Floor Progress....

One Thing Leads To Another....

I had some Unexpected Time off from work, Dear Readers, while they sanitized the building where I work last week. It was supposed to be a day at home and then back to work, but it turned into three days at home due to the thorough nature of the cleaning. And since the weather was mild and virtually windless, I decided it was the right time to spray polyurethane varnish on the floor tiles which I could do outside on the porch. This required that I remove all the floor tiles, while keeping them in that perfect pattern I had so carefully arranged! You can see above a portion of the tiles spread out (in their exact arrangement) on cardboard so I could take them outside and spray them.

Pretty soon my entire studio was spread out with the drying tiles!

(This is only two of the five cardboards!)

I gave them two coats of the polyurethane.

And the following day I began the process

 of carefully spacing them in the floor... 

with the allowed spaces for grout.

This ended up reducing the pattern by two rows of tiles

  so I simply left off the outside rows of my pattern.

It was important to try and get the spacing just right.

 I occasionally swapped out a thick tile for a 

better shaped one as long as it was the same color.

And I needed to make sure the door would open over the tiles.

And once I had them all laid out correctly,

 I could begin the gluing process.

Once again, this required removing a small amount of the tiles at a time, 

keeping them in their pattern, and gluing them back into their place.

Once I had done the corner by the stairs,

 I could work the rows all the way across one row at a time.

I would remove the next row tile right after gluing the one above it, 

ensuring that my spacing stayed as unchanged as possible.

I wouldn't want to get all the way to the front row

 only to discover that there was not enough space for the entire tile to fit!

This took a very long time!

Hours and hours and hours.

But I got it done!

And in the morning light they look clean and sparkly!

I couldn't wait to get started on the grout!

But then I remembered that before I could grout,

 I needed to complete the fireplace and attach it in place.

"What, the fireplace isn't finished" I hear you say?

No, I had always thought it needed something more...

Ages ago, I had seen in one of my Medieval History books

 an elaborate Medieval mantlepiece that was carved to resemble a castle.... 

or perhaps I dreamed this, because I could not find the photo again when I searched!

But the idea stuck, and I began to try to piece together a version for this fireplace.

I dug through my box of off-cut scraps....

I found some likely pieces that needed almost no trimming to fit!

(This is Why we keep all those scraps....! 

I could not have designed this as well

 if I had to start from nothing!)

This too, took longer than I had thought.... 

I had to cut all those crenelations!

I used very thin 1/8 inch plywood because the crenelations

 would never have survived the cutting

 without the added strength of the plies.

And more crenelations.... !

And then I had to carve those windows.... 

because I wanted the Castle Keep to resemble the Dollhouse itself!

 (Without the outer walls, you understand...!)

Painting with primer was next....  

I know, it is really rough and not very stone-like.

But the same could be said for the Entire Dollhouse Castle!

(Imaginations are required!)

And then I decided that the base of the castle

 needed a little reinforcing....

And decorating...!

I found these bezels hidden away among pieces

 that were planned for this room ages ago!

Meanwhile, it needed to be tested in place....

 the primer is much too bright...!

Painting the under layer of light gray paint...

And then roughing in some of the darker "stone" colors....

highlighting the shadows and depths.

And seeing how it looks.....

Sill not quite finished...!

But that is as far as I got on my

 extra days off and the weekend too.

One Thing led to Another

 and I made a lot of Progress!

And on the Home front, Dear Readers, 

my workplace has set me up to work mostly from home.

My workstation is tucked snugly in

 among my upstairs dollhouses....!

The commute is very very brief!

 

I hope you are all staying as safe and Well as you can.

I am eternally grateful for the internet

 and the ability to stay connected

 with loved ones Near and Far!

A Taxing Time......

And A Tiny Update....

I had to Prepare my Taxes, Dear Readers, before the Social Distancing became too strict to allow for any meetings outside the home, so my weekend was mostly Not about minis. But I got my taxes done and filed and can rest easy on that score. We are still trying to behave as "normally" as possible in this time of upheaval, while taking all due precautions. Nonetheless, all the schools are now closed and everybody is preparing to stay home for a while. At my school the students and teachers have been on Spring Break, and that has been extended for another week, until the end of March. The plans for the rest of the staff are still being figured out, we have been going to work as usual. It is still a changing situation and we are heeding all the care recommendations.  But in spite of my focus being elsewhere, I did manage to paint a few more stars on the Castle Council Chamber floor! I am trying to keep the pattern a random "scattered" effect.

I will probably not add many more stars.

I think this is just about right!

And over in the Doll Maker's Workshop....

I cut and fitted the paneling beside the arched doorway.

 

 

Then I painted and stained and glued it in place.

And here it is right side up in the morning sun.

And that was All I got done, Dear Readers,

 in this Taxing Time!

I hope you All stay well, 

and your loved ones too.

And maybe even have a

 Little more time for minis!

Doors And Floors....

Panels and Tiles....

There Were Only a few more pieces of rails and stiles to cut for the paneling on the opening wall of The Dollmaker's Studio, Dear Readers, but they required much more patience than the others because of the opening doors. The panels just barely fit so that the central stile would span the crack between the sides when the doors were closed, but this meant I had to glue pieces on more carefully and align them around both the windows and the cracks in the doors. Above you can see the main pieces cut but not stained or glued.

And here you can see the stain has been added.

 I decided to glue all these pieces in place

 before trying to cut and measure the top rail for the middle section.

