The Base Day Four

Gosh, it's going to take me forever to build this whole house, since it looks like it's going to take me a week just to build the foundations, lol.

This morning I finished gluing most of the rocks onto the foundations, with the exception of the porch area. I couldn't decide what to do there for a while - either continue around with the stonework, add some latticework, or add some piers with stonework or lattice between them!

I decided in the end that I would add some rock piers, but since I doubt my ability to construct the lattice sections, I will continue around with the rockwork. If I don't like it I can cover it with a hedge when it's done!

So, I cut out some 2cm (w) x 2.4cm (h) pieces from leftover kit board, and I've glued and clamped them evenly spaced around under the porch, to mimic piers.

Piers clamped and drying

While I was waiting for the glue on the remaining rockwork and the piers to dry, I started doing a paint wash on the rocks I glued last night. I diluted some Stone Grey acrylic (which is actually more of a beige), brushed it on and then dabbed it off immediately with some paper towel so that the egg cartons didn't get too wet and come unstuck.

I read many faux stone painting tutorials last night and they seemed to contradict each other - some said always start with the lightest colour wash and work up to the darkest, and others said to always do the opposite! I want my rocks to look old and mossy though, rather than dusty, so I figured I'd start with the lightest colour and work up to the darkest.

First paint wash with Stone Grey

I quite like the first coat. I think with the next wash I will use the same colour but add a little mid grey to it.  This afternoon when the rest of the rocks have dried a little more, I will paint them with the wash too. I'm not sure how long I can wait between paint coats, lol, but I guess I should wait at least a day when it is over cast outside and cold inside today. I think the wood glue should have dried sufficiently to finish off the rocks under the porch this afternoon though - it will be nice to have that done.




Later:  I painted the new piers in Dark Grey, and then finished gluing all the rocks around the porch foundations. I'm not sure that the piers stand out and make any difference at all, especially without any piers for the porch posts, but perhaps once they are painted and aged they will show up more.

I also did a Stone Grey wash on the rocks I glued on this morning. It was darker than the original wash I did, so I washed a little more over the section I did previously.  Once the porch rocks have dried tomorrow, and I can do the first wash on them, I can do the whole foundation with a wash in one go which should eliminate the potential problem of different colours.

The Base Day Three

Today I took all the masking tape off and sanded any bits of the base that I thought needed it. Gosh this timber is so splintery! Even the masking tape brought up little splinters along the edges.

The gluing isn't perfect and not every join is exact, but given that I am going to cover the base anyway, I am happy enough with it. For the same reason, I didn't bother with puttying the corners, or cleaning up the couple of glue spots on the floor (that's the kitchen, which will likely be flagstones).

I then painted one coat of Dark Grey over the foundation walls. I debated doing two coats, but since it is going to be covered in stonework, I decided that there wouldn't be much point.

Then it was onto experimenting with egg carton bricks and stones.  In the end I decided it would be easiest for me to go with the random stone placement. Making and laying so many tiny little bricks would have tested my patience (and stamina) I think. Ripping the carton into little pieces is so much quicker, lol.

I started laying along the back of the house so see how it looked. I'm pretty happy with it so far. The grey background looks much darker than it is in real life in this pic, but I think once I paint up the rocks, it will look OK.

I am using Tacky Glue and an old, small paint brush to apply the glue evenly to the back of the pieces, but it's a bit of a pain having to keep squeezing small amounts of glue out onto a plate to use! I am hesitant to have too much out at once in case it dries up too quickly and I waste it, but I guess I will get a better feeling for that as I go along.

I also need to do a proper dry fit so that I can see how much of an overhang there is over the top of the stonework. Not much point putting too much effort into the bits you won't see!

The Base Day Two

The glue I did yesterday seems to have held up well after drying overnight, so I took the tape off and glued the remaining pieces on, under both the bay windows. They are now taped up and drying too. It's been so wet in the past couple of days that I should probably leave it all to dry thoroughly for a couple of days before I handle it too much.

The base pieces under the bay windows glued and taped.

While it is drying I need to make some final decisions about how I want to finish it. I have been wanting to do some sort of faux stonework on it, and I've seen some great tutorials using egg cartons. I can't decide whether to go with random, crazy-paving style or a more formal, chunky cinder-block style.

Random stonework foundation

Formal stonework foundation

I think perhaps the former type is easier and more forgiving for a beginner, but I cant help thinking that on a grand house such as this, the latter would be more appropriate? I want to add moss which would soften the formality of the latter, and I really like the different colours of the stones used in the bottom photo, above.

Whatever I do, I am also thinking of carrying it up onto the porch posts, as in the house above, and perhaps also the whole way up the tower, instead of cladding. I guess doing the narrow base first will help me decide whether I could cope with the work involved, lol.

The Fairfield: Weathering Windows & Doors

I'm still nervous about starting "proper" construction, so as I mentioned in my last post, I decided to do some work on the windows and doors while I pluck up my courage.

