a different kind of sand castle...

bringing sand and shells home from a beach vacation is do-able.
a sand castle? not so much.

unless, of course, you find a new way to make a sand castle ;) 

and i did. 

continue reading to see the everyday material that inspired me and how i used it...

i started with a ceramic castle from my collection...
using it, i drew each section of the castle separately on a sheet of heavy paper.

each piece was cut out individually, and assembled into a collage on my worktable -
they formed the pattern that i would work with for the project.

next, i grabbed that 'everyday' material that inspired this project in the first place:
used sheets of sandpaper!
(new sheets would certainly work, as well, but i use what i have on hand!)
i had three different grits and colors to work with,
so i decided how to use them to add dimension to the castle shapes:
the medium shade would be the main walls, the lightest would be the towers,
and the darkest would be the roofing.the white paper shape was glued onto the back of the sandpaper in a chosen color,
then cut out.

as i cut more pieces, i began stacking and layering them to form the castle,
simply taping them to hold them in position...

after all of the pieces were taped into place,
i used a pencil to add very light lines in several places as detail
that would add more dimension.

it's not an exact replica of the ceramic castle, but that's ok.
it's close enough! and it's a bit smaller, so that it would fit where i wanted to use it...

i mounted the castle inside a small box frame, lined with striped paper
(that reminds me of a beach towel!)
two small pieces of foam behind the castle hold it out about 1/2 inch,
creating a shadow that makes the whole thing look better.

sitting on my faux mantel or hung on the wall, it's a fun summer touch.

oh, does that castle maybe look familiar to some of you?

yeah, it's Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland!
paired up with a few pieces of memorabilia from my Disneyland collection,
it makes a pretty magical composition.

another idea for creating a sand castle
(though it is a bit messier...)
is to cover a castle figure (ceramic, wood, plastic) with glue, and then dip it into sand.

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