Here's a link to another discussion on gardenweb about the fairy houses:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/junk/msg0108025221038.html

Okay guys I have been crafting for years and there is no way the hot glue will hold up outside in the heat. He has to be using some kind of epoxy or cement. I went to his website he is using very small rocks mixed in with his sand. Looks like the size you would use in a fish tank or gravel.I wonder why he didn't use bark for the roof istead of shingles? Seems more natural to me just a thought!

Hi everyone..You should visit over at Garden Junk, we have been discussing Fairy Houses there, I also listed the Carol Duvall show #, so you can visit her site. He is using somekind of resin mixture for the inside part of the twig frame, we just can't decide what!!

Don't give up, we will eventually figure this out.

lol, Junklady

I taped the C.D. show on fairy houses. The man said that he uses cold process porcelain or liquid resin. The liquid resin can be found at auto parts stores, and it is much cheaper than buying it at craft stores. A lot cheaper! To look at his houses, go to fairywoodland.com Other sites that sell them are twigwizardry.com and elucinda.com
As for the hot glue debate, try putting the houses in a cool location or perhaps wiring the joints after glueing them. Any other questions can be directed to me. If the answer is on the tape, I'll let you know.

Here's the info from an email I received from the artist who makes the houses:

"Dear Friends,

We have had an amazing response to the Fairy Homes segment of the Carol Duvall Show and we are extremely grateful to all of you who wrote to us with your comments and questions. Among the questions you asked were ones concerning the glue and the mortar. We would like to try and give you a little more detail than we did in the initial rush of, quite literally, hundreds of emails to answer.

First of all, the glue. The glue used to tac the twigs together is a hot melt glue used in the packaging industry and is made by 3M. It is not generally available in craft or hardware stores. It differs from ordinary hot melt glue in that it comes in 12 in. long sticks and has a higher melting temperature, making it more stable when exposed to hot sun. However, the hot melt glue, for me, is only a temporary method of holding the twigs together while I perform the other operations, so ordinary hot melt wood glue will probably work fine for that purpose. The glue that is actually used to hold the shingles together is a polyurethane exterior glue which is available at any good hardware store.

Now, the mortar. Unfortunately, I can't be quite as helpful with that. The mortar, which I referred to as cold processed porcelain for simplicity's sake, is a formula that I have evolved myself and is not commercially available. It is a combination of rare earth elements and chemical compounds and the formula is proprietary. Additionally, some of the materials needed to make the formula are only available in very large quantities and the cost is in excess of a single house.

But if you don't mind the adventure of making a new house every year or two, there are other materials that can be used to create a fairy house using the method of free casting in sand. Let me give you the good news and the bad news with each of them.

Plaster of paris: It is very easy to work with, readily available, is easy to clean up in places where it doesn't look believable as mortar. This is the material that I began with. If I could design the universe, I would still be using this material. Unfortunately (bad news) gypsum, which is what plaster of paris is, is water soluble. Despite its rock-like appearance, after about a year of exposure to the elements, it will begin to erode and the twigs will become disengaged from the house, resulting in a pile of rubble. If you intend to keep the house indoors, this will work fine. (You can try coating the finished walls with boat resin or penetrating epoxy but they both smell awful, are terribly toxic, and the fairies gave me all kinds of s**t about using it.)
Hydrostone: Same problem.
Fast setting cement: Will not dissolve, but does not adhere very well to the twigs. After one or two years, you will end up with a pile of rubble.
Dry lock: Same characteristics as fast setting cement.

The rest of the process of making fairy houses in the way that I do is shown on the Carol Duvall show segment or falls into the category of micro management and really requires your own creativity. The most important part of the process remains finding and listening to the twigs and stones that you use.

Good luck in your creative endeavors. And please continue to visit our web site. We offer Fairy Houses for sale from about $130 and, as those of you who have been trying to make your own can attest, they are well worth it!
http://www.fairywoodland.com

And those of you who wrote with questions regarding adhesives and resins for other purposes, if I haven't answered your mail yet, I will get to it as soon as I can.

--
Regards,
John Crawford
Fairy Woodland"

Well thanks anyway. LOL
I guess we can't blame him for wanting to keep his SECRET SAUCE secret.

"a combination of rare earth elements and chemical compounds and the formula is proprietary"

Hello again. Wanted to let readers know that the liquid resin in the auto parts store is not the answer to building the fairy houses. I paid good money to find this out. It is highly toxic so you must use with every precaution. It smells terrible and you are not to breath the fumes. So I'm going to look for the cold process porcelain. It of course is breakable but should prove easy and safe to use. magpiefairy

http://www.fairyhouses.com/home.html

this is a really wonderful site

Would the outdoor caulking work or GE Silicon clear is also used for our human house windows work?

