Entrance tower and front part

I'm determined to push forward on this project as much as I can. Now that the bazaar is done, it's time to make the entrance and to fill that ugly empty space just on the front part of the board.

If I'm going to build a gate of some kind...

...let's build a big one

The idea of a tower looked appealing to me. It adds some volume there and gives the impression of an access gate to the medina of the town.

Now it is time for a new item I got last Christmas again (even before the Christmas lights, I think!)

Lattice I got from a nativity scenes shop

I know, I know. But this project got out of hand long ago, so just another little silly addition wouldn't be that much!

While deciding how to better put the lattice, I built the general shape of the tower. I'm thinking of adding something on top of it. The idea of an astronomy observatory is appealing, but I'm not sure if it really fits in there. 

Just an idea. To be considered later

Some paint later. Note the addition of that tiny building on the front

Let's add the lattice and tissue paper:

Cautiously optimistic

The tricky part was to wire the tower. The garland came from the entrance to the mine (down left), but I wanted it to go towards the central block (to the right of the tower). I could make the wire go upwards and downwards again, but given my needings, it was more efficient if the wire went through the upper part. So I made holes on the walls and connected them with a tube, the wire going through it:

A picture speaks a thousand words

This is the final test. Will the light look good through the lattice?

Hooray!

OK. Now let's pay some attention to the gate of the tower. It has quite a large archway. It needs some decoration to fill all that awful emptiness.

More printed paper. Cheap and easy!

 

I considered the idea of adding flags and banners hanging from the ceiling, but it was kind of too much. However, I thought some additional detail was in order.

 

So I did this for the lintel

 

It's a crude sculpt indeed, but it doesn't need more detail, it's relatively hidden and maybe it was sculpted looong centuries ago and is highly eroded by the winds of the desert. It's simply an element to add "visual noise" as I call it.

While the greenstuff was curing, I built some more stuff...

 

Upwards!

You can notice that I'm trying to avoid paralell lines, I'm breaking symmetry and trying to add some more little chaos. When finished, the area looks like this:

This neighbourhood is alive

The way into the lower baazar

That tower needs something atop, but still haven't found the correct piece

 

Well, it now feels like something! I think it all looks quite ethnic and it fits the whole theme in the board.

 

Just a little bonus for this post: Next challenge was to take the lights from the central building (the newly built element) to the left again, where the final stage of the board awaits. How would I do that?? For sure I didn't want to destroy more pieces, and I found it difficult or even impossible (apart from absurdly inefficient) to take the lights again through the same way they had previously come. Then I risked it all:

On the open!

Lanterns made with gaming tokens

 

Right, I'll try to make some street lamps with the wire on the open. But that will be an issue for another day!

For the moment let's just recap:

The whole progress

This how it all looks!

And this how it all looks at night!

You see, there's so little left to do, just the sector on the left of the pic. At the time of writing this I can say I'm making some fair progress, so I feel quite optimistic.

Hopefully more updates coming soon!

The noisy bazaar

 Now that I'm working on the Qala Debdou board, I'm determined to make some more progress before taking it into the closet for another year!

My original idea (as of last november) was cutting a circular piece on the floor and adding an underground bazaar (kind of Luke's uncles' moist farm in Tatooine). I even had preparations, but suddenly I had a different idea:

A hollow space, but with two different floors

 You can barely see a thing in the pic above, I'm afraid. Next one shows it better. I used a mosaic for the floor (merely downloaded image printed on paper):

This gets a better overview

The lower level is made with an old CD case, as plastic gives me strenght and light weight, and the upper level will be mere cardboard.

You can get an idea of the size of the structure

The bazaar is taking a considerable space within the board, that's why I decided to risk it a little bit and try this extravagant shape, so it looks a little bit more interesting.

Weirdly close to the entrance to the mine, but there's no more room here!

Once I'm adding lights to the board, planning turns a little bit different. I cannot just build it all and then add the lights (as done before!), simply because there will be some parts totally inaccessible. So I have to build a part, put the lights and then keep on building.

