buildings

Plastercraft Houses – 2025

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I did not finish a lot of houses this year, only four. Below are last three I finished. Only the Chocolate Shop is California Creations. The other two are labeled Creative Craft. They are very similar to California Creations making me think that when California Creations when out of business, they may have sold the molds to this company. I have no evidence, but all the houses have the same feel.

Chocolate Shop by California Creations:

This is one of the houses I placed in the category of Rescued Houses. In 2016, south Louisiana Flooded, the Rescued House sat in water for a few days. You can read about the rescued houses in my blog, Rescued Houses – Part One. There is some damage to the houses that were rescued and the paint cards our gone. I painted this house with the colors associated with chocolate: Dark Chocolate, Buttercream, Reds, Pink….

Tony’s Pizza by Creative Crafts:

This is another Rescued House. There was a little bit more damage than the Chocolate Shop, so I decided to make the building look old and worn.

DOS Taco by Creative Crafts:

I had the paint card for this house, but I did not like the lime green curtains shown on the paint card. I went in my own direction.

Austin – The City of Cranes

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When driving into Austin, TX, you see it’s downtown skyline and you notice all the cranes. There is a crane on top of almost every single building in downtown Austin. Except for the State Capitol building, it has scaffolding around it.

Every day I was in Austin, it had beautiful days with blue skies and 100+ temperatures.

The first day I was there, I walked over 8 miles exploring the downtown area. The State Capitol Building was easy to find, it was at the end of Congress Blvd.

I was not permitted to tour the Governor’s Mansion grounds. I was only allowed to take a picture from the other side of the iron bars.

This was the most interesting building I found in Austin was the Open-Air Rotunda. It is located behind the State Capitol Building. It was below grade and had a railing up top for viewing.

Here are a few more images around downtown Austin.

3D Print – Church

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I love old buildings, especially churches.  They have a lot of character and details you do not find in modern buildings.  My first major 3D design project was not modeled after any one particular church building, but after numerous churches I have seen through out my lifespan.

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The building was created in 3 main sections:  The foundation, the walls, and the roof.  I wanted the ability to put furniture inside the building.  I also wanted the doors to open, but the 3D print was too small to support hinges that actually worked.

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The foundation include the steps, simulated wood flooring, and the cross display.  It contains groves in the foundation to hold the walls in place.

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The walls contains simulated wood siding, the windows and the doors.

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The roof contained the bell tower with simulated wood shingles.  The cross was printed separately and placed in the hole bell tower.

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The furniture was originally designed on a larger scale and shrunk down.  But, it had to be tweaked at the small scale since any support not being at least 1 mm did not print correctly.

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Foundation:

Print Time: 6 hours 53 minutes
Filament: PLA – 3.76 meters 30 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 64.001, 140.8, 36.5 mm

Walls:

Print Time: 3 hours 18 minutes
Filament: PLA – 1.69 meters 13 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 64.474, 113.752, 32.252 mm

Roof:

Print Time: 10 hours 28 minutes
Filament: PLA – 7.12 meters 56 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 89.501, 117.201, 65.217 mm

The estimated print time for the entire building as one object is 21 hours 19 minutes.

Pew:

Print Time: 8 minutes
Filament: PLA – 0.04 meters 0 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 19.252, 5.453, 8.993 mm

Pew:

Print Time: 16 minutes
Filament: PLA – 0.11 meters 1 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 16.801, 5.745, 16.213 mm

Podium:

Print Time: 16 minutes
Filament: PLA – 0.11 meters 1 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 16.801, 5.745, 16.213 mm

Communion Table:

Print Time: 10 minutes
Filament: PLA – 0.09 meters 1 grams
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Shell Thickness: 0.8

Object Size (W, D, H): 15.001, 7.858, 8.5 mm

Holy Family Shrine

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The Holy Family Shrine is in Gretna, Nebraska, which is locate outside of Omaha.  During my trips to and from Omaha I saw this awesome building sitting up a on hill.  I immediately wanted to visit it.

Later, while looking for places to visit in Nebraska, I saw this building listed and learned its name and found its website: Holy Family Shrine.  After many months, with travel arrangement changing,  I finally made a trip to the Nebraska Crossing Outlet Mall and a visit to the Shrine was only five minutes away.

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There is a fountain in the gift shop with water trickling down.  A stream runs from the fountain, out the doors, down a path, and through the Shrine.

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The Shrine is located on a hill surrounded by fields.

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It was beautiful. Even on the cold, cloudy, gray day when I visited the Shrine.

Inside the Shrine wasn’t fancy. But, who needs fancy when you have such a magnificent view.

Natchitoches – The City of Lights

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Today, my travels took me to Natchitoches, Louisiana.  It is called the City of Lights because at Christmas time they light up the city with thousands of lights.  Last year, 2014, they celebrated their 300 birthday.

They have a wonderful park located on the Cane River in their downtown historical district.  I walked by the shops, but many was closed today because of the Labor Day holiday.

Many Bed and Breakfast establishments are located in Natchitoches, but I choose to stay somewhere else.  One day, I will stay at a Bed and Breakfast.  But, it will be longer than just overnight and in either a Plantation or Castle.

Rogue House - Natchitoches

Rogue House – Natchitoches

Cane River

Cane River

Water Fall

Water Fall

Lunch was at Maglieaux on the Cane.  You can check out the review here: Maglieaux’s Review

Christmas Village – Part 1

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This obsession started in 1990, I was walking through a store (which I will not name) and notice the unpainted houses.  I thought, I bet my sister would like those and purchase three and gave them to her as a gift for Christmas.  My husband response was “That looks nice!”  So, the obsession began.

5and10

5and10

Antique Shop

Antique Shop

Apartments

Apartments

Bakery

Bakery

Barn House

Barn House

Barn

Barn

Beacon Hill House

Beacon Hill House

Beauty Shop

Beauty Shop

Big Church

Big Church

Book Store

Book Store