The Next Steps.....

 

 The Tower Stairs....

As I am sure you have realized, Dear Readers, this project does not develop in a direct path with clear instructions. There are always raw edges that need to be completed after the main part has been done, necessitating all kinds of disruptions to the structure that was almost finished. In this case you can see the taped up section of the herringbone floor where the doorway to the Tower Stairs enters the room. the bottom of this door frame is the upper section of the ground floor room.... and it still needed the "rocks" (made of egg carton) added and then painted. Two tiny little areas of "stone" needed to be added and primed and painted before any of the walls or the alcove could be glued in place! And it was as I was adding these "rocks" that I realized that I needed to get this doorway properly aligned and the door attached before I completed the "rocks" so that the door could open properly into the Tower Stairs landing. And I am sure you have guessed where this chain is headed.... I needed to get that landing in place before I could attach the door...

You can see here my first attempt to attach the door, 

with no landing in place.

It did not align properly and I had to rethink

 the placement of the hinges!

 

Here's the view from the other side without the end wall in place.

It was clear I was going to have to back-track

 to the bottom of the Tower and just build the stairs first!

From the beginning of this project I have planned to use Quaker Oatmeal boxes

 as the structure for the Tower and have the stairs spiral up the inside. 

(The last time I did this was for The Cloud Palace

 and the stairs go up the outside of the Tower!)

I really just needed to know how many steps were needed

 and make sure they started and landed in the right place.

 I drew a diagram to calculate minimum step depths.

(Sorry my sketch is a bit faint....)

 

I calculated three-quarters of an inch height for each step,

 and would need a minimum of twelve steps for a 9 inch rise.

 I could space four steps in each 90 degrees of the spiral, 

thus using 270 degrees out of the 360 in a circle.

 (This means 3/4ths of the way around

 leaving room for landings. Just perfect!)

 

Meanwhile, I had decided that my initial "base" for the Tower

 was too small and the initial "post" was too wide

 (I had used a 1/2 inch dowel)

So I re-cut them both. 

The new base is 3/8ths inch plywood

 and the post is 1/4 inch dowel.

The steps are cut from 1inch builders foam 

sliced down to approximately 3/4 inch thickness.

It is hard to be exact when cutting the foam... 

and I am accounting for "discrepancies" in the "stone" steps.

The first steps are glued in the above picture.

 It takes a while for the glue to dry 

and you need to not rush too quickly... the steps will sag too much!

I glued a whole bunch of "pairs" 

so that I could add two at a time once they were dry.

Here is the view from above...

 trying to make sure I am getting my four steps 

into a quarter turn of the spiral....

If the lower stairs are firmly dry, 

the new pair will stay put while they dry!

Here the door has been re-attached... again...

I have made three attempts to get it right!

It now hinges off the back side of the support post.

This allows the Rock of the door frame more thickness 

and the door appears to be recessed.

The top steps always seem to be off a little bit....

Yes, there was some sag... 

and there was some allowance for different thickness

 of floor for the landing...

Here you can see the Oatmeal box temporarily fitted around the stairs.

And the "landing" floor temporarily placed to see how it fits.

I was able to re-use my original base for the landing!

Here you can see the stairs without the Oatmeal Box...

and the door and landing temporarily placed.

I am using some of the foam "slices" to shim

 the top step so it meets the landing properly.

(I didn't get a good picture of that.)

 

And while all those steps were gluing, Dear Readers,

I was adding the rest of the stone door frame to the wall...

And making sure it fit around the alcove posts and the fireplace...

Such a small amount of "stone-work"... 

but so essential!

Now I can glue the alcove in place!

And starting to fit the wallpaper too!

And with the ceiling temporarily in place....

(And the flash in play....)

Or maybe just the atmospheric light...!

But clearly, Dear Readers, the next steps

Just had to be the Tower Steps!

Paper, Scissors, Rocks...

And Just a Little Light....

I Feel as though hardly anything got done in my Mini Worlds this past weekend, Dear Readers, but that is probably because the Weekend just felt so Short in comparison with the previous Vacation week! And Of Course, while I was on Vacation I had some Time to spend ordering various Supplies and Treasures for the many projects I have under way! And because My Birthday was last week I felt justified in ordering all sorts of Wonderful things.... most of which arrived This week! The little blue and white China Lamp is one of these treasures!

It is particularly Wonderful because 

it Perfectly matches the decor of the Cloud Palace.....

And also because it is Battery Operated!!!

You see, I have decided, Dear Readers, 

that I am NOT doing regular wiring in the Cloud Palace!

It is one of those kits with impossibly thin walls... 

where would the wires Go?

So the only option is battery lights, 

and fortunately for me they are becoming 

more popular and more varied in their designs!

You can see that Brother Beorn is having a fine time 

reading up on his Herbal Lore..... 

when he is not staring off into Space and Dreaming of Spring...!

And Meanwhile I have been adding more 

paper Egg Carton Rocks to the Fireplace....

Along with a Wooden Mantlepiece 

which I shall paint to look like rock....

And I cut out the Floor section for the Third floor of the Tower...

Still just loosely stacked here.... 

but I needed to see how the stairs would wind around the next level 

and connect to the house...or not!

Because they enter the Tower above roof level... 

they will not connect to the roof.

I also cut out the cardboard wall for the outside of the stairs....

Taking advantage of the ribbed corrugations of the cardboard.....

I folded them so the cardboard would curve around the Tower stairs....

And carefully glued it in place.

It is cutaway around the front... 

only covering the steps....

I made it two layers thick....

It is Very sturdy!

The surfaces will be covered in Egg Carton Rocks....

Paper Rocks.....!

 Like the ones I fitted around 

the Window opening in the Kitchen...

I really like the way Egg Carton Rocks look!

 

And I painted more on the Kitchen Hearth.....

First I coated it in primer, then a Light Gray Latex Wallpaint....

followed by a layer of Dark Gray brushed into the cracks then rubbed off.

This causes the texture to stand out very nicely!

Then I added a whole lot of black washes and details...

Especially darkening the inside of the Hearth...

And where the smoke would leave soot...

Here I am testing the fit of the painted Hearth....

It took quite a lot of testing and careful cutting of the pieces to 

make it fit inside the curve of the Tower!

But it fits Snugly!

And is starting to look the way I Imagined it would!

I just have an Awful lot of Cutting to do with my Scissors...

But I think I will follow Brother Beorn's example....

And pull up a Cloud chair with my Favorite books...

And Just a Little Light, Dear Readers....

I'll leave the Scissors and Paper Rocks for Another Day!

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!