Messy Interior

The interior was a mess. The last I did on it was to add flooring and somehow it all got glued in crooked so I had to rip it back out. While I had it out, I decided it would be easier to finish the walls before putting it back in. So that's what I did.

I picked some pretty scrapbooking papers out, cut them to fit certain sections and glued them in.

I glued the sides first and then I saved the hardest for last.

With the paper all glued in it looks much nicer and cleaner. I never really knew what I was going to do with the interior. I thought at one time that I would just paint it but later changed my mind. I'm glad I decided to cover it with paper instead.

That made the biggest difference!

Stump Cottage Revisited

So working on the canned ham got me restarted on ideas for Stump Cottage. Stump Cottage was started back in 2006. It was my work-world liberation piece. I started it the day I was laid off from a place I had worked for 14 years. I was not upset like most people would be. I came home, grabbed some cardboard and glue and never looked back. Good riddance to the 9 to 5.

I needed to connect to nature again somehow and this is how I did it. I made Stump Cottage. I put it away for a few years and brought it back out recently to work on it some more. I recently re-did the door and made a few other changes but never really finishing it bugged me - so it's about time I did.

The first thing I did since the last stumpy post was clean it up a little. I had to tear off old pieces of moss and debris from a previous refurbish And then I started to reinforce the structure in places that had weakened with time.

I had used a paper mache with newspaper over a coke container cardboard structure. It had some weak spots. So I found this great paper clay recipe on Ultimate Paper Mache  by Jonni Good. This recipe has been altered and redone so many times by other people but you want to get hers, it's the original toilet paper made paper clay recipe with Elmer's glue and drywall compound.

This stuff dries like rock. I love it. It's easy and quick to make. It's like butta... well, not really like butta but it is good stuff! And it made the stump hard as real wood.

The Removable Wall

The removable wall had a lot of wasted space on it so I decided to build a bookshelf/cabinet to go over the wheel well box. In fact, the bookcase is what helps to hold it on.

I could make the bottom half of the shelf unit into a refrigerator because I just ran out of room on the sink for everything I wanted on that side of the camper. But for now the shelves rest on the wheel well cover and there's still room for a chair or something else on that side of the wall.

I might need to make some blinds or curtains for all the windows.

Unicorn Update

I have several irons in the fire right now. I like to stay busy. I'm already working on Christmas and I'm also doing several sculpts in between projects. I have all the layers on these two but as soon as I say that, I'll want to add more to a few areas before I paint.

My unicorn is really shaping up. I still have to add the detail to his feet and give him a little more muscle definition before I'm happy.

The paper clay recipe I used is extremely hard when it dries. He accidentally got knocked over and only one crack on one leg. It was an easy fix.

I also made this little bunny. It was more fun to make because you can have a shape that resembles a bunny and you would have to mess up horribly for it not to be recognized as a bunny but with a horse, you pretty much have to be more exact to make it look right.

The fur hides a lot of mistakes. So I've got one more layer to the bunny for fur and then I can paint it. I like to let them dry for a few days in between layers to make sure they are good and dry. I also put them in front of a heater and turn them.

Cement Block and Steps

The first cement block I made was just a scrap piece of wood that I painted. It looks ok but not exactly what I wanted. I wanted a block that had real holes in it and was textured to look like cement.

I decided to cut out thick cardboard on my Cricut machine so first I had to design a block shape and import it into the program. Then I cut out about 30 pieces of the pattern and just glued them all together to make a more realistic block.

Once it was dry, I filled in the sides with a little paper clay and added texture with it. Then I painted it with two shades of grey paint dabbed on.

THE STEP

I wanted a little pullout step up to the camper door so I used florist's wire and a piece of large popsicle stick to make one. I drilled two holes into the step and bent my wire around it. Then I drilled holes into the frame and pushed my wire through. I bent the ends so the step would stop at about an inch.

The step slide in and out easily as needed, just like a real one. All I have to do now is paint it.

Baby Unicorn

Every now and then I like to sharpen my sculpting skills. I love to make animals and miniatures. I once sculpted a set of carousel animals using this method of paper clay over cardboard.  I also have recently learned how to make my own paper clay and it saves me a ton of money from buying the kind I used when I made dolls and carousel animals years ago - and it's just as strong, if not stronger.

I got the paper clay recipe from Jonni Good at Ultimate Paper Mache. It's been going around the internet for a few years with small changes to her original recipe but stick with hers because it is the best and the ORIGINAL one.

I got her instructions for making a baby unicorn and rabbit from patterns I purchased from her web site. I decided to make the unicorn first but I changed the instructions on mine because I've sculpted with all these materials before and pretty much know how I wanted to make mine.

I decided to use layers of corrugated cardboard with paper clay and not use aluminum foil and epoxy clay. I used what I had. I use foil under polymer clay but I don't like it under paper clay, I would rather build my sculpts up with cardboard for the thicknesses I need.

It's just a personal preference and you can do it any way you like. I followed the rest of her instructions pretty much though. I used florist's wire to reinforce the legs and neck. And I used a lot of hot glue to strengthen up these areas and hold the wire on to the cardboard. I added masking tape in places to help hold the next layer of paper clay on.

I built the thickest parts of the horse up over time and allowed it to dry thoroughly between layers. So far I have the start of a good looking little unicorn. He comes in around 12" tall to the tips of his ears. It's a start.

The Outside

It's starting to really come together now. I used a crimping tool and poster board to make the strip going around the center and between the windows look like trailer siding. It was just what I was looking for.

I also took strips of poster board and bent them back and forth in irregular patterns to look like vertical siding for the rest of the exterior. I used turbo tack to glue them on. Match sticks around the outside windows for framing and popsicle sticks around the door but I'm going to change that because my door won't open all the way.

I filled in any corners and cracks with turbo tacky glue and painted with acrylic paint when it was dry. I may add some aluminum strips to the outside later - or not. But I definitely will add reflectors and lights to the back end.

Cushions and The Sink

I ran florist wire through a hollowed out black wire so I could bend it into a hook for the faucet, then painted it silver. I made the faucet handles out of bent florist wire painted silver too.

I had the miniature guitar so I used it as a prop. The "cushions" were covered with fabric paper from the Country Home stack and glued over foam core board. I made the "pillows" from foam core too.

The stove burner is a punched out snowflake that has been trimmed. I covered the walls and door with fabric and paper from the stack then I glued my furniture in place.

The little word signs are cut out of a piece of gold word paper from the same stack and little match stick frames were glued to the edges.

I also glued a little edge onto the table to give it a more solid feel and covered the bench cushions too. After I got the walls done and the windows in, I added woodwork inside to cover the edges.