1:35 Dřevěná vrata - rovná

An open entrance leads the eye further

A gate finished straight differs from the arched variant more than it might seem. The horizontal top edge draws a sharp line across a scene and together with the vertical boards it forms a right-angled frame. Glue the leaves ajar and it changes from a closure into a window into the second plane: the viewer looks inside, sees a piece of darkness and imagines a space you never had to build. This trick saves room on a base and the scene still looks as though it continued.

Which building it suits

A straight finish carries the character of a utility building. That is how the entrances of depots, sheds, woodsheds and makeshift workshops were made, where looks did not matter as long as a wagon fitted inside. In a view it therefore belongs everywhere work is going on: at a dismantled engine, at a pile of crates, at two mechanics over a wheel. A vehicle parked half inside the entrance divides a scene into a light and a shaded part, which is the simplest way to give a picture drama.

A note on the build

Laser cutting leaves a dark coating on the edges that is worth sanding away, or it will show through a light coat. It pays to paint the boards individually before gluing and to vary the shades between them slightly, because a real gate never ages evenly. The lower edge tends to be the most worn by gravel and mud, and that is exactly where the strongest treatment with pigment belongs. A latch, hinges and a handle can be suggested from fine wire, and a detail like that gives flat leaves the depth the wood alone does not offer.