Goblins Halloween Diorama - Part 15- Photos- Field Project

This week I completed the clapboard siding on the house for the diorama.  It has taken a long time.  There is a lot of work going into something that seems so simple.  Each clapboard was individually sanded, etched, painted (1:12 water to paint ratio; 2 coats).  Each clapboard was attached individually with hot glue, but each board also had to have a measured line made before the the board was glued on so that the clapboards would be relatively even.  Easier said than done.  They don't make a chalk  line that small, so I had to do the measurement with a small sewing ruler.  Before gluing, I also had to dip the cut ends of the clapboards into diluted paint so that the ends would be the same color as the boards.  I think that this will be the most labor intensive project I have done since I made the Folk Art Pig back in 2012.

I also trimmed out the windows.  Before I added the trim pieces, the windows looked wrong.  It took me a while to realize that the trim was what was missing.  They could actually use a few more trim pieces, but pieces would be so small that I doubt that I could cut them with enough accuracy to make it worthwhile. 

I used hot glue to attach the clapboards.  Usually hot glue annoys me because it leaves strings and little bits of glue here and there that need to be cleaned up.  This time, they are a feature.  Think of what is normally on the outside of buildings; spider webs,  cocoons,  wasp nests, and dirt and debris. The little bits of glue left here and there mimic those things.  Heck, after I finish with the rest of the house, I may go back and add some more.

Before I put on the roof, I will paint the house.  It will not be painted like a new house, but like an old house that has peeling paint that is mostly gone.  As you can see from the door that had to be glued on to the building early, there is still some paint on it even though it is the worse for wear.  That is the idea that I want to present in the diorama: that run down old house in the neighborhood that has legends and rumors attached to it.  That spooky house that everyone wants to go by on Halloween.

It is going to be difficult to put that first dab of paint on the house.  This house reminds me of many old houses I have seen in the hills and mountains of Virginia that have aged and left to go to ruin.  So many of the old places are gone now; torn down and replaced with homes with vinyl siding.  It is almost enough to make me want to change the diorama so I could leave the house just like it is.    However, I think I will save that idea for a future diorama.

It is sad to see so much of the old way of life disappearing.  Those old white farm houses used to be everywhere.  They had terracotta red or forest green tin roofs.  I remember the sound of rain on a tin roof.  It was wonderful.  Now there are a couple of generations of people about who have never heard it.  If you Google sound wave rain on tin roof, you can actually come up with some sites that have sound waves of it.  I did not put a link here because on my first attempt at finding a site you had to register to get on to the site.  However, taking time to poke around will yield plenty of other sites.

That brings back other memories of thing that have fallen away: hay ricks (follow this link for an image )
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlmO8O0tUKKPMzOStPdLSGQZYLHXHMqtqVss8zSc1C_nBnFgISYJTxo9QNFZVEsseXPvJqOrYtLnPecid48oU_ycxVDpm26GeBELLmobeLDymajrzqg7v9Pp2jATmvhQ2ME1BGWjOeb8/s1600/15.jpg  I have not seen hay ricks in a long time.  They were replaced by bales of hay and the bales were replaced by the giant roles of hay that are used today.  I'm sure that using machines to roll up the rolls of hay is quicker and much less labor intensive, but it is not nearly as picturesque.

One other thing I miss are large bells. Gigantic bells are not just an audio experience.  They are also a visceral experience: the vibration of the bell moves through your body.  When I was growing up, a church on the street where my grandparents lived had a bell tower with huge bells in it. The bells rang out every hour and half hour day and night.  First it played Westminster Chimes.  Then the bell tolled once for each hour.  On the half hour smaller bells peeled out a bar of music.  It could be pretty annoying at eleven or twelve o'clock at night, but it was a wonderful sound.  I kind of liked the bells waking me up at two or three a.m.  I'd wake up with that feeling of  "what's that noise", then realize it was the bell ringing the hour and that all was well.  Eventually, noise laws came into effect and the bells were silenced at night.  Then mill workers and other night shift workers complained that the noise affected their sleep during the day.  That silenced the bells completely.  I think we are the poorer for that.

At my other grandparent's house there was a church that mounted four stadium size speakers in their bell tower.  They decided that everyone would hear the message of their church whether they wanted to or not.  Each Sunday morning, the area was blasted with the sermon from their loud speakers.  Their plan had just the opposite effect.  With the loud speakers blasting in four directions and echoing off buildings and the hills, it resulted in an unintelligible cacophony of noise.  This went on for years.  I'm not sure the area missed that experience
much when the noise laws went into effect.  Anyway, times have changed.  Some of those changes are dearly missed.  Others: not so much.

Today's field project photo was taken at 8:30 am.  The temperature was 69 degrees Fahrenheit and the winds were calm.  It was overcast, but with only a small chance of rain.  Another section of the field has been planted.  It is still far away, but I think it is sets of cabbages.  I am not sure about why there are sections of PVC pipe in the patch.  Perhaps it is just to help find the vegetable patch in the tall grass.