Welcome!
This video will show you how to create displays for collectible houses using Woodland Scenics
products.
Hello, my name is Claudia Parrish.
I've been collecting lighted houses for about nine years.
I used to have a difficult time deciding how to display the houses and hide the cords in
the adapters.
That is, until I discovered Woodland Scenics products.
These products allow you to build beautiful displays in any configuration and for any
season.
You can build wonderful displays that fit perfectly on mantles, inside fireplace openings,
on buffets, tabletops, television tops, pianos.
The possibilities are endless.
These displays are so charming that you'll want to leave them out all year round.
So sit back, relax, as I show you how to build an enchanted village using Woodland Scenics
products.
When creating your display, be sure and drape your entire work surface to protect it from
spills and oversprays.
First we're going to make rocks.
Spray a rock mold with a mixture of wet water.
This is two drops of dish soap mixed into one cup of water.
Wet water allows the product to flow by reducing surface tension.
Pour off the excess.
Mix lightweight hydrocal according to package directions.
Then pour this mixture into the rock mold.
Support the mold until it dries.
I have a box of newspapers that I'm going to support my rock mold until it dries.
This will take approximately 30 minutes.
When dry, release the rock casting from the mold and set aside.
Build the base of your display with foam sheets.
Determine where your houses will sit.
I like to use books so that I can put them on the different levels and stand back and
look at them to see what heights look the very best.
You can also trade your houses around and determine which ones look the best in certain
places because of color and because of the structure of the houses.
Determine where your houses will sit and mark the base.
These are the levels that I would like to work with.
This one is 3 inches high, this is 6, 5 and a half, and this grouping is 1 inch high.
This display can easily be made in one section or two that seamlessly fit together as puzzle
pieces.
These sections are convenient to store and you can add to them at any time.
I'm going to mark the base in a general idea of where I want these platforms to be.
You will notice that I have the book jetting out over the front.
I will merely add another piece of the foam sheet here so that I can extend that in the
front.
If you're doing this display in two sections, I have marked section A and section B. You'll
see where our lines are drawn for our different platforms and here is the piece that I added
to the front.
I made that out of two scrap pieces.
This is a hot wire cutter made by Woodland Scenics.
You push and hold up and as long as you hold it up, your wire is live and will cut.
I'm saving the scraps, we will use those in a few minutes to make our legs.
I have glued the A sections together and this is where my display will be divided in two
sections, so I'm going to cut this piece first before I attach it to the other foam sheet
of B.
I'm following along the line that I drew.
It doesn't have to be perfect because these two pieces are going to fit together like
a puzzle.
I'm using a Woodland Scenics low temp glue gun.
It does not burn your styrofoam or melt your foam pieces.
Now we have the two sections for our display and as you notice, they will fit together
like a puzzle.
Cut foam sheets for the elevated platforms with the hot wire foam cutter.
I have cut my platforms mimicking the base pieces.
You will notice that each platform comes in a little bit on the sides so that the base
is a little larger than the platforms.
This piece does not mimic the base because I'm going to put a road up here and this is
where the road will attach at the upper level so I have left space for that piece.
I also will want to put a stream under here and so this will have the road cantilevering
over the stream.
I'm putting the houses on the platforms to determine where our lights are.
Mark where you want your lights to go and make holes in the platforms.
Save these cut out pieces.
To determine where your light fixtures will be, position your house and then just tip
it up and mark underneath your light fixture hole with an X.
I'm going to cut a square or rectangle chunk out of this platform in order for the light
fixture to come up through.
This will allow all of the wires and all of the cords to be hidden underneath.
I'm using the Woodland Scenics Foam Knife.
It has this wonderful long blade that makes the cutting quite easy.
If you will bevel at least one edge, that will allow you to not have your plug pop through
the hole when you replace it.
I'm also putting a little notch in the plug.
This will allow my wire to slip up and down very easily when I have the cord in it.
My next step is to mark the base where these lights will be.
It's very simple.
Just remove the plug and put your X on the base and replace the plug.
You see my X's so I will know exactly where my buildings are when I place the legs on
the base.
I will know exactly where to give more support in order to hold the building securely.
