Herringbone Floor....

 

 Under Construction....

As you can see, Dear Readers, in the picture above, I briefly experimented with the idea of running the zigs and zags of the Herringbone pattern in the opposite direction. But I quickly decided that the initial pattern was the correct direction. I added a whole bunch of pieces to see if it made sense to try to count and space the rows before starting to glue them down. I estimated the distance from one zig to the next zag and measured a whole bunch of 3/4 inch spaced lines across the floor. While doing this I realized that I wanted to have a border of plain wood strips all around the edges. This would make all those tiny ending triangles less likely to chip and fall off the front edge at the very least. So I started there, gluing the edging in place.

 

 

I also remembered that I needed a hearth at the chimney side of the room,

 and made one to butt the floor up against. 

This is not attached yet so I can remove it to paint

 without worrying about the floor!

There are enough bump-outs and odd corners in this room

 that it makes sense to me to have a clean edge

 to work from with the herringbone pattern.

I made the edge two "boards" wide.

And then I started gluing the herringbone pattern...

starting roughly in the middle.

I made a little "square" out of legos

 (I raided my son's stash!)

which proved invaluable for keeping the rows aligned!

(My son has tons of fancy legos, 

so I was able to add a handy handle!)

There is really no fast way to do this!

Especially since my pieces are a little irregular...

They needed to be tested for fit before adding the glue.

And you need to be very careful to not get glue

 on the "right" side of the wood!

I got this far on the first day.

I love the way it is looking!

But I needed to see how the edges were going to work...

All those tiny pieces by the doorway....

And you have to get the wood grain running in the correct direction...

I'm not sure I'll be able to fill those tiny gaps at the corners...

Oh look! I did fill one of them!

And all the rest of the back alcove is finished too!

But that's as far as I got on day two, Dear Readers.

The herringbone floor is under construction...

and is more than half done!

I just Love the way it is looking!

Painting Bricks.....

And Grouting Stones.....

Before I could progress any further with the floor of The Sugarplum Studio, Dear Readers, I needed to complete the fireplace that stands between the doors on the end wall of the ground floor room. This was because in order to add the grout in the floor, the fireplace needed to be in place. And if I were to add egg-carton bricks to the fireplace, I would surely wish to do that before I got out the grout, so all the grout could be accomplished at once. And even if I decided to just use paint for the bricks, that would be easier done before the fireplace was attached. As I was debating the merits of paint versus three-dimensional egg carton bricks, I was thumbing through an old book I have about miniatures. It was talking about the "Nuremberg Dollhouse" one of the oldest known "baby houses", built in 1639, and mentioned that paint was used throughout the house very effectively to suggest three dimensions where only two existed. Aha! (thought I) If paint alone is good enough for the Nuremberg House, then surely it is good enough for the Sugarplum fireplace! So I jumped right in and began painting the faux bricks. In the picture above you can see the beginnings... just rough covering of the cardboard with a mixture of brick-ish colors. I use red oxide, burnt umber, alizarine crimson, black and white mixed in varying amounts.

It is best to keep it very rough and imprecise.

Then I started to add the rough "grout" lines in gray.

The spacing is not precise....

The effect will be not closely examined when done...

Then I started in making the bricks...

Trying to keep them in line....

but not being too precise.

(This will mostly not be visible in the end....)

(Please don't get out your rulers!)

 

Testing the hearth in place....

Then it needed more soot on the bricks...

And testing it again.... I think it will do!

Time for Glue!

(And those trusty sophisticated clamps!)

And then finally, Dear Readers, it was time for the grout!

I don't know why this step always makes me so nervous....

but it does.

I spread the mixture over the floor....

it is such a small area it didn't take long.

And then I wiped the excess off with a damp sponge.

It really didn't take long at all!

It didn't take off enough of the "glossy" effect of the polyurethane....

but I will be "dirtying" it up a bit when the grout dries.

When the grout is dry it becomes too "clean" and new looking.

The grout is just too invisible when it is clean...

