It's coming together

Christmas is just around the corner and finally I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with my nativity village. I love it when it comes together. Have a look and tell me what you think.

Making a palm tree

Making a palm tree was a challenge to work out but with a bit of homework it worked out well.

WHAT YOU NEED:

To start with you need wire, masking tape and in this pic I am using green for no apparent reason, some side cutters and a pair of scissors.

HERE WE GO

Using the cutters cut a piece of wire to the length you would like your Palm eaves to be.

cut a piece of the masking tape double the length of the wire

lay the wire on the tape half way down

and fold the other half over itself. Having fun it gets better.

Choosing a nice green paint the leaf and let it dry

add a few lighter colored streaks for detail.

now with the scissors start to cut the leaf into shape and then shred the edges on both sides

lets get started on the trunk. Look for a tree branch that resembles what you would like the tree trunk to be straight if possible.

drill a hole down the middle of the branch very carefully as I had many near misses

fill the hoe with PVA wood glue and start to insert the leaves that you made earlier

and  there it is the finished product.

Building Shops - A step by step guide

In this addition I would like to show you how easy it is to work with MDF, all you need is a stanley knife (cardboard cutter) and an imagination. With a pencil and a sheet of paper draw what you would like to make, roughly you  don't need to make a Picasso.

 

Your stencil

Carving

1. With the knife start to carve around the lines and make parts stick out

as they would on a building

2. Add details as seen in this picture of the two arched doorways

 

Do this to all the walls adding any necessary details before you star glueing things

just to see it ready.

Assembly

 

Adding details that will be hard to get to once everything is together

 

 

3. Placing the figurines in may remind you of something you may have

missed

 

 

The front panel here is only placed there just for a view as painting the

inside is easier without it

 

 

Lets now start on the ground side of things

 

 

4. Once again you can roughly mark the ground or you could just start hacking at the ground to make it look like floor pavings

 

 

 remember, no straight lines it's not necessary

 

 

5. Take the sharp edges of the tiles as to make them look like stones

 

Painting

6. Once finished start to think about the painting this will be done in several stages

two sometimes maybe even three or four.

 

 

Think of paint that are going to make it look like actual ground that has been walked

on for a long time. The first color is always going to be the grout color of the ground

what is going to make it look the part is the dry brushing. now as I told you earlier

take your time with every thing but I went ahead and glued the building to the floor

before I too a photo of the dry brushing so tomorrow the next pic will be of the ground 

dry brushed and stuck to the building.

Dry brushing is exactly that, you dip the tip of the brush in a lighter colored paint of

your choice wipe most of the paint off onto a piece of news paper and lightly run

the brush in all directions. You will get the picture once you start doing this and will 

end up using your own method.