New Gnome House / Mabey Smurf House

Hi everyone, 

This is my most recent project I have completed this weekend.  My Gnome House or possible Smurf Type House, not sure yet!  I'm excited, I have been working towards having a model that I can make a mold from so I can mass produce at least 50.  So I can start a side business selling them at Miniature Shows or on my Blog and see if people would like to buy them as they would a Doll House.  But mine would be made out of 100% Paper, and be able to fit virtually anywhere, since they are not to small and not to large. 

I wish I could create each house different, but it takes me about 5 hours to make a cardboard frame for the shape of the house, and about 2 hours to add all the paper and carvings.  Not to mention the long drying time of a couple of days.  I'm hoping if i make a plaster mold of one house that it would only be an hour to press in the paper for the house, which should dry quicker within the plaster, which I could place directly into the oven to dry for a couple of hours or all day to dry.  Then pull the house out of the mold and make another.  My goal is to make a line of different houses with a limited number of each house.  Now the scary part next weekend is trying to figure out how to make a very large plaster mold of this house, and build a would box large than this house to pour the plaster into.  I have no idea what to do, but ill experiment until i figure it out.  Once the mold is made, then I will complete this house if I don't destroy it when I make a mold from it.  I hope you like! 

I'll post more pictures soon with progress as I go. 

Let me know what you think, I can handle any critizism, I think. :)

Have a Wonderful Week Everyone!

Stan

While the paper was wet I cut a line through the house.  This will be where the house is hinged to open, for easy access.

Ya its starting to dry!   I let it dry for over 1 day before I could pull out the bolt nuts that made the window openings.  It was still very wet.

Just finished pulling out more bolt nuts.

At this point I felt really proud of what I had accomplished, and really liked the look of the house so far.  I remember thinking how much it looked like a Smurf house, but in my own creative style.  I grew up watching the Smurfs, and remember how fascinated I was with the thought of miniature things living in the woods.

This is right after I added all the paper to the outside of the cardboard frame. 

I had to end up cutting open the house after a day so it could start drying, since the cardboard frame keeps all the moisture and doesn't let it dry properly.

A closer look at the inside of the cardboard frame.

This is after I used a knife to cut open the house to dry.  As you can see, the plastic grocery bags i used to make the shape of the house.

Up close look at the bolts nuts that I hot glued on to make the shapes for the windows and door.

It took me a couple of hours to figure out what to do to make window openings, so I don't have to cut into the harden paper later on.  So I hot glued on bolt nuts from the garage to give a basic shape I was looking for, for the windows and door.

The main cardboard base I made out of cardboard and duct tape and painting tape and plastic grocery bags.  This way I can get a basic shape I was looking for.

Im almost completed.  I still need to make or buy some door knobs, and build some steps for the front door.  I am sort of glad this house is almost completed.  I have a new idea of keeping with my Gnome Cottages when building houses.  After watching the new movie The Smurfs which was a cartoon i loved as a kid.  I want to start making little Mushroom Gnome Cottages, sort of like the Mushroom Houses in the Smurf Movie.  But my own take on them,  i want to be able to build a home quicker and have a line of different Mushroom Gnome Houses that i can produce to sell.  I hope you all enjoy the picures of the English Cottage.  Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

I think this is one of my favorite corners of the house, i really like the moss i added throughout the stones.

I tried to go very inexpensive for the interior, and i used paper sheets for scrapbooking from Hobby Lobby for the wall paper throughout the house.  Plus the ceiling is decorative raised paper.

I didnt have the money to buy a kitchen.  So i used some old cabinets i had, and one old stove, that i turned into the end cabinet with the tiled front.  I wanted a very old distressed look in the kitchen, so it might look like its been around for 100 years. 

The old stove i turned into the end cubboard.

I needed a light fixture for the new house, so i took a Christmas ornament off the tree and turned it into a chandalier for the dinning room area.  I just took off the crystals and wired three lights to it and painted it white, and some brown aging.

The first question that a friend asked me is were does the stairs lead to, because you would fall out of the house.  I said this is my interpertation of the house being cut open, and you are not seeing the whole house.  The interior of the home was small with no walls or anything, so i did the best i could and building walls to make room throughout the house.

I tried to get an old looking fire place, but the paint crakled a little to much.  But i decided to leave it the way it is.  I just noticed in this picture that i forgot to add the logs in the fire.  That will have to be a later project.

I actually had alot of fun aging the grandfather clock.  It was a light beige, and i added some white paint to crackle and then aged it with brown paint and scraped some edges.

I finally made alot of progress this weekend on my newest Cottage.  Last weekend I added all the paper rocks which took me about 3 days to carve the wet paper and try to make look like stones.  And all week for the paper to dry.  I'm not very good with the painting, and I continue to struggle with painting and making the stones look like stones.  I still need to work on the roof.  I'm trying to get a Hay look.  I spent about 3 hours painting the doors and windows Saturday.  I used a crackle finish to give them an aged look.  I think these stones are my best so far out of the other cottages Ive completed.  I used a different technique in how I applied the ground paper.  I hope you all like what if done so far.  Plus I got a little distracted today, and decided to build a bird house for the back yard, so the birds can have a house by the bird feeder.  You can see the Bird House I created below these photos.  I got a little carried away in the garage building the bird house in which I thought it would only take a couple hours.  But after seven hours of working I built it a little to big, and it turned out to be a BIRD MANSION.  Hopefully next weekend I can get it painted.  I'm thinking Colonial Red with a black roof and White shutters and trim.   

I hope everyone has a wonderful December and Christmas Holiday.

Merry Christmas!

Love Stan 

This is what happens when I think I'm bored, and I want to work on something other than my miniature houses.  I ended up using wood rulers for the shutters, and an old door that was supposed to be for on of my Gnome Homes.  I am so tired right now from working on this all day, I cant get up from the couch, which makes it perfect for me to upload these picures to you right now.

I plan to build it onto a big wood post with a bird feeder below the house.  Ill post more pictures when the work progresses next weekend.