Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Castle Snow Globe

I have a small obsession with miniature cast metal items. They are fun to paint, can be finished in no time (for the most part), and can be used for many different things. Most of the time I have one or two planted in a dollhouse scene, but the last one I painted ended up in a miniature glass snow globe





There are a few flying bats in the snow globe because, hey, there's no reason why this can't be a vampire castle, right?




Normally, (if you aren't a die-hard hobbyist) the prep work for painting metal miniatures is nothing more than giving it a quick scrub with a toothbrush and some dish soap before painting with acrylic paint. I have done this plenty of times without using a primer or sealant of any sort and have had no issues with chipping. Most of the finished minis aren't handled too much anyway, so there's no need. This little castle, however, was going to be submerged and therefore required all the steps. 

The castle was cleaned as usual and afterward, a coat of white gesso was applied. I think it took three coats to completely cover. A few different colors of regular acrylic craft paint were used to detail the castle, including a final dry-brushing of black. 




I used the glass dome to cut out a polymer clay "stopper" for the snow globe. Once it was baked, it was painted and the finished castle was super glued to it. Some sprigs of green poly fiber were also glued to the base. It cured for a day or so before I coated the entire thing in several coats of matte varnish. 

To finish it off, I filled the globe with distilled water and tiny splash (real measuring here) of glycerin. The glycerin helped the bats float slowly through the water. Glitter would be nice too, or any other polymer clay bits. The castle/stopper was then placed in the globe, and I applied aquarium sealant around the edge to prevent leaks. It was left upside down to dry before it was glued into the snow globe base. Mine could have used a tad more water. 




A special thanks to Alpha Stamps for supplying me with all of my mini metal treasures!

Look at this supply list:

Miniature Glass Snow Globe
Cast Metal Castle
Polymer Clay Halloween Slice Mix (bats)
Green Poly Fiber

Happy mini crafting!





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