1:12 scale Conservatory update

Finally, back to the conservatory. 

Almost everything here, was made using card, and some jewellery findings. About a year ago, I would have been considering making these out of metal, clay, etc. I have now decided, you can't beat card! :D Easy, cheap and fast.

This is a Chinese Evergreen plant, with leaf patterns from a real one, I have put the leaves for this onto a free printable sheet here.  Seal the ink before cutting out, either with hairspray or an appropriate sealer. There are enough leaves to make a few of the size shown here.

I only found out this plant's name last week, after spending a long time searching for it online, despite having had this plant for many years..... It turns out it likes damp, dark corners, which is lucky, because that is where it was living in real life.

 I photographed a few of the leaves, holding white paper behind each one.

 I uploaded each photo to MS paint, and used the white paint bucket tool on the white page part, so that the leaf, would hopefully, be isolated from the page, then I could resize them. Though I only did that so they would be clearer to cut around, it probably wasn't necessary. I had about four good photos, and each image was flipped using Ms Paint, to give the illusion of having eight different leaf patterns.

I cut them out with nail scissors, and lightly scored down the middle of each leaf. I overdid the stylus tool cupping.... the leaves should be flatter than these ones....then each leaf was glued onto short lengths of pre-painted silk wrapped wire, and to add sheen, I painted slightly watery PVA glue onto each leaf. I put the wires into bundles of 12 - 14 leaves, wrapped some pre-glued tissue paper around the base of the bundle, and then used tweezers to manipulate the leaves into shape.
My real Chinese Evergreen, doesn't follow natures tradition of newest leaves smallest and oldest largest, and just seems to send them out in all sizes, whatever it feels like.  I hope it's alright. Following its plan, which is so convenient, I just bundled all the sizes together randomly. 

All of these were made using 220gsm card. I used the cone making generator from this great site, Template Maker, to make the various patterns for each object, which I was then able to print onto card.  The wire handles are thread, and the funnel spouts are tubing, the watering can "arm" is a piece of plastic tubing from a cotton bud. I painted all of them with Humbrol silver paint, then before they were fully dry, I painted over them with watercolour paint, to give them a slightly rusty, old finish.

A very verdigris copper watering can, and three pitchers, again, made using 220gsm card. The watering can has a spout made using brass tubing, which also makes it topple, I had to use tacky wax to hold it in this position. It didn't even occur to me that the tubing would be too heavy for it.... I had some copper leaf which I covered it with, and it was ridiculously shiny, and it was a bit messy, so I dabbed white primer paint over most of it, and used a wet paint brush on a verdigris green chalk pastel, and painted over the white.

The three pitchers, are made from a pattern and tutorial from the blog Bricolages and Compagnie. If you click on the first photograph there, that will take you to the PDF file. I made mine rather small.. I didn't realise pitchers were quite big in real life until afterwards :D

The Candelabra was made using lots of bits and pieces. The candle holding parts are from the top down, bead, paper punched card circle, 3mm flower bead cap, crimp bead, then wire, which are all glued (with Araldite) into a fluted bead. The column from the top down, is a model boat column, another bead, earring bullet and the base is a funnel (from miniature marvel).  I dropped it a few times, by accident, which has bashed it out of alignment slightly, not that it was ever aligned perfectly, in the first place. There was rubber inside the earring bullet, which was taking up the space needed for the funnel end to go into, so after trying to drill it out, I lost patience, and burnt it out, which worked perfectly. I just held the bullet with tweezers over a flame and all that annoying rubber oozed out.  I bent the wire for the arms all at the same time. I took four pieces of wire, bent them around the handle of an exacto knife, then held the "ends" in pliers to create the bend that goes into the bead, and trimmed the ends at either end so they would all be exactly the same in length.

I am so pleased with the brackets. They were made using wire and brass strip.  I copied these from some that I saw on Pinterest, here. 

The brackets were painted with white primer paint, and then I used a fine paint brush, to dab spots of reddish brown watercolour paint to create little rust patches.

