Making the Leprechaun Door

I meant to post this the other day, but just plain forgot.

On a general note, my impulsive St. Patrick's Day lawn decorating was a success. The neighborhood reaction (that I saw) brought many smiles. Several passersby made it a photo-op with their kids. My hope to bring a bit of that Halloween and Christmas decorating magic that makes myths real worked. Bring on the Easter Bunny. I wish there was a nationally recognized Giant Squid Day!

But I digress. Here's how I made the Leprechaun door. Know that I knocked it out pretty fast using what materials I had at hand, so there's lots of room for improvement.

The door was cut out of foamcore board. Then scored vertically (where the seams of the wood planks might be), so It could be bent matching the tree trunk curve.

Next it was coated with brown tinted "monster mud" (left over from my yarn bombing tree project). I used a stick to create wood grain and softened the hard lines a bit by going back over with a paint brush.

Once it set up, I painted on a thin coat of green. While still wet I lightly dragged a rag over pulling off paint from the high points, revealing some brown underneath, creating a weathered feel.

The shamrock window frame and hinge plate hardware were cut out of 1/4" thick craft foam.

The hinges themselves were pieces of cardboard tube found on dry cleaner wire hangers. The tips were glued on wood plugs. I also used larger wood plugs for the rivets on the hinge plates.

The door handle was made with Model Magic. A tape roll was used as a jig to wrap the clay around to create a decent circle.

I painted all the hardware with gold spray paint, then pounced on a coat of thinned black acrylic to age and weather them. I glued a sheet of black card stock behind the shamrock window and sprayed with a clear gloss coat to help give a feeling that it's actually glass. In retrospect, I should of used a sheet of clear acetate first, then the black paper. Oh well, next time.

Once all the pieces were dry, they were glued together. I looped two lengths of bailing wire through both sides off the door, and tied around the tree trunk to hold in place.