Lighthouse

I'm part of a lovely group of miniaturists called Swap Shop. Fern brought up an idea of making a lighthouse (inspired by this Pinterest board) and I jumped at the chance to make something. I decided not to worry about a specific scale, since sometimes I get a little overwhelmed by that.

My idea was to have a lighthouse that was old and abandoned. It was no longer loved and was beginning to fall apart. Here's how it turned out:

I photographed it by the hub's boat. (Sidenote: I love the color of his boat!) This was a lot of fun. I used a baby formula can to make the lighthouse. I knew saving those would come in handy.

This was my first time landscaping anything miniature. I used supplies from the diorama hobby aisle. I started with a diorama kit from Scene A Rama that I got half off using a coupon. I initially was going to do a water scene, so I picked up the water kit, but I ended up using only the rocks, fine turf, and glue from the kit. 

I also used supplies from Woodland Scenics, which is the parent company of Scene A Rama. They are aimed towards the hobbyist, particularly those that make railroads and other similar scenes, whereas Scene A Rama is aimed towards school children who need to do a diorama for an assignment. 

Woodland Scenics has a much larger choice of colors. I felt the green that came with the diorama kit was a little too unnatural, like the green crayon in the crayon box. So, I used burnt grass fine turf and earth fine turf to give a more natural look. I also used buff ballast to create a pathway.

I watched a ton of videos on YouTube, both from Woodland Scenics and Scene A Rama. I could spend hours watching videos of others making miniatures. There are a lot of talented folks out there!

So, here's a few of the work in progress shots, so you can see how far this gem came! These were taken with my phone, so I apologize that the shots aren't super close.

I trimmed down the formula can. I had this vision in my head of showing the lighthouse situated on some rocks, so I used a jewelry box to add height. All of this is on the base of the formula can.

Next, I used a combination of molding paste and a coarse, white glitter that had no sparkle to it to create the texture.

I used a combination of brown, black, burnt umber, and other colors to create a dirty wash of color. I wanted my lighthouse to look old and abandoned.

I used more molding paste that I tinted a sandy color and mixed with glitter to act as a base for the rocks. At this point I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to do the rocks, so I worked on the greenery. I found small trees that I used to surround the lighthouse. My idea was that the lighthouse was abandoned and no longer in working order, so the terrain was starting to grow up around it.

I forgot to take any pictures of the lighthouse after this point, but I used small round sticks (similar to toothpicks but larger - found in the wood section) and leftover packaging to create the top of the lighthouse. This portion took the longest because I couldn't exactly get my vision to come to life. I finally decided to give up trying to be perfect. After all, the lighthouse was supposed to look like it was aging poorly, so if things were uneven it would be okay.

Anyway, I hope you like it! It was a lot of fun!