Putting Up Walls

 Well...not putting up walls in an emotional isolation kind of way.  More of a literal putting up walls.

Last weekend I added more beams and layered on more of the plaster to the walls.

I had more to do with the electrical work before I could glue the walls in though.  Three 'candles' downstairs and three upstairs in different places make for some long wires.  Before that could be done the 'candles' needed places to sit. Which meant furniture of some sort.

I decided that one could sit on the railing which I had to make anyway. 

And I wanted to put the third on a piece of furniture like a bureau or desk. But research shows that most Tudor period homes didn't have bureaus...I'm guessing because of the labor and skill required to build and fit drawers. From what I could find it seems like people used cabinets or chests, mostly up on some legs to keep vermin from getting into them. 

Learn something new everyday!

But this meant if I wanted a place for the candle to sit I had to build a piece of furniture. And being me I measured wrong, so I had to build part of it twice.

But I finally got it built. 

And because of all the glue I used, rather than stain it and go nuts out of frustration, I painted it to look a little older.

But the candle goes on top of it nicely. Then it was just a matter of hiding the wires and gluing the floor into place. I doubt this is what my Grandmother thought I'd use these books for when she gave them to me but they are perfect.

All the wires go down the back of the chimney and then the wall can be glued on. Yes! More adventures with glue.

There was, as you can imagine, a lot of waiting time while the glue, paint and polyurethane dried on the cupboard so I stained some of the wooden dishes I have.

I also hunted a cradle I've had since I was like...eleven? I think. It was a while ago obviously. I got it at the Smithsonian Museum. It's the closest I have to a Tudor cradle. 

I was going to glue on the back wall and nearly did it, when it occurred to me that I should make sure the bed still fits in place.  Which it did, but I had to put it in before I glued in the back wall.  Glad I checked. 

So I made up the bed with some pillows, sheets and blankets. I'll probably get a little fur throw to put in there too. And then I put the bed in place and glued in the back wall.

While I was at it and messing with bedding I got the cradle 'dressed' as well. 

I wanted to have different shaped jars so I stained some other wood caps I got from Hobby Lobby and made lids for them out of buttons and pieces of dowel. Red mahogany stain, black marker, Early American stain and Dark Walnut stain. 

Since I was messing around with electrical I figured I'd get the kitchen cupboard set up with most of its shelf accessories. There's still space for some food next to the candle too. 

On the bottom shelf you can see the last of the newer jars I made, that one is done with Early American stain.  

But now I've got two more walls in place. 

 It's a little messy because I was storing some of the more fragile items in the bed cupboard so they wouldn't get knocked around.

I have the wood cut for the roof but not glued yet.  I'll tape that and do a dry fit soon so I can make sure the dormer is in the right place.  But so far so good. I tested all the lights and everything still works.  That's a good sign right?

And at least one thing crossed off my list.

Anvils

Tools

Whetstone

Finished goods

Forge Roof/ceiling

Forge Bargeboards

Second floor/ceiling beams

Second floor/ceiling

Second floor walls

Second floor fireplace

Second floor railing (so no one falls down the stairs)

Bed

Candlestick

Dormer

Windows

Forge Chimney

House Chimney

Fireplace tools, (tongs, shovel, poker)

Roof

Bargeboards

Tree

Landscaping?

Beams and Candles

 Oops...I skipped a weekend... sometimes I end up doing that when I don't feel like I've accomplished much. 

But I did do some work.

First, candles. I used my old tried and true drilled out dowel method, although this time I cut the tops of the 'candles' at an angle. That seems to help direct the light and also looks like the candles are burning unevenly. I painted them with Ceramcoat Antique White and once that was dry added my hot glue 'wax drips'.

The smallest hot glue gun nozzle I had but it worked pretty well.

And I added an extra step. A watered down black paint, 'Wrought Iron' to give the wax a burnt look. I let it drip down the sides and on the tops and used a dry paint brush to soak up any excess. It gives the candles another layer of realism and the dark paint makes the 'drips' show up better on the candle.

And now for the buttons, because there's a reason I have them near the candles.  I have a huge stash of buttons from when I used to sew (and also extras that came with clothing I bought) so I got a few that could pass for candleholders and drilled into the top and sides. 

Then I used aluminum wire and crazy glue to attach the 'loops' of wire to the buttons.

I used my Dremel sandpaper attachment to make narrow channels on the bottom of the buttons. And then I primed them with gesso. Once that dried I painted everything black and added black metallic paint over that.

The result has enough texture that it looks like iron work to me. Everything is drying in the picture above.  But once dried, I added candles to some of them and put them in place.

I'll 'set' one on the stairs too.  The lights are some of the LED lights from Miniatures.com. Five will run off one twelve volt battery. 

I did one other thing, also involving buttons. I got some wooden candle 'cups' from Hobby Lobby. The little things that'll hold one candlestick that you attach to a bigger candle holder. They're just the right size for jars and they paint up very nicely. With a little effort anyway. But if they're jars then they need lids. That's where the buttons came in. And a few beads for lid handles. 

As you can see, I stained one and then painted the rest. They'll look pretty nice on the shelf near the stairs.

There was a lot of sawdust in the past couple of days. Mostly because I was cutting and sanding and staining in order to get more beams added to the exterior of the front and rear upper walls.

I have a couple more to add to the last picture, and then I'll add the beams to the interior as well. But since the glue had to dry I moved on to add the structural beams and ceiling to the dormer.

And after that...well I had a few life size house chores to do.

But what a difference a couple of weeks makes for cats. Anthony, whom we are testing names for, among them Dante and Raider, has moved beyond the living room in his explorations.  He's very snuggly (and a hot water bottle of a cat) and wants attention a lot. See below:

Those are from when I was working on the dollhouse. And one from me being on the couch with the laptop. He doesn't care about sawdust on the floor, or anything else. He just wants me to pet him. He also jumps on the back of the chair and leans over my shoulder to see what's so interesting.

Miho (such a sweet girl) is being remarkably patient with him and she's getting used to him.

Princess... well. In cat years she's 84 and she doesn't like him or Miho, but she likes my husband and me, and she wants human food. Like she'll take a swipe at another cat if she thinks they're getting some and she isn't. No, no one on four legs gets human food but that doesn't stop her trying.

She'll eat near the other two and she's come up on the couch to sit a few times. She likes my husband a lot though. And she really enjoys the window shelves we've got. 

She came with her collar and bell so we've kept it on her. We figure it's hers and she's used to it. But even though she's a little overweight she knows how to move without making the bell jingle. Unless she's in a hurry because Dante/Raider/Anthony is chasing her.

Miho isn't meowing and looking for her orange brothers anymore. Maybe because Dante/Raider/Anthony likes to go around the house meowing (discussing) to test the echoes (or whatever) in all the rooms. He's an interesting character and at least Miho isn't lonely and confused. Even if she doesn't like the new cats too much, she's got something else to think about besides the ones who are gone.

And so do we.

And I got a couple more things crossed off my list, or at least partially crossed off.

Anvils

Tools

Whetstone

Finished goods

Forge Roof/ceiling

Forge Bargeboards

Second floor/ceiling beams

Second floor/ceiling

Second floor walls

Second floor fireplace

Second floor railing (so no one falls down the stairs)

Bed

Candlestick

Dormer

Windows

Forge Chimney

House Chimney

Roof

Bargeboards

Tree

Landscaping?