Building Neptune Island

The past few weekends I have been working on a rocky outcrop for my lighthouse. Unfortunately I don;t have photos of the whole process, but I will describe what I did & then show what photos I do have.

1.Cardboard frame. Glue sturdy cardboard (mine is a recycled box) into the frame shape you want. I used a glue gun, but you can use PVA glue if that what you have.

2. Build sides. I scrunched up pages of newspaper into balls & glued them on to the side of the frame, I made the layers thicker at the bottom as I wanted a hill shape. Then I glued a couple of flat newpaper pages over the top of the whole lot.

3. Paste. I mixed a paste of : 1 cup wheat flour,  1 cup water, a pinch of salt. You can use papermache paste of you like. I spread this in a moderately thick layer over the top of the newspaper until all of it was covered & damp. You must let this dry fully, which would be at least 24 hours, longer is better. If you have paste left over place it in an airtight container & save it for the next step.

4. Cover. For this next layer I used a type of butchers paper (moderately thin, & wide pieces) I saved these pieces from my last batch of chips from the Fish & Chip shop. Place them over the top of your frame & then paste using the same method as before. Let it dry fully once again. If you don't have a single piece big enough to fully cover your structure, use multiple pieces, but let them each dry before putting the next one on.  Repeat this step as necessary.

5. Paint. Using your chosen colours paint your structure. As then is a rocky island I used a grey water based paint & brushed over it lightly allowing some of the paste to show through for effect. Be careful using the water based paint though as too much will cause your paste to loosen. I had to allow this to dry for over 24 hours to be sure the paste & paint both were dry & stable. 

Using this method you can create many structures like hills, rocks, a burrow for rabbits or moles, or even a hobbit hole I guess.