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 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

 



Mandarin Orange Crate Walker - Day Three WIP

 Day Three Two Colour Basecoat is on. This is the day when I start to question why I built the thing in the first place. Basecoating is dull, but you have to do it - and detailing is even worse. I think I really just prefer building the things. I think I would prefer to make more fortune just leaving them unpainted.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Double Mandarin Orange Crate Walker, Ready for Paint!

I've added the adjustable helicopter launch pad, I also beefed up the front walls of the walker to get rid of the straight lines. I'm going to paint this soon and then see if I need to add legs to it or if it can pass without them, it's pretty.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Double Mandarin Orange Crate Troop Carrier WIP

I've started a tradition every year I take a couple of mandarin orange crates and make walkers out of them, it's a fun thing to do while watching holiday movies. This year I decided to up my game and combine TWO crates. As usual all materials are purchased from the Dollar Store -except the oranges of course. This is Day One - I've since added a moving platform and I'll try to get some work done on it and post a photo tomorrow.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



who's next on the mod block?

Now what you see here are a Star Wars Mandaloran Clone guy (on the left, I cut off his "dress" in an earlier blog post) and a fantastic Russian soldier from the last Indiana Jones film (which really that bad, except for how they treated Ray Winstone) we're going to first switch heads, then add some gear and make two completely new figures - stay tuned.

In painting news (see the mad craft shoppe blog) things are going really well, the show will be up in a couple of weeks and the Opening will be on Saturday, Nov. 2nd from 6-9pm with music by the Rattlesnake Choir- at the Cameron House of course, it's gonna be a good one folks.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Mr.Fantastic man of plastic

Just a quick paint job and the addition of a G.I Joe Retaliation bomb disposal vest that I cut down the middle to make a jacket. I'm going to paint some high lights on the tabs and other bits to give it some dimension.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com 

Canvas Supports, Wood Kits and Rest

Got a great chunk of Book Two transcribed yesterday so I'm taking the day to do some drawing for my annual show at the Cameron House in November (mark your calendars now) and maybe this evening I'll get around to do some building. The top photo are the canvas supports that come with the prestretched canvases you can buy at most art supply stores, these things are awesome for your diorama builds, I use them to make wheelbarrows, crates, stair treads you name it.

The second photo is one of the wood kits that I posted yesterday, just look at those circles! Circles punch outs are great for adding detail to wheels, so if you see a kit with circles I suggest you snap them up.

Alright down to the studio to cause some chaos, head over to the mad craft shoppe blog (see links, right side bar) to check out my paintings.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Wood Kits, Pellet Guns and Edits

Back from a great weekend out of town, hikes in the woods, digging through abandoned Mika (how do you spell Mika?) pits, shooting pool,buying Wasabi Horseradish and all the while doing edits on Book Two and finding some small holes that have to be plugged in Book One and Two.

I thought I was really and truly finished with Book One but I have to go in and make some changes, the first chapter has to change, it moves, but just a little too slowly for my liking compared to the rest of the book, I did say that set ups are set ups, but I found a more fun way into the book. Here's a tip don't start with your character waking up, that's a start for you, not for the reader, so kill it and find something better.

The Book Two adds are going to be great, look forward to getting them in there, as long as it may take  I might hold off on pursuing agents until I'm finished the third book, not sure about this yet, but maybe that's the way to go, it's going to be killer on my pocket book but I want these books to sell and be loved, as much as I have loved working on them.

Picked up these great wood kits just outside of Ottawa, I've never come across these ones before (Canadian Made!) they will make fine additions to the models.

On a sad note I came home to hear that James Gray has left us, he was an incredible musician, a great keyboardist, accordion player and one of a kind curmudgeon. The stages across Canada will miss you James, I'll miss hearing your music in the many darkened bars I frequent.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Modern Times, Airport Trucks and 12,000 words to go

As you can see while I was laid up with a mangled jaw I did do some small builds for the dioramas I made a bunch more of these cogs for another "Modern Times" themed diorama, this time I'd like to do a classic Clock Tower set complete with moving hands and all kinds of ropes and pulleys. The second photo is of a small fuel or baggage truck like you see at the airport.

