Instructions: how to build a magic house out of garbage

Author: Eva Tushenkina

15 February 2022 12:29

Community: DIY!

Tags: instructions DIY lamp DIY lamps do it yourself handmade handmade handmade craftsman

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A user of the website BoredPanda with the nickname “Creative Mom” showed how to build an unusual lamp - in the form of a fairy-tale house. To do this, she needed: cardboard from an old box, egg cartons, pizza boxes, toilet paper rolls and two plastic bottles. The only things I had to buy were acrylic paints, thermoplastic glue and PVA glue.

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The whole process took the master 10 days (including time for the glue to dry).

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Elf Garden

Creating a small garden for fairy-tale characters will help make the composition complete. A small area near the elf house can be fenced off with a small wicker fence, a gate can be installed, flowers can be planted, or the fenced area can be lined with moss. You can also add various benches and swings to the house, and if you add a few more small houses with tiled roofs, you will get a whole elven village. This way, the dacha plot will have its own small fairy-tale country, which will appeal not only to children, but also to adults.

Garden for fairy elves

Wooden buildings

The wood craft option is also not bad, but it is more complicated. First you need to select a small stump or driftwood without signs of rotting, clear the bark and drill holes in it for fish. One big one or many small ones - depends on the design. You can even drill out figured ones.

Then you need to sand the edges so that the fish does not harm itself . This should be done throughout the entire depth of the hole. Then burn the wood with a gas torch or blowtorch, so as not to set it on fire, you need to know how to do it correctly. To prevent the wooden grotto from starting to float at the slightest movement of water, it is glued to the base and sprinkled with soil.

Papier-mâché garden figures

How to make a papier-mâché gnome step by step:

Place the material (cells for eggs) in a container, fill it with boiling water to the brim and do not touch it for 24 hours.
Drain the water and grind to a dough consistency. If the material is too liquid, it should be placed in a gauze cloth and hung for several hours to drain the remaining liquid.
Add a little PVA glue to make it more flexible.

To make the body, take a plastic bottle filled with sand, and a ball for the head. Cover the structure with the prepared mass, applying it in thin layers, drying each one.

Secure with wire or glue.
Make the front part and beard. For the eyes, you can use a tennis ball cut into 2 parts or beads.
Make a hat.
Stepping back 1/3 from the bottom, make the hem of the shirt. It is desirable that it be wavy for greater effect.
Make a vertical furrow through the remaining lower part. This will be the pants.
The arms can be made directly on the figure or separately, only attached to the body at the end. To create the palms, use rubber gloves: pour polyurethane foam into them and wait for them to harden.
The soles of the shoes are made of foam plastic, and the shoes are made of the base material.
Dry the finished figure and sand it with sandpaper.
Cover from precipitation with a moisture-resistant primer, putty and prime again.
Paint the figure and coat it with yacht varnish.

To make it more attractive, you can place a solar-powered lantern in the gnome’s hand. In addition, it will be an additional source of lighting.

Who lives on a stump?

If there is an unnecessary stump on your site, it is not necessary to uproot it.
Why not turn it into a mansion with your own hands? The trunk will become the basis of the house. Windows, balconies and doors can be made from sticks and boards. The roof is made of chipboard. A piece of metal tile or slate will protect it from rain. The building will look elegant if you paint its various parts in bright colors.

You can place a mini-garden near the stump, fencing it with a small fence and planting small flowers there. A well made of bark, a cart made of half a walnut, a small bridge made of unprocessed twigs - the house for the forest spirit is ready.

Necessary materials

If you have decided to make the decorations yourself, then first of all you need to pay attention to the materials. They must be safe and not change the aquatic environment, because many fish react very painfully not only to temperature, but also to the acidity, hardness and chemical composition of the water. Here are the basic rules:

Materials containing lime should not be used. It increases the acidity of the water and makes it unsuitable for many fish. Cement should not be used for the same reason.
Materials with a high iron content are also highly undesirable.
Using stones from industrial areas or those picked up near businesses, busy highways and landfills is a very bad idea. They may contain traces of heavy substances that will not be removed even after boiling.
There should be no sharp corners or edges, because the fish may get hurt. Even a small hole with sharp edges can cause harm if the fish does not calculate its strength and tries to squeeze through it.
If the parts are made of wood, then you should find out in advance about the type of wood: some can release harmful substances into the water, for example, oak.
Only special sealant for aquariums can be used as glue; the rest contain harmful substances that spoil the water.

