Making the set - Part 1- the house
The process of building the house began as always with research. I looked at lots of images of old houses, and made a combination from some of them. Then I made the plan on Sketch Up in scale 1: 6 and I had the precise measurements of the walls and the roof.
To build walls, furniture and square things, I use white cardboard with a coating of wall putty. This method is accessible, inexpensive and allows me to achieve many details.
I draw the layouts according to the measurements on the cardboard, cut and glue the different wigs to one another with UHU glue. I assist with small pins to keep the pieces together until the glue dries. It's better to work with at least two layers of cardboard to make the piece stronger.
I glued a foam board to the back of the walls. You can use a wooden board instead which is more durable and less prone to round, but it requires special tools to cut the wood.
First I made the door and windows and painted them. Then I made the walls with holes in the same size as the door and windows. After I painted the walls I glued the door and windows into the holes.
I left the roof unpainted because it was only used as a base for the roof tiles, although I recommend to paint it first the same color as the tiles, it saves work later.
Unfortunately I don't have pictures from all the steps of making the house. But here is a guide for making the roof:
Making a tiled roof
I looked for a material to make the tiles from. First I thought of corrugated cardboard, but I didn't find one with big enough waves for my scale, so I had to make it myself.
Materials:
One white cardboard sheet
One 5 mm foam board sheet
One package of wooden round sticks (the same size you want the waves to be. I used 8 mm)
UHU Liquid glue
Wall putty
Cutting knife, scissors
Acrylic paints, paint brushes and a sponge
Instructions:
Cut some straps from the cardboard the same length you want the tiles to be. Mine were 7 cm tall (and 5 cm width). Pay attention to the grain direction. As well as any paper, cardboard has a grain direction that is easier to work with. To find the right direction you can cut a small strap, wet it a little and try to roll it on the wooden stick. If it rolls easily and the cardboard doesn't brake - it's the right direction and you can cut all the straps in that direction.
Put the straps into water for one second, make sure that they are wet from both sides and let them dry a little (not completely dry). You can also brush them with a wet sponge instead.
Lay some straps next to each other. It's easier to work with one strap every time but it takes longer. So you can work with some straps together but not too many, I used 3 or 4 each time. Take a wooden stick and place it on one edge of the straps. Roll the straps carefully around the stick until it starts to get a rounded shape.
Place another stick, this time under the cardboard, as close as possible to the first stick, and roll the cardboard on it. Keep placing sticks above and below the cardboard, roll it on them and press hard to get the rounded shape.
5. After every few sticks put something heavy on top of everything to establish the shape.
6. After a few minutes remove the sticks and you'll get a waved shape.
7. Cut the straps according to the size of the tiles. Leaving a whole wave in the middle and half-wave on both sides.
8. Apply an even layer of wall putty with your fingers on every tile. Do not put too much stuff to keep a smooth texture. Wait a few minutes to dry.
9. Start placing the tiles on the roof. Before gluing them to the roof you should plan how many tiles will fit in each row and column.
10. First glue the bottom line. Place them next to each other. In the second row they get a bit on top of the first row and so on. It's important to keep them going up with equal distance from each row.
11. In all the corners and angles that were created – where you can't fit a whole tile, just cut the tiles according to the shape that was created.
12. For the extension on top of the roof cut pieces of cardboard a little smaller the tiles. Wet them a little and roll with your hands. You can also use the wooden sticks. Glue them in a row. Make sure you place them a little bit on top of each other in equal distances. Apply wall putty with your fingers after they are glued to the roof.
13. To make the "wooden" boards around the roof cut some pieces of cardboard strips and same size foam board strips. Glue them to each other (the foam board stripes on the inside for reinforcement). Glue them around the roof and then apply on them a thick layer of wall putty.
14. And now for the fun part – the painting:
Wooden boards – Work at the same time with some tones like black and brown. Dip a foam sponge in water and then in paint (not a lot of paint - just a gentle touch) and spread on the boards across, back and forth. You can do several layers until you reach the desired color.
Tiles – Make some brown-red color, white, black and other tones you wish. Tap on each tile with a paint brush using all the colors until they are mixed together.