We are going to be cutting legs out of scrap pieces of the Styrofoam.
It's very important that the top and the bottom of your legs are level.
I have found that the easiest way to do that is just to make this little jig.
I can place it on my Styrofoam.
The cardboard guides the wire down.
So that I have a very smooth and very level top to my legs.
For the legs under this platform, they need to be five and a half inches long because
the platform will sit on top.
It is a half inch and that will give me a six inch elevation.
With a piece of scrap foam, I am going to cut the leg and I am measuring five and a
half inches.
This is an edge piece so this end is already level and I only need to make this other end
very level.
You'll see I am putting it right up against my mark using the Woodland Scenics hot wire
cutter.
It makes a beautiful edge.
It doesn't matter what the sides look like, just as long as your top and your bottom are
level.
Your legs need to be at least an inch wide.
I want to know where the edge of the platforms are going to be as I place my legs.
So I am going to use the red pencil of Woodland Scenics.
Glue the legs onto the base.
Make one elevated area at least three and a half inches high to accommodate the adapters
and white boxes.
Now I am ready to attach the legs.
This shows me where my houses will be.
I want to put at least three legs around where I have the lights marked.
Put them along the outer edge.
Space your legs about three inches apart.
I also have room over here for an additional house at a later date.
So I am going to put the extra support here as I am building the display so that as I
add pieces this will already have the support that it needs.
Marking the platforms with our red or black Woodland Scenics foam pencil allows you to
see very easily where you need to put your legs.
This is the lowest elevation in our display.
The reason that I chose one inch, I wanted it to be a low platform and yet there needs
to be adequate space for the wires to be underneath your platform.
This half inch space allows plenty of room for your light cords.
It's time to add the lights.
Feed the lights through the holes and replace the foam pieces.
the plug and feed your light through the hole that you made and replace the plug.
You can either leave this loose or you can attach it on one side with just a little glue
to help hold it in.
When you are deciding what lights you want to use, you have some choices.
Any of them will work well.
You may use the lights that come with the houses or you may decide that you would rather
have one of the multi socket lights that Department 56 makes.
I have used both the split double socket, which allows you to have a split of two lights
instead of one.
I have also used the three socket light set and that allows me to have the three lights
in the front on one wire instead of having three separate wires coming through.
I know that some of you have houses that use the little pigtail that make the things
move and extra lights come on and you need to use that particular light with your houses.
It would work perfectly well.
You have plenty of air space, plenty of room to use whatever light you determine what you
need.
Now all of our lighting for our houses is complete.
You remember that we made space underneath for an additional house.
The lighting will be very easy to add at this point because the back of our display is going
to be open.
So I'll just be able to reach in and cut a hole in the top here, add my light whenever
I have the perfect house to go there.
We are going to have a road that runs along the front of these three houses and I would
like to do street lights.
I'm going to use an adapter so I don't have to worry about replacing the batteries.
So my white box will fit in here, my adapter will fit in here.
Place white boxes, wires, adapters inside the base around your tallest legs.
For safe construction, always use a new extension cord when building a display.
I'm going to put my adapter and my extension cord over on this side of the display.
I'm going to place it here because it will make it very easy when I want to attach the
electrical from side B. It will be right here where it will be easy to plug that in.
In order to keep it there, I am going to attach this extension cord to the legs here so that
it will stay in place and will not slide around and this will keep it in the place
that I want it.
I'm going to also wrap a twisty around this leg.
As you know, the adapters have a little heat to them when they are plugged in.
So in this particular display, we have lots and lots of space.
Now we need to be sure that all of our lights are working.
So I'm going to plug in the cord from section B to section A. Notice that for all of these
lights, there's only one extension cord to be plugged into the wall.
Everything is on, everything is working, our lights are working, and our house lights are
working.
We are now going to attach the platforms to the legs.
Begin with the platforms that are in front.
Use the red line that you have drawn to be sure that your platform is positioned in the
correct place and hold it down for just a moment.
Make a road with a one-half inch riser.
This is called a Woodland Scenics riser.
It is wonderfully flexible.
You can do any kind of curve that you want with it.