However, the general idea is something in this fashion

Oh, BTW, of course I considered cutting those doors and making an inner space for the stalls, but it was just too much. The coyte trick of painting the hole black will have to do.

I changed my mind about the central piece of the bazaar. The idea of a pole of some kind was very powerful, as it's quite typical in any old market anywhere in the world. It's visually attractive and I was using that strange piece (from an old perfume generously donated by Mrs. Suber). But then I remembered I had these air scrubbers and one of them looked much better here:

With the tiny awnings!

Now it has that weird mix of fantasy, sci-fi and old worn looking I was after.

Let's go for the fun part! I had to buy a second light set. I'm putting the batteries here inside one of the structures. I'll have to provide some removable cover for them, but that's a problem for future me.

I have some ideas, but for another day

I could complete all the rear part, adding lights to the caves on the left of the pic:

Looks cozy, but I'm not sure if it really is

For the market stalls I got these bits from Tabletop Art, which are gorgeous:

Yummy

 

I glued some items to the floor of the lower bazaar. Then glued the lower bazaar in place and added the lights. Then I could stick the upper bazaar round wall, to which I had to put the lights on the go. Quite time consuming, and it took a lot of measurings and trial and error (specially error!), but it all led to this:

Done!

Ta-daaa

I also got to put the lights to the entrance of the mine. The thing is that I was quickly squandering the light garland just by surrounding the lower and upper bazaar, but for now it all was working.

In fact, the idea of some light coming out from the mine was what made me embark on this madness

The lower bazaar has an access gate. I built a cardboard tunnel and paved the road, so you can get into the bazaar directly from the front of the board:

Details on the mine still TBD. Another problem for future me

Close up of the access tunnel

Well, everything is in place now! From now on it's just a matter of adding details. I glued the goods and awnings and stuff:

Ugly, dirty, unhygienic. Just perfect

A view from the other side, with the gate to the tunnel

Well, the final test... lights on!

Ugly, dirty... and lit

Open for bussiness!

A view for the tunnel

You may think this whole thing is a total madness. Well... it is, I couldn't say otherwise. However, once finished it makes you feel something like this...

The Suberverse coming along

I still have a little sanity left to keep on working on the board, so more updates in the following days!

Let there be light!

 I can't believe it's been almost another year since last time I put some work on this board. Again! OK, let's see if I can make some real progress this time. First of all, a recap picture:

This has been inside the closet since last november

I think that, after five years of discontinuous work, it's time to give this a proper name. I cannot keep on calling it "the board" or "the mining town". So, until I find a better name, I think I'm calling this town Qala Debdou, which sounds enormously ethnic and fits my purposes. I'm creating the label and will update the blog accordingly.

Once I've settled that... what's the title about? A little bit pretentious, you may think. What do I mean by light and so on? Well, it's an idea I had last Christmas (yes, my last update was in november and I really wanted to keep on building this by december; but life happens, you know...).

I was saying...

Christmas lights!

Right, I'm that insane. I thought it would be cool if I'd manage to add some lights to the board. Yes, in this stage. I could -no, I should have thought about it five years ago, when planning the whole thing. But it didn't happen then. The muse of bulbs visited me last december and then the muse of procrastination did the rest. But now summer allowed me some spare time and I decided to give it a go!

How on earth would I reach the inner parts of this model to put the lights in place? Well, I had to cut a hole on the back piece of foamboard...

Just enough for my hand to fit in...

That way my arm got to the end, i.e. the front of the board. Punching some discrete holes I got this:

It works!!

Placing some of them was incredibly tricky

But they somehow work

Ufortunately, due to the lack of planification, now there are some places that are totally inaccessible. At least without destroying wide areas of the board! But with some patience I got this:

Weirdest nativity scene ever

All I got so far!

If I had planned this from the beginning I could have reached so many more spots. Now these lights are kind of random, but I hope they give at least an impression. Again, due to the lack of planification, the setting of the garland is totally inefficient, but I couldn't make more with it.

As you can see, it roughly covers half of the board. It seems I need another set of lights!

And I need to carve more holes on the back of the thing!!

I'll try to make some more progress on this, so I hope I'll be able to bring some updates soon!