Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Another Two Days Of Work

I took another two days of vacation this Monday and Tuesday.  I'm back to work tomorrow and had some time taken up with appointments yesterday.  But I still got a couple days worth of work done on the dollhouse.

It's probably more like one and a half days since I'm stopping to clean up my mess a bit.  And some of the house too.  Lots of sawdust.

I'll admit part of my day was setting up my birthday present.  My husband got me this awesome saw.  My birthday isn't for another ten days but I don't mind getting it early!



I haven't really gotten to use it because it needs to be higher up and fixed to the table and right now it's too low.   But I've been reading about it and putting on the blade guard.  The poor thing has sawdust all over it because I kept using my Dremel on balsa wood and that throws off sawdust like nobody's business.

What I've been doing since Sunday is work on the third floor of the tower and trying to get the second story of the cottage situated.  I wanted to see how it looked with the windows in and the walls up as much as possible.

See anything wrong with this picture?


I knew the third floor of the tower would be a bit of an issue with the main cottage roofline.  But I think it's workable.    I'm going to move the oriel window up a bit on the wall from the above position and add a few pieces of wood to fit it to the wall better.

I thought about doing the third floor in wood but thought it might be too heavy and the corrugated cardboard is a good width and curves easily once I've cut slits into it.

The front bay window is way too close to the entryway.  So I did some revising of my walls and openings to give it a bit more room for the casement windows and make it look more reasonable.  I also took some time to give the window a roof/top for the part that isn't covered by the second floor overhang.


Even though the entry is narrower now, I think it works pretty well.

And since part of why I'd done the dry fit again was to measure for the boards to fit the tower up against the back wall I started to work on that.

This is where the sawdust from the Dremel comes in because I was sanding down balsa wood boards so they would fit up against a rounded tower.  And then I glued them on.  I used painters tape to hold them in place and then my binder clips to tighten everything up.



 Then I tested it with the third floor on and realized I needed to make one wall a bit wider than the other.  So now all the glue is drying.


I did a dry fit of the roof too since I'd build up the brace for it.



I need to center my front gable, thankfully the little piece of wood on the right side isn't glued in, it's just taped.  I move that, more likely split it in half, and then add some height to the gable and that part of the roof will fit better.

Once that fits a bit better I'll work on the little dormer above the door and extend the roof length so it extends a bit over the sides of the four inch second floor wall.  I want to make sure the roof is shaped properly before I cut out the rest of the opening for the side dormer.

I'll admit that I'm not really anticipating accomplishing a whole lot else today.  I think I want to sit and read some and relax before I get going on my chores.

Hope everybody's week is going well!

29 comments:

  1. It’s looking good Sheila, all the angles and detail. I think a little sit down and relax is well earnt! I am cleaning this week and a few fix-it jobs to get done, and I think you need to take some rests or you fall in a heap and get nothing done! Hope the rest of your holiday goes well.

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    1. Thanks! I'm relaxing since I posted, recharging in anticipation of work tomorrow. I've got some more time that I get to take before the end of July so I'm hoping for a simple couple months.

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    2. That’s great Sheila, you will be able to hopefully get more done on the cottage. Will keep my fingers crossed that nothing big comes up befoe then!

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    3. Crossing my fingers too! I might actually get an extra day.

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  2. Hi Sheila! You've been tackling some of those really challenging "technical" parts of the build and it really looks like you are making good progress solving all those gaps and corners! It never looks like much is accomplished for all that fidgeting and re-taping, but in the end you are really getting the structure cleaned up and organized! Congratulations on so much that you've done! I think a rest sounds divine! :)

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    1. Thanks! I'm just being lazy reading now. I'll fuss with the front gable and the dormer over the door this weekend.

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  3. Happy early birthday to youuuu! How exciting! Is it a miniature table saw then?! How cool! I think it’s a very practical for everything you do. I would really love to get a miniature mitre saw one day, imagine never having to hand saw basswood sticks again!

