Captain Teodor's Ship by Farbror Fartyg - FINISHED - CARD - A Wreck Diorama by Me and The Crew

[Farbror Fartyg]

When I mentioned this project here, I said I probably wasn't going to do a 

build log ('cause Dionysus knows I've got a few of those going already) but you know what? 
- I've had a change of heart and I'm gonna go for it.
BECAUSE: 
a). It's fun and different. 
b). This time it's actual, paying work and my slacker genes are kept in check by a schedule 
and a bunch of eager kids, who will badger me endlessly unless I get off my bum and 
"let them do stuff with the boat".

 

So don't you worry, dear reader - this one's not going to be an endless, hopeless 
slog through the salt marshes (at worst, your shoes will get a little muddy) so come along, why don't you?

 

 

Also, if you have an idle gaggle of five-year-olds knocking about somewhere, this might be something worth trying out. Good fun.

 

 

The model is heavily inspired by the wreck of the Bodekull (previously know as "Dalarövraket" - 'The Dalarö Wreck').

 

AHEM!

Right. Onwards.

There's a children's song, I think it's from one of the Pippi Longstocking movies, 
and the first two verses go like this:

 

"Minns du en sjöman för länge, länge sen?
Minns du hans namn var Kalle-Teodor?
Aldrig så ser du den sjömannen igen
han vilar i havet Kalle-Teodor.
Men en stormnatt kan du höra nån som ropar 'hej-hå!'
Ifrån havets djup det kommer och det låter så: 'Hej-Hå!'

I storm på Biscaya gick skeppet i kvav
skeppet han segla Kalle-Teodor
Därför så vilar han nu i sin grav
vaggad av sjögräs, Kalle-Teodor
Men en stormnatt kan du höra nån som ropar 'hej-hå!'
Ifrån havets djup det kommer och det låter så: Hej-Hå!'"

 

Here's an English version from this video:

 

"Can you remember a sailor from before
Can you remember Captain Teodor
You will never see this sailor again
He's resting in the ocean, Captain Teodor.
But on a stormy night it echoes - someone calling 'Hey-Ho!'
from the ocean deep it cometh
and it sounds like so: 'Hey-ho!'

In a storm on the Biscay the ship hit a wave
the ship he was sailing Captain Teodor
so now he is resting below in his grave
cradled by sea weed Captain Teodor.
But on a stormy night it echoes - someone calling 'Hey-Ho!'
from the ocean deep it cometh
and it sounds like so: 'Hey-ho!'"

This song is ever a favourite among kids (in my experience, at least). 
Loss at sea isn't something Swedish, urban kids of today typically have to deal with, 
but it has that ... vibe ... you know ... it's macabre enough to get the 
thoughts rolling. And it's mighty catchy too.

 

Being quite unable to keep my perverse nautical interests out of anything,

I ... um, "We" ... decided that Captain Teodor's ship would be a great theme for a creative project.
So I picked up a toilet roll, scissors, a hot glue gun and off I went.

 

Here's the general idea:

 

That's Part one, then.

 

Cheers

 

Sam

[Farbror Fartyg]

Me sitting there, beavering away at my boat had the desired effect. 
Before I knew it, the whole thing was more popular than macaroni; "What's that?", "That doesn't look like a boat", 
"That looks like my dad's boat!", "What's a mast?", "Where's the loo?" ... and so on and so forth.

 

And of course: "When do we get to do stuff?"

"You may paint planks." I said, in my best benevolent ruler voice, "We're going to do an experiment."

 

 

Wrecks aren't just broken, they're often dirty too. 
Modelling silt is a problem that has kept my brain cells running in circles for quite some time.
They deserved a breather. So I decided to pick the brains of my "crew" for ideas instead: "We could use slime", "Glue on strips of paper", "plasticene!"
Well ... all really great ideas but ... 
Actually I had already decided on a dusting of plaster of paris and pigment powders.

But now we hit a snag - there were no pigment powders to be had.
We had plenty of water colour pucks though. So we sanded a few of them down to a fine powder and mixed that with the plaster. 
I call the shade of green "Rancid Bilge Goo".

 

The crew really enjoyed getting the silt onto the wreck. 
We started out by making a lot of little holes in a coffee filter with a sewing pin. 
Then we fashioned a little bag from the filter and filled it with our powder.
Finally I sprayed the wreck with spray adhesive, and the crew then dusted it with the powder.
We were all plenty pleased with the result.

 

 

More will follow soon

 

 

Sam

[Farbror Fartyg]

Initially, I thought we'd build a wooden box for Captain Teodor's ship to sit in, but one of the crew
found a stonking great jam tub that was just the right size. Why not? Good job!

 

No wreck without a sea floor for it to settle into.
The bottom of the jam bucket was a bit flimsy so we cut a circle out of Styrofoam and glued it in.

