Merry Christmas from DJK & Karl

Tis the season to be jolly and for giving, or so I'm told. It also seems to be that the shopping centres are full of idiots, travel is horrendous and as I write this the weather doesn't want to join the celebrations either. But I'm not doing a bah humbug post. 

I want to say that whilst getting excited for those gifts take a few moments out to look at all that exciting packaging coming your way and remember to keep hold of it for those scratch builds you plan to do in the new year.

Sweet wrappers that are like coloured filters, plastic packing around some of the Christmas cards makes excellent windows. The cardboard tubes inside wrapping paper and tinfoil - can't go wrong with them. Remember just like the turkey dinner you can go on enjoying Christmas well into the New Year.

I did say it was the season for giving, here's my gift to my readers.

If you've got a Kindle or getting one for Christmas then download the first book of the Karl Axilion Trilogy for free, on us, between December 25th and the 29th on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

And remember you don't even need a Kindle to read Kindle books because there is a free app that allows you to read Kindle books on any ipad, iphone, other tablets and computers.

The Price of Moonlight

Okay so the title of the blog post is a little strange. 

Sunday was a very warm sunny day, and since I managed to get up a couple of hours earlier than I usually do on a Sunday this week I managed to grab a few extra hours to work on the haunted house model. Several hours have now gone into the window sections, and at least the same amount of time is left to get the rest of the windows done.

This Sunday I worked on one side of the building, and completed eleven windows. Some cracked, some broken, a couple whole, one with a stone hole with radiating cracks, and oh yes, one with the moon reflected in it.

The plastic box from the old Christmas card packaging is beginning to run low, I don't really want to wait until next Christmas to finish this. 

In one corner of the box there remained the remnants of a circular price tag, top layer peeled off leaving a fading semi circle of white that would require spirit to remove it. 

However, I had a little brain wave, comes from keeping an eye on the phases on the moon and having to sew up my socks when it’s full.

With the ghostly price tag being circular and white, and a reasonable size I figured rather than waste this piece of the box I would use it, ensure I cut the square neatly to fit a window fully and it would look, with the black backing, as though the moon was being reflected in the window.

Personally I think it worked out for the best and gives the model an extra little bit of character. If I ever wanted to hide the reflection I can always make a pair of shutters to cover the window with.


Previous article in the Mystery Model / Haunted House series:
More Cracked and Broken Glass

Next article in the Mystery Model / Haunted House series:
Eight More Done, Another Fifteen To Go

Christmas Cards and Recycled Goodies

As this is probably my last post before Christmas let's have a few mumblings on the subject.

There is a lot of debate these days around Christmas cards, the cost of cards, cost of postage and the save the environment bandwagon, but I bet those people who use that as an excuse not to send cards still make more than their fare share of rubbish for the next bin collection over the festive period. 

Personally I still prefer that personal touch of a card written / scribbled (delete as applicable) by hand.

The designs vary from festive, wintry scenes, jokey and religious but this year I seem to have received more scenic and olde world house cards than usual. 

I'm thinking some family and friends may be secret readers of the blog, if so thanks very much. These cards will be added to my folder for ideas for next year, especially these two cards cut out in house shapes. I'm already thinking of building these two as models next year.

It's the season to over indulge on sweets, mince pies and numerous other treats. After munching my way through these I often then start examining the packaging wondering what can be made from them. Some of the things I'm planning on keeping hold of are any coloured transparent wrappers from a well know sweet assortment, these are good for coloured effects on fire places, windows etc.. 

I’ll be collecting some trays from mince pies, chocolates, and biscuit assortments, as these I've started using as short term plaster moulds. These columns I made by taking a casting from a sweet tray, only filling the cup parts to form the round stones I stacked up to give the pillars some height, whilst I filled some of the indents fully to make the bases with pillars. Let’s see what this year’s trays inspire.

 ... and with that I'd like to wish my readers a Merry Christmas and I'll see you in the new year.