Graveyard - MMC Part 9

I had so much fun making the graveyard. I used a foam core base and built it up with paper mache. The tombstones are made from polymer clay and then I landscaped the whole thing.

I cut some of my Bouganvilla branches to get those fabulous thorns.

I spent a lot of time trying to get some good tombstones. I used my celtic knot rubber stamps on some of them, layered beveled jewelry molds for others and a few of them I just hand carved funny names.

Foliage - MMC Part 5

Now that I have some of the biggest features completed (the path, crypt and swamp) I need to start working on foliage for the background. I collected all the dried floral arrangements again and got to it. I cut 3 thin strips of foam core and hot glued the foliage to them. Once they were full enough I covered the foam core with paper mache to give them a natural looking ground texture and to make them more stable.

 When the paper mache was dry I painted them and started layering on the landscape material.

 A little dirt and grass for the finishing touches and I really like the way they look!

The Swamp - MMC Part 4

So the next phase in my little (HA!) project is a swamp. There is nothing creepier than a stagnant body of water with who knows what rotting and decaying just under the surface!

First, I had to make a bunch of stuff to fill the swamp. The rocks I made from paper mache and painted them with acrylics until they looked natural. Swamp grass and some water plants were mostly from old dried floral arrangements, mounted in more paper mache.

 And what is a marsh without cattails? I used brown clay to make the tops and stuck them onto green craft wire stems. Once the clay was cured I rolled the tops in glue and dipped them in sand. I painted some dried corn husk green and used that as the leaves.

 Once I had all the flora made I started assembling the actual swamp. I made a tissue paper template of the area it had to fit in and rolled out more clay for the base and sides. Once I had it all done I started filling it up.

 I found some more printable goodies online and this skeleton was perfect for the swamp!

Around Halloween I found a package of little rubber bugs and knew I could use the centipede in here. Once I had all these things glued down in place I started on the water. I did a lot of brainstorming on how to get realistic water and after some trial and error I decided to buy model railroad E-Z Water pellets. They were so much fun to work with! The instructions suggested melting them in a pot on the stove and pouring it, which really didn't work out that well, so I used my heat gun to melt them instead. That gave me much better control over where it went and not as many bubbles as pouring created.

The Crypt - MMC Part 3

I should have taken more pictures at the beginning on this particular part of the project, but I didn't. I found a few websites that have free paper projects and this crypt was at Odissey Paper Models. It was easy and fun and it really turned out great! I changed it up a little and only used bits and pieces to achieve the look I wanted.

I attached the crypt and fence to a piece of foam core and landscaped around it. When that was all finished I realized it was too low and I went off in search of something to recycle that would give it some height.

I think this piece of cardboard was from my cellphone.

I used paper mache to give it some texture and added the stairs which I made from clay the same as the pathway. Of course then it was too tall and I had to cut the bottom off but eventually I got it just how I wanted it.

I attached the crypt onto the base and started with more landscaping. The more layers I do the better it looks so I try to do as many as possible!