Wednesday, June 27, 2018

A Quick Look

Hey all!  I took the rubberbands off the tower last night and took a few pictures with my phone.  I put one up on Instagram but here they are in case you're like me and forget about Instagram a lot of times.

I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out.  I'm hoping to get the lights wired in and tested this weekend.  We'll see.




No matter how I turned the tower the light still kept coming through with a glare in that back window.  But so far, I think they look good.

Hope everyone is having a good week!


Sunday, June 24, 2018

Brick and Windows

This weekend I decided to bite the bullet and brick the tower.  I decided to go with the Magic Brik and while I like it, I think its very vague and requires a lot of trial and error to get right.

I'm curious to see how using the same stickers with drywall compound would work.

First I painted the tower grey.



Then I started with the Magic Brik stickers.  Those things can be very annoying.


I bought the white powder because I wanted to mix my own color.  But I made sure I added a lot of Elmer's glue to the mix since crumbling is a common complaint.


It looked a little weird but I figured I'd be able to layer some paint on top of it if I was careful, to get the look I wanted.

I made sure it was very thick and then I spread it all over.  My biggest issue with this part is getting an even coat.  That is not easy.  And a lot not easier with a cylinder rather than flat wall.  But I persevered.  I waited a few minutes after I'd gotten the whole thing coated before I began to pull off the templates.

It worked pretty well.


You can see not all of my bricks are uniform but that's okay.

Since I had to wait for the bricks to dry before I could do anything else I decided to work on finishing my tellurion.  That's what the little device with the candle and earth and sun is called.


After that I really didn't have much time to do anything else.  Bricking the tower had taken a long time.

So I started back up again in the morning.  I watered down a couple of my reds and brushed them over the brick to give it a slightly varied effect.  Then coated everything with satin polyurethane.


While that was drying I mixed up some mortar and added the same grey paint I'd used on the tower to the mix so it would be a similar color.

Then I started to add it and wipe it off in small increments.  It makes the tower look a little more realistic to me.  The bricks look a bit more irregular which I like.


The red isn't as glaring and I like the muted look.

I coated that with another layer of satin polyurethane to seal it.

While that was drying (lots of waiting for things to dry this weekend), I looked around and the Building Inspector was exploring the little table where my equipment lives when its not clamped down.


Nothing escapes exploration by the building inspector.

But once the poly was dry I was able to glue the windows onto the outside of the tower.  You can see my incredibly high tech method of making them stay in place.


That's pretty much it for the weekend.

I figure next weekend is when I need to get the timber onto the third floor inside and then add the lights.  And then I can also put the support beams under it.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend? 

Here's my list... slowly getting checked off.

Drill & Route out channels for lighting wires.
Finish shutters & interior trim for all windows on main cottage. 
Build Fireplaces & chimneys
Cut bricks and stone for outside of lower walls and tower.
(Test Magic Brik) - in progress
Add brick/stone to fireplaces.
Plaster upper walls and third floor of tower.
Add timber to upper walls and third floor of tower. (testing)
Paint stone.
Add grout to stone and brick.
Ceiling beams on first floor.
Ceiling beams and roof support for lofted ceiling on second floor.
Ceiling beams and roof support for the tower.
Build furniture:
          Make sink
          Make curved table for tower room
          Make loom
          Adjust tables for lab
          Make stool
          Make telescope 1/2 done
          Make orrey 1/4 done
          Make tapestry
          Make rush mats
          Make bedding
          Make books & scrolls
          Make paper pottery
Furniture in place finalize lights.
          Make candelabras
                 Standing Candelabra
                 2 small Candelabras
Add flooring
Plaster inside walls
Inside window trim & shutters
Build base for house.
Create 'slate' roof
Create front garden
          Make tree?
          Make stream?
          Make lake/river to go alongside house
          Make stone wall to go around garden
          Iron front gate.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Star Gazing & Other Useful Objects

Hey everyone, hope you're all having a Happy Father's Day.   My Step Dad is in Florida with my Mom and we don't have kids so it's quiet around here today.

