I’m going to write about the second attempt I made at this floor because due to some dodgy materials the first go came out really wonky and looked rubbish. So I tried again.
Lollipop (aka popsicle) sticks are my main materials for this, so I started by using my miter shears to cut off all the round ends. I cut them inside of a box to try and stop the pieces flying off everywhere which worked fairly well although there was still some shrapnel.
I painted the floor black because if there were any gaps they would show up less with a dark background.
I then sanded the edges of the sticks as I went and started glueing them in rows. I tilted the diorama up so that I could better see if any gaps were appearing.
To get the right size at the edge of the rows I held up a stick above the row and marked where I would need to cut to get the correct size.
The last row of sticks was the most difficult because it involved cutting custom heights of the sticks to fit, and it’s not perfect but I’m okay with how it turned out.
Next stop, I gave it quite a hard sand to get it smooth and then I applied the stain. I created the stain by combining a pine and mahogany wood stain with a little acrylic red paint.
After a few coats I was happy enough with the stain and I gave it a coat of wood varnish.
This was a labour of love as it went wrong quite a few times in my first attempt but I’m feeling okay about where it’s ended up.