 

To give a little more structure to the sea floor, some goop was required. Luckily I know a good recipe:
1). Rip toilet paper into little itty-bitty shreads.
2). Pour on glue and paint.
3). Chuck in a handful of fine sand
4). Mix until you get the desired consistency.

Now just smear it on and job's a good'un

 

...  and then we all washed our hands ... for ages ...
 

[druxey]

The most entertaining build I've seen; both for the participants as well as this viewer!

[Jim Lad]

What a great idea and a great way to get the kids' interest!  Good on you.

 

John

[AntonyUK]

Hi Farbror.

That's a great idea. And it's ship modellng no matter how you look at it.

The children will get a lot out of this idea/build.

It's the sort of thing teachers should be doing with children at schools. Look at all the outcomes involved in this project😁

Nice One.

 

Regards Antony.

Edited March 11, 2018 by AntonyUK

[Farbror Fartyg]

Our sea floor had hardened nicely over the weekend.

 

A coat of paint, maybe some dry brushing and sprinkle of silt, and it will look fantastic.

 

 

 

We'll want to make sure that the only light admitted into our very own Davy Jones' Locker comes from the light hole above the wreck. 

Lining the inside of the bucket with thick, black felt should do the trick.

 

 

In the song, Captain Teodor is "cradled by sea weed", and as we all know, the lyrics of a song are to be regarded as a legally binding contract, to be followed to the letter. Yup. 

"But the wreck is pretty deep down, you know. I'm not so sure much of anything's growing down there ..." I meekly protested. But The Crew would have none of it; if it's sea weed in the song then we'd bloody well better have sea weed in the diorama too.

 

Guess we're painting sea weed this week then.

 

 

 

All the best

 

Sam

Edited March 13, 2018 by Farbror Fartyg

[Jim Lad]

Well, of course you have to have seaweed! 

 

John

[druxey]

De rigeur, that seaweed!

[popeye the sailor]

very impressed     so glad you decided to post this.   I liked that site you linked and especially like the 3-D rendition...that was very cool!   be sure to let the crew know that folks from all over the world are looking in.........can't wait to see more     such awesome progress!

[Farbror Fartyg]

1 hour ago, popeye the sailor said:

very impressed     so glad you decided to post this.   I liked that site you linked and especially like the 3-D rendition...that was very cool!   be sure to let the crew know that folks from all over the world are looking in.........can't wait to see more     such awesome progress!

Take it one step at the time and work in small groups - that's the recipe for success here.

 

That 3-D model of the wreck of the Bodekull was, in a way, the thing that got the project started. 

We were having a little chat about the song about Captain Teodor and someone wondered what his ship looked like.

Since I'm a massive marine archaeology anorak, I immediately consulted my in-brain database for a suitable ship. The Bodekull had the big advantage of being available as a 3-D model for the kids to mess around with on the pad. 

 

When I started fiddling with the wreck model, that generated lots of interest, but I don't think they felt that it was "their" project then.

Now that has changed completely - ideas ar pouring in and they're chomping at the bits to get started every day.

 

News:

I had no problem finding volunteers for sea floor painting duty.

I think I may have someone else give it a second, darker coat tomorrow. Turned out a tad light.

 

I (I don't trust the crew around knives ...) have cut the light hole in the bucket lid, and a small test peep hole in the side of the bucket. 

We put the wreck into the box and peeped at it. Great stuff. 

With the felt lining attached, and a greenish filter for the light hole in place, I think it will look pretty nice.

 

cheerio 

 

Sam

[druxey]

Thanks for my smile today! There is a saying, "Many hands make light work", but in this case it is more like "Many hands make dark work"!

[Jim Lad]

Will there be enough room to see the skeleton of the captain through that peephole?

 

John

[Farbror Fartyg]

7 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Will there be enough room to see the skeleton of the captain through that peephole?

 

John

No worries there. I only gouged out a little test hole to see what the lighting was like, and because the crew was anxious to see how things look.

I reckon the peep hole will have a diameter of about 5 cm.

[popeye the sailor]

such an awesome project  

[Farbror Fartyg]

 

Today our little aperture in the side of Mr. X.L. Jambucket saw more eyes than an ... optometrist ... convention ... ...

 

 

It also got enlarged. 

 

 

Things are beginning to look pretty sweet, if I do say so myself.

The felt has been attached, and we found of a piece of green wrapping tissue to serve as our sea green filter.

 

 

We gave the sea floor a wash of a darker shade of mud green, and sprinkled it with some silt powder. I think it works well with the green light in the bucket.

 

 

Today I also learned that when it comes to sea weed, I really have no say whatsoever.

 

Since we apparently absolutely have to have sea weed in the diorama, I figured we'd go all out and REALLY put some frikkin' sea weed with a big S in there.

A kelp forest! Swaying ... gently caressing the ship and the good captain  ... mmm ...

I even googled up some very atmospheric images to try to sell the idea.

 

But no. Brick wall.

Out came the scissors.