I was thinking on this a while ago. Why bother to make fairy houses like his. Make them out of bird house gourd and attache crystals to them. Or color them in traditonal celtic patterns. Or even make adobe houses for them:) no weird resisn to find and all natuaral.

or hypertufa mushroom houses(ok for some reason my mind is going to the smurfs but what they heh)

I read in Birds & Bloom magazine where a bird bath was
made from a rounded pile of sand, covered with a rhubarb
leaf, then covered with Quickrete vinal concrete repair.
After it dried she painted it with outdoor paint. Maybe
walls for fairy houses could be made with this?

From what I read on his website this is what he had to say;

With changes in temperature (hot to cold and back again), the hot melt glue will eventually become brittle and separate from the sticks. John suggests you reinforce the hotmelt glue joints with an exterior quality urethane glue such as probond.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.fairytalk.com

are there anymore ideas to make the fairy houses?

I posted the question on the Hypertufa Forum as to whether that would work. They do very creative artwork with Hypertufa (cement- peatmoss mixture), which I had never heard of, before I stumbled onto their forum. Their artwork is made for outdoors so the mixture can survive the elements. Lets see what they say! I would love to make fairy houses for my garden.

I was looking for ideas to make a miniaturized cottage and this is it. Thank you so much for bringing up this thread once more.

That waterwheel pond looks fantastic. I think we can do with with simple table top fountain materials.

Ianna

I bought a book from B&N a few months ago on bonsai arrangements and making their planters. The reason I bought it was because he had a recipe in there that used portland cement, resin and maybe a couple of other simple ingredients to make his planters. The guy was well renown in the bonsai field. Problem is, I can't put my hands on my book at the moment and I can't remember the guy's name--I do know he's dead. Not sure how weatherproof the resin would be but probably no worse than, say, wood.

I'll keep looking!

I did some online research on weatherproof and water proof resins and have come to the conclusion that there are several types available that we can experiment with. One that I have come across is RAYCRETE. It can be colorized and has been used to patch up cracks in concrete. There may be other types of resins but what it is essentially is a form of plastic & adhesive. Check with art supply stores, with craft stores, hardwares, etc.. In Art, sculptures have been using resin for making statues - outdoor statues. I would imagine the same material would be just as durable for this project.

Ianna

Yay! I was doing a search for "fairy houses" on Google, and ran across this forum. What fabulous ideas! I had no idea that there were so many people interested in fairy houses!

I'm actually starting work on an art project for an art festival called Burning Man (see: www.burningman.com) and the basic idea of the project is a "fairy tree." What I want to do is build a life-size tree, with a community of fairy houses and fairies.

I've been brainstormind different ideas and trying some things out. At first I was thinking of making the fairies from cloth dolls (something like the ones seen here: http://www.clothdollconnection.com/ClothDollDesigners.html ) which are fun to make, but terribly time consuming! So I think I've resolved to make the fairies and some other components from polymer clay. I've worked with it before, and have seen some incredible artwork made from it.

So that got me to thinking that perhaps clay(s) could be used in the construction of fairy houses? There's so many kinds of clay, most of them incredibly durable, and might work for this purpose. Has anyone tried it? Polymer clay is pretty tough but I'm not sure how it holds up outdoors. Anyone know?

Keep the ideas coming...I can definitely use them! Thanks!

-Ash

No it's not polymer clay. It's definitely are resin type of material. If you were to google resin, you'd end up with hundreds of choices. The sculpture artists have been using some form of resin for their statues in recent years so it's reasonable to assume that the material is weather resistant.

For a full sized outdoor 'tree' you might as well rely on cement and chicken wire, rebars to hold it up. Disneyworld used something similar for their tree of life.

Ianna

I wasn't saying that they used polymer clay, just suggesting that it might be used as an alternative. Specifically liquid polymer clay, as it can be used as a binding agent, or something like mortar or grout.

As for the Disney Tree of Life, I hadn't heard of it before, but I just looked it up, and it's wonderful! I'm not going to be making anything quite so magnificent, but it's definitely inspirational.

My art piece will only be temporary, and has to be relatively light weight as it has to be moved to and from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. It only has to last a week, so it doesn't have to be totally heavy duty. I may make a more permanant tree to use the different elements (the fairies and their houses) after the initial project, and in that case something more permanant would be called for.

Thanks for the ideas!

