WIP #1

Both Jade and I participated in the MSAT Dollvention this summer so in other words we made the same items to place on our Halloween goodies table. Not only that but I promised to make roomboxes for both of us.
I just couldn't see making both roomboxes alike so while I decided Jade's would be shown inside a pumpkin, I also decided that mine would show the darker side of Samhain.
At this summer's arts festival, I found a pumpkin shaped gourd that looked for all the world like it was moldy. Unfortunately it's much too small for my table.
Originally I had thought to enlarge the inside by carving into the base and have most of it seem underground. I even thought about using a smaller table. But finally I opted against having anything inside.
The next problem was how to attach a rounded door. In the end, only having the door ajar meant that I didn't need hinges and with the floor painted black, no one can see inside the gourd house.I used Magic Sculpt to secure the gourd to its base. Since I really hate to waste material, I epoxied the stairs and the firepit stones to the base.
Some time ago I stumbled across a website for taxidermists that contained a great tutorial for making dried and cracked riverbed mud. I knew that's what I had to have for my base but no way was I going out to find mud, and then sieve it to a fine powder. Instead I bought a package of natural air-dry clay from the Dollar Store. I'd used it once before and swore never again but for this project it seemed perfect.
I added a bottle of cheap white glue and some Burnt Umber paint and proceeded to mix the three ....and mix ....and mix ...and add more glue ...and mix ....add more paint ....and mix until I thought my arm would drop off.
It was still slightly lumpy but I troweled it onto the base anyway.and then I added a few sprigs of dried moss and a well-weathered log.

All that glue is supposed to make the clay crack as it dries. So keep your fingers crossed and while my mud is drying, I started on Jade's roombox