Making miniature brackets. The finished one here, is a fluke, and neither of these are the finished ones. Originally, I tried using the ends of  paper fasteners to create the bracket, but I couldn't get a good 90 degree angle, so maybe these ones not working out was a good thing.

I ended up using a thin strip of brass, bent into a perfect angle. The wires for the scrolling had to be bent into shape, individually, using needle nosed tweezers and thumbs and fingers. It was boring and more than a few of those curly, whirly bits went into the bin. I had drawn up an actual scale template (not shown here) to work from.
Before cutting and bending the wire, I took the long length of wire to be used and ran wire wool up and down it a few times, which helps the solder "grip" onto it later. After the pieces were formed I washed them in hot soapy water, dried them, and handled with tweezers from then on, and painted them with a light coat of flux.

 I arranged them as shown onto something metal, I think this is aluminium, with a 90 degree angle. I painted a bit of flux onto the surface first to help hold the pieces in place. After carefully using tweezers to place each piece so that they were touching each other, or as close as possible, I used a scalpel to cut tiny pieces of solder which were then placed onto the "join" of each piece.

Then the fun bit.

Switch the gas blow torch on, and torch it. I started off heating it slowly from a distance, before moving the flame in, I saw someone in a fine jewellery making video do it like that. To be honest, I don't really know what I am doing, I think I might have overtorched it, I am sure the wires were close to burning, but since they were being painted, I didn't worry so much. To attach the ornate swirly piece to the bracket, I did something slightly unconventional.... I used masking tape to hold the bracket onto the edge of this metal corner thing in the photo, positioned so that this ornate section would be attached right down the centre of the bracket. I lightly sanded the inside of the bracket, and washed etc. as for the swirly bits. I again used tiny bits of solder anywhere where the wires would be touching the bracket. Then torched it. The cellotape does burn. But it holds out long enough to get the job done, and open a window and keep a glass of water nearby :D Everything must be supported in some way or another when using this method of soldering, otherwise, you will end up with a mangled mess, as the torch melts all the joins made previously.  I had been using pliers to hold the ornate section in place, the first one worked, the second one crumbled....the brackets that worked where the ones that were supported at all times.

 I also used the back of a baking tin as a working surface, this one is stainless steel. It does heat up a bit, wherever you are working the flame, but it is a cheaper and easier alternative to obtaining a fire brick.

Many thanks to Pepper of Mitchy Moo Miniatures for her advice about getting one of these gas powered soldering irons and her video tutorial for using it as a torch. I still  CANNOT SOLDER via soldering tips, I have killed many soldering tips.... However, I can torch things! Believe me, if you can't solder, you can torch. And it is fun and I can think of so many things I can now make with it. An iron bench, is my big project for it.

FINALLY THE CEILING IS FINISHED! :D I added Tie bars, which in reality, would not be affixed as shown. I think I would get a demolition order for this whole build actually, if it were full sized, because those rafters aren't in the right place either. But since this is fantasy land, we can do what we like here :D Because space is limited, I want to be able to hang things from these overhead rods, and my old Falcon miniature parrot needs a perch too, for when he moves in. The "outside" is a picture in a garden book...the perspective is just slightly off :D

Pretty much the same photo again, this time with my real back garden outside, the top of a box plant looking very conveniently like a hedge, just by the window. The candelabra fell over because my crazy cat ran past to fight with my other cat, I hadn't noticed it had been knocked over, during her rampage. Must be all this sunlight making her crazy. Thanks Lisa, for ruining my scene!
The brick wall was made using pieces of card cut into Victorian sized bricks (in 1:12 scale, 1.8cm Length, 0.6cm Height, 0.85cm Depth ) each piece was stuck onto card that was cut to fit the wall. I left a gap of about a mm, for grouting. I used Unibond Quick fix and grout, to grout the bricks, using my finger tip to work it into all the gaps. This made the card warp slightly, so I placed it under a heavy book. I then used a small round wood file, to score grout lines. I put a piece of  heavy duty sandpaper face down onto the bricks and used a hammer on the back of the sandpaper to put some texture onto the bricks, admittedly it is very subtle, but I am happy with it.  I was going to have this as a red brick wall with lime wash, but it looked too fussy and closed in next to this tiled floor, and was much more convincing painted white too. The brick pattern is English Double Cross bond.