-Ashley

Ive just started a fairy house for my state fair entry this year.... i wasnt thinking about putting it outside as its a greenleaf dollhouse im using but last year we tried to make
houses from cement at our yearly miniature gathering ....it
was a disaster !! all of our house walls just fell apart ! we
used twigs and branches like the house on carol duval ..and layed them out in the sand base..then poured the concrete over ..... i dont know if it was way to humid to do this but every one of them just fell apart .... were still trying to think up a way to put our minis out in our gardens here so any help from this list is greatly appriciated ... love seeing so many of ;you trying to come up with different ways to do this ....oh we did do gourd houses last year .they were a hit ... but .... never thought about putting htem outside..... what would make htem durable to with stand the elements ??? thanks .. peg

Another great resource I've been studying is the magazine "Garden Railways" that mostly is about trains but has tons of ideas for buildings, miniature plants, trees, etc.
I'm tracking these ideas and have been a fan of the gentleman's farie house site for a long time...I want to construct a faerie village landscape myself and am 'testing' aquarium buildings !!

I make fairy houses out of dried gourds. I've sold them all, but if anyone is still interested in fairy houses, email me and I'll send you a picture of one I did and will try to give you all the info you need to do the same. Email: suttonj@ahidta.org. Jane

For those looking for cold-cast porcelain, I found the following definition (but I think I'm going to try concrete--not ready mix--with a latex additive first):

What is Pecan Resin, Porcelain Resin, Cultured Marble...?
Plastic resins are usually used with various types of fillers. The fillers make the cured resin stronger, save cost because less resin is used, and impart a desired look to the cured plastic. Pecan resin is plastic resin in which very finely ground up pecan shells ("pecan flour") has been used as a filler. The pecan flour is the same consistency as ordinary baking flour. Cured pecan resin has a dark woody look, similar to walnut wood. Porcelain resin is plastic resin in which powdered clay has been used as a filler to make an imitation porcelain. Aluminum Trihydrate can also be used for a more translucent look. Cultured marble is plastic resin in which calcium carbonate (also called marble dust) has been used as a filler. In addition to fillers, colors can also be added to plastic resins to further enhance the look. Various pigments are almost always added to cultured marble resins to give a natural "streaks-of-color" look. Many, many terms have been created to refer to plastic resin castings in an attempt to make them seem more desirable. All the terms refer to the same basic thing: plastic resin with some type of filler in it. Common terms include "wood resin", "cold-cast resin", "cold-cast bronze", "imitation stone", "marble resin", "indoor/outdoor resin", "cast marble", "bonded marble", "bonded bronze", etc. etc. The terms "cultured stone" or "cast stone" usually refer to products made from cement or concrete, however.

Hope this helps!
Lynn

Pecan flour?? Where would one buy that it sounds interesting and possibly a good choice considering the natural look we want..

I'm in the process of making an entire village for my girl's fairy garden. I was thinking about using river rock/pebbles and some type of mortar used for ponding or outdoor use and just creating them similar to a regular brick house would be made - on a much smaller scale of course. Then creating the little twig roofs and mortaring them to the stones. I haven't started on it yet as I still have to work out the logistics for doors and windows but my trip to the craft store this weekend should help with that...

I'm also building a twig gazebo which will be placed at the top of a small "hill" overlooking the village, among some mini roses which I'm hoping to prune and train into "climbing roses" for it - using heavy duty resin to join the twigs and raffia to cover the joints... Still looking for little twig furniture to furnish the outdoor room similar to our own gazebo but haven't found anything the right size yet.... Its very rustic looking to say the least. I'm using an old piece of floral oasis to help stand my twigs up while I create and and attach the roofing and its been quite a process. I only get to work on it at small intervals and I have to have everything perfectly figured out before I will place and glue anything cause the apoxy is difficult to argue with if something gets glues in the wrong spot or just doesn't look right.

I was thinking about other ideas though...
A frame work of some type of craft wood (maybe 1/2" x half" stuff??) done like framing of a real house as my husband taught me while building our home this year (I have a staple gun/nailer that shoots tiny tiny nails), with resin used to glue twigs to it to create the walls. I collected many pieces of bark that fell off firewood last winter for these to use as roofs. But I'm still not sure how the frame will hold up once the weight of twigs and roof are on it.

something similar to the fairy woodland houses (and inspired by them) pea gravel laid out on wax paper then fill the gaps with the motar used for ponding (the stuff with resin fibers in it - makes it very strong and flexible). Again - haven't tried it yet! The corners of the house would be resined/apoxy. Not sure how to cover the resin yet - but since most of my houses will be nestled among a fairly thick bed of sweet woodruff and wild strawberries I figured most shiny apoxy would be hidden - and if its really a problem I think a quick scrub with steel wool once the entire thing is set and dry would dull any shine. Plus you could always use a little glue, sprinkle on sand or peagravel then spray with some clear coat protectant. I really think this would be easiest as windows or other embelishments could be laid into the wall before mortaring. But I chose to try the other way first cause I just like the idea of laying each "rock" and slapping on mortar one row at a time to create it much like the wee folk might if doing it themselves. :)

