the gnome house (process)
I had the idea to make a little room in a tree stump, and decided a Pringles tube would be the right size to make a good base. this also gave me an excuse to buy and eat Pringles
I traced the base of the can on paper, decided what furniture I wanted and worked out a scale
the inside wall is a piece of card painted with a vague wood effect
the floor is lollipop sticks trimmed and painted, stuck to a piece of card and cut to size and glued in place
the shelf is based on scaled measurements of a shelf in my home, I did a mock-up with paper then made it from basswood or balsawood glued together. the table is wood and matchsticks, with a scrap of fabric
used the technique from making RoLife Sam’s Study for the books - little squares of wood with covers of paper which I decorated. The book on the table is a strip of paper concertina’d, again with a cover of paper. I liked making the little books, if they were going to be more visible I could print out proper book covers in future projects. the picture frames and clock are various paper/card/wood, and the flowers are paper and wire in a polymer clay cup
the rug is felt, I think it’s a bit too textured, so I would maybe try something different another time
the toadstools, gnomes and bugs are polymer clay. I think the ladybird and snail came out pretty cute
for the tree roots and bark I made papier mache using PVA glue, decoupage medium, paint, water and loo roll. turned out better than I expected
the moss is torn up bits of sponge, again mixed with paint and glue. I was meaning to buy fake foliage/flocking but didn’t get round to it, but I like how this looks
Overall I’m happy with how the house turned out. I wanted to try an electric light and I could have added more little details, but decided to limit how much time I spent on it
The main thing I’m not pleased with is mostly just lack of planning on the gnomes. I only eyeballed in the armature length, and then did that thing like with pasta where it looks the right amount but you forget how much it expands. I only had a fairly thick armature wire, and as they’re a kind of chubby chibi-ish build they ended up a lot bigger than the wire. I then also didn’t make an effort with where the joints would be on the armature, so their little legs don’t sit very well and the arms may not be the same length. but yeah they’re just way too big. In future I’d find a similar sized figure to reference and/or make a paper cut-out to follow