I got some more channels for wiring routed out but they're boring so I didn't take any pictures.  I did wire up the candelabra to a battery and test it to be sure it worked.  Yay! It did.


I had to put it in the house because it wouldn't show up as lit until then.

Then I started to work on my orrey again.  I didn't like how clunky the wire I was using looked so I started over.

And because I don't know my planets I set my laptop up so I could make sure everything was in the right place and orbit.


It was very helpful to have it there.  I might have to do that more often.


I replaced the hematite bead with a lighter one for Jupiter because the hematite bead was so heavy.

I think it looks much better this way.


I'm not sure what this is called, the idea is candle light reflects on a mirror and you get the effect of the sun shining on the earth and moon.  I saw one on Pinterest and liked how it looked so I wanted to make one of my own.

This is the simpler version, I'm adding gears and some support filigree type trim.


Right now it's being braced in place while glue dries. Again.

Oh, speaking of glue drying.  Here's a slightly better picture of the telescope.


I bought a little hourglass but I got another as a charm and wanted to turn it into a fancier larger one for the tower.  So I got some wire and wood and built a little frame for it.  I'm pleased, it turns and everything.


I'm testing the Magic Brik on a scrap of the oatmeal containers and while it's drying I decided to test out my beams for the timber and lathe part of the house and tower.  It's very thin wood used for flooring but it bends easily like a veneer and takes stain well.


I like how it looks so far.  And I think with some more texture on the plaster portion it'll work out nicely.

Because I need to add the beams around the oriel window I glued it in and then taped around it to be sure it would stay in place while the glue dried.



Lots of tape, which seems to take some of the paint off of the plaster but I don't mind it so much because I plan to add more of the texture on top so any imperfections caused by the tape will be hidden.

I'm planning on not touching it for a bit.  Everyone cross their fingers that the cats won't get curious.

While that was drying I began working on some more stuff for the laboratory/stillroom.

I decided that in addition to the orrey I wanted an armillary sphere.  I like how they look and it'll be a good space filler.


Here it is in progress.  The base, planet, one ring and the other three rings are drying with glue on them to keep them circular on the tops of the paint bottles.

And here it is complete.


I wanted a few things for the stillroom/laboratory table so I decided to make a crystal ball and some quills and inkwells.  I got a marble with a slight opal sheen to it and rounded out a square of wood for it to sit in.  The inkwells and quills are tiny feathers and beads.


The glue is still drying on this piece and I'll have to remove the excess but I just had the idea that it would look cool on the table.


And I also wanted a type of scrying pendant, the type that swings and gives you a direction?  I'm going to look for something like an old compass print for the base.


The last thing I did was a brazier for burning incense.  I used some wisps of cotton to make smoke... but they don't show up very well yet.


I need to spend some time this week cutting out stone for the cottage walls.  Hopefully if I do that a bit each night I'll eventually get enough done to cover the lower floor of the cottage.  It's not my favorite thing but it needs to be done.

Doesn't feel like I got much done to cross off the list but I know all of these little things will fill out the tower and stillroom nicely.

One last thing.  Kristine of Paper Doll Miniatures very graciously took the door design I found on Pinterest and the door shape and laser cut them out of wood.  She sent me a couple versions, plus her first couple attempts.  I cannot believe how gorgeous she made this and how crisp the design is.

I finally trusted myself enough to trim the bottom of the door so it would fit.  She'd purposely made them a bit taller than my measurements so I could be sure of a good fit.  Then I tested it.  OMG.  So excited.


I can't thank her enough for doing all this work.  I'd tried multiple ways of getting something even vaguely similar onto the door and couldn't make it look even half as good.

It looks so pretty!

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Telescope

The telescope is all glued together and so I took some quick pictures with my phone.  I think it turned out all right.





I'm hoping to get the orrey going a bit more this weekend.  

