Previously you may have seen my efforts to create a Halloween Village. The material was a plaster type paste that I sculpted while wet and let it dry then I sanded and painted, then added rock/sand/trees to create the landscape.
My efforts now have been put towards the Christmas village. Luckily I only have to deal with White as my main color. But there are textures and dimensions I must consider. This time I used Styrofoam. Not the crunchy kind that has holes, rather the kind you find in your boxes that is made up of small balls pressed together. The cool thing about Styrofoam is that it can be cut with a hot knife. And it is very lightweight. AND I don't have to wait for it to dry.
This time I made sure to make the pieces smaller so I can store them in a box in the attic.The shelf is the same one used for the halloween village. Also I added water. Another techique that I had to learn to do. This has been a great challenge. The expense of the Water (Epoxy) was more than ALL of the styrofoam for the whole village. I am going to have to find a better source for the Epoxy.
Below are the pictures for the village. Unlike the Halloween pictures, the night time lighting did not do well so I used a flash.
There are closeups to follow but here is what you see in this overall picture
#1 The village Duo, Cello & Violin
#2 Little girl greeting her father
#3 Paul's Pub
#4 The Dairy Shop
#5 The Winery
#6 The Milnery shop
#7 Joy's cottage
#8 The Inn
Here is #1 the Village Duo
#2 Little Girl greeting father.
#3 Paul's Pub and the arrow is pointing at the stairs I carved into the hillside. Also the Cheese Head guy that is selling cheese from the Dairy shop.
#5 the Winery
#7 Joy's Cottage
This is the play area from a distance. The town furniture store on the hill and all the children playing in the snow. The #1 scene is in closeup below.
I found the Snowball fight at a thrift store for $4.99 and it is a Dept. 56 scene. I got a good deal on it. The grandkids love watching it. Don't know if they think that snowball will fly off or what. The ball is animated and swings on the stick from one boy to the other.
This is the site of the Mill on the right side of the village.
Here is the largest of the two water techniques. There is irredescent tinsel embedded in the epoxy that shines at different angles and lighting. I also put "Buffalo Snow" around the edges which soaked into the Epoxy by accident, but it made the edges of the water look like it was turning into ice so it worked out great. After it all dried I added more "Buffalo Snow" to create a bank of snow on the edge. These are glued in. Buffalo Snow is a fake snow that is celluose based and will wash away with water so if next year I want to change it I just need to wet it down.
Those of us who live in the Canby/Oregon City area are familiar with the wood carver that lives along 99E highway. This scene is in honor of him. The log cabin and his stump out in front where he carves.
Here is the Alps section of the village.
#1 Placing the star
#2 Ski Lodge/Chalet
#3 Stairs I carved into the mountain side.
#1 Placing the star again such humor with these figures. Can you really believe the horse will stay still while you stand on his back to place the star???
#2 The Ski lodge/chalet plays music and the skiers go around. BUT when I bought this there was no lights. I opened it up and installed battery operated rice lights I bought at Ikea. The arrow on the left shows the RED tape I used. Only if you are down at kid level do you see this. The arrow on the right shows a skier that has an amputated arm. . .it broke off when I was installing the lights. So I call this event the Special Olympics Winter version.
We are still in the Alps section and this is a second mill. There are more deer here and a carriage goin to the mountain.
#1 Second water technique
#2 Deer eating snowman nose
Here is #2. . I just love the humor of this scene, the Deer eating the Snowman's nose (carrot). The grandkids love it too.
If you have reached the end of this blog then I am honored. Most people just look at the pics and that is good too. I put in the details for those of my friends that are interested in learning of hearing about the techniques, errors and successes I achieve during my creative process. If you can look at the pictures and see the village and scenes and never really notice the landscape unless I point it out. . .then I was successful. Every bit of that styrofoam was scupted and textured. I did not leave any of it in it's store bought condition.
The figurines have been collected over the past 10 years. The majority of them are the less expensive version. And many many of them I have picked up at thrift stores. I want all my villages to be kid friendly for 2year olds and up. So if something gets chipped or broke it now has a story behind it. . .and it makes it fun for me to shop for replacements.
Thank you for viewing and enjoying my efforts.
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