Interior doors, weathered and stained, waiting to be varnished.

I took a wire brush to the interior doors, front door and the windows I've already painted. Then I sanded back the interior doors so that most of the black paint was removed, leaving it in the cracks and deep sections.

Single sash window, weathered.

Then I watered down some more Wenge stain, and painted the new double sash windows, and the sanded interior doors. I wiped the stain down off the doors almost immediately, as I want to build up some layers of patina.  They look pretty good already I have to say. They need a little polish though, so I will wait for them to dry properly and then coat them with some matte varnish, and see how they come up.

Double sash window, stained, waiting for painting, weathering and varnishing.

I also painted the stain over the older, painted windows, where the wire brush removed bits of paint on the exterior. I'm also fairly pleased with how they look too - dark and worn. I was hoping to not have to paint the new windows but looking at the contrast between the stained and painted windows, I will definitely have to so that they blend together. I will have to wait for them to dry completely now and then paint them black... and then sand /wire brush them!

The Fairfield: Construction Step One

There are many recommendations on how to proceed with kit building on the internet, but like any project, I think you have to find someone your thoughts gel with and just go with them, otherwise you can end up way too confused. I've decided to follow the recommendations and experience of Gina at More Minis who not only has a heap of kits under her belt, but has also built the Fairfield kit, twice.

I've read through the instructions and her construction guides, and although I much prefer doing all the same tasks as the same time - it's more efficient - I will follow her recommendation for beginners to keep everything together in the box so that I can find and identify the pieces more easily as I go along. I had to clean off my craft table for a birthday party so I set it all up there.

The first thing Gina recommends to do is to sand the timber to ensure that it is smooth, with no splinters etc, especially on the tabs.  Although there is sandpaper included in the kit, she used a finer grit paper, so I used the 400 grit I have in my stash, and that seems to work really well.

I labelled and then popped out all the base pieces and sanded them. I read on many sites that these die-cut kits are very splintery, and they are right! I almost feel I have to wear gloves because I kept getting little splinters in my fingers. Anyway, once I got them all sanded and sorted out, I started glueing.

Main base glued

I'm using masking tape and old Aquadhere wood glue so I hope they both work OK! I got about half way around before deciding to leave it all to dry overnight. I'll assess it all in the morning, and then keep going if it looks solid. Sheet 7, which contained the little pieces the base sits on, seems to be a little warped and I was worried about lining it all up but with the glue and masking tape keeping it in line, it seems it will be OK thankfully.


It's so nice to have actually made a start after all this time!

The Fairfield: Beginner-itis!

So, it's been months and months since I finally received my dollhouse kit, but apart from opening it and making sure I had all the contents, I haven't done anything with it! At first it was because it was just before my eldest daughter's birthday, and then it was Christmas... and new year... and then school went back with my eldest starting high school... and then when I finally had some time to start on it I became completely overwhelmed by the amount of work it will require!

Hence it has sat in it's box in the cupboard until now. It was my youngest daughter's birthday party last weekend, and she wanted an arts and crafts party. It went off really well and it re-sparked by creativity a little. I haven't even knit or crochet for weeks! Anyway, it inspired me to revisit my Pinterest inspiration boards, and then I managed to find myself on Etsy (I really don't know how that happened... ahem), where I found the most wonderful half scale hat by Kat Hazelton, inspired by the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter!  Despite the postage cost, I had to have it, and hopefully it will be on it's way to me soon :D

A few minutes later, another item seemed to mysteriously jump into my shopping cart: a half scale writing set by MiniFanaticus. It's just gorgeous.

I can't wait to receive it as well. I can just see it sitting on a table in the library.

They have both prompted me to dig through my things and find the doors and windows I started on last year. I've been reading some more tutorials on weathering effects and I think that I will need to do some more work on them.

I've done the first coat of Wenge stain on the three new double windows and wiped it off. I'll do another coat when it's dry. Then I'll do some sanding!

I also started sanding back the three interior doors I stained and waxed. I don't like the wax finish I've now decided, nor the almost-black colour of the doors, so I've taken a lot of it off with 120 grit sandpaper, and I also had a go at them with a small wire brush.  Sadly I got too enthusiastic with the front door, and I broke it, ooops. Never mind, I don't think it's anything some glue won't fix.

Next I think I will try washing over the doors with a dark brown paint.  I've read on several tutorials that they seal the paint in between sanding and weathering. I'm not sure why? But I bought some spray-on matte varnish last year, so I will follow their advice and try doing that and see what happens.  IF it works well on the doors, I will definitely have another go at the bedroom furniture - it's nice but it doesn't have the patina I would like.

SO. MUCH. TO. DO!  I can't even decided if I should undercoat ALL the kit pieces first, or seal them with varnish, as I may want to stain some of them in the future - which I can't do if it is painted. I am thinking not so much of the flooring, as the ceiling.  I've seen some lovely lined and stained work. Sigh. I'm probably thinking too much and should just paint it and be done with it so I can get started putting it together!