Christmas Villages
December 4, 2008 5:56 PM Subscribe
I collect St. Nicholas Christmas villages from Kohls. I am looking for some mountains I can buy or make to put my villiages on, or some creative ideas or material I can make hills out of.
I have looked everywhere on the web and can't find anything.
Any ideas???
my dad buys blocks of styrofoam and cuts them into shapes using a special styrofoam cutter
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 6:09 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 6:09 PM on December 4, 2008
Take a paper bag from the grocery store, cut it open like you're going to cover a book with it. Lay it flat and draw mountain tops (snow-capped peaks, etc) along the longer side; I prefer crayons as I think they work well with the texture of the bag. When done decorating, crumple the paper up, flatten smooth, crumple again. Repeat as needed until the desired effect is achieved. We're going for craig-y, uneven terrain. When satisfied, arrange in the background of your scene.
I used this basic formula for model train sets, dioramas, nativity scenes...
Actually, you can also buy miniature decorations from a hobby shop, or a model train supply place... pretty much anyplace that sells Lionel is going to have what you're looking for.
posted by now i'm piste at 6:10 PM on December 4, 2008
I used this basic formula for model train sets, dioramas, nativity scenes...
Actually, you can also buy miniature decorations from a hobby shop, or a model train supply place... pretty much anyplace that sells Lionel is going to have what you're looking for.
posted by now i'm piste at 6:10 PM on December 4, 2008
Alicia's village of Posie Gets Cozy says at the end of this post (scroll down) that she uses a combination of foam upholstery blocks, white fairy lights, and lengths of linen to create snow covered hills.
posted by kitkatcathy at 6:10 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by kitkatcathy at 6:10 PM on December 4, 2008
My mom does a christmas village every year with plenty of landscaping. She has hills and an almost canyon-ish thing that goes down to the waterfront. She does it as follows: The village is built on furniture (couches, tables, the piano) with boxes on top as well as boxes sitting on the floor in the lower area. These are mostly big boxes like the christmas tree box or computer boxes and some smaller boxes in addition on top to create more landscaping.
On top of the furnitire and boxes she puts white sheets. On top of the white sheets she lays strings of white christmas lights (the kind with white cords). On top of that she lays quilt batting. Then wherever she puts a building, she pokes a lightbulb through the quilt batting and sticks it into the hole at the bottom of the house.
It works pretty well, and because the arrangements are never going to be identical, it's different every year. Usually the farm is on a hilltop and the cathedral is on a plateau-ish hill. It also creates lots of appropriate spots for people best-placed on hills like skiers and tobaganers.
I'll Mefi-mail you a link to pictures. The pictures are not particularly good as photographs (trying to capture the village as it looks with the lights out, but of course this makes them kind of fuzzy and the white balance sucks), but they should give you an idea of how the landscaping is achieved.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:47 PM on December 4, 2008
On top of the furnitire and boxes she puts white sheets. On top of the white sheets she lays strings of white christmas lights (the kind with white cords). On top of that she lays quilt batting. Then wherever she puts a building, she pokes a lightbulb through the quilt batting and sticks it into the hole at the bottom of the house.
It works pretty well, and because the arrangements are never going to be identical, it's different every year. Usually the farm is on a hilltop and the cathedral is on a plateau-ish hill. It also creates lots of appropriate spots for people best-placed on hills like skiers and tobaganers.
I'll Mefi-mail you a link to pictures. The pictures are not particularly good as photographs (trying to capture the village as it looks with the lights out, but of course this makes them kind of fuzzy and the white balance sucks), but they should give you an idea of how the landscaping is achieved.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:47 PM on December 4, 2008
Seconding the idea of checking out model railroading sites. I have read several issues of my dad's Model Railroader magazine, and it's full of this stuff. They had one whole issue about how to make the most realistic trees. I'm sure they've overthought mountains, as well.
posted by Miko at 7:34 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by Miko at 7:34 PM on December 4, 2008
My mom also does this, and is a meticulous collector of these little things. She keeps them in their boxes when storing them out of season, and then uses these boxes and their Styrofoam inserts to build up the landscape under a white sheet by stacking everything and using double-sided tape. These mountains usually form the little backdrop of the village, but I'm always surprised at how great it ends up looking.
posted by ktrey at 7:55 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by ktrey at 7:55 PM on December 4, 2008
You can make papier mache moutains. (scroll down to "Moutain Building")
posted by amyms at 8:24 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by amyms at 8:24 PM on December 4, 2008
Plaster cloth over glued down newsprint over shaped foam blocks.
posted by Freedomboy at 9:09 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by Freedomboy at 9:09 PM on December 4, 2008
You need something to make the shape and then a covering to build up in layers to get the right texture.
Make a mountain-ish shape out of wire chicken netting (small-hole, flexible, metal wire fencing). This scrunches up and shapes really well - you'll need some wire-cutters or a heavy-duty box cutter to cut the metal netting into sections. You might want to fill the shape with scrunched-up newpaper, so that it does not dent if someone drops it.
Then cover your wire mountain with layers of newspaper soaked in a flour-and-water mixture (homemade glue). When this dries, paint with paint from a craft shop.
You can have great fun and have your village live under the shadow of a homemade volcano, complete with cooked red-lentil mush to make "magma" in the crater (line this with a small plastic bag, or it will soak through).
posted by Susurration at 7:00 PM on December 5, 2008
Make a mountain-ish shape out of wire chicken netting (small-hole, flexible, metal wire fencing). This scrunches up and shapes really well - you'll need some wire-cutters or a heavy-duty box cutter to cut the metal netting into sections. You might want to fill the shape with scrunched-up newpaper, so that it does not dent if someone drops it.
Then cover your wire mountain with layers of newspaper soaked in a flour-and-water mixture (homemade glue). When this dries, paint with paint from a craft shop.
You can have great fun and have your village live under the shadow of a homemade volcano, complete with cooked red-lentil mush to make "magma" in the crater (line this with a small plastic bag, or it will soak through).
posted by Susurration at 7:00 PM on December 5, 2008
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posted by jquinby at 6:04 PM on December 4, 2008