Wednesday, February 6, 2013

additions

Candles
Materials:
Cocktail stick / kebab skewer / dowelling / plastic rod
Plastic Sprue
Fuse Wire
Superglue
Stage 1
Drill a hole into one of the circular blobs on the sprue, the same diameter as your candle.
Stage 2
Superglue candle in place, trim to length and cut from sprue.
Stage 3
Drill a very small hole in the top of the candle and superglue a length of thin fuse wire.
Stage 4
Cut wire to length. Drill a small hole in the base and add a small loop of medium fuse wire for a handle.
Stage 5
Paint in a suitable colour, then add dribbles of undiluted paint down the sides.
 
Gold Bars
Materials:
Plastic sprue (preferably the thinner parts - this is a warg sprue)
Stage 1
Cut the sprue on an angle to create a gold bar.
Stage 2
Paint them, er, gold? (or any other metallic colour).
   
Bottles, Pots & Urns
Materials:
2" length of wood dowelling - this is ¼" diameter
Stage 1
Fix the dowel tightly in the  chuck of an electric drill - we're going to use the drill as a primitive lathe.
Stage 2
Set the drill spinning at its fastest speed and, using a needle-file, shape the wood.
Stage 3
When you've got the desired shape, smooth it using fine sandpaper with the drill still going.
Stage 4
Remove the dowel from the drill, and carefully trim it to length.
Stage 5
Insert a pin into the base so you can hold it whilst you paint the piece.
   
Scrolls (Click thumbnails for larger images)
Materials:
Thin Cream Card
Cocktail Stick / Drill Bit
PVA / White Glue
*Cotton
*Modelling Clay
Stage 1
Cut a strip of cream card about 1/2" wide - this will be the length of the scroll.
Stage 2
Roll the card to make a scroll - it may be easier to roll it around a cocktail stick or drill bit to begin with. Then unroll it, and roll it tighter. Don't be too neat - a small offset at each end looks better.
Stage 3
Trim the excess when you have a thick enough roll. You now have a choice - you can secure the end with PVA, or leave a bit of the scroll showing, and stick the card further back.
Stage 4 (Optional)
For open scrolls, add some symbols to any exposed parts.
For closed scrolls, secure with a length of cotton.
Stage 5 (Optional)
Instead of cotton, you can add a wax seal from modelling clay. Roll a small ball, flatten slightly and impress a small drill bit into the centre to give a simple, but effective wax seal.
   
Coin Piles
Materials:
Plasticene
Thin rod with circular end
Plaster
Sandpaper
Stage 1
Make an indentation in the plasticene about the size you want your coin pile - I just used my finger to do this.
Stage 2
Using the rod, cover the whole of the indentation with small circular holes - do not press too deeply.
Stage 3
Wet the plasticene thoroughly with "wet water", and then fill the indentation with plaster.
Stage 4
Remove the plaster and allow to dry. Carefully sand any excess plaster from the back face, and indent the edges between the coins.
Stage 5
Prime in black, and then drybrush with metallic paints - here I used silver, and picked out a few gold coins.
  
Glitter Treasure Piles (Click thumbnails for larger images)           Original post by Rastl - used by kind permission.
Materials:
Hot melt glue
PVA / White Glue
Circular shaped glitter
Jewels (beads or costume jewels)
Weapons, shields etc.
Black Ink
Stage 1
Gradually build up a pile of hot glue in layers, to the shape of the pile you require. When dry, add jewels and assorted treasure bits to the pile sticking them with PVA. Paint weapons etc. before fixing.
Stage 2
Carefully paint the rest of the pile with watered-down PVA, cover with your glitter, and leave to dry. Fill in any sections you have missed. When dry you can use a black ink wash to add depth & slightly dull the shine.
   
Closed Books (Click thumbnails for larger images)
 
Materials:
Basswood / Balsa
Thin Card / Cereal Box
Superglue

Stage 1
Cut various book-sized length from a thin strip of basswood or balsa. You can sand them to different thicknesses to add extra variety.
Stage 2
Round off one edge to be the spine of the book. If you just want the spines of the books to be showing on a shelf, I would just paint and stick several of these together.
Stage 3
For a single book where you can see the pages, use superglue to fix the book onto some card, leaving a small overlap at the top and side.
Stage 4
Trim the card to be just over the width of the wooden piece, leaving another slight overlap at the bottom.
Stage 5
Add a small drop of glue to the uncovered section of card next to the wood, and carefully roll the book around the card.
Stage 6
Trim the loose end of the card strip, leaving a thin margin once again.
Stage 7
If you want an extra level of detail, you can scribe or cut grooves into the exposed pieces of wood to simulate pages.
Stage 8
I would recommend painting the books separately, before sticking them into position. This is made a lot simpler by sticking a pin into one end of the wood, and holding this whilst painting.
  
