¹⁄35

Building a Ruined Farm House

here is the ground work...

Next I started the process of making the groundwork. For this I used my normal technique. What I did was mix up some paper mache with water and white glue. I usually make it to the consistency of thick oatmeal. I spread it all over the base paying close attention not to cover too much of the vine and not to run off the edges of the base. I let that sit for a little while and then I smothered it with white glue. When this step was done I sprinkled finely sifted garden dirt all over the paper mache to simulate 1:35 scale dirt. I let that dry for a few days (paper mache tends to stay wet for a long period of time) and when it dried completely I painted it. Again, the base was dark grey with several brown tone washes applied and then dry brushed with lighter shades of brown and yellow.

Next came THE GRASS....

To tell you the truth when I started building this little dio I had no idea how it would come out and what I would use to simulate grass. Some of my thoughts were to use hemp rope but after experimenting for a few hours I wasn't happy with results. This is when I got a call from my father-in-law who said he had an old couch he needed to get rid off. When I say old, I mean OLD. Since we couldn't leave it on the street for the trash man to take it, we had to take it apart. I wasn't looking forward to that but boy am I glad I did it. Why am I glad? Because inside it was a gift from Diorama Gods. The couch was filled with material that looked like thin strands of hay. It was packed with it and when I saw it I knew exactly what I could do with it. One word came to mind...TALL GRASS...Well OK it's two words. I was able to collect just about all of it and that means that I probably have enough grass to last me for the next 20 years.
To apply this newly acquired source of grass I first spray painted it in several shades of green then cut it into desired irregular lengths and stuck onto the base after first dipping one end in white glue. Nothing more and nothing less. I repeated this process as many times I needed to achieve the desired effect.
When the first section of grass (directly in front of the wall) was applied I then strategically placed broken pieces of wall and fence all round the area. This gave it the impression of a wall and fence that were damaged recently.
When everything was dry I then glued the wooden fence into place using white glue.
Then came more grass in front of the fence and in the corner of the base. When that was completely dried I applied several coats of chalk pastels to the grass (areas closest to the ground) and any exposed sections of dirt.