GRECO ROMAN COLUMNS a Tutorial presented by Paul Howes

GRECO ROMAN COLUMNS

A Tutorial Presented  by Paul Howes

Copyright Applies 28/03/2026

PART ONE  

Preparation ...  Building the LEGO Moulding Boxes

Below is a 5 inch tall Pattern.

 My tutorials are just one small part of my modest hobbies 

of making do with what one can afford!

These Wedding Day Columns are way over 60 years old,             

and i bought them Donkeys years ago on American E Bay.

  They once upon a time,held up a huge Wedding Cake!              

.

Lego Bricks,are a must for my endeavours to produce fine castings for use of display within my own story book adventures. First thing is it works for me,and so i use them when they are needed. They were of moderate price on E Bay, and the great thing is that they are re-usable again! and again!

The Column above came my way it being part of a tier of ancient columns that held up a wedding cake many years ago. The picture above shows the angle direction  that  i will push this column into the moulding box after a fine smooth filling has been added. The reason is the top crown has detail jutting out as it curves towards its top. So by using this angle with the pattern everything becomes square which means a good clean lift when this two part mould is finished....and the pattern is removed. 

Please remember that these are illustrations only showing the direction angle of each pattern 

           that will eventually be pushed within the moulding box once the silicon has filled them.                                                          

LEGO Brick's support the box sides after it was made to the right specifications

This pattern below is 8 inches tall when standing upright. And it has the same type crown  too. 
 

Now it is a fact that i have used this type of brick upon many adventures along with the Lego Board's

that they clip nicely to. These guide the first setting up steps as each box is being made. Along the construction pathway i place  brickwork that juts out from the box. After each mould has been made these give me leverage that help a great deal in  dismantling of each box quickly. It is very helpful indeed because the bricks become very slippery during mould making.

    Preparation is the key leading to a successful opportunity to get things straight.

Once the botten half has been made i already have the other half of the moulding box prepared and when placed into place upon the bottem half,then it's all clear to proceed with filling it with another hand made smooth silicon mixture filling it up to its top. This is not rocket science unless i was making one. So i hope you will find time enough to follow along with little me BB.

Another photograph showing the crown end with the half way point which reveals each detail is squire! Squire in the sence that each detail will be upright and true which will make it have a good clean lift upon seperating each half of this mould without ripping off detail. What you aim for is what one gets.

Here above is the top half of this moulding box already made to save time upon the actual build.

And so each part of two moulds are ready for action upon another day.

.

i never use expensive two part solutions that once mixed can burn fingers down to the bone.

Or  Cough up a Lung!  

My ingrediants are much safer and by far much cheaper to buy.

They are...

Silicon,Cornflour and Baby Oil,which are waiting in the wings 

for the mixing up and mould making to begin.

i will also use soap and sugar too.

This is the END OF PART ONE....... BB

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS Three more book covers for my Library. presented by Paul Howes

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

Presented by Paul Howes

Therefore Copy right Applies

3/20/26 6:46 AM

As i looked at the challenge that lay before me upon that day i realised that the options to create the printing plates of such a book as War of The Worlds were rather slim to say the least, and in more ways than just one. For before me lay the Largest Title ever to fill my eyeballs and that, that was a real problem settling upon my fancy.                                                                                                                 

  So the object of this determined exercise was... 

to shrink the title of the book down to create the Spine of each Book!

i smiled upon this pondering thought. then thought of another.

H,G WELLS

With such a war the author would place The Whole World upon the edge of the Abyss!

                                i realised that i would have to slip onto my Alter Ego 'BB',

                                to solve the problem of such Large Letters, 

                                After all it would indeed be rather a small thing for him to do.

Preparing the first one below for placing here was not to difficult after all it has been over four years of preparing plates for printing now and he and i knew  the well trod way of how to do it.

So it was that the plain looking pictures above were placed here... 

Then a simple frame of black over white was added to give it a lift for my poor eyesight when cutting out little pictures  begins. Yes that most certainly will give me a certain edge of success.

         We cut across the pictures title and twisted it into place as seen below....

 then it was hemmed in between the two pictures above to create the open book cover that was needed.

Repetitive samples of three were cut to shape that would be used to make up my plates for printing out.

                                               To some it might seem a rather odd  thing to do?

                                               Because i only need three of each within my

                                               Library that does not exist!