 I needed the pieces to stay put in order to measure properly.

Here the top rail for the middle has been added.

Here I am making sure the doors open properly..... they do!

And the view through the arched opening... both walls are paneled!

Testing with the arched door in place... those windows need cleaning!

And from the other end..... this really is a very small room!

And I think I need to make some kind of paneling 

for the walls beside the door.

 

But before I do that, Dear Readers,

 I wanted to show you the other project I was working on

 over my vacation a couple of weeks ago.

I had decided I finally had the time to make the floor tiles 

for the Lord's Council Chamber in my Castle!

(It has only been about .... 

I don't know how many years since 

I really made any progress on that room!)

I dug out the sculpey I had bought....

 all those many (seven, eight or nine?) years ago....

 and discovered it was Almost too old and stiff to use....! 

Almost.

With lots of patience and lots of kneading

 it eventually became usable... 

so I cut and baked tiles ... 

one brick per day (all I could stand to knead)

hoping I had enough of the colors I had bought!

I had Just enough, if I also used a few remaining tiles

 from the Conservatory floor... the gold ones in particular.

I wanted to make a pattern that emphasized the center of the floor,

 rather than have an over-all pattern.

 The gold tiles were a "mistake" I made years ago 

when I was making the tiles for the Great Hall Floor.

 The final step was to spray varnish over the painted patterns of the tiles.... 

I grabbed the gold spray can and only realized my mistake

 when the tiles were turning gold before my eyes!

In the right light you can see the painted designs through the gold.

I liked the effect and saved the tiles...! 

I think they work for this floor.

Then I added the Red Star Stone to the center...!

I think it is important to test these ideas in varying light....

Morning light adds a beautiful feeling!

And the next morning I like it even more!

(I can't tell you how long I have been dreaming about this floor!)

But it still needs some more embellishment....

(I do love lots of detail!)

I had always wanted it to have more stars in the pattern...

So I started painting some of the tiles with gold stars.

 

 Just a few to start with to see if I liked it....

And then just to be Sure I was happy with the Red Star Stone,

 I swapped it out for a blue one...

I definitely like the spark of the red one!

(And it will have a power role to play... you will see!)

So I kept adding a few gold stars scattered over the floor...

I will be adding a few more!

But that is as far as I got, Dear Readers,

While I was waiting for the glue to dry

 on the Paneling for The Dollmaker's Studio!

Tiny Painting, Tiny Tiles....

Tiresome Testing and Tweaking....

I hope you can Forgive me, Dear Readers, (and Ewa!), because not much got Done in my Mini World this past weekend! Father Alban is still trying to determine what it is that he knows in his heart is Not Finished about this painting, and even in the Bright Saturday Morning Sunlight he is not quite sure. So he will bide his time and keep looking and when he sees the missing touches... sometimes the Tiniest shadow or most delicate line can change an expression from disappointing to Sublime.... he will know! So for now, he will keep pondering and in Time, he is confident he will see the missing touch.
As for the progress on the Tree House room... it is not as much as I had hoped there would be.... but I made a start on the Flooring! To begin with I must show you where we left off... with the large circular piece of shell I wanted to use...

I admit that in this form it does not look very promising as a floor surface.....

It presents several technical challenges because it is not flat and the thickness of the material varies. But I hope you will bear with me because I was determined to use this for the floor!

After much pondering and tinkering, I decided that the best method of evening out the surface was to cut away the floor beneath it and imbed the shell into the floor.....

Like this.......

Right away the surface profile looks more manageable!

As you can see, I still have not attached this floor to the Tree House structure...

so it is removable to make construction easier! It slides on and off the guide wires....

I cannot tell you how many times I have taken it off then put it on again....

But the next step was to add the rest of the floor tiles....

Starting with a circlet of gold tiles....

These are tiny scrap-booking decorative tiles... 

but they appear to be made of glass....

Each one is about 3/16 inch square....

And I had to remove the sticky backing 

so the glue would connect with the tile surface....

So It was slow going!

But I finally glued the circlet in place.....

So I could start in on the rest of the tiles!

Which required testing Exactly where the walls would go.....

Over and Over Again....!

Here below you can see the view looking down from the top....

With a few black colored tiles added at the back by the Fireplace...

And speaking of the Fireplace....

I added the glowing coals (using one of those tiny LED's)

And glued the Picture Frame to the Tile Surround.....

As you can see here below... testing the fit....

 but I forgot to take good pictures....

 

And slowly adding more tiles..... 

this time the pale blue ones for the front of the floor....

With only some of the walls in place (temporarily)....

And I discovered that Yes, I Can cut the Tiles with my Wire cutters!

So convenient because we have a lot of odd corners in this room!

And the doors on the side wall lead into two smaller chambers....

(Have you guessed yet, what room this is...?)

Okay, I will tell you.... It is the Bath Room....!

And one of the Tiny chambers is a Changing Room....

And the other will hold the Toilet....!

So as you can see, I have a Long way to go to complete the Tiling.....

But it is Starting to show the effect I am looking for.....

It is just an Illusion.....

But doesn't it look like a lovely deep pool of water???

(Just don't try to Dive in!)

And as with any work of Art... 

Every added touch reveals more of the picture...

And Eventually.....

Perhaps we will be satisfied.....

Father Alban and I...

With enough Tinkering...

Testing and Tweaking....

Tiny Painting and Tiny Tiles will get done!

(Still Finishing Details, Ewa!)