And now for something COMPLETELY different......FINISHED!

[Out2gtcha]

Well you can sorta kinda see the initial steps on how I plan on thinking about starting to get ready to do something.............

 

lol - This is the very beginning of things, so everything is still pretty rough. You can get an idea of direction however...

 

The Etsy Bonsai tree pot marked with the shape of a small base I made out of two pieces of stacked XPS foam:

 

 

 

 

 

The base has some aluminum rods for support buried in it and secured with some hot glue:

 

 

 

 

 

A very initial start on the other side, even incorporating some rocks liberated from the wifes rock collection :

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was to cut out 3 appropriately sized circles out of XPS using a large mixing bowl we had in the kitchen, flattening one side to mate with the base:

 

 

 

 

 

Using a hot foam cutter, I made two tunnels in the center foam piece for the supports to run, and to run the lights later:

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the 1st and 3rd foam circles sandwiched on the outside of the center one, you can see the base shape that I will be working with. All the support holes and wire holes with be filled in later as needed with any combo of clay and modge-podge and or putty filler or dry wall filler:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut out the same circle pattern on some grid paper I taped together and laid out a very crude and general shape I will be heading toward with the hot wire foam cutter. That thing is VERY satisfying to operate on XPS foam!

This is just a very generalized shape of things, and this may change but will be a good starting point incorporating all the aspects into the build I wanted (I hope) including a platform for the fairy cottage, a small rock and wood bridge, some stairs and a pool with some crystals:

 

 

 

 

 

More to come! 

 

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Fast forward...............

 

You can now see an actual direction I'm going with this. Until right before all this I really couldn't see what direction it was going either!   Its SO MUCH FUN carving away at the foam which does very intricate and seemingly delicate things when roughly cut with a small blade.

Very "rock like" but still will most all be covered with stone replicate air dry clay. Some parts will not get clay covering, only a thinner frosting of a mix of stucco patch, Modge Podge and paint. This mix will eventually cover the entire scene.

 

Some areas I have not really touched at all, and other areas I've attached rocks to from my wife's collection (which will also be covered in the above combination of coverings to bring everything together) and and some just have had their foam carved alone. Much more work including most all the detail work to come. I'm just trying to make things random yet convincing to what my minds eye holds.

 

The shape was very roughly cut to a crescent moon shape, while taking in the platform for the cottage and an upper level that will hold a crystal tree and a pool with a waterfall

 

 

 

 

 

You can see here the beginnings of the overhang platform for the cottage. This was made from a square of balsa, covered in clay and sculpted with some dowels for trusses. The stairs carved into the foam will get a clay covering to emulate some broken steps of stone down to a small boat dock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There will eventually also be steps up the far side to the pool as well. This is where I intend on placing and lighting some stones

 

 

 

 

 

Where the pool, waterfall and crystals will be 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually these will be steps in laid with stone clay as well, and possibly shallower, but longer steps at the top, I haven't quite decided yet

 

 

 

 

 

I have yet to design the bridge that will connect the two sides either, so that will take place soon as well.

 

Thanks for looking in on me! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lee White]

There is a young woman who calls herself Nerdforge who builds some pretty amazing dioramas, and interesting techniques  to achieve what she is trying to do. Here is a diorama sampler video of sorts-

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Yes!

 

I got my Modge Podge mixture from her channel. She does a ot of amazing paintings and dios.

[LSP_Kevin]

26 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said:

Yes!

 

I got my Modge Podge mixture from her channel. She does a ot of amazing paintings and dios.

 

Brian: Mod Podge, not Modge Podge.

 

Kev, also a Nerdforge fan (though technically they're a team of two, as her boyfriend does a lot of the behind-the-scenes work).

[Out2gtcha]

lol - been using the hell out of it and honestly never paid that much attention!  I even have both glossy and matte. 

[Out2gtcha]

Moving on it was time to go back to the cottage..........

 

And time to make some SUPER tiny shingles................and a LOT of them! These are basically 1/32 thick balsa cut into strips roughly less than 1/8" wide, then flattened with a stainless steel pair of tweezers against a very flat piece of tile.

The difference between 1/32" thick and after they have been flattened is AMAZING. The balsa wood squishes down very predictably. 

