Mandarin Orange Crate Helicopter Day Two

This is the fourth year that I've built a mandarin orange crate vehicle, this year I decided to try to do a helicopter. There are some problems with it but nothing that can't be solved with some adjustments, I think that it looks too boxy right now like a truck instead of a chopper so I need to remove the sides and change them out with something else.

Time is also a factor, there's a lot going on this holiday season (as always) and I may not get as much time with the piece to get the look I want.

Come back in a few days and we'll see where I'm at.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Pospsicle Stick Brick Walls, Rehearsal Hall Build

If you want to add texture to your brick walls, here's a simple trick. Water down some wood glue (just a bit) and brush it onto your (popsicle stick) bricks. Get some Kleenex, separate the sheets (if it's two ply -lucky yo!u!) and lay it down gently over the bricks. Go back and get some more glue/water mix and then brush it on, it will give you the textures you see in photo #1.

Once that is dry you can basecoat in grey (add a little bit of brown and black to your grey) and brush it on, once that has dried just dry brush on some brick colours and you'll have something like looks like photo #3.

Photo #2 are the fire doors that I built, these can be easily made by cutting some up foam core board (you can get it at Dollarama/ Dollar Tree etc.) take some hard card or Bristol board and glue it down, I made the rest of the hardware out of some skinny dowel and coffee stirrers.

Find some shots of old bricks and you can end up with the bottom photo which is loosely based on the Soul Pepper Theatre Company rehearsal hall.

Don't forget to head to the Cameron House (in Toronto) to see my annual show of paintings

cheers!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Building Up A Stock For 2015 Diorama Projects

There's a great craft store in Perth (near Ottawa) that my wife and I visit about twice a year. They have a whole display of small wooden bits like those pictured above. Stuff like this is hard to come by at a reasonable price but this store has a huge selection for great prices. I'm planning on getting to building some new large dioramas that are more planned than what I've made before I'll be printing them and selling them as prints when I get the first comics published.

Wait, what? Comics? Yes, heard over to the Homeless G-Men blog (see side bar) and have a look at what I've been doing for the past six months. Also coming up in November will be my annual show at the Cameron House (Toronto) so head over there soon to see some finished paintings.

Here's a link to the store's website http://perthfabrics.com/

talk soon,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Men In Suits

Hey everyone, I'm still here I've just been busy on the other blogs (see mad craft shoppe and Homeless G-Men posts) but I thought I'd stop in to let you know all is well. I still have plans to finally shoot some of the dioramas and make prints of the pics but one thing was holding me back and I've discussed it here before, normal looking figures. It's very difficult to find highly poseable (is that a word?) figures for a reasonable price. ie;  a Marvel Universe Professor X will run you over $20.00 easy, so when you find some guys like Agent J up there you scoop'em up. I actually have eleven of these dudes and soon I'll be painting them and swapping out the heads.

So yes, there are still many plans in the works and there will be more builds and tutorials for you to see. In book news I want to do one more pass on Any How Town Book One and then send it to an editor so they can fix up some of the grammar in the book and then I'll put it online for  you to read. More on that later.

Alright I'm heading out to the backyard to do some drawing today

hope all is well

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Building A Popsicle Stick Factory

Here are the first three steps in assembling the empty factory room that I'll use for a few different shoots for AHT, Noir Town, my comic series or whatever I need it for. I wanted a lot of texture so I brushed on rough aquarium sand (photo 1) and then added a very thin application of air drying clay (photo 2) this is my first time working with air hardening clay I hope it sticks to the wood, I lightly applied a coat of wood glue to it to help it hold I also added wood glue to the grey basecoat (photo 3). I can't wait to start painting in the highlights it should look pretty boss.

In book news I am on hiatus from the Any How Town series, I just need a break from it, I have to write a new query letter, firm up the intro and then send it off to an editor for corrections. I just can't deal with it right now I get bored when I open the file and I shouldn't be bored, it's an exciting book and I want to get it out, it has been one hell of a learning experience but I'm going to work on the first book when I have the urge and the necessary commitment. I have made mistakes along the way , it's my first book I can't be too hard on myself but I really thought I would have secured an agent by now. The book will still be finished and published (along with the rest of the series) but I have to do something else so I'm working on a new book this time for a young adult audience, I've nailed the concept and the period I'm just doing a tonne of notes today to get it firmed up so I can start writing.

Happy Valentine's Day

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Popsicle Stick Loading Dock

Hey folks Happy 2014!

I always wanted to make a cool loading dock set and got to it this weekend. I was shooting the whole process and I may put up some photos if anyone has any questions about the build.

I want to mention that at the Home Depot in the offcuts area you can buy 24x24 inch sheets of luon or masonite for about $3.00 it's a great deal and really handy to have around for large walls or getting a good base for your building.

The total cost of this build was less than $20.00 it's comprised of popsicle sticks, coffee stirrers, corner bits from prestretched canvases and tooth picks.

In the world of Any How Town I'm going to go for yet another pass on Book One and rewrite my

query letter which seems to be the biggest problem with the book - I thought I had a good one and then got some feedback on it during Pitch Wars and it actually isn't very good at all, so it's time to start that over.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com