How to use my Real Rust kit

The Forgotten Garden

In a long forgotten garden, where children used to play.
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 my three projects has to be:

THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN

The above scene is just an idea, put together to incorporate three projects. The project I have included this month is the old tree trunk. I shall add the Rocks and weathered door instructions in the near future.
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”
 
Instructions for the Old Tree Trunk: 
Items needed:      
Plaster Bandage       
Creative Texture Paste       
Dust/Ash       
Paint Effects Gel       
Stiff Wire       
Old Newspaper       
Scissors       
Masking Tape       
Water Container       
Water       
Selection of acrylic paints. Natural bark colours including Raw Umber       
Small gravel, stones etc.       
Grass Matting (available from Model Railway shops)       
Old Comb, Knitting Needle etc. (for creating the bark effect)

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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. Continue building up around the base, placing strips to make the illusion of roots growing around the tree stump.

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 kit. Mix some Hold It’s Shape gel with a little Brush Strokes gel, (by mixing the two products together it will give the paste a little flexibility). Now apply this ‘paste’ to your tree structure using the stick provided, 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 Paint Effects 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.