I am going to bevel this bottom edge so that it will fit smoothly onto the base.
Using the hot wire foam cutter, bevel one end and glue it to the base, secure with foam
nails.
You'll remember this little notch that I had cut in the platform.
This will fit right up against that, I can measure, and this is where I need to cut.
This will fit right into here, and our road will go around and will attach right here.
I'm going to run a bead of low temp glue along this bottom edge.
The Woodland Scenics foam nails will hold it in place as I turn it around and put a
little pressure on it.
On this side, we are going to have some support legs underneath.
We're going to make those the same way that we made the support legs for the platform
with the addition that we're going to need to bevel the top of the leg that sits right
here so that it will fit the slope of the riser.
I'm going to put the support right in here, so I'm marking it where it needs to be cut.
It will be slanted downward, so this will fit then nicely right under here and give
the support to this curve that we need.
This is the straight support leg that will fit right under the end of the riser.
It does not need to be beveled.
I'm going to place that in the little notch so that I'm able to fit the beveled leg into
the appropriate position.
Okay, now we have the support for the riser here with a beveled edge and here without
the beveled edge.
This part of the riser is going to cantilever over a stream bed that we will have underneath,
so I'm not going to attach the riser to this or to this at this point.
We are now going to make paper wads and stuff the area between the platforms.
This is called the pillowing technique.
Take newspaper and you crumple in the edges.
You also will want some smaller pieces and you do those in the same method.
We attach the paper wads with masking tape, which will hold them in place until we can
secure them with a product called plaster cloth.
For a more natural look, cover the edge of the platform with the paper wads.
Lap them over the top platform just a little bit.
I'm getting over to the area where the two pieces are going to fit together and so along
this edge I just want enough to cover this hillside, so I'm going to use smaller pieces.
We did not attach the riser to the support legs a minute ago because it's much easier
to work with the area underneath without this being attached.
You can get to it much easier, so I'm going to tuck some paper wads in here.
I'm going to test fit this to see how much space I have here.
I'm also going to put newspaper under this riser to fill it in and also to give it a
little additional support.
Our risers are dry now, so we can remove these foam nails to be used again and again and
again.
You will notice that I'm not putting any paper wads on this area.
When the two puzzle pieces fit together, they will overlap and you will not be able to see
this edge.
I'm to the back edge, so my piece, my paper wad is stopping right there, just a little
bit covering the back.
We will be covering the whole display with a product called Plaster Cloth.
It is made by Woodland Scenics.
It has a bumpy side and a smooth side.
We want the bumpy side out.
Hold it by the corners, pull it out and place it on the display.
Begin at the platforms, go down over the paper wads and then tuck it under the display and
that gives a smooth finished look all the way down.
The second piece of Plaster Cloth covers half of the piece that you've already placed on
the display.
Tuck it under.
You may cut the Plaster Cloth any size that you wish.
It comes on a roll.
After you've done a couple of pieces, go back with either your fingers or a brush and you're
spreading the Plaster around so that most of the holes are covered.
You're putting a second layer on this first piece and tucking it under.
Continue with your Plaster Clothing.
The Woodland Scenics Plaster Cloth is a terrific product.
It allows you to make beautiful hillsides which give texture and realism to your display.
It also is half of the weight of regular Plaster so it makes your scenes and your displays
much more portable and much more lightweight.
As I come around the road, even though I'm not attaching it to the support legs yet,
I'm going to take a foam nail and hold it in place, which will give the Plaster Cloth
a good base to work from.
Smooth out the Plaster Cloth and continue adding strips until you have at least two layers.
Remove the pin now.
Let it swing free and then Plaster Cloth underneath.
For light fixtures, if you want to, you can cover them with a plastic wrap to keep the
Plaster Cloth from getting on them or at the end, before you put your houses on, you can
just wipe them with a damp cloth.
For this area, I don't need sheets as large as what I cut originally.
So very quickly and easily, you can get shorter pieces for tighter areas.
Putting Plaster Cloth over the beveled edge of my support leg here, I've also covered
this support leg with Plaster Cloth so that this whole area will be covered.