Two large sections of bark (I have two that are 12 inches tall 5 inches wide) to create an A-frame. Lay them in sand at the angle you want them to create a V shape in the sand - remove then lay out twigs to fill the V. Use apoxy - or if really looking for an authentic look use jute or other twine to tie each twig to the next... When front and back walls are done apoxy the roof bark to the walls.....

I'm sure I can think of other things but my kids are coming up the driveway from summer school and they tend to read over my shoulders.... I'm creating the village on the sly and will slowly add house by house then finally the gazebo and ring of little stump seats around the moss hollow at night... I may even put them out during each stage of "building" just to get the kids excited to think someone is building in our little garden....

And if you couldn't tell I LOVE apoxy - I've used it to fix many many things. But I'm open to new items and trying new materials, so if you know of something similar let me know so I can experiment with it!

Above all I think the key thing is time and patience. Each wall should be done days before it is all joined together to give any apoxy/mortar etc more than enough time to cure and harden and be ready to face the pressure of supporting other walls and roof.

I was wondering if anyone has made any fairy houses with any of the techniques discussed?

my first time to see this post but I sorta remember the CD show. I was just looking at the statement from starfyre about making one wall at a time and it makes sense. I thought instantly about using hardware wire mesh (?). You could try making each wall with enough not covered on the wire prebent to attach to each other after wall cured. Just martor the stones/pebbles on to wire. you could put the wood pieces on first or last and wire it securely to the mesh wall. If mator is weatherproof for outside brick work, why not expect it to hold up. Shoot, put on a metal roof and let it rust out, lol. sorry did not mean to go on, imagination working outloud. June

Why not make hypertufa walls, you can cut and shape the stuff. Mortar it all together. If you want twigs or small stones, just use exterior brick or tile mortar and then grout over the top of it. Like a small stone cottage. I actually have a friend who made two like that.

Just came across this posting, am intriged. My daughter (27) just loves fairies, and just bought a house. Soooooooooo...I am thinking, couldn't you use the hardware cloth mentioned above, with metal window screen over it, then smear it with epoxy and cover with those natural tiny rocks for aquariums? If you poured a lot of them on and then smushed (technical term!!)them down, they would almost cover the epoxy. The hardware cloth would give it structure and the screen would prevent gaps. That would work for the walls don't you think? I know I will be working on it. Will let everyone know if I figure out the roof. Dena

Dena, thanks for your input. Please keep us posted on your results.

Darn! I just watched a rerun of this on CD's show a year since these posts began. Has anyone successfully come up with anything new since then??? I'd love to build a lovely Fairy Village in my garden but don't want to end up with Fairy Rubble. Help! Hasn't anyone built one with mortar or glue that will withstand heat & cold?

I usually hang out over in the "Junk Yard" but had to read this thread. I think the majority of us garden junkers use GE Silicone II clear caulk as an adhesive. I've also used Weldbond and I remember a few others mentioning things such as "marine adhesive" but the GE caulk works for almost anything you'd want to "glue". Be sure to check the expiration date on the tube of caulk, you want a date as far away as possible. Don't buy old caulk.
If you want to do some adhesive research, this site is worth a visit:
http://www.thistothat.com/

I build fairy houses using a craft grade wooden bird house as a base. I seal them with spar/marine varnish before decorating. If people wish to place them outside, I caution them to keep the houses off the ground and in as protected an area as possible. It is a natural product and will weather with time and exposure.

Come visit the Garden Junk Forum. Do a search for "fairy houses", there's a lot of info there.
Good luck!

Here we go again! I'm usually mostly lurking in 'Junk Yard' also. Got to thinking about resin used on CD show/Woodland Fairy house, after searching the forums.
Here is a site for commercial resin, used in re-surfacing old concrete slabs, with inclusions. I've seen small gravel/stones used decoratively in this manner. The site is for a Sherwin Williams company, General Polymers, which makes the poly material. They say it is for commercial applicators only, but maybe someone here knows of another similar product we could use.
Would love to try this technique for fairy houses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check here~

Has anyone done anything yet? Would love to hear any news.