I also used the Unibond (similar to Polyfilla) on the terracotta pots, which are also made with card. I first painted the card pots, with thick watercolour, then smeared slightly watery grout onto them, you can use a paint brush to paint it onto the inside. Once the grout sets, you can lightly sand the rough finish off. This method also makes them quite tough too, and very convincing as terracotta.

My against building regulation tie bars and the blue sky, not seen for months, viewed through the roof. MUST PAINT THAT BRASS HINGE! The tie bar boss is a circle cut from wood, using a jewellers saw, with a 3mm bead cap stuck on for detail, the rods are 3mm brass tubing, with beads at either end. All held in place with drilled holes and pins.  Note to self, always paint things first, before sticking them into awkward places. What you can't see, is a very bad paint job! :D

1:12 Mock Terracotta plant pots and template

Not real clay sadly, but still effective.

The pots were made using lightweight card, that came from inside a christmas wrapping paper roll (optional :D), it is a bit stiffer than standard paper, so holds the shape quite well, though I put an additional layer of this card inside each pot, just to make it a bit thicker, and sturdier. To do this I used the same template, but cut off about 2mm from the end, so that the card would not overlap inside, and using a pencil to roll the (bottomless) pot, helps to firmly secure the card to the glue on the inside.  The rim is made using the same template of the pot, but using a strip from the top, about 2-4mm deep, and made slightly longer, keeping the curve. If you want the side of the rim to be at 90degrees to the ground, use a straight strip (pot 2 is like this, pot 4 is at the same angle as the pot)  They were flocked using Richard Stacey modelling powder in light red, though you could just paint them, or even leave them natural. The tiny one would look like those seedling starter pots, if left natural.  You could also stick embossed stickers or jewellery stampings onto the pots, before painting and flocking, which would be a nice detail.

I used the same method as Kris Compas' bucket tutorial, which is great for explaining how to make this "bucket/pot" shape. 

The template I made is for these pots.  The templates could also be used for mugs, buckets, lampshades etc. The I logic cone calcluator can be used to make templates with a larger or smaller angle than these ones. www.i-logic.com/conecalc.htm

The strange dull lighting in the photographs, is because the weather here is behaving erratically!



Graduating pots, in the same order as the template. The last pot is my first and experimental card pot, and is not on the template.  The first pot is a super cute 9mm high!



I used a needle to punch the holes in the card, before glueing the bottoms in. I now think the holes could be a tad bigger...



This is the card template, before it is rolled into its pot shape and glued using the tab, it helps to"curl" the paper pot template with a blade or something first . Glue the tab, line it up with the other side and use tweezers to hold until it sets.   DO NOT crease the tab, as this will misshape the pot, speaking from experience.  The bottom has the hole punched, and I used a stylus (blunt needle would work well) to crease the circle, to aid in bending the tabs. The tabs are created by cutting out V shapes as shown.



These pot templates were made with help using the I logic cone calculator available freely online. Or you could do it the old fashioned way and use the truncated cone formula.....................if you dare try to understand that, thankfully I found the cone calculator :D. Here I have drawn them with a true scale ruler to help with printing, hopefully that works ok, I don't have a printer,  so I don't know.   Though you could use them at any size you want.
The dotted line is just there to remind you not to cut flush to the solid line, as you will need this extra for the tabs. The pot bottom will need V notches cut into it.

P.s. If you don't own a printer, you can lightly trace these onto paper from your computer screen. I traced these shapes from the cone calculator produced shapes. Just use your screen magnifier to get them to the right size. Try not to damage your screen, should be alright if  you keep the pencilling light, mines ok, and I have been using my screen as a lightbox for years :D

Free PDF file of this template available here