Day of the Dead Fairy Tavern :: Christmas Present :: Thrym Project

[Thrym 8349]

It's the holidays, so I present to you ...

The Day of the Dead Fairy Tavern

"Zapata's Skull & Rose"

 

Okay, it's hokey, but my daughter enjoys the masks and such from the Day of the Dead and as I was trying out my homemade paper clay, I started to shape the fairy garden house.  When I placed the windows where they ended up, they reminded me of a cockeyed skull and the idea was born.

 

The List

 

Das Air Dry Clay

Two Plastic Bottles of different size with the bottoms cut off.

Glue Gun and Hot Glue

Aluminum Foil

Painters or Masking Tape

Cardboard for the base

Extra Plastic from Product Packaging

Homemade Paper Clay

 

Construction

 

First off, if you haven't had the chance and want to do something like this ... I do plan to make terrain, etc. using these components ... I suggest Creative Mom's YouTube channel.  Yes, it's all Fairy Homes and such but she does a damn good job on construction and design using the above components.  They are lightweight and durable and hold a solid edge if you want to use any of those cool terrain stamps many of us bought into or a mold.

 

I hot glued the two bottles together so the cut ends are flush. I used a lot of glue to ensure that they were together solidly.  Then after measuring a terracotta pot against the cardboard round from a frozen pizza, I glued the bottles to the cardboard.  I wanted to ensure that there was space to glue the base to the pot's rim but not have the building flush to the edge.

 

I then glued some aluminum foil to the bottles to form some shapes.  The "hat" was planned all along but it's going to be a sombrero now.  So I glued a ring of foil around the bottle top and then added foil over the ring and flattened the edges.  To strengthen the form and blend the bottleneck out a bit I used the painters' tape around the brim and across the back where the "smokestack" comes up.

 

To help bridge in between the two bottles a bit more I added a rope of foil from the front to the back in an arc and glued it down.   Then I added more foil atop the cap of the second bottle to make it taller like and then used more foil and painters' tape to make it more of a long neck bottle.  I glued a rectangle of packaging to the front as a box window.

 

With everything constructed, I spackled the shape with the Homemade Paper Clay.  The reason I used the Homemade Paper Clay first is that I used recycled shredded paper instead of toilet paper to make the clay so it's very, lumpy.

 

The initial skinning of Homemade Paper Clay.

 

The Stucco

 

From here I wanted to apply a smoother surface for the finished product and wanted to add some sculpting.  So instead of using a finer Homemade Paper Clay, I went for my Das Air Dry Clay.  I created the skull face first.

 

 

Then tonight I skinned the "bottle" side of the tavern adding a petal edge to the front and back around the neck and blocking out the window.

 

 

What's Next?

 

Well, I have to finish the back of the skull side and then the sombrero.  I have three Day of the Dead skull buttons I am going to embed in the sombrero per fairly common costumes.

 

 

 

I'll also add a bunch of details to the building and naturally, I will do my usual work on the ground.  There are a lot of skulls that show a thin mustache for male ones, so I think I might make a series of boards tacked up to make a thin mustache to frame the doorway.

 

 

This is a vector skull I manipulated to sort of match my quazy skull face.  I am thinking of doing it black on white like this.

 

As usual, thoughts and comments are welcome.

 

Enjoy and Stay Tuned!

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by Thrym

[Corsair 19052]

Absolutely enjoying and following this!

[Glitterwolf 161329]

Great idea!

[Thrym 8349]

I added the Sombrero and the Sugar Skull buttons to the tavern today.

 

 

Here is a close up of the Sombrero.

 

 

I think it turned out pretty good so far.

 

I also skinned the remainder of the skull and cleaned a couple of spots.

 

Tomorrow I start adding details after some really light sanding.

 

Stay turned and Enjoy!

[Warlady 4098]

That is looking really sweet!

[Thrym 8349]

Sculpted teeth for the door mantle.

 

[Glitterwolf 161329]

Great progress!