Sea weed is short, and it grows in little tufts on the bottom. 

We even had a little toddler of three, who had shown almost no interest in the project up to this point, brandishing a pair of scissors going: "We're cutting!"

 

That'll teach me to have big ideas, eh ... I'll just go and sit in that corner, shall I ...

 

 

Big day!

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Sam

 

 

Edited March 16, 2018 by Farbror Fartyg

[druxey]

Thanks for this important news bulletin, Sam. Lots of smiles here - and I needed them today. Thank you.

[Jim Lad]

Come on, Sam; everyone knows that seaweed is short and grows in little tufts on the bottom! 

 

You certainly have a great crew assisting you there.  Any chance of a photo of them?

 

John

[Farbror Fartyg]

53 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

Come on, Sam; everyone knows that seaweed is short and grows in little tufts on the bottom! 

 

You certainly have a great crew assisting you there.  Any chance of a photo of them?

 

John

Yeah they're pretty great. When they're not cranky.

 

As far as pictures go, you'll have to settle for hands and feet I'm afraid. Rules and regulations ...

 

 

 

Sam

 

[druxey]

The perpetrators - I mean participants - need to remain anonymous, John!

[Jim Lad]

Oops!  I keep forgetting about modern child protection and the need to protect the little ones from what goes on around the internet! 

 

John

[popeye the sailor]

very understandable........I remember when we didn't have problems like these..sad world.   the view pictures look great Sam.......can't wait to see the underwater garden   tell the little smirfs they are doing a super job   

[Farbror Fartyg]

Spring and early summer were pretty busy for me and the crew, but we got there in the end. We attached a bit here, painted a lid there, and now
Captain Teodor is well and truly in Davy Jones' locker.
It's been fun, for everyone involved. The crew really adopted the idea and made something, that could have been a teacher-driven slog, into their project.

We ended up compromising with the much debated seaweed - I got to place some long bits and the crew got their little tufts.

 

We all agreed that a cover for the peep hole was nessecary, so I built one out of the metal lid from a cardboard tube, some wire and picture hangers.

The lid of the jam bucket let a bit too much light through, so we made a cover and painted it a nice, solid greenish black. 
With that, and some more paint here and there, the diorama box was done.

The diorama obviously needed a Capatin Teodor. While looking at pictures of skeletons, the crew each made their own fleshless crewman.
So now we had about twenty skellies ... in all shapes and sizes ... we couldn't even fit all of them in the box. It was decided that we would
have only one Captain Teodor, and that I should make him. So here he is:

Looking at the diorama through the peep hole with just the natural light filtering in is all well and good, but I wanted to add an element
of exploration to the experience. We needed an ROV.
I canibalised an old solar powered garden light - extended the wires, added a bendy pole and stuck a toothpaste tube on the end with the LED.

The ROV is inserted through a little hole in the side of the bucket. You can move it around and explore different areas of the wreck.

So there it is. 
I suspect our Captain isn't going to get much R.I.P. - lots of curious eyes will pass by the peep hole for sure.
Even the principal made a surprise appearance during snack time, to "see the amazing ship".

 

Thanks for following, liking and commenting!

See you soon!

Sam

Edited June 29, 2018 by Farbror Fartyg

[popeye the sailor]

A+++!   fantastic project for the kids!    thanks for sharing this wonderful project Sam..........praise the crew for such a great voyage!   

[druxey]

I wondered whether the project had also foundered - hadn't seen an update in months. Congratulations to you and your crew for successfully completing Captain Teodor's ship and the Captain himself! A very convincing underwater diorama indeed, Sam. Now, what can you possibly come up with next?

[lmagna]

Sam

 

Say congratulations to the kids for me for an excellent diorama by ANYONES standards. If I had not seen the little hands at work myself I would have thought you had done it yourself!

[Farbror Fartyg]

1 hour ago, druxey said:

I wondered whether the project had also foundered - hadn't seen an update in months. Congratulations to you and your crew for successfully completing Captain Teodor's ship and the Captain himself! A very convincing underwater diorama indeed, Sam. Now, what can you possibly come up with next?

Thank you! 

Understandable. This is my first completed build log ...

We worked on the project continuously, but somehow I just never found the peace to sit down and tell the tale.

 

What's next?

I'll most likely sneak in some more projects with a nautical twist - the crew likes boats. This is one of the good things about kindergarten work: what you're supposed to do is pretty clearly defined but how you do it isn't. So say for example that we're to work with furthering the kids understanding of, and interest in, physics and math. What better way to do that than to build ships! Why do ships float? Test buoyancy. How many centimetres of stick do we need for that mast? Etc. 

[popeye the sailor]

sounds like a fun lesson plan  

[lmagna]

Sam

Is it OK if I attend your kindergarten class next year? Sounds like fun!

[Jim Lad]

Please congratulate your marvellous crew on our behalf for their tenacity and ingenuity!  What a great project.

 

John