Step 12: Create the Facade Boards

I measured the circumference of the carousel top to figure out the total length of boards I would need. I did some quick math to size 6 individual sections of card stock paper. I created a basic decorative shape to outline the boards and trimmed off the excess.

For the first one, I only did the right half of the sheet and cut out the shape. This is the template. Next I traced the template onto the right half of a second sheet. I then flipped the template over (to face the opposite direction so everything was reversed), placed it on the left side of the sheet, and traced it once again (mirror image to the right half).

After tracing and cutting out the other 5 boards, I painted them all black. Once they were dry, I took the tiniest amount of white paint and dry brushed a line along the edge of each board. Later, I tidied the edges of the white lines with black paint.

I'd picked up a sheet of reflective paper and a few paper frames at the craft store. The frames for the facade boards were too big. I folded the frame in half, slipped my scissors into the fold, and snipped it into two pieces. I overlapped the pieces to form the size of frame I wanted, careful also to line up the bumpy outlines. I then snipped through both halves (first on the left side, then on the right) on the diagonal. This created ends that made the two halves fit together seamlessly.

I cut pieces from the sheet of reflective paper; large enough to overlap the inner edge of the frame, but small enough not to poke out the outside edge of the frame. I taped the reflective paper to the frame, then glued the frame to the facade board. I repeated this step for 3 boards.

A friend suggested I create cracks in the mirror. I painted the cracks in black, then when they dried, outlined them in silver paint.

For the remaining 3 boards, I used scrapbook cut outs. They were lovely but too bright. I dunked my brush into a tiny bit of black paint, then dipped it into water. I continued to add drops of water to the puddle I'd created until it made a wash (basically tinted dirty water). Starting from the top of the image, I ran my brush along the surface, making sure more wash was being soaked up at the top than at the bottom.

I used the same technique to dirty up the mirror frames.