The part of the riser that is cantilevering over our area here that will be our water,
we are going to Plaster Cloth that by taking dry Plaster Cloth, wrapping it around from
the bottom up across the top snugly and spray it and then smooth it.
I'm going to temporarily pin it again.
We have this area that needs to be addressed so I'm going to lay the Plaster Cloth and
tuck it into the hillside.
I also want this road from the platform side to look as if it is one piece.
So I will take a little piece of Plaster Cloth and just fill in this crack.
It's now time to attach the riser to the support legs here and here.
This is a Woodland Scenics product called Scenic Glue.
It allows you to work on a wet display or a dry display.
I'm going to squeeze a little bit on the beveled support leg, also on the flat support leg.
I will put in foam nails to hold it in place until it dries.
Then we will remove the nails.
We are now ready to Plaster Cloth the platforms.
We're going to have a stream bed in this area and I will show you how to do that.
Get your Plaster Cloth.
We are going to need a depth of 1 eighth of an inch when we pour our water and so you
your banks any curvature that you want.
You want to be sure that you have at least two layers of Plaster Cloth in this area.
You want to be sure that your back edge is closed also.
You can have little ripples.
Scrunch it up a little bit and that will give you texture at the bottom of your stream.
Our waterfall is going to come down here into this area and then back into this hidden spot
under our road.
So I'll need to make the outer edge for our water.
We have our lights here in our side A. I would suggest that you cover your street lamps with
plastic wrap to protect them from the Plaster Cloth and also from the scenery product that
we will be putting on a little later.
If you need to stop and quit working on your display for some reason, when you come back
all you need to do is wet the last piece of Plaster Cloth that you put on and then just
continue on with your work.
After your Plaster Cloth has been on for approximately 30 minutes, you need to go in and crunch your
hillsides.
This gives it more texture and makes it look much more natural than the pillowing effect
that you get when you first put it on.
We are now going to put the two pieces together.
I'm covering the lower platform with a plastic wrap.
I'm going to slide the two pieces together.
I'm covering it with plastic wrap so that the upper level and the lower level will not
stick together because we're going to make these two sections look as if they are one
and I don't want the Plaster Cloth that I put in the upper section to stick to the Plaster
Cloth on the lower section.
And you'll notice there's a gap here.
That's quite all right.
We will be filling that with newspaper wipes.
We're going to have a hillside joining these two pieces.
I am going to wet it and this will allow the new pieces of Plaster Cloth to stick, lapping
it over a little of our stream bed so that this will be a seamless edge.
And I'm going to tuck under the Plaster Cloth.
On the lower level of our stream bed, I'm cutting some smaller strips of Plaster Cloth
to tie this lower end to the other section.
Again after your Plaster Cloth has dried for oh maybe 20-30 minutes, it's time to crunch
it.
And you want to get this edge on the lower level as flat as possible, but the more irregular
this line is, the happier you're going to be with it.
Now attach the rocks.
Test fit the rocks where they won't be hidden by the houses.
You may need to cut into the Plaster Cloth to install the rocks.
Cut along the edges, then you can press the Plaster Cloth in and give a nice indention
for your rock.
I want a piece of Plaster Cloth that is about an inch bigger than the rock I am placing.
Spray water on the area where the rock will be attached.
Even though it may still feel damp, spray it well with water.
Put the rock in water, then we will also dip this strip of Plaster Cloth in the water
and place it on the back of the rock.
Push it into the little indention that you made and scrunch the Plaster Cloth around
the edges of the rock.
Add additional strips of Plaster Cloth to fill in the gaps.
It also makes the rock look like it's coming out of the hillside.
You only want the very edges of the rock covered with the Plaster Cloth because we will be
coloring and staining this later and we don't want the detail of the rock covered up with
Plaster Cloth.
Another way you can help camouflage the connection of the two pieces is to place a rock where
part of it is not attached to the side and just laps over this lower section.
Soak your rock, spray your area well with water, soak your Plaster Cloth.
It is important to dispose of the water outside and not down the drain.
Now that we have finished the Plaster Cloth stage, I would suggest that you leave the
two pieces together until the display dries thoroughly and then the next day you can begin
doing the fun part, which is the scenery.
