Sunday 28 November 2010

The end is nigh

I am now getting to the point where the end of the construction phase is in sight.  The last time I should need to pick the entire house up and tilt it, will be when I flock the grass.  So after that I should be able to install the windows and start furnishing the rooms.

Finishing the mezzanine railing

To finish the top of the mezzanine railing, I cut pieces of coffee stirrer to fit around the top, to conceal the drilled holes.  I left the first and last piece loose until the railing was glued in place, so that I could cut them to fit exactly.





Then I glued the railing into place.













To finish off the bottom edge, I used one of the plastic strips that I have been using for skirting.  I carefully cut partly through the strip from the reverse side, using a mitre saw, at each place where it needed to bend to fit around the mezzanine.  Then I glued it in place. 

The final step was to touch up the beige paint.








Finishing the edges of floors

To finish the edges of the floors, I glued on some of the leftover plastic strip that I used for the vertical battens on the exterior walls.  It is slightly narrower than the floors, but not so much that it is obvious.  After spraying them with white primer, I glued the strips on with a mixture of tacky glue with spots of super glue, and held it with masking tape until it dried.  Then I touched up the strips and floor edges with the same white paint that I used on the house exterior.




Cornice for bedrooms

I cut and glued cornice into the boy's bedroom, and on two sides of the girl's bedroom.  This is when I realised that I am an idiot.  Remember my embarrassment a few posts ago, when I realised that I'd only made six window frames but really had seven windows - so I had to make an extra frame?  Well, guess what, there are only six windows.  I was thinking the boy's bedroom had a window as well, and it doesn't.  I even got my husband in this time, to count the windows, and after a good laugh he confirmed there are six.  Somewhere along the line, part of my brain has obviously gone missing...

Making a garden feature

I really wanted a nice little 1/24th scale pond to sit on my lawn.  I saw some great ones in 1/12th scale, in resin, which were quite cheap.  But I can't find any decent 1/24th scale ponds on the internet.  I could make one myself, but the 'hard' water/resin only comes in expensive large quantities, and I don't like the sticky jelly water.  So I decided to go for a planter instead, modelling it on an expensive one that I found online.

Mine is made from Creative Paper Clay, an air-dry clay which is expensive and hard to get here in the UK, but Judith of In Some Small Way sometimes sells it.  I learned how to use paperclay when I took a course from Rik Pierce in Chicago.  I started with a round plywood circle, and the plastic cap from a milk bottle.  I was aiming to end up with a feature about the same height as the seat of a chair.  I glued the cap onto the disk with some solvent-based glue (UHU).




After smearing the cap with white glue, I covered the top with a bit of paperclay, and started adding pea-sized 'rocks' of paperclay around the sides.






After completing one row, I added another row on top of that.








And finally I added a third row as a rim, aiming to get it fairly level all the way around. 







Then I stippled the clay with a stiff brush, to give a rock texture and to blend the lumps together.








I let that dry for a while, until it was a bit crusty, then went over the joints with a blunt point, to give the look of mortar.  I will leave the crumbs in place until it has dried more, then brush them away.






Then I repeated the process to add a rim around the outside of the wooden disk.




When the feature was about half-dry, I brushed off the crumbs, then left it to dry all the way.


8 comments:

  1. Your house is getting more gorgeous all the time! I love your planter is a great idea.

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  2. oooooo i like that!!! if i can get the paperclay i might just have to make one!! Thank you :D Linda x

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  3. Looking good! The decorating is the fun part!

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  4. I love this house! It's amazing. You are doing wonderfully on it. I've never gotten up the courage to try paperclay...now I have to try. You would never know that you made so many changes to the Fairfield just by looking at it, very professional looking. It seems like it was always meant to look this way.

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  5. What a wonderful job you are doing on this house. I love it. I will try my hand at paperclay. I have never used it. Thanks for sharing your wonderful endeavor.

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  6. Wonderful, wonderful job you've done on this wee house ... especially love the Gothic back entry ... so very creative and charming!

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  7. I love using paperclay, and envy you having had the chance to take a class with Rik Pierce. Your garden feature has come out really well. The plastic strips are a great idea for trims, and I really like the way it cuts and bends without joins around the mezzanine.

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