Picking up where I left off last time, I painted the roof slate grey. By some miracle, I managed to paint
only the roof slate grey (except for a couple of patches under the eaves!). More than that, I managed not to fall off the ladder while I was doing it (although there were one or two close calls!). As the house sits on a quite deep basement block, it stands a little too high to see what you're doing to the top of roof while standing on the floor, hence the two step ladder. Of course the other option was to lift the entire structure off the cupboard and onto the floor, but that would have been doing things the easy way!
The roof was painted with a couple of coasts of dark grey, then given a coat of matte varnish. When that was dry I went over this with a lighter grey paint that was well watered down and used an old cloth to remove most of it. A very important tip is to only press straight down and remove the cloth straight up or you risk rubbing off the eariler coats of paint. I repeated the paint/sponge off process a couple of times until I was happy with the result and finished by giving the whole lot a couple more coats of matte varnish. I used the same grey as the roof's base coat to paint some thin cardboard that became the flashing around the chimney.
Next, I pulled out some air clay and moulds made from sculpey mould maker of some things I thought would prove useful and played around. I used a mould of a wooden bracket to make some decorative brackets for the outside of the house. A mould made from a decorative bead was used for some square 'carvings'. A length of undyed braid soaked in my 'wood stain' paint mix became strips of 'carved wood' adorning the eaves, the beam between the ground and first floors and over the windows. A strip of 'gingerbread' trim bought from a dollshouse supplier last year for that I decided not to use for what I bought it for decorates the beam above the balcony.
Some time ago when I made the ceiling light for the bakery itself, I made some extra candles and have now used these in some candle sconces made of balsa wood scraps and metal beads as light fixtures.
After three weeks (well, three and a half really) the basic structure and decoration of the house is mostly finished. The roof is painted, extra beams have been added in the attic and decorative brackets and trim have been added to the exterior. There are a few small details that are yet to be attended to, these are mostly fall into three categories: "I need something I haven't got to finish it", "I want to make the furniture first before I make the final decision about it" and "I haven't figured out how to do it yet". This includes decorative door hinges and handles, chimney pots and apex trim on the roof. So for now at least, I'm saying that the construction phase is over and it's time to start working on the furniture.
Now as usual, I want to add more furniture than there is space to put it. I'd love to do a large tudor style four poster or tester bed, but not only will it not fit under the slope of the roof, there won't be room for any other furniture in the attic. In fact any bed larger than a cradle won't leave a lot of space for anything else. On the first floor, I'd like a table and benches (where the inhabitants eat, prepare food, etc), a tudor style 'dresser' or cupboard of some sort, a settle and one or two people. If I put all that in I think it'll be piled up one ontop of the other! I guess next time I'll just have to make a larger house! Perhaps another castle?
The roof was painted with a couple of coasts of dark grey, then given a coat of matte varnish. When that was dry I went over this with a lighter grey paint that was well watered down and used an old cloth to remove most of it. A very important tip is to only press straight down and remove the cloth straight up or you risk rubbing off the eariler coats of paint. I repeated the paint/sponge off process a couple of times until I was happy with the result and finished by giving the whole lot a couple more coats of matte varnish. I used the same grey as the roof's base coat to paint some thin cardboard that became the flashing around the chimney.
Next, I pulled out some air clay and moulds made from sculpey mould maker of some things I thought would prove useful and played around. I used a mould of a wooden bracket to make some decorative brackets for the outside of the house. A mould made from a decorative bead was used for some square 'carvings'. A length of undyed braid soaked in my 'wood stain' paint mix became strips of 'carved wood' adorning the eaves, the beam between the ground and first floors and over the windows. A strip of 'gingerbread' trim bought from a dollshouse supplier last year for that I decided not to use for what I bought it for decorates the beam above the balcony.
Some time ago when I made the ceiling light for the bakery itself, I made some extra candles and have now used these in some candle sconces made of balsa wood scraps and metal beads as light fixtures.
After three weeks (well, three and a half really) the basic structure and decoration of the house is mostly finished. The roof is painted, extra beams have been added in the attic and decorative brackets and trim have been added to the exterior. There are a few small details that are yet to be attended to, these are mostly fall into three categories: "I need something I haven't got to finish it", "I want to make the furniture first before I make the final decision about it" and "I haven't figured out how to do it yet". This includes decorative door hinges and handles, chimney pots and apex trim on the roof. So for now at least, I'm saying that the construction phase is over and it's time to start working on the furniture.
Now as usual, I want to add more furniture than there is space to put it. I'd love to do a large tudor style four poster or tester bed, but not only will it not fit under the slope of the roof, there won't be room for any other furniture in the attic. In fact any bed larger than a cradle won't leave a lot of space for anything else. On the first floor, I'd like a table and benches (where the inhabitants eat, prepare food, etc), a tudor style 'dresser' or cupboard of some sort, a settle and one or two people. If I put all that in I think it'll be piled up one ontop of the other! I guess next time I'll just have to make a larger house! Perhaps another castle?
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