So as i only need a few of these they would be copied out, when the reduction needed is finally reached along with others, of differing titles. Then the whole plate can be recorded in one bold pc sweep. 

As i reached my halfway point of writing this i heard the front door open... and yes it was Coffee time along with a short break for us!

And so it was that my Mrs B, arrived home, rather wet due to the rain  that fell upon her head along with Bella our little dog. My 'Hi Darling', greeted her as usual upon her entering into the hallway of solid laid stone. So her yellow coat dripping away water onto such a floor caused no alarm at all, well that is why we laid it into this rather well trod place many years before.

As Bella, was being towel dried, i told my Mrs B. that i had succeeded in my endeavour here___ 

For below the other books  were done and dusted and looked... 

                                       Yes a rather slim and much more refined fitting spine

                                       had been placed into space between the two covers.

In realty out there in the world usually the back cover is kept plain perhaps with a few details pertaining to the topic of each book, but my world of tipping out toy books is not bound into any of that well reasoned fact.

For a scratch builder such as i,

A piece of paper and some ink is all that is now needed.

My unorthodox way works very well for Me, 

and it is most pleasing to realise it to be nearly cost free.

                                    

                                    And so it was that i after a pondering upon it decided 

                                   to add the one above too, for this reason.

                                    It also is worth a mention that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 

                                    Also placed the world upon the edge of the Abyss too.

Missy arrived out of the Blue... with a question. Just where is Sir Percy's, Library?

Perhaps we will find out upon another day of oddity!

Thank you kindly for your visit.

Stay safe, Stay well and help others if you can. Paul Howes

BB                                            

There is More to this Picture than Meets the Average Eye..... Presented by BB

There is More to this Picture than Meets the Average Eye

It being a very warm Spring Day,i returned to this topic of arts and craft's, although it must be stated that i am not always straight forwards in getting people to understand my topic's or indeed why should they? Anyway i had been upon a quest  for many a year since *Covid19* trying to save money by of course not spending any. Well yes one has to eat drink have fun and of course pay the officle bills as they fly through the letter box.... Yes we Mrs B,and little i still pick up the mail as we always have since we had need to do such a lowly thing as the floor seems a long way down in my dotage! Sure we have a mail box upon the outside wall and in plain sight,but the Posties never seem to use it because i reckon that they sleep walk upon their patch of Fiddle Wood in the United Kingdom.Of course having to get up rather early 6 days out of each week of course they are highly skilled in what they do. Zzzzzzz! But putting that opinion aside ,it is highly praised  to be able to artfully understand the odds and evens of many a street,close or in our case a court yard of hubble bubble topsy turvy houses the likes of the first ever brick maker would die to see. What? O yes of course they have been long gone dusted in the drift of time and space.                                                                                                                                                              Anyway  guy's,i best get a move on to what is for me just one more obvious thing to notice and i being quite able to do so with my low iq then i guess millions more over the years have discovered things put upon the front covers of this and that too.                                                                                                                  

The Old Comic Book Charm of my early life yes reading while sitting on the inner window cill beyound Mothers old Piano! Yes many a rainy day i sat there reading lots of comic's which i still believe is a good indirect way of self learning oneself in the effort to read and understand,

     but sometimes things are hidden but oddly in plain sight too.                                                                                                               

Upon my old trail of finding books and magizines for my invisable Library i found it  intriguing to look beyond the front cover of certain things, And here i identified two stars from a Western Film known simple as 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon', from the year 1949... Which is also my birth year date. 

 

                                        On the left..John Wayne,is Captain Nathan Brittles

                                       On the right... Harry Carey Jr, is 2nd Lieutenant Ross Pennell

And so it happened to me that i alone upon such a quest did finally push all the primed pieces into place and by doing so the front,middle and back of one of my strange books fell into place to stand beside thousands of props i've already made ................And yes indeed with hardly any cost.

All i have to do is cut out a strip of picture framers paper card and stick and fold the home made book cover onto it all in one go and wait for it to dry, before cutting it out with a sharp craft knife.

However upon this subject matter of heart...

  i guess the other one between them ....

would in deed of valour be 

Ben  Johnson!

Thank you for taking time out to read and view such a toppic as this.

