This is my first attempt at making a cobblestone roadway for my Sylvanian Families photos. I read up on how many minature crafters use egg cartons for their brick and rock textures and thought that I would give it a go. Looking back, I am unsure about how I feel on this craft - the egg carton is very solid and durable when dry, but it does take a very long time to finish. However, since I cannot find any form of craft foam or foam insulation locally, this method will have to do for now.
For this project, I first had to save up some egg cartons to use - this took longer than I would have liked, as there are only a few pieces of the egg carton that are fit for use. Most parts are either smooth or rounded, so would not work well.
Items Needed
Egg boxes, cold glue, scissors, acrylic paint and a paintbrush, pen, ruler, some sort of board to attach your cobbles to, interior crack filler and water.
I also found some model "tar road" paper at a hobby shop, but I would not use this again due to the fact that it feels and acts very much like sandpaper. It does look like tar though, but is not good if you are going to add figures to your diorama.
I started out by measuring out the area that I wanted under tar and which areas I wanted the cobblestones to be. To lift the sidewalk off the road a bit, I glued down some cardboard box pieces and went to town with the cold glue to stick the faux tar road down.
When the road was sufficiently stuck to the board, I started tearing off small bits of egg carton and stuck them to the surface. On the edge, where the road meets the sidewalk, I folded the egg carton "rocks" over to make them a bit more believable. Once you have your bits off carton teared off, it is just a matter of puzzling them out to place them in such a way that the spaces between them are in scale and roughly even all around.
As soon as your cobbles are placed, you can start sticking them down. I find the easiest way to do this, is by working in small sections at a time and painting on some glue with a brush as you go. When your cobbles are stuck down, you will need to ensure that the glue is dried well before you start painting them.
I painted my cobblestones with acrylic paint. This took a while, as each stone needs to be painted individually to give some depth to the finished piece. I started off with my darkest colour, and then added some of my lighter colours on top of that until I was happy with the colours all over.
When the paint is totally dry, you will need to add some form of grouting mixture to your cobbles. Interior crack filler can work well for this, but will need to be coloured with some paint before use. In this project, I used some leftover tile grout that matched the colours that I wanted reflected in my cobblestone floor.
When the paint is totally dry, you will need to add some form of grouting mixture to your cobbles. Interior crack filler can work well for this, but will need to be coloured with some paint before use. In this project, I used some leftover tile grout that matched the colours that I wanted reflected in my cobblestone floor. Whatever you decide to use, just make sure to do a test to see what the material will look like when it is dry before using it. My grout lightens up quite a bit, so might need some extra paint.
After my cobblestone road dried out, I lightly went over the whole piece with some dark grey and white paint to make the details more visible.
