RANDOM MEANDERINGS

I've decided to only do bricks for 1/3 of the way up the diorama and doing a stucco type exterior for the rest. This will add a more interesting texture to the outside and not make it appear like a prison cell! Having completed the brick section, i have commenced grouting inbetween the bricks tonight. 1. Using Polyfilla and mixing scrapings of soft pastels to colour i then put the mixture in to a syringe 2. Squeeze the mixture into the spaces of the bricks [harder than it looks!] 3. Using super thick Pams brand baby wipes, i then smoothed the grout into the gaps and wiped the excess off 4. Rear of diorama completed with the ungrouted bricks to compare on the right 5. Side section half completed Part 1 - 1:12 scale Genealogists study Part 2 - 1:12 scale Genealogists study Part 4 - 1:12 scale Genealogists study ©2010 Sarndra Lees

Continued with some more of my diorama tonight. Previous diorama posts Seedy diorama part 1 Seedy diorama part 2 The 'stained' mattress and pillow. Seemed a shame to stain it cos it looked so nice with the new material but would have looked silly to have had a new looking mattress in the scene, so using a wet teabag i made gross stains :-). Stuffing out of bottom of mattress to add perception of age. Close up of the fork on pizza box and there's the coat hanger... Close up of rolled up legal documents and also on the floor behind the bed There's the fork and i was particularly pleased at how real the mattress looked! Toilet paper, floppy disks to shelf; danger sign to door; coat hanger on side of bed.

Another couple of photos from yesterday. Stuck some comics on the floor and a donut too; made a shelf and stuck some 'dimp' on it; a can of drink on the end of the bed and pizza slices in a box under the bed. I thought comics would be more g rated than 1:12 porno mags LOL! There's that shelf with the dimp and a coin to scale

I started this diorama at the beginning of the year but lost interest because i was getting frustrated with trying to make a clay person LOL...i now understand clay people are not my forte... so with my success with 'Life of Grime' i've been spurred on! It didn't start out as a seedy hotel room...destiny picked that out when after adhering the green 'wallpaper' to the walls, the PVA soaked thru and i thought "wayyy cool that looks grotty" LOL! I begun with a plain brown box from Spotlight. I then printed the green wallpaper; made the skirting boards; door architrave and door; window frame, plonking photo of city behind. The room exit needed a bit of something for depth, so i scaled down a hallway scene [that's a can of coke and some power points included in it] and adhered. Today i sort of 'distressed' the skirting boards, window frame and door to appear dirty. Added the peeling paper on ceiling. The right hand corner with peeling ceiling...

I decided today to put together the bench part of my life of grime. I've been playing around with making little items for the diorama the last few weeks, so whilst Mike was busy sorting the garage out to put our new freezer in i thought i would do something productive too LOL! The first part of life of grime is here The story continues below: Above: the sink attached to the backing board and now with slatted shelves underneath. $NZ2 coin for comparison Above: Backing paper now on bench back Above: Several layers of paints later, coming together Above: Some of the items i've made and bought place on the bench unit. This won't be their final locations, but i couldn't wait to see what it may look like! I will seal the paint first. Above: And another capture with a coin for scale and the pizza box out the way :-)