Our display is now dry and we can separate the sections, remove our plastic wrap.
The first thing that we are going to do is to color the rocks.
The technique that we use is called Leopard Spotting.
Pour one tablespoon Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umber in separate disposable containers.
Add 16 tablespoons of water and mix well.
Begin with your Yellow Ochre.
Take your brush and dab onto the rock so that you are coloring approximately one third
of the rock with the Yellow Ochre.
The Burnt Umber, dab it on the second third of your rock.
If your Yellow is not as strong as you wish, you can use it directly on your brush.
The next color that we are using is the Woodland Scenics Earth Color in black.
For this one we will mix one tablespoon of the black with 32 tablespoons of water.
The black is washed all over the entire area.
Cover the whole rock with this wash to tie the colors together and bring out the detail.
Now it is the color that I like.
In order to set the color and hold it, I am going to spray it now with a Woodland Scenics
product called Scenic Cement.
I will go over the rock again with the black and that brings out even more detail.
Repeat the black wash for added detail after all the rocks have been colored.
The next step is to attach the street lights.
We are going to have a road that goes along this way.
I am going to put these three houses back on the display so I can get the position of
the road and the position that we want the street lights exact.
The houses are in place and my road is going to come here and make a sharp corner.
Now you can round your corners or have them square, whatever you wish.
I am going to make lines where our little sidewalks will be.
Now let's see where we want the street lights.
Be sure that you put the low temp glue on the felt pad and not on your wires.
Our next step is to cover these wires.
Since the display is now dry, in this area where we will be plaster clothing the wires,
we need to wet the display.
You just need strips of plaster cloth, dip them into water, kind of curl the wires around
your fingers and lay the plaster cloth on top.
You'll want two layers and that quickly your wires are under control and out of sight.
Our next step is to cover the entire base with a product called earth undercoat.
Take the bottle well and then just squirt it over your display.
Use a wet paint brush to spread your color.
You will want light and dark areas.
Watch out for your rocks, no need to put earth undercoat on them.
If there's an area that it's hard to squeeze the pigment on, you can add it directly to
your brush.
With this product, you can't make any mistakes.
Whatever happens, it's always easy to fix.
It makes it a pleasure to work with.
Lift up your display to make sure that you have gotten all of these little edges.
You want the brown covering all the way to the bottom.
This is our last section.
Everything else is already covered.
I'm going to color the stream bed with just blue food coloring.
Just put a little dab on your brush.
You don't want to cover up all the brown, just want streaks.
Cover with plastic wrap to protect it from the landscaping material.
Our scenery product is fine turf.
We are going to begin with earth fine turf and I will sprinkle it all over the hillsides.
I'm going to spray a layer of scenic cement to hold the fine turf on the display.
These shaker bottles are wonderful because it gives you a great deal of control over
where you're putting the product.
You will see that I haven't totally covered every inch.
We want some of the background to come through, which gives it more interest and more detail.
I tilt the display so that I can get the fine turf into more of the cracks and crevices.
I'm going to do the area around the top part of the stream.
This is Woodland Scenics Green Blend Blended Turf.
I'm going to sprinkle the hillsides in a salt and pepper fashion.
We're just giving it a hint of color.
I'm now going to sprinkle even a finer layer of the burnt grass.
The burnt grass just kind of tones down the green blend, makes it more of a fall winter
color.
So if you were doing a spring display, you would probably not want to use burnt grass.
I'm going to spray a coat of scenic cement on the hillsides to hold the turf that we
have on here.
Back off a little bit as you spray this top coat so that you are just gently spraying
with the scenic cement.
You don't want to disturb the turf from the hillside.
It doesn't matter if you get scenic cement on the rocks as you go by.
That will not hurt them at all.
And then spray our platforms with scenic cement.
You want a nice covering of the green blend on your platforms.
I will be sprinkling just a little burnt grass on the platforms.
You'll notice here I did not put any turf on the road and here I did.
It doesn't matter.
One section at a time.
I'm going to give a coating of scenic cement, a very light coating, backing up so I don't
disturb the turf.
Then we will be sprinkling woodland scenic soft flake snow.
