Blog Posts

Scratch Coat on a Miniature Village House

9/27/2018

Many customers have been asking for these. This is the first in a new YouTube playlist we're calling Miniature Village House Techniques.
These houses are for a private commission and are being made on the Weta Workshop Stage in New Zealand by Pal Tiya International Co-Founder & Creative Director Kim Beaton and a team of very talented artists.

This is the first of the House Techniques - this layer means you can come back at anytime, spritz a bit of water on then mix up another batch and sculpt little parts whenever you like. this will ensure your sculpture survives Freeze/Thaw too.

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Miniature Village on Stage

9/14/2018

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Stone Porch House

8/22/2018

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Continuing on with the Weta Workshop Stage project, this is our Stone Porch House and some progress shots of the making of.
This is such a fun project to work on and we are loving your feedback about how you are enjoying seeing the miniature Village growing!

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Sculpting a Seahorse Garden Post

8/6/2018

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Drawing & Tinfoil

A seahorse is made in two halves that are joined together. It is much easier to sculpt these two halves separately because you can see both sides at the same time. Find some excellent seahorse reference material and have it on hand while working.

Draw a full sized version of the seahorse and place it in a ziplock bag.
Trace the outline in permanent marker to transfer the design to the ziplock bag.
Pre-build a galvanized wire support to hold the sculpture to a final garden post later.
Use foil and hot glue to fill in a core. This will support the surface of Pal Tiya Premium.
Take the time to shape this accurately. The quality of the finished piece is determined by how good the foil core is.
Remove the paper drawing for the first bag and repeat the process of transferring the pattern to another ziplock bag.
Make the foil core for the second side of the seahorse.
With this done, you are now ready to cover these cores each with a layer of Pal Tiya Premium.

Sculpting with Pal Tiya Premium

Once the foil cores have been made, place a PTP layer 3/8 inch thick (4mm) over one of the cores. Take care to stay within the lines so both sides match up.
Shape the surface into distinct facets, top and sides, to show the edges clearly.
Roll out snakes and place these so they line up with the points on the illustration.
Stitch down these snakes thoroughly (both sides) to form the pattern of ridges down the body.
Brushing will soften the tool marks on the surface
Use your fingertips to press up the edges so they become sharper. Fill in where needed
For the tallest points, pinch up the ridges with your fingertips.
Add the eye and stitch it on carefully.
Repeat this on the second side making sure to match the pattern of ribs to the illustration.
Wrap both sides and cure overnight till firm.

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The next day peel the PTP Seahorses from the plastic and remove the foil cores
Rasp the edges to make them rougher and expose some of the fibers.
Bend a piece of galvanized wire to make a support and shape it to fit within the hollow core.
Make fresh PTP to butter the edges and fill around the galvanized wire support.
Press the two halves of the seahorse together till the soft PTP squeezes out of the sides.
With your fingers, fill and blend the edge till the seam is invisible.
Pounce with a brush to finish the texture.
Add the fin on the back, support this with more foil and texture it with details.
Place the whole sculpture within damp towels to cure overnight.
The next day check for a fit with a galvanized pipe for mounting in a garden.
Allow to cure wrapped in wet towels and plastic for at least a week, or you can submerge the sculpture directly in water.

Painting your Seahorse Garden Post

Begin by establishing all your colors and patterns with color pencils directly on the sculpture.
Water based concrete stains are used in the same way as watercolor paints, by applying many thin washes.
The first wash is a yellow white to cover the entire piece. While this is still wet, blend a mid-tone orange along the back and front. Then, while still wet, blend an even darker orange to the spine. A final mid-tone green is added to the tail before completely drying with a hair dryer.
For bold details, a bright yellow is drawn onto the ribs and a portion of the side
This is followed up with a whitish-yellow on the highest part of the ribs
Pure white is then used for a detailed stripe down the middle and the highest rib tips
For darkness, a reddish brown is drawn on as details, spots and stripes.
For additional spots a bright whitish-yellow is painted into some of the darker areas.
This loud and colorful seahorse is then fully dried with a hair dryer
The final coat is a burnt umber wash. This dark chocolate color is brushed on into all the details and then quickly wiped off most of the sculpture. It will blend all the colors together beautifully and settle into only the deepest details.
Once the Pal Tiya Premium sculpture has cured for 28 days, it can be sealed with a concrete driveway sealant. (The best) This will keep the colors vibrant for years. The painting can be done at any point during this cure.

Enjoy!

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Elephant Sculpture Part 1 - Tinfoil Sculpting

5/31/2018

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Heather is one of our Certified Pal Tiya Premium Teachers in the UK and her next full day Pal Tiya Premium class is in Edinburgh in June 2018.
Heather filmed this in her studio for us and we wanted to share it with you!!

Part 1 is a timelapse video all about the foil armature sculpting of Heather's elephant. Its not a tutorial, its more of a sculpting demo.

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Find Heather here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherscraftstudio
Instagram: www.instagram.com/heatherscraftstudio/

Music : Loch Lomond || Pens From Spain

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Round Door House

5/21/2018

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If you don't know about our recent Private Commission we are making on the Weta Workshop Stage at the moment then we'll wait whilst you have a look here first and then here...
Back? Ok so here is the Round Door House in a slideshow which you can pause if you wish!

Why don't you join our community for updates, offers and all the inspiration we can muster??

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Tortoise Project Parts 1-3

5/18/2018

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We hope you enjoy this one and let us know in the comments below if you would love to try this one for yourself...

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Sculpting A Big Post House with Pal Tiya Premium

4/25/2018

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Our Creative Director and a team (Sculptor Jade Valour in video below) at Weta Workshop in New Zealand have been on stage making these beautiful Village houses with Pal Tiya Premium.
The whole Big Post House project will be shared with our mailing list in the next week or so so make sure you're all signed up so you don't miss this step by step guide!
And let us know in the comments, would you love to create this type of house with Pal Tiya Premium?

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Sculpting a Nordic House at Weta Workshop using Pal Tiya Premium

4/21/2018

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Concept designs are by Johnny Frazer Allen. The drawings and then the original small sculptures of the guinea pig fantasy figures were done for a private client in New Zealand. The client was so pleased, that the commission expanded to include houses for both the sculpted guinea pigs and the clients real ones to live in. About half the houses roofs come off for access to clean and add lIghting.
All work being carried out by Pal Tiya International Creative Director Kim Beaton and Weta Model- maker Zac Johnson.
All houses are being sculpted using tinfoil armatures and Pal Tiya Premium!

We hope you enjoy seeing the making of these.
Comment below and tell us what you enjoy most about these projects.

The Pal Tiya Crew

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Pal Tiya Premium Miniature Village on Weta Stage

4/9/2018

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Pictures of the back of the tinfoil house Kim Beaton is making at Weta.

These are the half Timbers and the roof scales. They are being made separately so they can be all glued on tomorrow.

The small roof has been made from the pieces of roofing tiles that were constructed. They’ve been glued together on top of a cardboard and foil base

Kim has now put a 3mm coating over the entire lower half of the house. This will cure and she’ll begin adding details the next day.

This side room is being built in expectation of the thatch roof being put on top.

The young man’s name is Zac Johnson and he was enjoying working on these with Kim on the Weta stage! He kept working whilst Kim was off for a few days...