Number One The Priors Part One

-
ONE
Welcome to my Diorama town THE PRIORS. I'm going to be showing you the good the bad and the ugly side of building dioramas and believe me there's plenty of the latter.
When I started this project more than two years ago I really was starting from scratch
 Yes, that's a frozen river!!!LOL I originally wanted a 'shed' type room but was worried how long it would last? Gets very wet in England. But then found in was cheaper to buy a concrete type building ... a garage without the big door (or a window)

 Had plenty of helpers
 
And soon I was ready to start
My builder framed out all the way round and then the middle. I would have liked solid walls and floors but it would have been to expensive and hard for me to cut. I've never drilled a hole or used a saw .... can we say CHICKEN? Can you see my wallpaper... I'm soooo obsessed with wallpaper!
Although I've already built a lot of my dioramas I'm going to start back with my first one.
..........................................................................................................

Number One The Priors
Starting as you would with most homes, the entry hall and stairs
The floor is covered in sticky back plastic/ self adhesive vinyl. There are thousands on eBay or you can get it from DIY stores.  You do need to be careful though as sticking it to board is easier said than done. For a floor or wall I would defiantly recommend an extra pair of hands.
For all my walls, floors and ceilings I've used foam core board. Even buying foam core is not as easy as you might think
First of it comes in at least three thicknesses 3mm, 5mm and 10mm.
Then sizes
  • A0 1188mm x 841mm
  • A1 594mm x 841mm
  • A2 420mm x 594mm
  • A3 297mm x 420mm
  • 20″ × 30″ 508mm x 762mm
  • 30″ × 40″ 762mm x 1016mm
  • 40″ × 60″ 1016mm x 1524mm
 Colours are mostly White, black and silver. I use mostly white and I calculated the shelving based on A2 board for the depth and height. Trouble is I did not take into consideration that they join together (walls have to butt up against floors and ceilings) Opps!
In the picture above it does look a little like the paper is peeling off already but it's just not fixed yet. 

 The lower part of the hall table is a doll house display unit (eBay) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-12-scale-Dolls-house-furniture-Shop-Shelf-display-Cabinet-DF1461-/330846168291?pt=UK_Dolls_House_Miniatures&hash=item4d07f7e4e3
and the top is a glitter tile (sample)
 The stairs I will show you more about in a later post.
 Then on to Neal's office and an oops!
 I used a riser for Neal's desk but it was a little low so I used two fashion Royalty stands to rise it up a little. I was worried that the glue would show if I used it so I tried wide double sided tape but after a while the sticky stopped working and it fell apart so i will have to glue it and hope it works?
 The mat is a piece of scrapbook paper.
 The walls (5mm) have started to curve. I think it's because it can get very hot/cold and they at sometime became damp? Maybe 10mm would work better. Or as I'm hoping when I put up the covings and skirting boards? Again we will see soon.

Comments

  1. Kath12 August 2013 at 13:56

    So exciting to see this being built

    ReplyDelete
  2. Valli 15 August 2013 at 02:10

    You've put many hours into this. I hope everything holds together for a lifetime as I enjoy your sets and stories so much.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More Wardrobe ideas

-
Image
Some more wardrobe ideas....  I covered the shoe storage with plexiglass held on with magnets. As you can see there are so many things you can do with this basic idea. Big boxes, small boxes. With rails and/or shelving.
Read more

Simple Wardrobes And Storage

-
Image
I have a TON of doll clothing and after years of rummaging through bags and never finding what I'm looking for or even remembering what I have so I thought it was time I made some quick, simple and cheap storage.  The cheapest is to use a doll box and just fit a bar for hanging but I wanted something just a little more so this is what I came up with.... You will need Foamcore board I used 5mm thick board 60cm x 84cm Foam 2 Foam glue You can use any glue but this works best I think Ruler Tape measure Pencil Something sharp to cut with (craft knife Cutting board I have a big board but a smaller one would work Metal ruler if possible (Helps with cutting a straight line)  The rods are the metal rods from the Integrity Doll stands. They are great as they are adjustable.  All of the above can be found on E.Bay or craft stores I'm giving you the sizes I use but you can make your units any size you wish. Measure 40cm longways mark and cut put other piece of board t
Read more

Painting Plastic

-
Image
I've touch on this before but here I will go through the prose step by step... First up room temperatures. Even before you start if you are going to use spray paint then outside or a well ventilated room is a must. Not hot, not cold and not raining. Oh, and no wind...very important no wind if spraying outside... not an issue if working indoors. Remember the sprays do like to float about a bit and all surfaces need to be covered or use a spray box. This can be just an old cardboard box or something you make yourself. My table in the garden is just for spraying and is well away from the plants etc Another must is a mask, I do a lot so mines a bit fancy (I also have Asthma) but a basic mask from your local DIY would be fine  Spray paints are easy enough to find just look around your local DIY or craft store, there is also E.Bay and Amazon.  Start by cleaning what you want to paint then once dry I always use a primer, they come in three colours white, brown and
Read more