A lonely swing remembers, a fun filled exciting day.

Now the years have passed on by, without a sorry or pardon.

A lonely swing sways gently, in the forgotten garden.

 

 

 

 

A garden, both restful and stimulating, it can fire the imagination and creativity.

When we feel tired, stressed or sad a garden can be soothing and calming. On a warm summers day or a still summer evening, to listen to the birds song and hear the sounds of trickling water from a garden fountain or a nearby stream. That’s luxury. Even an old neglected garden can have it’s own sense of charm. Not everything in life is pristine, new and perfect, this also applies to the miniature world. With this in mind I hope you find the following project ideas interesting and inspiring. They are not necessarily the correct and only method to use, but they seem to work, and by adding your own techniques, experiments and expertise I’m sure you will produce some stunning results, so the theme for the following three projects has to be:

THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN

The centre piece scene is just an idea, put together to incorporate all three projects. You will of course have your own ideas for a theme and design. But what ever it is, have fun!

 

 

 

For the whole project I used a piece of 3mm MDF 9” x 18”

 

 

Items needed:

 

Step 1.       Take a length of galvanized wire or similar that will hold it’s shape. Decide the size and shape of the main trunk of the tree and bend the wire accordingly. Secure this in an upright position using a piece of wax or plasticine, etc. or secure directly into a board. If you do not want your tree to be part of a scene then use the wax or plasticine method, you can then place the tree anywhere. If a portable tree is required first lay a sheet of strong cling film or a smoothed out carrier bag onto a board, plaster does not stick readily to plastic as it does with other materials, and this will make it easier to remove your finished tree from the board.

 

Step 2.       Now tear your newspaper into strips, and crunch up. Wrap these ‘crunched’ strips loosely round the wire to form the core of your tree and rough shape. Secure these strips with masking tape. Add more paper to the base of the tree, and other parts where you think appropriate. By building up the tree form with newspaper you will save on the amount of plaster bandage you use. Don’t be concerned about a soft centre under you plaster bandage, as this will dry rock hard.

Step 3.       Now take your plaster bandage and cut into workable strips.

 

  

Step 4.       Place a strip of bandage into your tray/container of water and leave for two to three seconds.

   

Step 5.       Remove the strip from the water and lightly wring out the excess water and smooth open the bandage.

 

 

Step 6.       Wrap this moist strip around the newspaper form. Continue to apply the strips of plaster bandage until you have covered the whole form. Plaster bandage is quite strong and so you should only need about a couple of layers to establish the basic shape.

Step 7.       One you have your basic shape you can continue to add any knots, stumps etc. This is done by moulding the strips of plaster bandage onto the basic form.

 

Step 8.       If you want your tree to look like an old knarled trunk, then by adding squeezed out strips of bandage you can create indentations, spreading roots etc.

 

Step 9.       When you are happy with the shape, you can add the ‘Bark Texture’ which will bring the tree to life. This is achieved by using the Creative Texture Paste, . Now apply this ‘paste’ to your tree structure, apply it as you would do icing a cake but make sure you work in sections at a time, combing, tampering and scraping etc. as you go. Make your patterns uneven, swirl them around to imitate knots. If you can, have a piece of bark from the garden in front of you to remind yourself how it looks in nature. When you are happy with your results, leave it to dry, touch dry is sufficient. At this stage you may feel that all your efforts in creating a texture are not that visible, however you will reap your reward when you apply your stains.

 

Step 10.     From now on the following stages bring the project to life. By using a range of earth colour acrylic paints, begin to build up various shades of colour that you would find in bark. These paints should be watered down to almost a ‘wash’ stain, and can be mixed in advance and kept in old yoghurt pots until they are needed and the project finished.

 

 

Step 11.     When the colouring process is to your liking, using a sponge take some ‘Dust/Ash’ powder and lightly dab this around the crevices etc. You may notice that natures bark, in places has a crusty, sometimes powdery look to it. This can be achieved by using a very watery mix of PVA glue, or paint medium. Apply this with a dry sponge making sure you only slightly dampen the bark texture. You need to dab randomly and sparingly. Then dab or sprinkle Whiting Powder onto the surface and leave to dry.

 

Step 12.     Now you have the finished tree you need to concentrate on the ground cover. I find a realistic look is achieved by mixing, Dust/Ash powder, Raw Umber acrylic paint, water and transparent gel together to form a gooey mess. Put this aside until ready. Then mix some PVA glue with water, and paint this solution between the roots of the tree. Work in sections so that it does not dry out. Take some model railway grass, this is a matted sheet which can be torn into small pieces. Apply pieces to the wet glue. Dip a sponge or brush into your gooey mess and tamper down the grass with the mixture. This will create an uneven greeny, muddy look, much more realistic than a uniform green appearance which would be achieved if using only paint or modelers grass.

