ideas for medieval-themed decor??

[Julie Herbster]

Our church is hosting a medieval-themed music camp in June. As one of the instructors, I would like to make my classroom into a castle. I've checked out various ideas online, and have a few questions. (Also, any ideas from you all are welcome.)

 

What is the best way to make the walls (inside and out in the hall) look like stone castle walls without spending a bunch of money on wallpaper? I've thought about hanging bedsheets, but can I paint them to look like stones? What kind of paint should I use? How would I attach them securely to the wall/ceiling? I've also thought about cardboard, but again, how could I attach it to the wall securely yet temporarily, without ripping the paint off? Is there any other way to cover walls to make them look like castle walls?

 

I'm thinking about making a (stationary) wood or cardboard 'drawbridge' over a 'moat' for the entrance to the classroom. Any ideas for me here? I know I could order cheap plastic chains to hang from the top of the door to the edge of the bridge, but what could I use for water? Fabric or plastic tablecloths, maybe?

 

Anyway, just brainstorming at this point. Any ideas y'all can give would be much appreciated!

[FaithManor]

One thing I do for fake stones, is take paper bags, crumple them, open them back up, and fill with styrofoam peanuts. Then I take a can of charcoal colored spray paint and spray them down. You can be really sloppy with your paint technic because it actually makes it look more authentic. These can be stacked against the wall and if they come tubling down, who cares, it won't hurt anybody.

 

If the church does not care what you do to the walls, then you can use gray butcher block paper and use wide masking tape to hang. Masking tape will usually come off most surfaces without taking paint with it. But, since it isn't as sticky as duct table, you will need to use a lot of it. Once its hung, a group of teens could easily take black, grey, and brown markers to draw in the stones. Use the paper bag, stones around the bottom for a 3-D feel.

 

Make some banners and penants out of felt, you can get "family crest" patterns online, and hang these on thin little dowel rods. Christian symbols work well too. Be sure to use deep gem tones. This works great if you have a drop ceiling in your classroom. Dh and I have taken the tiles down, "gift wrapped" them in black or gray and put them back up. The penants and banners hang from the grid work and don't weigh enough to worry about. Wire a couple of cheap plastic swords together (crossed) and hang them up too. Without a drop ceiling, you may have to get more inventive with the hanging. If the church trustees don't mind, you could hang one hook in each corner and then drape heavy twine from the hooks and afix the decorations to those.

 

Try to get people to donate pillows with tassels for the kids to sit on and throw some rugs down. Sparkle tulle and Gossamer can be draped around for "curtained' effect. If you have a Hobby Lobby craft store near you, check out the home decor clearance. We bought some great celtic crosses, goblets, etc. for VBS and it was all 90% off.

 

The last thing might be to cover the door with brown paper, draw in the planks with a dark brown or black marker, and draw some sort of black, iron hinges in so that your door looks like a castle door.

 

Hope this helps,

Faith

[mcconnellboys]

I think that buying large rolls of white or light grey, even brown poster board paper would work for you. Then just take large sponges and sponge on other colors (darker grey, black, etc.) to give yourself a stone wall look. If you need standing walls, you can generally find an area retailer who sells refrigerators to save the boxes for you and paint right onto those. I used to give them a base coat of white, etc. first to get rid of the writing.....

[Denise in Florida]

One thing I do for fake stones, is take paper bags, crumple them, open them back up, and fill with styrofoam peanuts. Then I take a can of charcoal colored spray paint and spray them down. You can be really sloppy with your paint technic because it actually makes it look more authentic. These can be stacked against the wall and if they come tubling down, who cares, it won't hurt anybody.

 

If the church does not care what you do to the walls, then you can use gray butcher block paper and use wide masking tape to hang. Masking tape will usually come off most surfaces without taking paint with it. But, since it isn't as sticky as duct table, you will need to use a lot of it. Once its hung, a group of teens could easily take black, grey, and brown markers to draw in the stones. Use the paper bag, stones around the bottom for a 3-D feel.

