(Stan Gregg)

Creating A Turntable Castle

by Pam North

     Stan Gregg has loved miniatures since he was a little kid, he but never got into it until he was an adult. His mom had gotten his twin sister and him a dollhouse for Christmas to put together, which is one of his favorite childhood memories, and it led to his seeing everything in miniature. He finally embraced the craft about 10 years ago, and just started building houses. “I wish I had known earlier in life that there was such a thing as miniatures, shows, and like-minded people,” he said. “I love how miniatures can take my imagination to new places, and how calming it can be to work with them. I always have had a love for architecture, and a love for old houses. This past year we purchased a 149-year-old Victorian home in Illinois that we found for sale online; it was spectacular-looking even though it was in very rough shape” It led us to sell our house in Denver CO and move to Illinois this past year. One of my goals is to recreate this Victorian house in miniature. My other big goal would be to open a miniature shop where I could have classes to show others how to create houses hands-on.”
     A large wood turntable found at a thrift store was the inspiration for Stan’s latest miniature piece; he immediately imagined building a semicircular castle in 1:12 scale on top of it. He has entitled it McGreggor Castle Cottage.
     “The exterior of the castle is about 98% made by hand, and 2% bought (the front door and wood strips),” he explained. “I created the windows and gargoyles on my 3-D printer, and the corbels I made using plaster and a mold. The interior is a mix of about 30% to 40% made by me. I made the artwork for the walls by printing pictures I found online; the wingback chairs and Queen Ann desk, red chairs 
and front room fireplace, some candlesticks and statues and smaller items I made with my 3-D printer. Some of the furniture I bought at miniature sales and shows, always fun for buying new treasures to incorporate into a future house. The white-painted cabinet in the bedroom was created by a miniaturist friend, Laura Crain.”
     Stan chose foam core poster board to create the main structure of the castle, drawing up the walls of the building. He used a 3-D printer and plastic to create the windows and some furniture and art pieces. “I laid any windows and doors I planned to use on the foam core poster board within the areas of the wall sizes I had chosen, and traced around their placement. Once all the walls, windows, and doors were sketched out, I cut them out using an Exacto knife. I used lots of ModPodge glue and hot glue to glue all the walls, floors, and roof portions together. A heavy-duty cardboard was used to create the shingles, and wide popsicle sticks to create the floors and walls in the attic area. I then mixed finely-ground paper with water and glue, creating a paper-mache clay to form the exterior stones and chimneys, pressing it on the exterior walls about ¼” to ½” thick and smoothing it out using a stippling technique with the end of a paint brush. I formed each stone using a small knife and a toothpick, working quickly since the paper-mache hardened rapidly. While doing the exterior I imagined it being covered in ivy and flowers; that led me to use twine and green landscaping powder to create ivy growing all over the castle. Once the paper-mache clay was completely dry (in 3 to 7 days), I painted it, but while it was drying, I cut the cardboard shingles out with scissors and hot-glued them on the roof, also painting and covering them in ModPodge glue. I wired the house for lighting, then painted and decorated the inside.”
     Of his many houses, Stan spent the longest amount of days working on McGreggor Castle Cottage, which took him over 1½ months to finish, and over 80 hours of work. “I usually can get a house built in 7 to 10 days, and in about 50 to 60 hours, but this house I only worked on in my spare time when I had the energy since we were working on fixing up the old Victorian home we had just bought. This project became very addictive to work on, and it was hard at times not to work on it while working on other projects at home.”
          Stan is slightly unconventional in creating his pieces since his houses basically are made only with heavy duty cardboard for siding and shingles, or paper-mache clay if it’s a brick or stone house. He sells most of his houses at yearly miniature sales, but he confessed to the McGreggor Castle Cottage being his favorite creation at this time, and he plans to use it as his main focal piece at a miniature show this year if he attends it. He ultimately will sell it, though, since he is continually building more houses. “This home will be around $1900 or so because of all the hours of labor I have into it,” he stated.
     “I hope that readers can picture this castle as something one might see in England or Scotland, with a little bit of a fantasy and imagination of whom might live in it. Part of my trademark is filling the house with lots of items that can lead to imagining who might be living there. I also do not believe in perfection. I believe in creating what one imagines and having fun with it. The more one creates, the better the creations become.” Stan is planning his next project as a smaller, cottage-looking house with lots of greenery and floral accents, and possibly a shabby chic look.
     Stan worries that  the future of miniatures is slowing down with the loss of many older, talented miniaturists. “I see a lot of miniaturists who don’t share the tips or tricks to their artwork which could inspire many others to become involved in miniatures. Also, many miniature shops have closed around the country. I love to share my miniature houses and how I create them, hoping that they inspire others with how I may have made them out of almost nothing. I want to help keep the world of miniatures alive and well.”

Contact Information:
Name:  Stan Gregg
Business Name: Stan Gregg- Greggs Miniature Imaginations-Ever After Cottages
Website: greggsminiatureimaginations.blogspot.com
Email:  stancssi@yahoo.com
Instagram::  stan_gregg_ever_after_cottages
Phone: (303) 562-5995
Address: 200 N. Liberty St. - Jerseyville, Illinois 62052