Class 6 Summary

Foam Core Cutting

• Use a good box cutter - use a brand new blade 
• Change your blade often - cut the blade using long nose pliers
• Cut it more than once to make sure the foam is fully cut - don't push too hard when cutting 
• Real glue gun (one NOT from the dollar store) will heat more quickly and have more time to glue together. 
• For large sheets - take measurements at each edge to make sure everything is straight. 
• Use a large, wider ruler. You can clamp the ruler to the table for extra security 
• Cut with two or three strokes. 
• It's important to stay straight when you're guiding the knife. 
• Don't put pressure with your index finger but with the finger under it. 
• Concentrate on staying straight rather than the force applied to the knife. 

The Maquette "Floor"

• The floor of the maquette needs extra support. The best way to be precise is to cut the mark exactly - not the side of the mark. 
• Always make the floor of the maquette bigger than the walls. 
• Cut inch long strips to make the base of the floor.
• Make lines on the bottom of the floor to know where to glue the base of your floor 
• Make lines one inch within the edge of the board. 
• Use hot glue to put the base on to the floor. Try to steady the piece you're glueing while you're gluing it. Make a straight line with the hot glue along the edge.
• Press the glued edge along the line made on the bottom of the "floor" 
• Uses a mini torch (Canadian Tire - 8 dollars). If there are little hot glue strings you can burn it with the torch and it will form with the rest of the glue. 

Mounting Photos

• Use spray glue for mounting a photo to the board. Don't buy it at Deserres -  buy it a rona because it's cheaper. 
• To make coloured walls use paper rather than spray paint. 
• You move your hand 40 cm from the board, spray paper then put the paper aside and spray the board. Leave the board and paper for five minutes, it will feel dry. It's contact glue so it won't glue until the other glued surface touches it. 
• Get floral stems from dollarama or wooden sticks for crafting. The round shape is important. 
• Put these sticks along your board. 
• These sticks act as a barrier between your photo and the board - this will allow you to place your print over your board and refine its placement. Start in the centre, take one stick out and push on the paper from the centre.  
• Don't press too hard because you haven't removed the rest of the sticks yet.   
• Place the print on your board before you cut its final size.

 
Hiding the Edges

• If you have a colour or texture you don't want to see the white foam. 
• Mark the thickness of your board on the inside when you're holding it up to thee second wall (at a 90 degreee angle). 
• Here you have cut into the board but NOT cut the layer of paper on your board. 
• Then put the board on the edge of the table, cut the inside of the foam but put pressure to make sure your blade touches the layer of paper but does NOT cut it. 
• The idea here is that you're leaving the backing of the foam core in order to cover the corner of the foam core. Don't over-do the glue because you can reinforce it after. make sure the glue is forming on the inside rather than the outside. 
• If your wall is curved, trace a line on the floor where the wall goes - you can see the curve in your wall exactly when you compare it to the line. Put marks on the floor along where you want the wall to go. Put glue and place your wall along the line. You can then bend the wall with reinforcement pieces. 
• When there are imperfections where the boards meet you can put "moulding" along the wall. You can use "Carton a Ame Blanche" (it's white all the way through).  
• Cut strips of this and place it along the border of your maquette. It needs to be as long as your wall and you need to use white glue (a small amount) hold it in place for one minute.
• If your wall is textured it's good have extra pattern printed to create a moulding around. 

Windows

• You don't want to see the traces of cutting of the windows 
• Use painter's tape to mark the 4 corners of your windows. 
• It's important to take into consideration the angle of your cutter. 
• Take a push pin and make a hole through the corners of your window. This way you can cut BOTH sides of your foam core. 
• Stop before the mark when you're cutting. 
• Flip to the other side and cut the place you missed the first time. Follow the cut line not your mark. 
• To cover the inside of the windows cut your paper or texture and use white glue. 
• You can sand the edges if they are rough. 

Some extra tips and tricks

• Little figures painted are good to represent the scale of people (can be fastened with glue or a needle)
• Before you press the piece to the board visualize everything and make sure everything looks good. 
• You can use green painters tape to make marks on your wall but not make marks on it. First remove some of the stickiness of the tape by sticking it onto your clothes. Then you make your marks on the tape. 
• When cutting multiple pieces make sure to put pressure on the bottom and top of the ruler rather than directly onto the ruler. 
• You can reenforce the board with glue after. You can also reinforce it with other pieces of foam core. If making a big maquette you may need a piece in the middle of the outside of the floor in order to keep it from buckling. 
• Check your angles!
• App called "amount" to translate measurements.  
• L'atelier du bronze - for casting and moulding. You can work in cardboard, cast it and then have it made in metal.- the cardboard burns in the oven during the casting process. 
• Gator Foam - stronger than foam-core. Gator board is four times the price and hard to find. They have it at Studio Specialite and you have to be a business to buy it but they just need the name and address of the business so you can ask a friend. You can sand the surface to remove marks and fix the edges. It's more like a plastic surface. 
• When applying hot glue put glue drop and circle around the glue drop when finishing its application in order to avoid glue strings.

Next class (march 3rd) will be individual meetings!