Vignette in Glass

Roger J. Beauregard of Creative Villages

This was a fun little display to make. Actually my wife and I were out shopping at Christmas Tree shop and we came across these large glass bowls I guess you would call them. She said, “You know, you could make a nice little display in these.” So we bought two of them. I wanted to make a Halloween display, but wanted it to be a little different.

I started to look through all my Halloween accessories (although the bowl is big enough for a smaller building) and that’s when I came across these two Hallmark ornaments from the “Corpse Bride” series. I bought them a few years ago and knew there would be a time that they would fit in a Halloween display of some sort.

What you see is a bowl that is about 12 inches in diameter and 12 inches deep. I flipped the glass upside down and traced the outside edge of it on a 2 inch thick piece of EPS foam and cut it out with the Scroll Table. Because I traced the outside diameter, I had to cut it ¼ inch smaller so that it would fit on the inside. The Scroll Table allowed me to have a vertical cut so that it would slide in the glass and look flush inside. When I slid it to the bottom I realized that the bottom was not flat. It had a slightly raised center and the foam would not lay flat. So if you look at the picture above, you can see a black edge on the bottom – those are small black stones that I got at a craft store. I poured them on the outer edge to level the bottom off and then the foam sat nice and flat.

The rest of the display is just sculpting the foam, cutting out the stairs and the stone work on the back wall and around the edges of the vignette. I used a black ink wash to coat the foam, then I used acrylic paint to get the look I wanted. The ground cover is from Woodland Scenics.

To give a gloomier look I put a piece of orange cellophane on the back side. It clung to the glass so I just had to put it in place. If anyone has had luck in drilling holes in glass please give me some tips.

About

Roger J. Beauregard / Creative Villages

Back in 1995 my wife came home with a few village buildings. I asked her, “What are we going to do with these???? She set them up on the dining room buffet for the holidays. The next year, after much bickering, it became my village. I really became hooked, especially on building dioramas.

I was so hooked it became a craving. I needed more! But the more I created the bigger the mess I made. That’s when I discovered Hot Wire Foam Factory. They were heaven sent.

I was amazed at how easy the tools were to use. I started with the Hot Knife and Sculpting Tool. I was having a blast creating different realistic looks for my villages with incredible detail. I used the Hot Knife to do the stone and brick work in the walls and to make cobblestone roads. The Variable-Heat Power Station allowed me to control the heat on the blade which made a big difference.

The tool that I now use most is the Freehand Router. It’s very versatile, you can bend the wires to cut a almost any shape in the foam. All it takes is your imagination, and with practice the tools will help you create whatever look you want.

As time went on my display building was recognized. I have done village displays in several D56 collectible stores in the New England area. Once my work was seen customers wanted me to do their displays in their homes. At one of the store I held classes on building displays and helped people with problems they were having with hiding wires, making walls or stairways or anything else they wanted to do. I really enjoyed helping people out because I know what It was like when I first started out.

If you have any questions or would like a quote on having me create a custom diorama for your village, please feel free to email me at rjbeauregard@comcast.net.