    

I did the same thing with my windows on my build… somehow out of line. Glad you were able to fix it. The cottage is just gorgeous even in dry-fit. Really great to see the tower in place too. Overall the proportions seem spot on, even the large casement window at the front balances everything out :) I’m not sure how many more days of vacation you have left, but I hope you enjoy every moment of it!

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    1. Oh, just saw you're back to work tomorrow! Well at least you made the most of your time off! :)

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    2. Thank you! When I start messing around with centering things I always goof up somehow. I'll play with it this weekend and get it straightened out again.

      I've got some more time coming in June and July so that'll be nice. A few mini vacations over a couple of months.

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  4. A great present from your husband!
    In such small scale everything needs to be so precise, I admire how you manage to make it all look so awesome!
    I think these were very well spent days off :-)!

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    1. Thank you! I was really excited bout it.

      Hopefully the trend of the it looking good will continue.

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  5. Congratulations for your wonderful, early birthday present from your husband!
    It will make your work much easier and in shorter time.
    You have achieved quite a lot and everything looks good.
    Hugs, Drora

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    1. Thanks! I was so happy when it got here.

      It really will help, because it will cut on angles too.

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  6. Happy early birthday, Sheila, I see that your husband exactly knows what you need, enjoy it ;)!
    I agree with the others: you have achieved a lot. I think it's also interesting to see how others work at their dollhouse, I can learn much from your way of making a dollhouse. Hope you had a good relaxing time before you got to work...?
    Hugs, Ilona

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    1. Thank you! He's pretty awesome that way.

      I tend to do a lot of work before I put everything completely together, just so that I can be sure of things. Math isn't my strong suit and there's a surprising amount of geometry involved in roofing.

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  7. Happy birthday! What a wonderful present. The tower is coming along nicely.

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    1. Thank you! I'm super happy with the saw so far. Just need to find something taller for it to go on. I think I found something.

      That tower...it's going to bump into the roof... so it needs to be sanded or the roof does. Or both. Blech. Or I make a slightly longer tunnel between the stairs and the house.

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  8. OMG I hope the new saw enables even more of that amazing creativity of yours to come to life! And ~Happy Birthday~ a little early! Now tell us what you bought for yourself!
    Thanks for sharing the dry fit photos - it really helps to get a picture in mind of how things will go together. It is already looking so magical!
    Sawdust - ever present in my area, too. I go through so many Swiffer dusters I wish I had stock in the company! But a good clean up always helps to clear the mind and refocus for the next task at hand.
    Enjoy the short work week! The weekend is only three more days away!

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    1. Thank you! I'm really pleased because doing the angles for the dormers will be so much easier with the saw.

      I am so going to enjoy only three days until the weekend!

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  9. It's coming together nicely - looking forward to see what you create with your new saw! Great photos.

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    1. Thank you! My dormers will be much more enjoyable with the new saw.

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  10. Feliz cumpleaños, has tenido un gran regalo. Tu trabajo se le fantástico.Besos:-)

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  11. You have made some good progress Sheila even if it consists of adjusting the fit-together of the various elements. Everything takes time but as you are working through the glitches, your fairytale retirement cottage continues to take shape and is becoming more Real at each new stage.
    You new saw is a Very Happy Birthday Present- You lucky girl! :D

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    1. I'm pleased with it so far. And really grateful for that saw. My husband really is awesome.

      Thanks so much!

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  12. Great work, Sheila! I'm glad that you had some vacation days to work on your house.

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad too. I've got a few more and I'm hoping to really make progress now that I've got power tools.

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  13. Just catching up on all my blog reading after a big couple of weeks at work and wow! You are making great progress! Love the topper for the window it looks great. The oriel window looks fantastic too. Congrats on the new saw.. I bet you are chomping to get to use it. And, Happy Birthday!! :)

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    1. Thank you! I'm pretty happy with the windows. I want to actually get the measurements for the dormers done this weekend and finalize how the structure will look. Then I can use my new saw.

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