"Yes, we can build you a house..."

The Brief...

Tatton Hall (National Trust) commissioned Worthy Studios to create various pieces for its 'Return to Oz' Christmas experience 2024. The very first room to be transformed was to have the scene from the story where Dorothy's house has been carried by the cyclone, and deposited in Oz, landing on, and killing, the wicked witch of the East!

Tatton wanted a large structure built, it had to collapse for transport, and be simple to erect. They also wanted a double sided cut out image of Dorothy and her dog, Toto, to be spinning, next to her strangely shaped house!

The design...

The house needed to look like it had survived a cyclone!

So there were to be no 90 degree angles! We had roughly eight feet of room (2440mm) below a hanging chandelier in the centre of the room. As visitors enter the room, they stand immediately in front of the structure. The 'house' should appear fully formed, but actually only needed to be two sided plus the roof, in order to give the impression of a fully formed building.

It would have windows and a hole in the roof that could all be lit from within.

Sticking out from beneath the house were to be the legs and feet of the wicked witch!

As the structure was due to be so close to its audience, we decided it had to be a fully 3D structure, therefore the walls would be made out of strips of wood, rather than a painted 'flat', to give that 'log cabin' effect.

 

 

Building the skeleton frame.

 

The structure needed to be strong, but light, with no pieces more than a two-person lift. So we built the frame out of 2x1" timber. It felt strange to be purposefully building at non-square angles, as usually everything we build has to have 90 degree angles!

The structure soon outgrew the workshop, it was a sunny day, so we moved out into the yard!

 

We love this kind of project! There is a clear plan, but it is flexible, so there is an element of 'making it up as you go along'! We particularly enjoyed making the crooked windows!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to clad!

 

 

Once we were happy with the basic frame structure, it was time to clad. To keep the weight down we used 4 mm hardboard. We cut it into random width strips, which we stapled to the frame beneath. We worked from the bottom up, so that each strip could be laid over the last , which gave a lovely 3D quality. The hardboard is flexible enough to cope with uneven laying, the more stubborn pieces got screwed in, just to be on the safe side.

 

Once all the hardboard was secure, it was primed, and the paint job could begin.

 

The client asked for the designs to be inspired by the beautiful illustrations in the original books of the Wizard of Oz, rather than the film version. We found these drawings typical for Victorian (or slightly later, first published 1904) illustration; based on pen and ink, black lined drawings with colour washes. So the style of paint job we chose would take this technique and BLOW IT UP full scale. So we began with the black lining. As we all know from the story, Dorothy's world in Kansas was depicted in black and white, contrasting with the technicolor land of Oz. But black and white can be a bit harsh, so we softened it, mixing a deep, bluey brown for the lines...

 

Colouring in...

 

 

To replicate the effect of watercolour over large areas, we use a series of washes, using a 'glaze' of watered down PVA glue, and neat acrylic pigment. This technique works particularly well when painting on canvas, as the glaze keeps the canvas wet while you apply the pigment, which then spreads just as it would with a watercolour, avoiding nasty hard edges. 

With plywood, or hardwood, there is no such absorbtion, so the glaze sits on top of the wood surface and can be more tricky to work. But if you are quick, you can get some nice 'blends' of colour. With a 'wooden' structure like this, it is important to paint your washes in the direction of your wood, with the grain.  This technique is great for adding to that 3D feel, as you can work shadow under the lips of each plank of wood.

The use of the PVA glaze means its not essential to varnish the piece afterwards, but we did anyway, just to protect the paintjob a little more so that it would survive being broken down, loading in a van and being transported to Tatton!

 

The finished piece!

We added lace curtains and  gingham drapes in the windows, and the house was ready. Here is a photo of it in situ at Tatton Hall, with Dorothy and Toto spinning around next to it, the wicked witch's legs sticking out from underneath.

 

The good people of Tatton Hall tell us this was one of the most popular rooms with visitors! We were certainly pleased with the results.