Prison Cell Completed!

Hey guys, Jess here with the final installment of the prison cell made from the Arched Room Box that you can find on Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts under the category "miniatures"

What I ended up doing was cutting off the tabs for the front arched piece, as you'll see below and I have it set up so that it actually fits snuggly inside, along with the foam walls I added. I did this so that I can either have the box set up *with*the arches, to give it more of a prison feeling, or I can have it set up without so that you can see all the little bits easier.

Here's the full view without the arched front.

Our prisoner is granted a burlap blanket, some reading material and a couple other things...

The prisoner has a pet mouse - because wouldn't you make friends with the mice if you were in prison. The mouse needs a name - anyone have any suggestions?

Hello little mouse!

Some books and scrolls stacked under his cot.

Our prisoner has tried to break-out through the sewers.

A reminder of past prisoners. The guards don't like to clean up.

Did you spot the key before this picture? Good catch! There's a reason the prison cell is empty!

His dinner cup and a scroll from his....lawyer? 

Full view of the bed.

He's been in prison for 15 - days, weeks, months...or years?

Oberon Fields is actually the name of the main character of a book series I'm writing.

GSLC Materials:

 Arched Room Box

Alpha Stamps Materials:

Tiny Books Collage Sheet

Prison Cell - Part Three

Hey guys, Jess here to update you on the prison cell project. Last week we ended with finishing the floor and filling in with poly filla.

The longest part of painting a project is usually waiting for it to dry - especially when you're using several layers of washes which contain more water than paint. I had to begin by "black basing" the prison cell. I had to mix a small amount of black paint with lots of water so that it would drip into the crevices between each brick. Once dry, I had to add another 2-3 layers of the black wash.

The key for stone is layering and dry brushing grey paint.

Here's a dry brushed grey stone, but old stone isn't just grey, is it? It's got layers, it's brown and mossy and has more colour opportunities. So we go back to making various washes.

Green wash between the bricks to add a mossy look. Then I used a damp brush with just water on it to thin it and spread it out more fully.

Here you'll also see I clipped some of the bars on the back window to add more dimension to the project.

Here's the green mixed in more - we have more layering of washes to go - this process took me a full day to get right.

Here you can see the layers of brown washes, green washes and then a muddying of the two together to get the stone to look older and more well worn.

I use jewelry wire to push through the foam as something to hold the chain you'll see below.

I carved the mattress and wood base out of one solid piece of pink foam. I took a nail file to it to indent it and make it look more like an old mattress. On the wall here you'll also see foam painted to look like wood that I've pushed jewelry wire through so that I can attach jewelry chain to, as seen below: 

I got this chain from Dollar Tree and it works perfectly in scale for 1:12 chain. This is used to "hold up" the bed.

Prison Cell - Part Two

Hey guys, Jess here! Welcome back to the prison cell project. Last week we ended up here:

I finished up the walls and glued them in place.

Just to take a quick look at how things are going to turn out when the project is finished. It's here that I started having doubts about the tabs and keeping the project glued closed. You might notice as we go on from this point that I shaved off the tabs on the front piece. My plan is to hinge the front, so it can be swung open to better view the inside. I'm already running into issues with that, but things tend to work out in the end, so I remain hopeful. 

For the floor I wanted something more detailed than a traditional brick pattern, so I used a half circle method of laying down brick. I started on the left, worked my way right and then on the top layer I started right and worked left. Using my red pen, I pressed into my white foamcore to create the bricks.

Here's the floor in place when finished.

Here you can see a closer view of how the stones fit together.

For the front arches, I want it to have the look of a prison so I cut out tiny bits of the foamcore, like I did for the window inside and shaved each side of all of them. I hot glued them in place.

Here's the front finished with the bricks - I will warn you, all of the steps I did this week on the prison cell project are very time consuming. This is not a quick project. Put something on TV - binge watch a TV show on Netflix, because this is all tedious and takes forever - BUT - you will like how it turns out when it's finished.

These are bamboo skewers. They're the perfect diameter for prison bars and can easily be snipped with wire cutters or scissors.

Here's the bars on the back window. I stuffed them into the foam a bit and glued them to make sure they won't go anywhere.

I really like the shutters that GSLC makes because I can use them for so many things. Here, I'm using the GSLC shutters to create a grate in the cell. I cut the shutter and the bottom to fit the size I need.

Neatly cut, I use it as a stencil and trace it's shape into the floor.

Cut out the shape in the floor and add some hot glue (my weakness is having things dry quickly)

And then it sits nice and cozy in the floor, rather than sitting on top.

I love Poly Filla and use it for everything. In this project I use it to fill in gabs between the chip board and the foam.

Here's a quick look at the inside of the arch - it will only been seen if you open the project or peak through the back window.

I use my fingers to push the polly filla over the foam and chip board.

Fully filled in and waiting to dry.

Next week I'll show you all the steps I go through to pain the prison cell, so don't forget to check back!

Materials Used:

Arched Front Room Box

Shutters

Medieval Prison - Room Box Walk-Through

Jess here and it's July and here in Southern Ontario it's hot, hot hot! This month I'm working with the Arched Room Box on another full-out diorama. I'm going to walk you through the process, with pictures in each step to show you what I've done and how I've done it. If you have any questions as we go along, don't hesitate to leave me a comment so I can give you a hand.

This diorama is based on a stone cell from a fantasy novel or from the medieval period. We're going to make it look ancient and very well used.

I started with a quick Google search for an arched window, found one that would work and printed it out on a piece of cardstock. 

Once cut out, it can be used as a template for the back of the box to add a window detail. it will give the cell dimension.

I marked out the whole piece with a ruler so that I knew it would be going on straight and then using a box cutter (a craft knife will also work) I cut out my chosen shape.

To keep things neat and tidy, I like to use a nail file to sand down the edges.

I use pink insulation foam quite a lot. I like how easy it is to cut and work with, though it does take up quite a lot of space in my craft room before it's cut. Using the chip board you've already cut, trace the same arch set onto the pink foam with a box cutter.

Then I took a ruler and my trusty red pen to create a brick pattern.

I made myself a "texturizer" using some craft stones and hot glue - I use this to press into the foam to create a brick texture.

Next we jump to another kind of foam - white foam. It's from the Dollar store, but you can also get it at Michaels. I like the dollar store foam because it's way easier to take the paper off. I cut them into small squares and beveled the edges of each piece.

I arranged them like so on top of the pink foam...

Once that's done, I used hot glue (it doesn't warp anything) to fasten the pink foam to the chip board back. 

Then I attached the walls to the box...

Back to the white foam! I cut strips to fit each wall and then drew on the brick pattern again.

Here's two wall pieces next to each other, one textured, one not textured. You can see the big difference that texturing the foam does and how it really gives it a stone-like look.

And lastly for today, I used the hot glue to fasten each wall to the matching chip board. 

Join me next week for the floor, the bars and more! 

Don't forget to pick up your Arched Window Room Box Here!