Adobe Shanty Shack

I made this model as a suppliment to a business presentation at uni on wind power for poor dwellings.

First I made a mockup with cardboard and then cut each wall out of cream high density foam. 

PVA glue was dabbed on the corners and then I cut up a bamboo skewer into short lengths and used it to pin the walls together.
 The laboursome process of making the roof from cardboard was next, there were some small bits left on top but I think it gives it a nice ramshackle texture. The 2 halves are stuck to two foam bars.

 There is a smaller corrugated piece for the SODIS unit (solar water purification).
The base is 3/4" MDF with a chamfer disc sanded in and coated in sandwust.

I dry-brushed some burnt sienna onto the roof to make it look thoroughly rusted.

The walls were coated with a paste of plaster, sawdust and water, this helps to give the walls texture and fill in the corner and base gaps.

 The wispy grass is hemp fibre glued to a hole drilled in the base.

 I chopped up a coffee stir stick (invaluable modelling material) and used it to make a frame for the window.

 The model of our windbelt. Made from black and yellow card coated in plenty of superglue.

 The finished shack on display.

Miniature Roadside

This was made for my friend's futuristic design project around his clay megacities rickshaw.

First I found some 1/4" MDF and cut a rectangle for the base and a triangle for the pavement.

To add the effect of kerb stones I scored the triangular piece along the top and at regular intervals on the edge. Then I glued to two pieces together.

As the base was going to get coated I randomly drilled holes into to so that the road surface mix would have something to grip to.

The road surface and soil were made from a mixture of;

Paint (black/brown)

Plaster of Paris

Acrylic Sealant

Water

Wood glue

In a thick paste texture.

After this was applied modelling grass was pushed into the soil surface.

The tree was formed out of strands of 1mm aluminium wire which were bent in half and twisted together.

In hindsight I should have made the strands longer to get a fuller canopy. 

To start of all the strands are twisted together, then 4 or 5 strands are bent out and twisted to form a branch,  then 2 or 3 strands are bent off into twigs.

Once I had finished twisting the tree was coated in the same mixture as the ground and it was sprinkled with  modelling tree foliage. This was all slapped on as we had 5 minutes to get out of the room before it was locked.