 

Finish off by adding more mud in places, gravel, rocks, etc.

 

 

 

Items needed:

Rocks can be formed by using the same method for tree bark. But instead of using wire and newspaper, use broken up pieces of polystyrene wrapped in Plaster Bandage, textured with  Creative Texture Paste,  also, if you have some you could add a little amount of Transparent Gel, this helps to give the finished surface a little more "movement" .  Finish by painting with appropriate colours, again watered down.

The amount needed for the project will be dependant on the size of rocks you make.

 

 

 

Items needed:

 

Step 1.       Prepare the bare wood by firstly scoring to represent planks. Then proceed to gouge out between the ‘planks’ to represent worn and rotting areas, paying particular attention to some of the obvious areas such as, the bottom of the door, around the base, where it would have come into contact with the ground and where moisture would have collected to rot the wood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2.       Mix a little ‘Creative Texture Gel with a very small amount of Transparent Gel' (this gives it a little flexibility) then with a sponge or brush apply to the bare wood. Try not to fill the ‘plank’ crevices. Before this sets make marks to imitate rough lifted wood, grain and knots, don’t be too fussy. Be bold, this has to look badly neglected.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3.       Apply a watered down coat of Acrylic or Matt Emulsion paint (not vinyl) . A light colour to begin with.

 

Step 4.       Apply a second coat of paint, this time choosing a darker colour. If you water a little down to a stain consistency, you can apply this to the crevices between the planks. Continue building up various colours, light and dark. Be careful not to fill in the cracks and crevices that you have already prepared. The paint layers may be applied with a brush or sponge. Again, be bold. You can even use ‘Dust’ and bits mixed in with your paint or on your sponge or paintbrush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5.       Apply a layer of ‘Cracking Paint Solution’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6.       When the ‘Cracking Paint Solution’ is almost dry, apply a top coat of a light coloured acrylic or emulsion paint, which can be watered down using no more than 10% of water. The thicker the coat of paint applied, the larger the cracks will appear. As this begins to dry (takes only a few minutes), it will begin to crack. At this point take a piece of soft rag and moisten it with water and proceed to lightly rub away portions. As you do this it will begin to ‘lift’ and become quite gooey. Now leave it to dry. Try not to over do this stage.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 7.       Finishing Touches - When dry use a little raw umber acrylic paint mixed with ‘Paint Effects Gel’ very sparingly dab onto the surface making sure you do not ‘over wet’ with this solution or you may land up with a shiny appearance. Then with a dry sponge dab over the surface. When almost dry dust with ‘Ash/Dust’ powder and a little ‘Soot Powder’ around the base etc.

To create a muddy appearance around the base of the shed, add together a little ‘Dust/Ash Powder’ and ‘Creative Texture Gel’ apply to base and while still wet stick twigs, gravel, sand, grass etc. into it and you will create a realistic ‘alive’ look. Leave to dry.

Remember, don’t try to be too fussy, and remember, be bold.

 

Step 8.       The rusty roof is made by firstly applying a sheet of fine sand paper to the wood, this will give an elusion of a felt roof. Then using my Real Rust solution a rusty appearance is achieved. A corrugated iron roof can be made by using pieces of corrugated card glued to the roof and then rusted by using the Real Rust solution. Full instructions on using the Real Rust solution are included in the Real Rust Kit.

 

 

My Forgotten Garden project also includes a tree with a few branches – This is created using the same method as the old tree trunk, but by adding a few branches to the main wire stem, a more tree like appearance can be created.

The old path was made by laying bricks, which I made from plaster. These can be made by firstly producing a brick mould from my Silicone Mould Making Solution, and then using Plaster to create as many bricks as you need. These are then glued to the baseboard and given an aged look by firstly sanding them in places to give a worn look and then applying acrylic paints, dust/ash, soot and ‘bits’ to build up the aged look.

 

I finished off by covering all the bare baseboard wood with the muddy, grass method used around the tree trunk roots. I added small grasses, flowers, moss etc. These can be acquired usually for free by calling into your local florist and asking for any sweepings from the floor, they may look at you as if mad, but they don’t mind obliging when you tell them what you are doing.

I then poured Imitation Water over the rocks, added a swing made from a small piece of Balsa wood and string. Then to finish it off and to give it a ‘living’ feel I made a couple of mice and a bird from Sculpey, I found a chicken and a cat (I had bought them a couple of years ago, those items you see and think I must have that and then they sit in a cupboard for years, because you don’t quite know what to do with them) and glued them into my Forgotten Garden project.

 

I hope I have inspired you to have a go.  A number of the products needed for these projects you will find in my "on-line" catalogue