Goblin Halloween Diorama - Part 20- Photos- Field Project

Adding a foil roof.

As I blogged last time, I want to put a tin roof on my miniature house for the diorama.  I experimented on different paint treatments, and on how to make that ridge in the tin look like a real roof.  I think I have succeeded.  At least, the tin is on the roof.  Although I have used hot glue on the rest of this project, I decided to try Elmer's Multipurpose Glue for the roof.  Hot glue dries quickly and I was concerned that viewers would be able to see lumps from where the hot glue dried.  Fortunately, the glue dried and held.  I did have to go in and re-glue on edge, but that was because it had not made good contact with the glue on the first try.

Field 9-14-2014

Before gluing the foil

Morning sun on a painted gazing ball.

onto the roof, I sprayed it with metal primer.  I had to put the foil on the roof before it was painted because the process of creating the creases caused the paint to scratch.  At least the damage was minimal.  Next I have to trim off the excess foil.  I did not attempt to trim it exactly to size before putting it on the building because pressing it into the creases of the small dowels change the width of the aluminum sheet.  I thought it would be easier to use a larger piece and trim it afterwards.  This also gave me a little extra wiggle  room in case I messed up the cut out for the dormer and had to make a deeper cut.  After I trim the piece, I'll paint on another coat of primer before I start using the black and terracotta colors. 


So all in all, progress is being made.  I'm glad that the foil sheeting worked.  It is a product I purchased at the craft store called Aluminum Tooling Foil.  It is an aluminum sheet that is much thicker than regular aluminum foil.  I suppose I could have purchased something similar at the hardware store, but I would have needed to purchase a much larger quantity.  Sometimes it is worth it to pay a larger price per foot at a craft store rather than to have a large amount left over that I have to find something to make to use it up.

Once the roof is completed, the house will be glued to the diorama and the steps will be added.  I can hardly wait.  I am looking  forward to getting on with the rest of the diorama.  Check back on Wednesday for more on the diorama.

It is Sunday, so that is field picture day.  The temperature was 59 degrees Fahrenheit.  Winds were from the North at seven miles per hour.  It was very cool.  The weeds seem to be growing, but it is hard to tell how the crops are doing because they are so far away in the field.  Well, perhaps things will be better next year.  The new owner started late in the season, so there was not a lot of time to get anything in the ground for this growing season.  The majority of the land is fallow.

Just thought I'd check in on an older project while I was at it.  Earlier this year I had made a ball from a papier mache' base which I covered in concrete.  I painted the ball and put it outside to see how the ball and the paint held up.  So far, it has been holding up pretty well.  The paint is not chipping.  Even though it has been a rainy summer, the ball is not showing any sign of water damage.  I think that this could be a viable alternative to using bowling balls as a base if I can figure out how to make the papier mache/ part more stable.  Once it is pulled off its mold, the ball's shape warps into an oval.  It was difficult to get the ball back into a spherical shape.  It took a long time to get it to do what I wanted it to do.  One of these days I will work on that project.  I'd still like to have an easier way to make a base for gazing balls.