So many of the collectible houses, their roofs have dabs of snow, but they're not snow covered.
So your display can mimic that.
Gently apply a mist of scenic cement over the entire display.
I am cleaning up the area where we have our road.
You can leave the little clumps that you roll up.
You can just brush them off to the side and they are now little bushes.
I drew the lines so that I would be able to get this road straight.
It just gives me some guidelines for putting the scenic glue, which we will be using to
hold it down.
Squirt the scenic glue down the center of your road so that you have a nice, good covering.
You may use a brush, your fingers, anything you want to spread this out.
I'm going to sprinkle the ballast with a spoon.
When you get a nice layer of ballast on your road bed, spread it gently with your fingers.
The next step is to spray the road bed with wet water.
This again reduces the tension of the surface and allows the scenic cement to soak down
in and hold your product.
Give a light spraying with your scenic cement.
If you want to make ruts in your road, you can do that with your fingers.
If you don't want this area, just flake it away.
In order that your road does not look like a brand new road, I'm going to gently sprinkle
a little of the earth vine turf over the surface.
And then with your finger, gently mix it in.
Now you have a road that looks like it's been used.
I've taken a clump of fine leaf foliage.
I will use scenic glue.
Add bushes made with fine leaf foliage or clump foliage to your display using scenic
glue.
Then I'll give it a light spray of scenic cement and a very light dusting of snow.
To make trees for your display, use Woodland Scenics tree armatures.
Bend and twist the arms into a three dimensional shape.
Once you have your tree in the shape that you like, it's time to put on the foliage.
Begin at the top and squirt on a little of the scenic glue.
Then take your foliage and lay it on the tree where you want it.
When you have completed your tree with fine leaf foliage, spray it with a fine mist of
scenic cement and then you can dust it with the snow.
I'm going to put some scenic glue on the base and then put some of the fine leaf foliage
to mimic fallen leaves and we will place it with some more scenic glue.
And there you have your tree.
Spray trees and bushes with scenic cement and sprinkle with snow.
I'm now going to pour the water.
So we will remove the plastic wrap from both the bottom and the top.
This Woodland Scenics product is called Realistic Water.
Pour realistic water into a disposable cup.
Gently mix one drop of blue food coloring.
With a toothpick you can encourage it back into
all the nooks and crannies.
Allow it to dry 24 hours.
While your water is drying, we are going to make the waterfall.
I'm going to measure how long the waterfall needs to be.
So we have a rise of about six and a half inches.
This Woodland Scenics product is called Water Effects.
I'm going to squeeze it on the pan.
Make your waterfall at least a half an inch to an inch and a half longer than your drop.
I have just, with a twist tie, gotten a bunch of toothpicks.
And I'm going to drag it through the Water Effects.
Also feather the edges.
Water Effects dries clear.
And I'm going to sprinkle snow over this waterfall in order to give it a frothy effect.
We're going to let this dry for 24 hours.
When your waterfall is dry, pull it up.
Attach your waterfall to the display using Water Effects.
To make the waterfall blend in with your stream, I'm going to the top, squirt a little of the Water Effects.
And with a toothpick, I'm going to smooth it out.
Then I'm also going to put in some Rapids and White Water Effect.
Squirt a little of your Water Effects on your pan and sprinkle with snow.
And then put it on your display with toothpicks.
And it will have that same frothy look that your waterfall has.
I'm also going to use that at the base of the waterfall for the White Water Effect.
I don't want just White Water and Rapids right here.
I want it to have a little bit as we go down the stream.
Now we can take the plastic wrap off of the light bulb.
We can put our houses on now.
After you've placed your houses, there are bound to be a few little spots that you want to touch up.
This would be the time to do it.
I want to add some greenery back behind the end of our stream.
We have plugged in the lights from this section into the extension cord that is at the edge of this section.
Let's plug in the lights.
Our display for collectible houses is complete.
Here is the same display with the North Pole pieces.
You see what a totally different look you can achieve with the different series using basically the same display.
You can find all of the Woodland Scenics scenery products shown in this video at your local hobby shop or you can go online at www.woodlandscenics.com.
Thank you for watching.