Jump to content

Building a Tree ...


FreeDragon

Recommended Posts

Good, great, to hear the shop works (= inspiration?) Had a long summer already and have much to clear out of the 'bower' before snow flies. Have sold two: one not even built, and agreed to assemble a third, a Willow, for a friend. Wasn't looking to sell them all, just wanted to build them. Don't have a desire to keep them, either. Just build them. I recently ordered a Vineyard for myself: the 'fairy house' to build for myself that HH was going to be before 'she' came in and said, "Oooh, I love haunted houses!" Good enough - and gone! Now, the "Willow." I'll send it on it's way and get back to the 'Harrison.'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've thought about doing a fairy tree house ever since I used Monster Mud to dress a grim reaper skeleton tombstone for Halloween. It uses regular acrylic outdoor house paint and joint compound and I used some really cheap muslin. Recipe and instructions can be found here http://www.terrorsyndicate.com/tsp_mm.html . I scaled down the recipe since I didn't want that much, think I used a quarter of it, and it was just perfect for a skeleton that is about 28-30" tall. I haven't taken a picture of the tombstone since I reworked it, but I got a beautiful drape on the material and it dried really hard. The mixture makes the cloth easy to work with and get the shape you want. The texture when dry is very rough and tree bark-like, which is what made me think of a fairy tree house. I redid him probably in November and he's been out in our garage since (southern Florida so it's been warm to hot most of the time) and so far he seems to be holding up. Apparently the Terror Syndicate people use their props outside for sevearl seasons at least so I'd think it would last a long time.

Karen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh this sounds like fun. I would do it inside a stump. You can find lots of hollow stumps out in the woods. Look for smaller ones. Then bring it home and put it in your stove oven at 200 degrees for about 9 or 10 hours to kill any bacteria and other critters in it, then work on it so your house will fit inside it. They can be lovely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

haha i like this topic!

i have just finished a faerie treehouse yesterday.

not a dollshouse, it only has a living room and a bedroom.

and i had so much fun working on it!

and so many ideas kept popping into my head, unfortunately

it had to fit in a small space so a lot of ideas i did not get to make.

the outside is made of cherryberk.

photos are on my space.

i am looking forward to what you all make!

and i hope you have at least as much fun as i did!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, Gee! Welcome to the Un-Official Far Too Busy/Procrastinator's Fairy Treehouse Building Club! Yay! LOL

Moving very slowly on this end. Husband has been redoing my space since September which leaves me with virtually nowhere to work on projects. Still have the 'Willow' hanging around; it's a freebie so not really an issue with time constraints there, but irregardless it is taking up space. Had gathered some awesome 'shrooms for the fairies - most have blown away like dust in the wind! Unusable. Will have to start again with those and find a way to dry and keep them intact. (Hmmm ....) Otherwise bark, moss, lichens, mold all doing well. Branch piles increasing. Did have a honeycomb, about 1 1/2" x 2" that has mostly fallen apart. Think I'll spray that to keep the remainder intact. Did have three, count them, three!, mud dauber nests! Did 'til husband saw them, thought they were 'cool' and stepped on them. Oh well. There's always next years hornet crop. Daughter's Harrison is still setting there, waiting. Christmas house? Sure - maybe next year.

Anyway Gee, welcome. Linda, Deb, myself - the plans remain. When they come to fruition we are gonna be a sight to see!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I'm a little late to your Un-Official Far Too Busy/Procrastinator's Fairy Treehouse Building Club but if there's still room I think I would like to join. I'm been reading up a little on hypertufa and papercrete, with the thought of making a spreadable mix to spatula onto a frame. It wouldn't be as light as paper mache but I want to make my tree about 5', so I might need the weight to keep it upright.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Free Spirit (I like that name) thanks for your welcome!

Someone in the Netherlands built a faerie house from scratch.

I don't know if its helpfull to anyone but I will try to explain how she did it,

in my lmited English, maybe anyone here can use the idea.

She made the floors out of plywood, and stacked the floors like in a dollshouse.

She made two rooms, on top of that two rooms, up to four floors.

it was huge.

then she made paper mache and with that she made the outside, in a tree shape, she left the front open.

it took several days to dry.

then she took glue for tiles, based on water, the one you can glue tiles to your bathroom floor with.

hope it is clear what i mean by that.

she mixed that stuff with soil (about 50/50) and put it on the outside.

so she covered the paper mache with it.

again this took several days to dry (outside or in a garage).

when it was completely dry she painted the outside with several colours of very diluted paint, so it would resemble tree bark.

then she varnished the whole outside.

must say, it looked remarkably real.

she painted the inside (paper mache) and finished the interior.

i think it looked amazing.

unfortunately, i have forgotten her name

and do not have a link to her site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

she bought the soil at a whatchamacallit... a store where they sell plants and flowers and pots.

they steam the soil so critters won't survive in there.

don't know if thats done in other countries too,though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...