Horror Diorama - Ed Geins House.

Horror Diorama

Ed Geins House

Hey guys, Jess here and this month I'm working on a horror themed diorama, with serial killer Ed Geins house. I started out with doing some research and finding some pictures of his farmhouse and using them as reference pictures as I went along.

I wanted to house the diorama in a...well, a house. So I needed to create one from an existing GSLC product and the Split Front Box was just the perfect shining beacon for me. Take a look at the Split Front Box to get an idea of what it's normally supposed to look like and then I'm going to walk you through how I've altered it to turn it into a house shape.

I'm not going to use all the pieces, so you'll have extras to use for another project, if you so wish.

For the roof arch, you need to take two of these sloped pieces (it comes with 4)

I use a utility knife to cut all the tabs off of both the sloped pieces. You can use a craft knife, but you'll use up the sharpness in an instant, and with the utility knife you can just break off the top piece and keep moving along easily.

It's not wholly necessary, but you can also sand the edges down with a nail file once you've got the tabs removed.

I attach the sloped pieces to the top of the already (normally) assembled box part. You'll want the slope to get wider towards the opening of the box.

Then comes the addition of the foam (you knew I was going to use foam, didn't you?) - I cut the foamcore to fit the front piece and hot glued it in nice and snug.

See, it's already starting to look like a roof! Use foam to fill in the top part of the roof and the back as well.

I used coffee stir sticks along the sides of the box for wood clapboard. 

Then I textured it with my awl. 

I used some balsa wood in the base of the box to imitate the look of  what's underneath floorboards.

Then I built it up using Popsicle sticks and coffee stir sticks and base coated with burnt umber. 

Then I layered down the inside with coffee stir stick clapboard.

The shingles for the roof were next!

Next I prepped the mirror for the dresser using some tinfoil and glued it down using white PVA glue.

I basecoated the dresser in black, added a crackle medium and then painted green over top.

The dresser put together

Back to the clapboard - basecoated with burnt umber.

And then I dry brushed white over top for an aged look.

Same for the inside!

That's it for this week, lovelies - check back later this month for final pictures of how I've finished off the horror diorama!

Materials
Split Front Box
Shingles
Dresser (coming soon!)