Using your scraps and crafting cheaply: Foamboard

Good afternoon folks,

Now to start this off, if you are a dollhouse purist your not going to like this post. Some of us insist on using wood when wood is required, tile for tile etc ..this might be more for the model builder in you..so you might want to have gander anyways!

Some of you may be new to miniatures or building your scenes, roomboxes or vingettes and some of us just want to make scenes without spending alot of money on our hobby

That is where Jane likes to be..in the bottom of her messy craft bin..looking through scraps and seeing what can be crafted from junk!

Any way... lets talk about foamboard, polystyrene sheets, foam core.. paper covered foam sheets..yada yada..

Now you know you can create simple roomboxes from it and its pretty sturdy when you shore it up, Great tutorial by One inch minis by Kris .  You have seen my foam board structure which I covered in toilet paper clay ;)

I thought I would show you a few other uses for the scraps or if you simply want to try using it to replicate other materials.

Primary step would be to remove the paper from the surface the best you can, I simply pull it in strips and sand the top with a large fine sand pad.

STONE:

Foam board is really simple to create older brickpatterns, stones, paths steppingstones..etc

You can simply line in your patterns with a sharp pencil slowly lining first, then going over those lines again to recreate patterns

I did a simple flagstone type pattern here in pencil then dotted it a bit with the tip and eraser to create dents and holes. You can make your lines relly deep also..

You can straight paint the foamboard with acrylics or do a mix of sand, glue and paint to get the effect I did here, it adds a little more texture. Start with a dark color.

You then would add more white to a bit of your color in this case grey to add lighter or worn spots..do this along the raised areas and edges of the stones Darker spots can also be layered about in dabs to really layer the effect. 

As you can see the process is really quick, I put mine infront of a fan and added this scrap of grass and bits of foam that may or may not have been stuck to my desk ;P

Pretty effective for landscape and really cheap.. 

WOOD:

Wood can be recreated in the same way, I would think it better for worn wood/sheds, boxes crates bins..I am sure you can create a cleaner look..but I think in fantasy *chases butterflies*

Start by lining the foambord with long lines accross your surface, then deepen those lines to create the board pattern.

You can then go about laying separate boards and maybe nail holes to recreate wooden planks. 

This scrap of balsa wood is called a rough line scraper < no not really but it will assit in creating gouges in the boards if you want to make a more worn surface with texture

You can go about scraping in lines with a wire brush, firm bristle brush or homade scrap tool!

Do a better job than this..this is just for quick example..

Then once you have the details you like in the foamboard you can go abouts painting it with dark, then light then striped etc to replicate grain.

Here is a better version from my theme house...

Here are some more things you can play with, again these are works in progress but it shows you some of the things you might want to try..thinking out of the "money box"

Painted wood roof, foamboard

Old desk base pattern, carves pretty nice  

Mid century modern couch for my Theme House. Balsa wood, coffe stirrers and balsa wood.. This is just the foam board carved to create lines for the fabric, see you can create pillowed cusions pretty easy without having to sew...cause I can't...at all..  

Well I hope this gets some ideas sirring for you, I simply wanted to show you by using cheap materials and not alot of time you can create some base objects for your builds. 

Just get in there are create!! glued up fingers, painted pants and a dab of foam in your hair!! *heheheharhar* * crazy stare*

Hugs~J