I'm back into editing on Book Two and really enjoying chopping out the dead stuff to make room for the 12,000 more words that I need to get to in the next couple of weeks, I did get a bit stuck for awhile, obviously the break at the cottage has done me some good and I'm hacking crap out like there's no tomorrow.

As always if you have any questions about the Book Series or the diorama builds send me an email.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Popsicle Stick Two Car Garage and Staircases

A quick tutorial on staircases, I've posted one before but here's another one. I used two tongue depressors as the left side and then stood the dominoes on end. I used some really skinny dowels to act as a support and then let the whole thing dry. Once dry I repeated the same process on the other side of the stairs then tilted the diorama on it's back and attached the staircase.

The photo is just a progress shot to show you what the treads of the staircase will look like.

The next shot is the base coated garage without signs, props etc.

The second photo is another process shot.

The third photo is of these cool toothpicks that have these great notched tops they will make great balusters for staircases, inspiration is everywhere in the Dollar Store you just have to look at it.

In Book News I've submitted to three more agents and am working on the second book, let's hope by the end of the month I have someone repping these great stories.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Strange Games On the Porch

Hey folks, digging deep into Book Two Edit today but I thought I'd get this post up of my weekend "Dollar Store" finds and what I was building yesterday while dealing with an incredibly sick little dog.

The top three photos were found at a Dollar Tree in the Birthday Party/Loot bag are. The first pic is of tiny kaleidoscopes, these will be great for parking cones and water pipe bases. The second  photo is of small Barrels of Monkeys! These will be great for barrles and trash cans.The last picture which is a Tic Tac Toe game will be great for pipe racks and the little plastic circles will be used to fill in bric a brac on shelves.

The last photo is a two and a half tiered water way, a boat can fit through the bottom section and I'll be working on building the next bridge where the white foam board span is. This one is going to be pretty busy looking, lots of pipes and small details, already really excited to get this one on the go.

Alright Book Two, let's do this.

This is the last week of the SALE at the Press Club, the show will come down and I'll be focusing on the books for the next three months, head over to "the mad craft shoppe" and have a look.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Popsicle Stick Two Car Garage

Took a break today away from the books, I've been staring at my laptop screen for days and it's burnt my eyes something fierce, so instead I put together this quick build for a two car garage that connects to the "workshop" build, you can see it a few posts back.

As per usual it's made from popsicle sticks, coffee stirrers, mini dowels of various sizes, foam boards and matchsticks. It's ready for base coating but that will have to wait a few days, I figure I'll do this paint job and the waterfront one on the same day.

In AHT news I'm going to work on rejigging my query letter and synopses a bit, it's good, but since I have received a few rejections from literary agents it obviously has to be better. This world is too important to not keep improving every aspect of the work and that includes the mandatory query letter and all the administrative work that comes with trying to get published.

Lucky for me I have an incredible contingency plan in place that I can use if I decide to stop approaching literary agents.

have a great weekend,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Lori Nix at Bau-xi Photo and new acquisitions

My favourite two galleries in Toronto are Bau-xi and it's sister gallery Bau-xi Photo both located across the street from the AGO. I talk about the gallery at length both at this blog and the blog where I show my paintings "the mad craft shoppe" (see links). My mother and I have seen almost every show at both locations in the past two years, it's part of a monthly pilgrimage that we go on when we go out for lunch.

If you head to the Bau-xi Photo website you can see works by Lori Nix who I have mentioned here before, http://www.bau-xiphoto.com/dynamic/artist_photo.asp?ArtistID=227841

Although we work in different scale and have a different processes her work inspires me to no end, the care put into these builds is remarkable. I also encourage you to check out her site, especially the series, "The City" and "Unnatural History" http://www.lorinix.net/ 

I don't even want to spoil the excitement by posting one of her images here, just go check them out and show them to people you know. If you've ever kidded someone about building dioramas you will be eating your 1/12 scale hat my friend.