But I really like how it makes the stones look more real!

Well, Dear Readers, that is as far as I got.

Perhaps you can tell me which is more faux... 

the bricks or the stones?

Sugarplum Studio.....

Shedding A Little Light.....

Some of you, Dear Readers, might recognize this picture as it was the setting of Last Year's Christmas Card, but that is not why I am showing it here now. It is simply a way of showing you the challenges I face with Lighting my own Studio in order to get good pictures of my projects. This room I call my large studio is really meant to be the living room in my small house, but I have it set up as the dining room because it is the only room big enough for the dining table and the hutch (which is off to the right in this picture). And a "dining room" in my life has always ended up being where I work because the table begs to be used! And after a while it just becomes my studio and I no longer pretend to have a "dining" room! And because this house is an older house with limited electrical fixtures... the only "overhead" light in this room is the candelabra you see... yes, it really is only candles! I have one old table lamp on the table and one old standing lamp that can be repositioned depending on where I am working. I also have a couple of old clamp lamps which sometimes are used to add light to dark corners... but they are tricky to manage as they sometimes un-clamp themselves in dramatic ways. I have one small point of use table lamp for the cutting mat work area to ensure good light in close detail work. And that is pretty much it for the light in my studio! As you can see, it is dark in all the corners and the "pool" of light under the standing lamp is the primary available light. And at this time of year, while the days are lengthening noticeably, it is still dark in the evenings when I might want to take photos of my work progress. So I hope you will understand, many of my photos are just not well lit... but I might only have that picture to show my "progress".

And I have been making some progress!

The "stone" floor of the Sugarplum Studio got a coat of primer.

And then I painted the first coat of color....

 a light gray that I use all the time.

I also started to position the rafters,

(which you can barely see overhead)

 but they are not attached as they will just get in the way

 while I am working on the floor and walls.

Here you can see I am testing some paneling options...

I have had these panels for years and there are just enough for this project!

 I will be using a different color on them.

And you can also see that the Sugarplum kit is a Small kit!

The main room here is only 9 inches deep  and 14 inches wide.

(Hmm... I just realized those dimensions 

are similar to my RL studio room dimensions!)

But the first task needing to be finished is the stone floor!

I began painting the dark gray into all the cracks

 and adding some "brushing" of  dark texture on the stones.

Again, these are the same two grays I have used for years

 to make the "stones" in my projects... the Castle in particular.

And I realized that I have a natural tendency to think stones are gray...

 rather than yellow-ish or red-ish or brown-ish..... 

because the rocks in New England are mostly

 gray slate and gray granite.

(I wonder what color the stones are where you live?)

 

Next I started to dab on bits of ocher and red oxide and burnt umber

 to create some variance in the "gray" of my stones.

(This picture is terrible... ! )

But you can see I was very rough and random with the dabbing.

Then I began with the next layer of gray... the lighter gray again.

This time I dry-brushed it lightly over the whole stone

 and then used paper towel to smear it and remove excess paint.

 I didn't want the light gray to completely cover the under colors.

I have only done the stones in the left hand corner in this shot.

I think this shot is slightly better....

You can see that the gray paint is changing the tones, 

making them more uniform and lighter.

The stones on the left half have been done here.... not yet on the right.

Here the stones have all been "grayed" ... 

(but the lighting is terrible!)

That's much better!

I am not going to over-work these stones Dear Readers,

 because it is only a small floor which will probably have a carpet

 and be hidden by the furnishings too. 

But I wanted a relatively uniform look

 to the stones and a over-all gray-ish tone.

And  because I am planning on using grout with this floor,

 next I added the first of several coats of varnish to seal the paper surface.

Of course, it makes the stones look way too glossy.

But I am fairly confident that the grout will scuff up the glossy surface

 and it is better to add enough protection 

for the paper "stones" before trying to grout them.

And that's as far as I got, Dear Readers, 

working on the Sugarplum Studio floor. 

But I feel as though I'm finally making a little progress... 

And I hope I have shed enough light for you to see it!