 

Make some banners and penants out of felt, you can get "family crest" patterns online, and hang these on thin little dowel rods. Christian symbols work well too. Be sure to use deep gem tones. This works great if you have a drop ceiling in your classroom. Dh and I have taken the tiles down, "gift wrapped" them in black or gray and put them back up. The penants and banners hang from the grid work and don't weigh enough to worry about. Wire a couple of cheap plastic swords together (crossed) and hang them up too. Without a drop ceiling, you may have to get more inventive with the hanging. If the church trustees don't mind, you could hang one hook in each corner and then drape heavy twine from the hooks and afix the decorations to those.

 

Try to get people to donate pillows with tassels for the kids to sit on and throw some rugs down. Sparkle tulle and Gossamer can be draped around for "curtained' effect. If you have a Hobby Lobby craft store near you, check out the home decor clearance. We bought some great celtic crosses, goblets, etc. for VBS and it was all 90% off.

 

The last thing might be to cover the door with brown paper, draw in the planks with a dark brown or black marker, and draw some sort of black, iron hinges in so that your door looks like a castle door.

 

Hope this helps,

Faith

 

These are really good ideas, Faith. I second the banners/penants ideas.

 

Julie - You might make large tapestries, sometimes you can find tapestry print fabric at stores that carry decor/uphostery/window treatments. Tell them what you are doing and they may have inexpensive remanents. Some castles in movies and books have 'rushes' on the floors, depending on your flooring situation you might use straw.

[Rosie_0801]

We make our banners out of calico. If you put a layer of white housepaint as an undercoat, you can paint on it with any old acrylics you have lying around. It's cheaper than felt and looks more authentic.

 

Search for SCA photos on google. That might give you some more tips on ways to make things look more authentic (without taking the trouble and expense to make them authentic!)

 

Rosie

[Ravin]

 

The picture above has a College of Brymstonne wall in the background.

 

My SCA group are known for their walls. Our basic method is to take sheets, and use foam paint stamps to print a regular pattern across them. We usually hang them in alternating colors (ex: red, black, red, black) with matching gold fleur de lis stamped on them. The fleurs are spaced in such a way that the pattern continues from one sheet to the next. Other groups use other stamped patterns and colors, usually tied to heraldry. Crosses, suns, animals, it depends partly on the look you want and partly on the skill of whoever is making the stamps (and doing the stamping--the more elaborate a stamp, the harder to make it look even when it's stamped on the sheet). These walls help transform any commercial pavilion, barn, community center, or school gym into something with a more medieval ambiance.

 

Keep in mind, bare castle walls aren't very medieval. For appearance as well as warmth, wall hangings were preferred. These could be woven tapestries, large elaborate embroidered hangings (like the Bayeaux "tapestry"), but the simpler painted sheets do a good job of carrying that ambience.

 

If you do want a bare castle wall look, check for halloween supplies online or in a big party store. You can get cardboard sections as well as paper to cover larger areas, with a grey castle brick print on them. We've used those to frame windows to show off our stained glass painted silk window hangings.

 

Our walls are much in demand in the Kingdom of Ateveldt (aka Arizona), and are being copied all over the Knowne Worlde (aka everywhere SCA groups are active). They also have the advantage of being washable and reusable--as walls or, for that matter, as sheets. We have had some damaged by people who didn't know what they were doing ripping them down when they were pinned up with safety pins; usually we run a line through the top part of the sheet and hang them like a curtain, with pins to secure them to each other so there are no gaps.

 

 

 

Fabric cooler covers (with patterns coordinating to what's in the coolers--teabags, lemons, cows, etc.) with tasseled fabric-covered drip boxes don't hurt, either, but then sometimes we do get a teensy bit carried away. :lol:

Edited March 17, 2010 by Ravin

[Julie Herbster]

Wow! Thank you all for these great ideas...Creative juices are flowing!

[milovany]

But here are some ideas for the walls in other areas .... click here. You can also do a search for "castle" to see other options. HTH!

[KidsHappen]

Party City sells large plastic rolls of dungon walls. It is made out of the stuff birthday party tableclothes are made out of and I think one package covers and 8' wall. You just tape it up and instant stone walls. You can do an on-line search for it. I don't think it is terribly exspensive.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

How about using big sheets of butcher paper. Or maybe asking at your local newspaper for the leftover rolls of newsprint.

 

We visited a castle in Germany that had a kids' room. It had goblets and crowns made out of paper mache that were super cool. I'll try to see if we have any pictures from that trip.