Elven Longhouse

In my vision of Middle Earth, there are buildings of the Noldor still around, strangely holding up against the winds of time. I've already built the ruin of a small building, but now I want to build something bigger.

Longhouses are places of social encounter, not really meant to be lived in but rather for gatherings. As Middle Earth is set in something akin to our Dark Ages, this concept seems fitting also for elves.

I'm not going to bore you with a detailed tutorial of how I cut the parts from foam, but begin with a picture of the test-assembled building.

As you can see, the roof is detachable, and there are two levels inside. The architecture draws from Renaissance buildings and a touch of Asian influence. The roof itself is just a sheet of paper (though I'd use some thin cardboard next time).

For a base-coating, I used my Umbra paint and dark green for the roof. After that, I brushed with beige and finally white.

Next, I did the base and the floor. I used a piece of cardboard (actually a piece of the parcel my last order from Cubicle 7 came in), and carved the tiles with a ballpen.

After painting the roof first with bronze and finally with gold, I assembled and glued the whole thing together. I added two swan figures on the roof, cut from a thin piece of foam.

Finally, I added vegetation. Vines that grow on the corners and some bushes that sprang up along the walls. On the roof, some patches of moss have grown.

In actual play, the building makes for a nice addition.