The secret's out. He's made a movie about fairies that has a second DVD that's a step by step "how to" about how he makes the houses which includes the recipe for the material he uses and where to get it. You can get it on his website. I've posted the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Secret formula for

Firewolf, thanks for the update! Their website states "Retail Release date set for September 28th." Did anyone see the movie at the recent showing? Here's the info from the website:
http://yaquinawavelength.com/

A feature length fantasy documentary, "Gateways to Faerie" will show at Port Station One (496 NE Bus. 20) Saturday, September 4 at 7:30 p.m. The screening is a benefit for Lincoln County Food Share with a $5 suggested donation or a non-perishable food item. The film was made by Andy Corwin and Toledo-area artists John Crawford and Bridget Wolfe. Crawford and Wolfe own Fairy Woodland near Toledo, where he produces fairy houses. Wolfe is a storyteller and writer of mystical tales that accompany each house Crawford builds. The family-friendly film explores myths and legends about faeries, and how they can teach a greater appreciation for the natural and spiritual worlds.

John Crawford began as a puppeteer at age 10, and has worked professionally in the arts and entertainment industry most of his life, designing and constructing fantastical creatures and miniature habitats for stage, television, commercials, and feature motion pictures. His work has won numerous awards including one from the Cannes Film Festival for Special Effects. Crawford has been a professional puppeteer, a lighting designer, a scenic artist, and an arts advocate. He was technical director and teacher of puppetry and technical theater at New York University and principal public events manager for the University of California Los Angeles campus.

Bridget Wolfe is a teacher, writer, myth keeper, and storyteller. She has spent almost 30 years studying shamanism, and has blended the teachings of medicine wheels and sacred ritual with her more formal education she has earned MA degrees in English and Clinical Psychology  to create ceremonial retreats and rites of passage for groups in the U.S., England and Ireland. In her collaboration with Crawford, she has written fairy tale vignettes for more than 500 of his fairy house sculptures; her first book, The Thirteenth Moon: Fairies in the Doorway, is in process.

I do wonder what he uses and where it can be purchased. One thing he said was: "Additionally, some of the materials needed to make the formula are only available in very large quantities and the cost is in excess of a single house."

They are offering a discount for orders before the release date. I did a search online for "Gateways to Faerie" and found several places where the DVD set can be ordered also.

Has anyone seen the movie and how-to dvd?

I was hoping someone would post a review about what they thought about the suggestions given on the video.

I've been hoping someone would post what they think about the how-to dvd.

Does anyone have anything to add? I'm thinking about buying the dvds. I'm really only interested in the how-to video, but I've only seen them for sale in a set. Here's a photo from the website:

http://www.gatewaystofaerie.com/faerie/bonus.html

This is very interesting. I suspect he tried to sell his formula to some big company but was not successful. (Imagine computers or tv sets that looked like fairy houses on the outside, lol.)
Sure would be useful to us crafters, if its not too toxic. If it looks good, maybe we could order ingreadients regionally and split the cost (EG if any one else in NH VT or MA wanted them I could be in such a group.) I guess I don't object to paying for the formula through his dvd's. When you invent something and spend a lot of time, naturally you want to get paid.

Right now I have too many other projects and winter is coming, but maybe in the spring...

Kathy

Has anyone watched the dvd which shows how to build the faerie houses?

Hi folks,

I dug this up from way back in almost prehistory.

I lost all of my info and pictures re faerie gardening.
What scale is the standard for figures and their buildings?
I thought the buildings were generally abut 10" tall but need a memory boost.

Thanks

Jim

Hello, I have been fallowing the fairyhouse sauga since I too seen it on Carol DuVall. AMAZING for sure... and yes I did try many resins from ones that ran thru the sand to a boat resin where I had to almost gear up in a hasmat suit. It was terrible. None worked, so I gave up, but recently a cousin of mine, and I dug up an old copy of the show and rekindled the drive to build them. And to my surprise during research, found this site... and it is now on the market.. I just ordered the cd. Can't wait... has anyone made one yet..?

There are also some great ideas on Pinterest. A couple of years my daughter and I took a ceramics class together so I made a little house for my garden.

AkelaRene,

Did you get the Carol DuVall CD and have you made a house yet. We would love to see some pics!

My husband made me the fairy house that was showcased on her show (I recorded almost all of her episode on VHS) He used resin mixed with river rock and sand and tree branches that I gathered up. I wanted as much of my house to come directly from mother nature. Unfortunately It was sitting out in my front yard garden in all of it beautiful glory and one of the many teenage kids that ran a muck through our how fell on it. Smashed it to bits. He is again looking for the supplies and I am gathering up my rocks etc. and he is going to make ma another one. I did not know that Carol has a CD. Where can I buy one? Thanks ;0)