And on the bright side I went to the doctor yesterday and got some antibiotics.  Hope everyone else is doing well.  And if you haven't taken a look at Jodi's post I'd highly recommend it.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Lots of Little Things This Weekend

I warned you my list was in no particular order right?

I still haven't felt all that great this weekend.  Though I'm better than I was.  So I did some research on the solar system and telescopes.  But the first thing I did was a little more work on the sink.

I sanded the corners off to give it a bit of a rougher look on the lower frame.


It might not be noticeable immediately but I know it's been done.

I also added the lower rails to the stillroom/laboratory table.


Then I started to make a floor standing candelabra.  For the candles I started with a dowel and cut it into three quarter inch lengths and drilled through it.  I painted them antique white and then used a trick I found on Epbot.  Hot glue for wax drips, painted the same as the dowels.  She used hot glue when she was making her floating Harry Potter candles.

I had a couple wagon wheels which I cut up to use for the candelabra.  I used jewelry findings for candle holders and got everything glued together.  I hollowed out a couple of newel posts and glued one in place.


The other I glued to my second wheel for the base.

I had to lengthen the wire for the bulbs and then I glued both sides together.  I want to add a bit of wood putty to the joint and smooth it out, but so far it doesn't look bad.


I'm also planning on some more wax drips.  I think that'll add a bit more realism to the whole thing.

While the glue was drying I started work on my telescope.  I got a charm from Hobby Lobby to begin with and made a base.


I also made a smaller scope to go on top of the larger one.


Then I added the base to the main telescope.  And the holder for the smaller one.  The glue is drying and probably will take the rest of the evening so I can't show you the finished product just yet.


I started work on my orrey.  It's just in the beads on wires stage right now.  Once they dry I'll get them onto the turning rings.


Funny to think that this was all I got done. But I've got blisters on my right forefinger from all the finger drills I've used and the candelabra took me most of Saturday.

I did route out the second floor for the wires, though I forgot to take a picture.  And I glued some of the second floor front wall together.  Which I did remember to take a picture of.



Oh, the other thing I did was paint the outside of the tower's third floor with antique white to seal the plaster a bit.   I want to add the beams and then more texture to the plaster so it looks more Tudor like.



And I did some research on Magic Brik and how to use it.  Adding glue to the powder mixture apparently keeps it from flaking off.  And it was suggested on the Greenleaf forum that I prep my tower with gesso first to help the mixture stick.  I've got some scrap pieces of the oatmeal boxes so I'll test everything out on them first.

Kristine did some work on the laser printer for me and sent me several doors to use and I'm excited to play with them but I don't trust myself around them until I'm well.  I'll take pictures.

But here's a couple of the Building Inspector, very interested in the box.




So not a hugely productive weekend but not bad for still feeling like I'm half dead.  Husband is in worse shape.  I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow though so maybe I'll get some antibiotics?

Hope everyone else had a good weekend?


Drill & Route out channels for lighting wires.
Finish shutters & interior trim for all windows on main cottage. 
Build Fireplaces & chimneys
Cut bricks and stone for outside of lower walls and tower.
Add brick/stone to fireplaces.
Plaster upper walls and third floor of tower.
Add timber to upper walls and third floor of tower.
Paint stone.
Add grout to stone and brick.
Ceiling beams on first floor.
Ceiling beams and roof support for lofted ceiling on second floor.
Ceiling beams and roof support for the tower.
Build furniture:
          Make sink
          Make curved table for tower room
          Make loom
          Adjust tables for lab
          Make stool
          Make telescope 1/2 done
          Make orrey 1/4 done
          Make tapestry
          Make rush mats
          Make bedding
          Make books & scrolls
          Make paper pottery
Furniture in place finalize lights.
          Make candelabras
                 Standing Candelabra
                 2 small Candelabras

Add flooring
Plaster inside walls
Inside window trim & shutters
Build base for house.
Create 'slate' roof
Create front garden
          Make tree?
          Make stream?
          Make lake/river to go alongside house
          Make stone wall to go around garden
          Iron front gate.