Saturday, January 24, 2015

I think I'd better think it out again.


Dollhouse front all taped out ready for stippling.


















Stippling finished, ready for paint.




















Paint done and exterior decoration started.....
I HATE IT!!  Stippling too thick, paint colour is horrid, so I will have to scrape it down and start again.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Houston we have a problem!


 Dollhouse construction had come to a total stand still while I waited on supplies to arrive.  Although it was lovely coming home everyday to a little parcel on the door step, they never seemed to arrive in the order I wanted them to.

Finally, I thought I had all I need to go ahead start the finishing on the house.  My husband has been out of town for the last ten days so I set up shop in the living room ( I won't tell if you don't)  only to find out that a grave error had been made during the cutting and assembly part of the house.  The front had been put on upside down leaving the smaller windows at the bottom, the taller windows on the top and the doorway had been cut.  God bless me, not being that bright it took a minute or two after building the first transom window for the front door to contemplate why I had a 6cmish window, a 5mm transom and needed to make a 16.9cm door all to fit in a space that measured about 17cm. Finally the light went off it is UPSIDE DOWN.
So here is the newly cut dollhouse front, unfortunately I didn't have any 5mm ply left so it was made out of 5mm mdf that is black on one side. No matter, I will paint it twice.   My husband comes home tomorrow so I can work on the dollhouse in the living room for one more day, I just have to make sure I do a really good job hoovering up the sawdust.
Here is what I was working on while waiting for the mail to arrive.  I just found and bought a Jane Newman single bed, isn't it lovely?...and have been constructing a tiny English paper pieced quilt out of little hexagons.  I don't think I thought about how fiddly it was going to be.  I am about half done but have put it away for a bit.  It is the perfect project for doing while watching t.v, but then so is dollhouse construction if your husband is out of town.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year 2015!

Hope everyone had a lovely New Year Eve.  Despite the best laid plans we ended up in the house cuddled up on the couch with a movie.  I did however purchase a bottle of bubbly which I am now drinking as I type this on New Years Day instead.

I spent the most day in front of the telly (severe weather and snowfall warning for our area) with Monty Python trying to work out the angle for my French house staircase.  I have never been good at math so it took a ridiculous amount of time and effort to finally figure it out.

 HINT: make sure when you are measuring you draw your 23cm (height of the wall) on your bristol board before you start. It will help you get the right angle for your staircase
Here it is as complete as I can show. The gesso is just about finished drying as is the stain on the steps but it still needs paint.  Tomorrow the railing will be added, along with the cut and bent metal wire stair rails that are the right hand corner.

I am pleased with my progress thus far. Unfortunately I foresee a delay in the very near future because the lime-wood is being shipped from Australia and half the items I ordered ie: lights, doors etc. are either back ordered or unavailable.  I will soldier on and chart my progress.

Finished staircase.  I must admit it provided more challenges than I thought it would.  I am not entirely happy with the newel post as it attaches to the rail but it will do for now and if I can't live with it, I will attempt to fix it before installing it in the house.