Stay safe,stay well and help others if you can. BB

GRECO ROMAN STYLE COLUMN ........ Presented by BB

 SILICONE DOUBLE SIDED MOULD 

Copy Right Paul Howes 27/02/2026

The plan was and still is to produce many of these for one of my written stories, using 1/72 and 20mm-28mm plastic figures within mighty scenes of valour. Although in the world of childlike play larger figures could be used. It is always the world of imagination coming into play that of course would govern such an action of heart that decided upon that matter.  For i had lots of sizes of toy figures that i played with because no more were available for me as a child... it being the mid 1950's, But i was always a dreamer!

The successful first 8'' inch casting is still embedded halfway in the double sided 

                             mould that i made using silicone, corn flour and baby oil.                                                            

The other half of the two part Mould can be viewed on the left hand side of the picture! 

Memories Are Made From This

It has got to be all of 11 years since i bought the plastic pattern, that is just one of a set that even further back in time supported a very large Wedding Cake Tier in the early 1970s. All were a complete something that i bought on E Bay, from America.

Stay Safe, Stay Well and Help Others if you can.  Beano Boy

Configuration presented by Paul Howes

 A configuration of castings i made in the hot Summer of that dreadfull year of 2019. 

From moulding 20mm toy figures.that i alone cast up. Of course i do not trade in any way shape or form,or indeed sell these things i just like to create silicone moulds of lots of things for my story telling activities!  Infact mainly i am a junk modeller as my Wife Mrs B, kindly calls me,and i do not guess that this could be true,because it sure enough is. 

What entire families world wide throw out to fill their recycling bins that make big wig cat people even richer! i use such things for my own arts and craft world of creating an ellusion of a world that does not really exist..... Like for instance Sir Percy's invisable Library! Where the things above stand upon an anciant floor within that place... Where sometimes little dreams can come true.

The Gas Man Cometh Presented by BB

 Song by Flanders & Swann

T'was on the Monday morning, the gas man came to call,

The gas tap wouldn't turn, I wasn't getting gas at all;

He tore out all the skirting boards to try and find the main,

And I had to call a carpenter to put them back again!

Oh. it all makes for the working man to do...

T'was on the Tuesday morning, the carpenter came round:

He hammered and he chiseled  and he said : ''Look what I've found!

Your joist are full of dry rot, 

but I'll put them all to rights!''

Then he nailed right through a cable and out went all the lights!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do...

T'was on a Wednesday morning, the electrician came:

He called me 'Mr Sanderson', which isn't quite the name:

He couldn't  reach the fuse box without standing on the bin,

And his foot went through a window, so i called a glazier in!

Oh, all makes work for the working man to do...

T'was on the Thursday morning, the glazier came along

With  his blowtorch, and his putty, and his merry glazier's song;

He put another pane in, it took no time at all

But I had to get a painter in to come and paint the wall!

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do...

T'was on the Friday morning the painter made a start,

With undercoats and over coats he painted every part,

Every nook and every cranny: but I found when he was gone

He'd painted over the gas tap and I couldn't turn it on!

Oh it all makes work for the working man to do...

On Saturday morning and Sunday they do no work at all; 

So it was on the Monday morning that the gas man came to call!

             ______________________

                     _____________

 i decided to place this old time song here 

 So all can grin, a smile or two

  Or even give out a laugh! BB

The Origin of Christmas on the Homepage of www.jw.org

From the Evergreen Garden of Fiddle Wood 

Dear Reader,                                                                                                                                             

At this time of the year Nativity plays are often the highlight of the children's school year. Forgiving the odd space man,robot or dog being included,to ensure everyone has a happy part.But do these accurately document the birth of Jesus, and the events surrounding it, as was recorded in God's written word The Bible?

I think it can be agreed that many would much rather watch a video than perhaps read such a book?

That being the case Jehovah's Witnesses have produced a series of videos based on biblical events,as appetizes if you like? The homepage of www.jw.org our official website is currently carrying a couple of samples. They being '' The Origin of Christmas.'' and '' The True Light of the World.'' ( Please enter this in the search box if this is no longer the case because it has changed. ) It definitely is not aimed purely at children,but adults alike would benefit greatly from  such an understanding of the importance of Jesus birth,ministry and the role he now holds 2,000 plus years later.

Upon this Holiday Season,

I hope you'll enjoy your break from routine,

 As indeed most of us will. 

 Kind Regards,to one and all.

Stay safe,stay well and help others if you can. Paul Howes.