for now, until I get to the landscaping part. I need to finish up the interior and shingle the roof first. I don’t need to be reaching over a tree trying to work! :D

Update: foliage added here.

Categories: Flowers, plants, and trees, The Haunted Heritage
July 1, 2012 | 0 comments

Heritage – The Tree, part 1

What’s a haunted farmhouse without a big ol’ creepy tree in the yard? :O

To build my tree, I used the tutorial from the DVD Master Miniaturists: Landscaping Primer with Diane Myrick. This whole series is just awesome!

Diane made her tree from 40 pieces of floral wire, but I used 66 pieces: a mixture of 18″ pre-cut floral wire in 18 and 22 gauge. I supplemented the height with 14 pieces of 32 gauge floral wire purchased on a spool that I cut into 20″ lengths.

I wanted roots on mine, so I staggered the wires so that the thinnest wires were loose at the top and the thickest wires stuck out at the bottom. I wanted one long root, so I made sure I had a bundle for that as well.

Diane’s tutorial shows a tree with foliage. Since the Heritage is set in the autumn, my tree will be mostly bare (I think). Ha ha. To that end, I spent a lot of time shaping the branches. I also left the house side minus a branch, which might have hit the portico at some point. ;]

Here’s a nice aerial view of the tree, which stands 18″ tall. The tree has a spindle on the bottom that’s inserted into a box for right now. I will be adding a foam base when I get to the yard portion of landscaping for the tree to sit on, and the root tips will disappear into the ground.

In the tutorial, Diane used Durham’s Water Putty. I ended up with a 4-pound container of it from Home Depot. Did I need four pounds of water putty powder? Uh, no, but it was what was available locally (no shipping) and I had a Home Depot giftcard with enough on it to cover the modest $7.98 price tag. :D

Here it is just after the application.

This was the first time I had worked with the putty and I found it to be a great material. The binding wires around the tree still show under the putty more than I think I want them to, so I might add another thin layer once this one sets. I do like the texture overall, though.

I scraped the excess putty from around the roots to keep them rounded and separate as the putty dried.

I left it overnight, and it dried hard and treelike! :D Some of the binding wires had softened in appearance but others still looked unnatural. I added another layer of putty over the areas that needed blending.

I had kept the cup from the night before, so I just mixed more putty in there. I used a fresh foam brush, though, because the other had hardened. You can’t put this stuff down the drain, so the cups and brushes you use must be thrown away in the trash.

Mike had recently used this material for making river rocks, so I asked him about the properties of it, namely whether you could carve it. He sent me to the Durham’s Water Putty site, and apparently you can do all sorts of things with it.

I used an awl and a file on the dried puddle from last night to see what it was like. It took the carved texturing very easily.

Even with the yellow coloration, it already looks like a real tree.

Next up will be painting once the second layer of putty dries.

Part 2 here.

Categories: Flowers, plants, and trees, The Haunted Heritage
June 30, 2012 | 0 comments

Heritage – copper claw foot tub

Stepping further into creative license here. I know that a tall tank loo isn’t exactly 1920s, but I really like the Chrysnbon Victorian set for a vintage bathroom and I don’t know when I’ll next build a house where it would be even remotely appropriate. So, the Chrysnbon bathroom kit has found a home in the Haunted Heritage.

For the bathtub, I first masked off the top and sprayed the bottom with Burnished Copper Metal by Rust-Oleum. I let that set for well over a week, not for any particular reason other than life kept moving along after I sprayed it.

To make the inner portion a different color, I traced the tub onto a piece of heavy paper and cut an opening just wide enough to have the tub sit inside to cover the copper painted portion. Quite fitting that this is an ad for Restoration Hardware, no?

I used masking tape on the opposite side and pressed the tub onto the surface.

I sprayed the inner portion of the tub and the sides with Krylon Gloss Ivory. After the first coat, I noticed the inside of the tub wasn’t as glossy as the overhang. I thought that would work well for an old tub, so I didn’t add too much more paint to the bottom of the tub.

I sanded the edge to remove any excess paint and roughed up the surface in a few areas. It’s an old tub, after all. I had a little bit of overspray even with my precautions, but that didn’t matter in the end.

I used acrylic paint washes to darken and age the copper.

The feet were sprayed with flat black, but I added a black acrylic wash to them to tone down a little bit of the shine. I’ll age the inside of tub later when I install the faucets but so far, I love it!

The copper color of the tub brings out the copper color in the flooring. I love how this little plastic tub looks like real metal. :D

I painted the inner drain of the tub with Testors Aluminum and then added aging washes to the bathtub once the paint was dry. I watered down Terra Cotta acrylic paint by Folk Art and used it to simulate the residue of well water stains. It was a little bright, so I added a wash of dark brown. I wiped most of the pigment away going for subtle staining from years of luxurious baths.

I assembled the tub faucets and painted them Testors Aluminum. I added a light wash of black to bring out the details before installing them in the tub. I also decided to add a stopper on a chain, so I drilled out the bottom of the tub to make an open drain.

If you have an open drain, you need a pipe…made from excess sprue (the frame around plastic molded parts) and a washer. The pipe is glued to the tub, but the washer will remain loose so it can sit flush with the floor while disguising the end of the pipe.

I added an overflow made from a pen cap.

Where’s the drain pipe for the overflow? Never you mind that! I have to draw the line somewhere. It’s not like the thing has actual running water. ;D

The stopper is made from a spare piece of sprue and is currently sitting in the stopper holder. How appropriate.

The finest chain I had on hand looked too bulky, and it was brass though I could have painted it if it had worked otherwise.

I went on the search for fine ball chain, but you can’t find it in the local stores around here. The smallest they have is 2mm, which is too large for scale. I bought a 5′ length of 1mm gunmetal ball chain from Cindy Chan since that was the lowest price I could find. I need to come up with some uses for the other 4′ 10″ of chain!

I cut a bit of chain longer than I needed and used super glue gel to attach it over the faucet. I bent it into a small curve with my fingernail to make sure it was a snug fit over the top.

I placed the chain by the stopper I made from a spare piece of sprue to determine the final length of chain.

Since this is still large for exact scale, it doesn’t drape the way it would if it were real life chain. So, I made it just long enough to have some slack but look as though it has sufficient length to plug the drain. I attached the end of the ball chain to the stopper with super glue gel.

I might be able to manipulate the drape once the glue sets, but I think it looks pretty convincing as is. :D

Categories: The Haunted Heritage
June 19, 2012 | 0 comments