Sandy Hollow

[1-32]

Russ for the perfect boiled eggs.
Lawton try blending clay the result should be a powder,
cheers

[Lawton Maner]

Kim:
     I like the picture of your backyard.  The lawn could use a couple of goats.  Your fishing cabin needs a coat of paint.

[1-32]

morning all .
Trusting you are all well?
Moving along with one of my favorite details at the moment-concrete.
This little section was originally done 3 years ago but since  I have improved my skills so time for a renovation.
My approach is to get a tough watercolour paper from up the edges and then spread an even level coat of plaster. When dry crack the plaster then build up a very light washes the keyword is light. For a bit of variety put the wet plaster in the microwave oven for a couple of seconds for a  different effect.
cheers.

[Design-HSB]

Hello Kim, yes this is important to try again and again and to improve what has been achieved if you have acquired additional knowledge. I like your revised construction phase.

[Bill Gill]

Looks really good, Kim. Neat texture and color.

Do you have any views of the microwaved version?

Another technique I've seen that you might try sometime is to spread the plaster on bandage gauze. When dry it is easy to flex to crack the plaster, but the plaster impregnated gauze still holds everything together. 

[Ray Dunakin]

Nice representation of badly aged and spalled concrete!

[1-32]

Hi Lawton, Helmut, Bill, and Ray.
cheers.
Bill the gauze is a good idea I have never of it but it is now on my list. This style of concrete in the picture crumbles a lot great it turns out to be just like rubble but it can be a bugger. Washers are used to colour the plaster I love it when it spreads into the cracks but care is needed when applying the washes to the loose plaster. The fixing stage comes later as the glue that sticks the plaster together also seals the surface stopping the washes from penetrating into the surface. What you are after is a really light coat of inks or oil-based washes the final stage is getting powders or pigments that are applied as a smudged by your finger.
Some put texture into the plaster great but it does not work when your model is viewed from a distance.
Finally the microwave but hey why not? Just one click on the control otherwise the backing will catch fire as you might have guessed I live alone. The result is like the surface of Mars a bit unreal.
All the best

[finescalerr]

Excellent. I love the overall look. -- Russ

[Lawton Maner]

Kim:
My yard has a very nice sandy loam in it.  When the dogs come and go they track it into the house, so almost daily I have to vacuum it up.  When I empty the cylinder, the dust goes into a bowl to be sifted in a fine sieve.   A nice light tan color!  No need to use SWMBO's blender to process clay.

[1-32]

Hi all .
Moving along with two new projects.
The building is a rebuild of another of my projects. A removable corner building but more an exercise of finishes and contrasts between heavily weathered walls and a roof that has very little paintwork.
The second picture an entirely new project that will have its own heading soon. My heritage has a very big atom punk come science fiction in its history with this project I want to return there . Anyway more soon.
cheers Kim.
.
.

[finescalerr]

Have you temporarily stopped work on the diorama? -- Russ

[1-32]

morning Russ.
The top building plus my new concrete is a rebuild of my traveling display South Creek. I have had a few invitations to travel both in Australia and overseas so I got all excited pulled the box out and put it back together and started the renovations -but with this new variant of Covid? The Australian government controls the number of arrivals and departures and the borders will not free up till there is 80 percent of vaccinations so till then renovate.
Sandy Hollow is a display of all the stuff I build so it is basically finished but never say never.
I have this idea for a desert vehicle that is powered by a propeller, just an idea but it will happen.
Hoping you are well another season of fires but the USA is doing very well in its fight against the pandemic.
cheers

[finescalerr]

If Sandy Hollow is basically finished, please post some overall photos so we can see how it all came together.

It is easy to understand why people from all over would want to see your dioramas but the Delta COVID variant would frighten me too much to risk any travel or even to go into a convention room. My wife and I still wear a mask when we leave home and each of us has had two Moderna vaccinations. For now I hope your peers on this forum will be a safe and satisfactory audience.

California is enduring what they say is the worst fire danger in recorded history. No place is safe. I wish the world's most influential people would finally try to combat climate change and COVID instead of talking big, doing nothing, and threatening wars.

Russ

[Les Tindall]

Russ, it must seem a bit like "groundhog day" with these fires raging again.
Les

[Design-HSB]

Kim, very nicely weathered. But why a fireplace in such a building?

I get my 2 vaccination this week the first was in April with AstraZeneca this time there should be something different with us.

I still don't go to events in closed rooms and otherwise only with a mask. Exception the dog walks in nature. The personal exchange with hobby friends is missing.