Goblin Diorama - Part 3 and Field Project

Second attempt at building a house model.

This week I began working on the prototype of the house for the diorama.  My first attempt at a house had been too large.  So after a long intermission, while we rebuilt half our home after the plumbing disaster, I am finally returning to my project.  The top photo is the new prototype for the house.  It is about a third smaller than the original house. 

Field 6-29-2014

The house is build out of poster board.  I will not be using it on the diorama.  I worked with poster board for this because I did not want to start cutting into expensive materials until I had the size of things worked out.  If I had it to do all over again, I would have cut up some corrugated cardboard.  The poster board was so flimsy that it was difficult to work with.  Anyway, done is done, so at least I have an idea of what I am working towards.  The house is small, but it will be a bit taller on the diorama because it will be built with a field stone foundation which will raise it up about an inch.  I'm trying to make the house look as it it has been there for ages; old, weather worn, peeling paint, etc. 

New in the field.

I want the house to look creepy.  After all, this is a Halloween themed piece.  As I wrote earlier this year when I started the piece, the idea came from a poem called Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley.  The refrain in the poem is "An the Gobble-uns 'at gits you Ef you Don't Watch Out!"  This poem inspired me to create my Halloween piece for this year about Goblins and spooky creatures.  I wanted it to be something different from the usual fun Halloween stuff.

Actually I hope I am able to complete the project by Halloween this year.  I started early, because some of these builds take quite a while to complete.  However, I had to stop working on the project from the end of February because of the plumbing problems.  Here it is the end of June and I am just getting back to things.  I'd like to have the piece finished by Halloween, but I am not sure that will happen.  I will keep working on the project until it is completed.  However, there is another project going on in the background, which will also take time away from the Halloween project.  More about the other project when it is completed. 

 It is Sunday, so it is time for the next field project picture.  You will be amazed at the change in the field since last week.   Today's field photo was taken at 8:14 am.  The temperature was 64 degrees Fahrenheit.  Winds were calm.  At this time of the morning the field looks very fresh because of the heavy dew.  By mid-afternoon it will look wilted due to temperatures in the upper eighties and nineties.  Although there have been scattered thunderstorms south and east of us, we have not had rain since Saturday, June 21st.  Things are starting to dry out.  I don't think we are expecting much rain for the next two or three days either.
    
On to other subjects.  The home repairs.  My husband is finishing up a few pieces of trim.  He has put a final coat of finish on the box he built to protect the new drain clean out.  He also decided that he needed to replace the particle board shelves that were in the closet of the smaller bedroom.  So I guess he is cutting and finishing them today.  Once the shelves are in, the final boxes of items will be moved back into that bedroom.

We spent most of yesterday looking at area rugs.  We finally found one that fit our budget and was something we both liked.  That was harder than one would think.  At the moment, the fashion in area rugs are muted colors  and made to look as if the rug is an antique.  What we needed from a rug was a pop of color for the room.  In many stores, modern style colorful rugs made of polypropylene  were selling for the same price as hand made Persian rugs. We were overjoyed to have finally made a selection.  However, the rug we liked was really meant to be wall to wall carpeting, so we had to send it out to be bound.  It will take about two weeks before it is ready.  Once the rug is down, we can unpack the rest of the boxes and will be finished with the whole repair of the downstairs. 

I should be blogging next on Wednesday as usual.  Check back then for progress on the diorama and a couple of side projects.