New Hobbit Holes 16 (and the last)

 

The latest Hobbit Hole is be be the home of a washer woman.

For description, think Toad.

I tried making the laundry from Green Stuff.

A grandson was convinced but then, he knew what it was supposed to be.

The wife guessed at 'Someone's dinner?'

The original table for the tub clearly required Mrs Mop to be stood on a box,

hence this design from a wooden fork handle.

The water in the bottom of the tub is PVA glue.

The washing on the line is Green Stuff and some cloth.

Most material frays.

The mangle is the only left handed one in Michel Delving,

probably in Middle Earth.

A little more washing was added to the line.

It's glue soaked kitchen roll painted white.

Because of the small base 

(I was running out of hardboard)

the garden is too small to take the mangle and wash tub in comfort.

Accordingly, she may move to a better class of hole later.

New Hobbit Holes 15

 

A much more reasonable wall. 

It's one thickness of foam board coated with filler/glue.

The gate is hinged on garden wire,

thinner this time.

The wall is now capped with thin card.

I think I'm overdoing the aging wood idea.

A lime green gate to match the door would be better.

The garden is yet to be done.

New Hobbit Holes 14

 

So, here's the completed Bee keeper's Hole.

Happy with the skeps, ladder, fence etc

but less so with the rows of Heather.

The next one has a wall in place of a fence.

Rather too big, don't you think.

Hobbits can't even see over it!

Start again!

New Hobbit Holes 13

Delays caused by lots of little fiddly bits (chimneys, pottery, bee skeps, a fence and a gate, tables and benches, and a couple of doorsteps which appear in the next post. Much trial and error, mostly error.

Three different tube sizes for dormer windows.

Kitchen foil and grease proof paper ones seem about right.

One of the new holes is to house a seller of honey,

hence the bee skeps. 

They are made from thin silky thread

bound round a Greenstuff former.

Then a coat of Balor Brown washed with Agrax.

The other was to be a potter though not a very good one.

Then I realised he'd need a kiln

so the other hole will belong to someone else.

The bee skeps are now on small balsa benches

and two other benches are ready for the pots.

The fence is balsa though I'd prefer something more substantial.

It took me three goes to come up with a set of steps that I liked.

Coffee stirrers!

Top soil has been delivered.

For both.

The gate is an improvement. 

A substantial post allows for a garden wire 'hinge'.

The chimneys look OK with pots made of ball point pens.

The pots are perhaps a little large though.

I'm also not sure about the rows of clover.

New Hobbit Holes 12

 

This gap was to have had a back door built into it

but the Hobbit Hole was too small to lose all that living space.

I hacked off the end and put in these pieces.

Front and back of the plastered result

with scratch built chimneys and dormers affixed.

New Hobbit Holes 11

 

The problem I have with the chimney stacks

is lining up the horizontal rows of bricks.

This one I did by measuring and marking off in pencil before scribing.

Perhaps a lighter brown for the base paint?

I used Rhinox Hide and dry brushed Deathclaw.

I don't know what they are called this week.

After applying a third layer of 'plaster' I scraped round it with the comb.

They should line up.

A touch of sanding, when it's dry, should do it.

These are now wood based.

New Hobbit Holes 10

 

The next two Hobbit Hole facias are just about done.

I've tried to disguise them from the earlier originals.

The upper one has all the brickwork exposed,

not covered in planks and the heavy timbers are grey (old, worn),

not brown, as in the very first one.

The lower one has grey timbers as opposed to brown

and the plasterwork is heavily inscribed and dark.

The main remaining task are the 'tiles'.

I've tried all sorts of things to produce a similar dormer

 to the GW one on the right.

Finally I went for coffee stirrers (not overlapping)

and filled the face with heavy card. 

The window will just have to be perched on it

rather than set into it as GW.

So now they are shaping up.

With 3 grey ones I can release two GW dormers.

This means I can put an extra window into two of the earlier Holes.

I've had complaints by residents that the interiors are gloomy.

The extra window will allow much more light inside.

I'll still have to concoct some chimneys

I've also knocked up

(after the usual run of mistakes)

a rear door.

(FutureForgeOnline door on brick-look plastic)

I've set it with the planks running horizontally.

The new windows are a real jump up in size.

New Hobbit Holes 9

 

I think I'm just about done with this one.

I've added a simple rope 'gate' and a post box,

glued in the flower pot and handed over the keys.

They'll move in next Thursday.

New Hobbit Holes 8

Foundations for a rockery.

Card cut to shape and scrap foam board added,

then covered in Brown Earth and 'rocks' pushed in.

Now all planted up after the rocks were dry brushed.

Plants are purchased tufts but also

crushed pine cone, a small pine cone and a grape stalk.

Side view.

My order from Future Forge via Etsy has arrived.

The doors are excellent, as are the chimneys

but I've raised an issue with these Hobbit fascias.

Heaps cheaper than GW though.

 

New Hobbit Holes 7

 

This one is now starting to shape up.

However, I'm not at all happy with the grass.

I've used 6mm 'Spring' which is very different in colour to 2mm,

as well as needing another haircut.

The remaining fence posts have to go in as well.

The fence is complete and they have a garden seat and flower trough.

The fence horizontals are cord and the name escapes me.

(Those spiky sticks used for pigs in blankets)

Are there a couple of ducks in the pond already?

Yes. Mallards.

I'm a bit stumped on the garden path for the other house.

I wanted the soil between the cobles to be the same as the rest of it.

However, after a dry brush it again has a purple hue.

I think I prefer the grey as if they are cemented in.

Now there is a post box and a gate which can swing open.

Unfortunately, the gate stop, the branched log,

has been causing problems.

Gandalf has torn his cloak on it twice

and it nearly had Gimli's eye out 'It was deliberate'

after a heavy night at The Bird and Baby.

Remember, we're at Michel Delving, not Hobbiton!

There, near enough done

with the bench and flowers in the right place.