THE WIZARD'S CAULDRON

INSPIRATION FOR THIS BUILD:

This was an unplanned endeavor that I felt like sharing with you all! Join me on my journey to construct a magical fantasy diorama (using pieces & parts from previous projects) to give a mysterious pewter Wizard figurine* that I found in an antiques shop a proper home.

*If anyone knows his name or origin story, I’d love to hear it!

CONSTRUCTION

As I’ve been known to do (on more than one occasion), this build was a pieces-parts Franken-project. I mean, we makers keep all manner of bits and bobs, trash and treasure for later use. 

When I first started doing miniatures in 2020, I had a lot to learn! I’m still learning every day. One of the techniques I tried was cutting stonework acetate stencils on my Cricut machine and using them with joint compound. I ended up making a floor and walls which later I painted, grouted (with watered-down joint compound), and dark-washed. They sat in a plastic tub waiting for me to choose them from the pile someday.

Well last week, that day came and I decided to make a small corner diorama with them.

I added real stones and gravel from outside as well as some synthetic foliage which was discarded from a previous project (*cough Madison Seminary Diorama cough). Oh! And a good piece of a stick that had gorgeous color.

I fashioned a small stone fire pit in which to hold the cauldron. It also raised it off the ground so I could hide a flickering LED in the bottom to simulate a crackling fire.

I glued the walls to the floor and painted the edges and back of the diorama black. I cut a small notch running from the fire pit to the edge to easily hide the electronics.

ACCESSORIES

The stones are 1:12 scale, so I made a cauldron out of polymer clay roughly the same scale. After I painted it, I dampened the surface and poured Gorilla Glue into and spilling over the sides. Why, you may ask?

Gorilla Glue is a moisture activated polyurethane that expands as it dries. I thought it was the best chance I had to get a bubbles-spilling-over look. It’s durable and paintable and I think it ended up working quite well!

I drilled a small hole in the bottom and added a green LED to the inside. This LED and the flickering LED were wired to a push switch and a 3V battery.

The “bubbles” were painted green to enhance the light of the LED and dry brushed a lighter color to pick up some of the texture.

FINAL PRESENTATION

It was a little more challenging to get good shots of this project. I used the photo booth and all of the lighting I had, but still feel it could’ve “popped” more. It’s most likely that the pewter figurine blends in with his background and there’s no real contrast there. You live and you learn, right?

At any rate, the Wizard now has his own spot to conduct all manner of Wizardry – cauldron included. 

Here is a short video of most of the process. Please feel free to leave me questions/comments. My goal is to build a warm and friendly crafting community for you all. Thank you for reading and hope to talk to you all soon!