Department 56 Volcano Display
A Unique Spin on an In-Store Halloween Display
Roger J. Beauregard of Creative Villages
Building this village was a little different for me. Usually I start working right at the store or customer’s home with access to the buildings they have for the display. Christmas Noel in Portland, Maine contacted me to redo all their displays. The store is 2 hours away, so I had to take a field trip to talk to the owners to find out what they wanted. I suggested Halloween because it was the next big holiday. I took all the measurements I needed and went home to start building.
The initial problem I had was that I had no buildings to work with, so I had to collect all the dimensions of the buildings and work with that before I went to far. I put three layers together to start, but realized I was going to need an extra level to hold 4 or 5 more buildings. I constructed a 3 foot section that would give me the extra space I needed. The cutouts had to be big enough to fit the buildings in, which were on average 7″ wide and 7″ high. I did all the stone work using the Hot Knife from Hot Wire Foam Factory. I like the knife because it only makes a small line for the stonework and is more in scale with the villages.
The next step was to make a backdrop out of Styrofoam in the form of mountains. I had the idea to make a volcano as the center mountain and smaller ones to fill in the rest of the space which ended being a total of 6 feet in all. Once they were all carved out (using the Industrial Hot Knife) I sprayed the foam with a black ink spray to get into all the carved out areas first, then I used acrylic paint to finish off the mountains. Using just a brush takes too long to fill in all the carved-out work, so the spray is a time saver.
Now I was ready to bring the display to Christmas Noel and start putting it all together. I pulled out all the buildings and started to place them where I thought they would look good. I marked the foam with their foot print and removed them so I could put the ground cover on. To finish off the outer edge, I built a wall out of foam and added a wrought iron fence on top, which I made from balsa wood and toothpicks. I also made two gates for each end of the display with arrow toothpicks.
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.