Open Books (Click thumbnails for larger images)
 
Materials:
Basswood / Balsa
Thin Card / Cereal Box
Paper
Superglue

Stage 1
Sand off the edges of a strip of basswood or balsa - this piece is 1/4" wide by 1/16" thick. You want to get the profile of the top similar to that of an aeroplane wing.
Stage 2
Cut two pieces to the same length - when placed with the more sharply curved edges together, these will form the pages of the book.
Stage 3
Use superglue to stick the pages to a piece of card of cereal packet. Carefully trim around the wood, leaving a small piece of the card protruding to be the cover.
Stage 4
Here is the resulting book form, undercoated in white and ready for painting. This is a basic finished open book.
Stage 5
As usual when I start making things that I have already done, I decided to push the technique a bit further. I added a page cut from ordinary white paper to the centre.
Stage 6
Smear the paper with a drop of superglue and let that dry, before spraying it with a white undercoat.
Stage 7
Paint the pages in a cream colour, before adding thin washes of flesh ink to age them - leaving a darker colour in the fold. When dry, paint them with lettering, pictures, or whatever you like.
Stage 8
Having painted the plain book, I decided to add a different detail. The ribbon is a very thin strip of red paper glued carefully into place using superglue. Tweezers were essential for this.
   
Bottles from Beads (Click thumbnails for larger images)
Materials:
Selection of glass / plastic beads
Dressmakers pins
Acrylic gloss varnish / PVA
Side-cutters
Inks
Stage 1
Take one of the pins, and thread some of the beads onto it to get the bottle shape you desire.
Stage 2
Apply a drop of neat gloss varnish or PVA to the beads, making sure that you get plenty into the joints. You may need to spread it around using another pin. Leave the assembly to dry.
Stage 3
Once the varnish is dry, you can simply slide the bottle off the pin.
Stage 4
Alternatively, you can leave the head of the pin as a cap or stopper for the bottle. Before trimming the pin, secure the point in a piece of clay, foam or wood to prevent it flying off and possibly causing injury.
Stage 5
If you like you can paint the bottles - inks work well to tint the glass, and if you have a steady hand - the addition of labels would be a nice touch.
   
Metal Rings (Click thumbnails for larger images)
Materials:
Solder, or other soft wire
Cocktail stick, kebab skewer or other suitable rod
Scalpel, craft knife or wire cutters
Pliers
Stage 1
Take a length of wire and wrap it tightly around the rod. The softer the wire, the easier it will be to achieve this.
Stage 2
Carefully cut the wire in a straight line along the length of the rod. Solder may be cut with a craft knife, but copper wire will almost certainly require cutters for this stage. Mark a line with the knife, then separate each ring carefully with the cutters.
Stage 3
Having separated the rings, the ends will be slightly offset due to the coiling. Solder can be flattened using fingers,  but copper will require a gentle squeeze from a pair of pliers.
Stage 4
Once the ring is flat, gently squeeze the sides to close the circle if necessary.
Stage 5
These rings can be used as door handles, curtain rings etc.
   
Goblets (Click thumbnails for larger images)
Materials:
Dolls house coffee set
Round head nails
Pin vice & drill bit
Craft knife
Heavy duty wire cutters
Superglue
Stage 1
The heads of the nails form the stems of the goblets. Trim to a suitable length with heavy duty wire cutters. Clamp the point of the nail or push it in some modelling clay whilst doing this, to prevent it causing any damage.
Stage 2
Carefully trim the handle from the cup with a craft knife, and clean up any mould lines.
Stage 3
Select a drill bit which matches the width of the nail, and drill a hole in the centre of the base of the cup.
Stage 4
Superglue the nail head into the hole in the cup.
Stage 5
To cover the joint on the inside of the cup, add a small drop of neat silver paint. As an alternative, add some liquid  - the red wine is a mix of red and black ink with gloss varnish.

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