But what the heck do the photos have to do with Lori Nix?

Nothing really I just wanted to show you what I see when I go into a Dollar Store looking for inspiration for my own builds, one of the plastic funnels is going to be converted into a crane attachment for pouring concrete, this will be done with coffee stirrers, paper towels and zip ties and the laundry washing net will be made into chain link fences. My process for diorama building is based on finding objects and converting them into other things (see below posts) that anyone can do it if you keep your eyes open, it also keeps your budgets down and that always helps if you feel nervous about spending too much cash on dollhouse items - you don't have to, my experiments will show you how to get around the costs!

In Book Two news the second book is now transcribed and I am rewriting huge chunks as we speak, but I couldn't go on without talking about Lori Nix first.

cheers,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

 

 

 



Popsicle Stick Docks, popsicle stick buildings

Here we are, back to where we started so many years ago when I first built some docks out of mini dowels and popsicle sticks but this time it's far more advanced. Like I mentioned in my last post ( I don't remember if I did, lets pretend) the dioramas are now connecting to each eachother. The docks now attach to the Iron Works diorama. You can now pull your skiff or lifeboat or whatever right up to the docks and unload your cargo through the giant wooden doors and into the Iron works.

Once this is painted I'll do some lit/staged shots.

The materials used in this build were Paper Towels, mini dowels, coffee stirrers and popsicle sticks attached to foam board - all materials purchased at the Dollar Store.

have a great long weekend,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Battle In the Skull Pit! Day Two

Two things going on here, the top photo is from a session of noodling around with a lamp that I did today, I want to do some "practice" stagings for the dioramas and get a sense of what light/ bulbs/contrast works for getting the kind of "film noir" feel that I want for some of the photos. There were a few successes and quite a few missteps along the way, but it's all part of the process.

The second pic is the attached 2nd floor of the Skull Pit prior to painting, it fit nicely onto the first floor and I've since added some window ledges to the piece, can't wait for it to dry so I can slap on a base coat and the get to detailing the whole thing.

Man was that ever a lot of popsicle sticks to bust up for the bricks, still undecided on the treatment for the floor of the 2nd floor, not sure if wooden slats would would, it may end  up looking too uniform, I'll give it a little time before I decide.

In book news I'm just about prepped to sit down and read my draft of Book Two, I always have more transcribing to do on the book but I'd much rather read it first and get some new notes down.

As always I am funding these projects with sales from my show at the Press Club (850 Dundas West, Toronto) you can see the work at my other blog (go to the mad craft shoppe in the links) all the paintings are on SALE for the month of May and it would be a great help if you supported my work by heading out and picking something up, it won't break your bank and you're guaranteed to see something you like.

oh the weather outside is delightful,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Battle In the Skull Pit! Diorama

You just gotta have a Skull Pit in Adventure Stories, you know, a place the hero gets tossed down into and must battle some huge beastie or giant warrior of some kind while a crowd cheers on the villain from above.

So here it is (in progress of course) I finished the first level today and will hopefully get to build the top floor tomorrow. The skulls were purchased at Hallowe'en (they are featured in an old post somewhere) make sure you stock up on them and there will be some hanging skeletons attached later. I also hope to build a cool mechanism that will be used to lower our heroes down into the pit. I am undecided about building a railing around the pit, we'll see.

hope you like it.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Popsicle Stick Houses, Advanced Edition

Some new tricks at work here, if you check the bottom photo you'll see that I covered the window hole in plastic and then "scumbled" over it with some dirty yellow ochre, scrumbling is a term that means "mush it around" so do that and it will turn out fine. This house will be the light source for the finished diorama.

All of the other techniques can be found on this blog in the tutorials so scroll around and have some fun.

The second part of this "make better dioramas" is that even of them will now connect to another diorama, this "DEPOT" piece will connect to the "Warehouse" set which I'm not sure if I've posted here yet.

keep your friends close and your wood glue even closer,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com