Before starting construction, the stones and other materials from which the building will be constructed must be boiled. This kills most of the bacteria harmful to fish. Boil for at least 10 minutes; stones that have burst after this cannot be used.

It is also important to decide on the size of the cave: it directly depends on the size of the inhabitants of the aquarium. There should be enough space inside the grotto so that the fish can turn around and not get stuck in it, or the entrances should be through.

What can you make a house for elves from?

In fact, a house for elves can be made from almost anything your imagination can do. Almost any available material will work for these purposes: cardboard, chipboard or fibreboard, plastic bottles, drywall, branches, boards, cement, polystyrene foam, iron sheets, cones, acorns, chestnuts, etc. You need to think through to the smallest detail what shape and size the house will be, and whether it will be hollow from the inside or filled.

An excellent house for garden elves can be made from plasterboard. All parts of the house box must be glued together; for reliability, they can be secured with furniture staples or small nails. Then cut openings for windows and doors and cover the house with cement mortar. If you add small pebbles or crushed stones to the cement, it will seem that the front part of the house is made of stone. For the roof, you can take a large sheet of ordinary cardboard, fold it in half, thereby giving the shape of the future roof and cover it with cement mortar. The effect of roof tiles can be achieved using tree bark.

The finished house for the elves will look harmonious among the greenery. Such a house can be placed in the center or at the edge of a large flower bed. The elf house can be surrounded by climbing plants or flowerpots. It will look organic enough to look near a small soda fountain.

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Tree entrance

The tower can be “carved” into the trunk of a living tree. To do this, you do not need to saw, violating the integrity of the trunk. We simply cut out a door from suitable materials, make a canopy from planks or slate, build a porch - we attach all this to the trunk near the ground. This homemade house looks very mysterious. Who can live behind the door? Maybe a hedgehog or a wood elf?

House for a gnome

You can do many interesting things with your own hands. The house, as if created for fairy-tale gnomes, will become the highlight of the site. The peculiarity is that it does not immediately catch the eye, but, as expected, hides in the thicket or under a large tree. Adults will smile when looking at such a tower, and children will certainly want to play with it. Therefore, it is worth making everything as durable as possible so that the house does not fall apart during the first attempts to start a game.

The material can be various gifts of nature - sticks, cones, stones, pieces of boards. If the tower is small, a plastic container or ceramic pot can serve as a frame. You can do anything with your own hands. The main thing is to give free rein to your imagination.

Clay crafts

If possible, you can make a grotto from red clay. This method is the most labor-intensive of all, because the clay must be fired, otherwise the product will simply break.

So, first you need to build a cave of a suitable shape. For example, in the form of a pot with a broken side or just a rectangular house. To make it spherical, you can use a balloon: inflate it to the desired size, cover it with a layer of clay (not too thin), let it dry and carefully deflate the ball, being careful not to crumple the edges of the clay sphere.

Then the product must be dried. This can be done in the sun or in the microwave. After this, firing is required. If there is a workshop with a muffle furnace nearby, then you can go there. If not, then you will have to use an oven preheated to 220 degrees. It is better to leave the door ajar. Firing takes about an hour, after which the temperature gradually decreases over 15-20 minutes . If you turn off the oven immediately, the clay will become brittle.

After firing, you can place the product next to the fish. If you decide to paint it, you need to make sure that the paints are non-toxic and will not poison the water. It is advisable to additionally burn purchased shards to kill microbes.

The clay grotto is the most labor-intensive of all, because the clay must be fired, otherwise the product will simply break.

Garden figurines

Small figurines of elves, gnomes and various animals can add a unique flavor to any garden. Unfortunately, such figures do not always look organic in the garden. If the figurines are installed on an emerald flowerbed or lawn, they are more likely to spoil the appearance of the area than to serve as a full-fledged decorative element. You need to know moderation in everything; a large number of garden figurines will also look ridiculous. The main principle of creating a complete composition in the garden is stylistic unity. All garden toys and buildings must be made of the same materials. Figures in the garden should not look isolated. They are designed to complete a garden composition. Figurines of fairy-tale elves, fairies and gnomes can be installed near fairy-tale houses. Such figures should fit neatly into the composition. With the help of small ceramic figurines, you can create an entire elven village, in which each of its “residents” will mind their own business. Fortunately, there are a large number of such figures, so making such a design will not be very difficult. And the figures of birds and animals should be located in those places in the garden that resemble their natural habitat. When choosing animal figurines, you should remember that, today, the quality of products is quite high, and these figurines are made with photographic precision. Not everyone will calmly react to a snake or toads crawling out from under a bush.

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