 

These were cut out with rounded edges using a piece of brass tube sharpened at the end with an exacto:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up making what felt like hundreds of those little buggers, but got a good start on the lower small roof up front, and also finished up the cottage stone work using some SAS stonework clay:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got the window into the dormer section and got it attached permanently as well in prep for shingles in that area:

 

 

 

 

 

I also removed the majority of the hand railing and just left a small section at the top...........I think the fairies can manage a few steps without a handhold.

It looked much better without the other section on the stairs:

 

 

 

 

 

I finished up the shingles on all roof sections and splashed a bit of dull red on the lower roof section to see how things looked. I like it!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got the tower roof shingled and painted as well. Here it is just setting in position to see what it will look like. The top "hat" is still masked off as it will get some gold leaf later.

I also still have yet to add some cool looking roof peaks and finials that will finish the roofs off:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also setting on top is the cap to the upper chimney, which is a Amanita muscaria fungus I happened to make out of clay, small clay blobs and some airbrushing (the wife also likes mushrooms.....not the psychedelic kind, just the cool looking observable kind):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most likely back to the base tonight or tomorrow as I need to start looking forward and get the lighting and base further along.

 

Cheers! 

 

[Panzerwomble]

Great stuff , i love out of the box dioramas. 

+1 for mod podge too . 

 

 

I follow Laser Creation World on Youtube , he's a German called Thomas who comes up with some very interesting dios as well . His story telling aspect is quite often mind blowing, there is always a hidden aspect ot his work to be revealed at the end . 

 

 

 

 

[chrish]

Love it!

[CANicoll]

Just awesome!!  Love the work!!  Looks like so much fun!

[mustang1989]

Mister.....you have got my FULL attention on this one!! Definitely out of the ordinary and DEFINITELY cool!! Will be watching this one play out. 

[Troy Molitor]

I found the videos above most interesting.  More impressive is the artistic license you're using to plot your our course.   The house and chimney mushroom top is brilliant.  

Love it.  

[Out2gtcha]

Still moving on with more and more progress.........

 

I got the entire cottage covered in MS 1500 black primer, and picked out a few choice stones for some gold/green and bronze highlights. These will be promptly covered up later......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Switching back to the base for a bit to work on some details. In this case I got the crystal "tree" made that will be lit up and placed along side the pool. I have also got the base made for an actual tiny tree made from CAT V wire that will reside on one of the rocks near the pool as well. I was going to make a GIGANTIC tree that would have sprung from the main moon part, but it was way too obtrusive and I didnt like the way it was looking, so I went the opposite way with it.

This will eventually get coated in some drywall paste and then shaped, sanded, painted, then flocked and detailed. The tree will also get a bit of a soil base as well of course for ground cover, scrub, grass, underbrush ect, ect. Long ways to go

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More....................

 

 

 

[Lee White]

I was re-reading this thread, really enjoying it, when I remembered that I had visited a place that really had the same "vibe" back when I lived in Colorado. It's quite a place-

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Castle

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks Lee, I have in fact seen that place before but have not gotten a chance to visit. Definitely has a whimsical feel to it for sure!

 

Knowing that I needed to start the lighting soon, I figured that meant I had to get the base squared away. I have not figured out 100% what I want to do with it yet, but Im about 90% there.

I wanted a fairytale/whimsical look to the water surrounding surrounding the moon garden, so to me that meant some very vibrant candy like colors backed with some foil to reflect the light.

This will be augmented of course with other things before laying down any colors. Once the moon garden is complete and ready to be mounted I will mount it permanently in the base and then will pour some blue tinted resin in for the water.

There will also be lights around the outer edge around the inside of the base that will shine down on the foil. I purposely made sure the foil was wrinkly in areas as I didn't want things too smooth when representing water

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also did some experiments with some candy purple and candy green colors. This is still all in play how I will do this, but will figure it out before very long.

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, we get to some serious progress on the cottage. I have finished all the basic painting. I have not done any detailing nor any weathering, nor inserted the multitude of wooden support beams. 

The cottage will get a layer of moss on a lot of the shingles on the roof, and the steps and horizontal surfaces will get a layer of static grass, flowers and mushrooms. (of which the wife loves)

Each of the 11 windows including the heart shaped one on the front door I made but have no pics of yet will require insertion of windows I made earlier using thin clear plastic, hot glue and some paint (more pics on those later).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the tower roof setting on temporarily...........I will need to leave that off until I have the lighting for the cottage done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in on me!