Now...if there's one craft above all others that I have more fun with and know I can do really *REALLY* well, it's building miniatures. I can do buildings as well as nature scenes and the nature scenes are probably my favourite as they don't take measuring and math as much, which I am terrible with.
These are built and designed for Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, and are on scale with D&D miniatures (people, creatures, etc.). These are MUCH much smaller than dollhouse scale.
Look for the Canadian penny in the pictures, as well as the Cultist for sizing reference.
First up is a Tudor style cottage. This was the first miniature building I ever built, but I still like it none the less.
^ The base is pink foam from Home Depot, which is more normally used to isulate houses. The walls are white foam board, the roof is popsicle sticks, the "rocks" are carved and painted pink foam again, the grass is static-grass and flock, the tudor style is made with wooden stir sticks, painted. The white wash is antique white paint with gravel and sand mixed in for texture.
^The ivy covering the cottage is made from tree stuff for model trains.
^The pink foam rock. Painted various gray shades and finished with white. Carved with Xacto knives.
^The inside of the cottage is floored with popsicle sticks, painted and carved. This makes for very large planked floors. The walls are sand and gravel paint on the bottom, with patterned scrap-booking paper on the top. While I have made some furniture, most of it I am not happy with and remains incomplete, so for now the house is empty. Working on this scale for furniture is *very* difficult.
^ The roof, as stated before - is popsicle sticks that have been carved, painted and stuck onto white foam board that has been painted black.
Next up is a jail. This jail is inspired by a jail in the oooold DOS game Ultima VII: Black Gate that I still love playing.
^ It's the same Tudor style as the cottage above. Many of the same techniques were used. The jail has no roof because...well, I hate roofs. They are complicated and you just have to take them off to see everything inside anyways. It wasn't necessary, so I didn't make one and have no plans of making one. So there. Nyaaaa
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Though, instead of stir sticks for the Tudor style, I used various thicknesses of balsa wood, which is much more expensive, but sooooo much easier to use.
^The windows are sliced stir sticks surrounding, and all of the black metal bars are black straw-like stir sticks. The tapestries on the wall are made from toothpicks and cardboard. The guard desk is made from balsa wood, the floor planks are popsicle sticks again, and Mr. Cultist has a new job!
^The jail walls and doors are made from black straw stir sticks. They are fastened to a thick plastic board that has been cut in strips. The stir sticks actually go *through* the plastic slots, which have been created via a scroll saw. All of the doors actually open and close - though they do not lock. But I highly doubt little plastic people are very inclined to try and escape.
Next is a forest hovel. There is a flat roof, but I couldn't find it while I was taking pictures. Essentially, this is the lowest of the low. The occupant may have a sleeping bag and a small table, but is essentially a hermits home. Dirt and grass, very basic.
^The base is pink insulation foam, covered in sand paint, flock and static grass.
^ Mr. Cultist sure has come down in the world, as you can see here. The walls are made of bamboo skewers cut and molded, the entry ways are lined with balsa wood. The ivy growing is flocking.
Next we have ruins. Mr. Cultists seems to have stumbled on some ruins - let's home he can find some treasure while avoiding goblin attack!
^Base is pink insulation foam, as are the buildings bricks.
^ The grass is static grass, the moss and ivy is various flocking colours, the rocks are small gravel pieces, painted; and everything is held together by lots and lots and lots of GLUE! I use Weldbond glue. It's the best multipurpose that I know of. Strongest I can think of as well. You can get it at craft stores or Home Depot.
^Many many different coloured coats of paint will give you a nice realistic looking finish.
^Another view
^Please disregard the dog hair. >< Argh!
And last but not least (and the most fun to make), is a ritual ground atop a mountain.
^Our Cultist has finally found his calling....being a cultist! (We knew he wouldn't last long as a jailer, right?) This entire base is pink foam. Every bit of it. I spent hours and hours carving it and painting it to look like a stone cliff or mountain and I am quite tickled with how well it came out.
^These steps took forever to carve. Like...seriously, forever. Because they are so small, messing up on these was far too easy, so you really have to go slooooowwww.
^Pink foam is not designed to be carved into or molded. It is designed to insulate your house - a purpose for which is just not as much fun as this is!
^And again I've used flock and static grass for the lush grass and mossy effect.
^This is what the full ritual ground looks like, assembled. Each piece is separate and does not need to be added if it is not needed.
^This is a black rune obelisk. It is pink foam carved, sanded and painted with some skull plastic pieces added on and painted.
^This stone slab structure is pink foam again. Yaaaay...pink foam!
^Front view of the stone slab structure. Please...ignore the dog hair. These have been sitting on a shelf in the basement for a while and I apparently didn't catch it all.
^And the stone and tile base for the ritual space is pink foam, painted and then a cereal box, cut into small squares creates this tiled look.
Aaaand....a sneak peak of something I'm working on:
This is a mausoleum for a medieval cemetery I'm building.
^Front of mausoleum. walls are white foam board, painted with VERY thick sand in paint and the flocking adds a mossy ivy. Roof is a cereal box made to look like roofing tiles.
^And the back view.
I'm very much open to questions and comments - I don't know of a lot of people who do this sort of craft
