The Next Steps.....

Lots and Lots of Steps....!

I hope you can forgive the pun, Dear Readers, because I was on Vacation last week and I had Lots and Lots of Time to make Lots and Lots of little Steps of progress on the Cloud Palace! I tried to not overload my Time off with too many expectations of what I could accomplish in my Mini Worlds... and instead decided to just do a little of this and a little of that and see what it added up to at the end. I left you last week with the Question of Where the stairs would go.... but I had already decided that since they could not possibly go Inside the Tower... they Had to go outside the Tower! I envisioned a lovely spiral stair winding up the outside of the tower... but was really unsure How I would accomplish this! And I was also aware that I needed to complete several other Steps before I could really work on the steps at all! The first of these was figuring out the size, placement and attachment method of the floors for the Tower. As you can see in the picture below, I have cut two circular sections with extensions on the outer edge that will align with the floors of the House itself.... making hallways of a sort. I also cut an overall base for the entire grouping to be attached to.

And then I cut out some test steps from the pink builders foam insulation panels 

that I have so many scraps of..... 

just to see how they would look on the outside of the Tower......

And I stuck them on with masking tape. 

The panels are one inch think... 

which make a tall step in 1:12 scale!

So I asked Blue if she would give them a try....

She said that since Fairy Bearies are able to fly up the stairs, 

she didn't mind the size at all!

But I was more concerned with figuring out how many steps were needed 

and how far around the Tower they would end up going.....

And decided that we could actually have a sort of Balcony along the front side....

Between the top of the stairs and the doorway into the attic of the House!

And more importantly... 

I decided that I simply Had to complete the Roof assembly......

And Glue it all together .... 

so the angles and edges would be completed!

I decided that the opening in the roof needed to be shaped like a dormer...

With a vertical wall on the one side....

but open on the other side where it abuts the Tower.

The little piece I cut off the end wall of the House, 

turned upside down became the side wall for the dormer!

And while I was at it I painted the tower and floors with primer....

And made the pattern on the floor extend from the House floor.....

And while I was doing all this painting... 

I also painted a few more Silver Beams for the Ceiling of the Palace...

Perhaps it is even More like an overhead Trellis with the clouds above?

Believe it or not, there are still a few more places I need to cover the cracks with trim!

And once I had the paint on the floors done... 

I could start to attach the steps! 

I decided that they did need to be trimmed to less than the inch thickness...

So I cut each one to a little less than 3/4 of an inch thick.

Then I started to glue them on the outside of the Tower... 

One by One....

It takes a whole lot more steps to get up to the next floor that way....

So I had to narrow the placement of the steps on each other... 

with more of an overlap.

And while I was waiting for the glue to dry on each step....

I was also adding egg carton "stones" to the Fireplace!

Because, believe it or not, Dear Readers, 

this Tiny Tower Room is going to be a Kitchen!

I know you will think I am Crazy to try to fit a Kitchen in this Tiny space....

but the Fairy Bearies do a lot of their "Cooking" with Magic....

So they just need a place for a fire and a little bit of storage....

You can see the Hearth from the Main room....

And you can see there is space under the window for a tiny sink....

And some shelves along the wall....

I think you will be astonished at what we end up fitting in there!

And Blue has come by to reassure us that there is still room for a Beary cook!

And giving the new steps a try...

Yes, there Will be some sort of outer edging or low railing built...

So those who cannot Fly 

need not Fear falling off the edge and into the Clouds below!

And I have even begun the work on the upper levels of the Tower, Dear Readers, 

although it will be a while before I can attach all the levels together!

To begin with, I will need to make a whole Lot More Steps!

And even though the Tower is starting to take shape....

It takes Lots and Lots of Steps!

And there is Always a Next Step, Dear Readers,

Yes, there is Always another Step!