Make a Medieval Tower
The Medieval Village Diorama

This is part of the medieval village diorama tutorial You can go to that main page here

This is part of the medieval village diorama. In this tutorial I show you how to make a tower. And the most important parts of this tutorial are that I show you how to make the stone walls by casting plaster in a rubber mold. I also show you how to make the shingled roof out of balsa wood.

Here is a look at the completed tower.

The basic structure is the same as the peasants house. The building is simply foamboard. And the brown wood molding is small pieces of balsa wood. This tutorial doesn't cover those basic aspects. If you want to make the building the tutorial on how to do that here: Make the Peasant's House.

This tutorial covers the advanced aspects of a building like this including the balsa wood shingled roof and casting the plaster to make the stone wall.

Let's Make the Stone Wall

The first thing I did was press out a square of clay onto a board. Any kind of clay will work and I am using DaVinci Clay. But it doesn't matter much. This clay is about eight inches square.

Then I pressed pebbles into it. A whole lot of them. Make it look like you want your stone wall to look. This is how it will turn out.

Then.. and this is important. You have to seal the whole thing with some kind of a sealant. I used a bottle of artist paint sealant. Cost me about five dollars and you can get this at any arts and crafts store. Just brush on the sealant and let it dry. If you don't seal the work the clay will stick to your latex rubber mold. Mod Podge probaby works good as a sealant. Apply one or two thin coats. You want to seal it but you don't want to modify or change the details.

Here is a look at the sealant I used.

Next you brush on a thin layer of latex rubber. In the picture I show you two types of latex rubber for mold making. On the left is something callled Mold Builder. And on the right is Latex Rubber by Woodland Scenics.

Amazon.com: Mold Builder Liquid Latex Rubber 16oz/473ml

and: Latex Rubber, 16oz

Apply a thin first coat and once it dries apply a second thin coat. After that you should apply several more coats but thicker.

A minimum of 5 or 6 coats is recommended. You have to judge this depending on what you are making a mold of. It won't hurt to put too many layers but too few layers could cause your mold to rip.

Making the mold stronger. You can add a layer of gauze, medical bandage or cheesecloth if you want your mold to be more durable. Just add the layer then add a few more layers of latex rubber.

Once the latex rubber is completely driedc you can carefully remove it from the model wall you made. And there you go, you have a rubber mold. Now you can cast plaster into it.

Just mix up plaster of paris according to the instructions that come with it and pour it into mold. In a couple of hours you will be able to remove it from the mold.

After you pour it rap on the table top to cause vibrations. This drives out all the bubbles in the plaster of paris.

Here I am carefully peeling the latex mold away from the cast plaster. You can remove it after a couple of hours but it will take 24 hours to fully cure.

Let's continue with the tutorial and see how to make the Shingled roof on this tower

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