Let's talk about cardboard Christmas houses and accessories
Visit our Contributors' Pages:
Welcome to CardboardChristmas 2.0
With the help of a very nice contractor, we have control of this page again, plus its on an updated
server that should be less prone to hacking.
If you're new to this page, welcome. Our goal is to keep alive the tradition of putz house
collection, documentation, restoration, and construction. Our members include several of the most
prestigious collectors, restorers, and builders I've ever come across.
Note: All content on this forum is Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016,
2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Paul D. Race and by the posters who have contributed specific content. All
material is for your personal use only. No content or plans may be republished or sold, nor may
any plans be used to make products to sell without prior written permission from Paul D. Race
and the individual who contributed the content or plan in question. For permissions or for
questions about this policy, please contact us using our Contact
page.
Family-friendly forums for discussing traditional cardboard Christmas houses, including their history, collection, restoration, recreation, and display.
here are pix of a piece i recently re-constructed...a similar one is shown on ted's site as the "august 2003 house of the month"...
this "hotel/house" it was sent to me in two pieces...i made a new top section and base plus found a tree that was similar to the original...it also needed new windows and a door...my goal was to make the new parts look old...and make the old parts look newer...i didn't want to destroy the character of the vintage pieces...just breath new life back into it for the owner...
the "snow" highlights were done with a mixture of a soft white craft paint and white glue that were sprinkled with bright white craft sand...no glitter or mica...i also "very lightly spray misted" the entire piece with gray primer...
i guess i can tell the owner of the house that i also sprinkled dust and dirt off the outside window sills of my shop over the entire piece...the fine dust/dirt gets into all the little space and helps it look older...it's there to stay...
my very best regards...
howard
Attachments
c c hotel reconstruction orig bottom new top.jpg (145.09 KiB) Viewed 20432 times
hotel rebuild new base wash finish new tree.jpg (160.56 KiB) Viewed 20432 times
WOW! Good job on this one. I have the original and without seeing it you did an amazing job. A couple of things about this building (I call it the hotel and the "dog house" is the Cantina or tea room. The trim on the marquee over the main door and the roof of the cantina is orange laquie (which is flat paint that has had shellac put over it) But the finish on the base was the most intriguing thing to me. It was a mid gray BUT it had a sort of black stuff scattered over it (NOT coconut) that looked much like shredded supper fine steel wool?? CRAZY eh. And the snow was a very heavy very white thick substance very much like plaster (likely not that as it would surely have flaked off and it is quite durable.) Perhaps a plaster and paint mix of some sort. VERY interesting.
BIG QUESTION. HOW DID YOU MAKE THAT TREE! WHAT DID YOU USE FOR THE TUBULES? Outstanding work. Tom
Wish I could find trees like that! I thought maybe you had figured out how to construct those tubular trees. And noting that brown paper around the trunk was very observant.
I was watching Bizarre Foods America and the host was at a Japanese Americans home and eating some seaweed that he said looks and feels like steel wool but tasted GREAT. It was VERY dark green. Do you suppose that the material scattered on that hotel base was that seaweed all dried up? It wouldn't really surprise me.
tom...i would say they probably used any and all materials that were free, leftovers from something else or very, very cheap...nothing would surprise me either...
