Cacti workshop

I only have time for a brief update today. Yesterday was club meeting day and a very resourceful member taught us how to make cacti and the planters for them.

I don't have time to go into detail today, but here's a picture of my finished product. I don't know if I will be 'selling' cacti in my flower shop, but I'll keep them here for the time being. The cacti are probably a bit out of scale (although I know there are huge cacti!), and therefore I might prefer to use them with my Adobe house that is still half finished.

It was a fun workshop though and I have enough material for more cacti, so perhaps I will be showing some more later today or tomorrow.

I just remembered that when I started with miniatures, now some 12 years ago, I had made cacti for my conservatory.  I didn't have tutorials at the time and very little help.  I just looked at pictures and tried to copy mother nature.  The picture is probably too clear, but from a distance those three cacti look quite realistic.  I used very finely rolled cotton wool for the dots on the cactus in the centre, pulled out cotton wool for the one on the left and little snippets of an old toothbrush for the needles on the right one.  They were far from perfect, but I was, and still am as a matter of fact, happy with the result. Bye the way, they were made out of Fimo, and I can't even remember anymore what the containers were made of. ;-)

This is all I have time for right now. See you next time.

Back from New Zealand and some more 'brick laying' done

Although I have been back from my trip for over a week now, I haven't had much time to update my blogs.  There's always so much else to do...  However, our local group's get-together was last Sunday and I took my florist to do some more brick laying.  It took me the best part of the day and a sore back, but once you start you'll have to finish, especially in the warmer months when the paper clay tends to dry a lot quicker.  So here are the pictures of the side and front of the shop:

Next step is probably the dormer, but I am not too sure yet if I am going to do cladding or add brickwork.  Building structures often don't have brickwork for dormers, because there wouldn't be a base for the bricks to sit on.  If I can't make up my mind I may start on the paving.  Let's keep it a surprise for the moment. :-)

The other additions for the shop can be found on my other blog: Marion's Miniatures, because that's where I have written about my trip to New Zealand.

Additions to this blog however are six new followers that I would like to welcome.  They are:

Cheryl at A Miniature Place,
Allison at Miniature Allsorts (such striking name),
Patty Clark at Mini Babies,
Sylvia at Lotjes Dollshouse (called after her dog, I believe),
Lorraine at Dfly Creations - Dollhouse Miniatures,
and last but not least Maria at Casitas en Miniatura.

As usual I have visited all your blogs (if I haven't done so before) and loved what I saw.  Well worth visiting, all of them.  New mini friends, a warm welcome from

Marion

The brickwork is next

Glad the inside is finished, so I can get on with a different task.  I have now started with the brickwork on the outside as you can see in the picture:

I am not overly happy with the quality of the bricks, but will have to live with it....  In normal circumstances I work with a layer of paperclay which is 3mm thick, but since I decided only afterwards to work with clay I realised too late that my window frames should have been at least 4 or 5 mms thick.  With a flat layer of clay it doesn't matter, but when you have to carve out bricks it makes all the difference. Now my layers was less then 2mm, which is far too thin.  The thickness and therefore the texture of the clay is very important when you do your carving, as is the dryness.  Too wet and you drag your clay, too dry and you can't carve anymore.  In this case I couldn't get the texture right and in most cases I carved right through the layer of clay until I touched the wood.  So, I hope that when it's painted it will look a little bit better then it does now.  I know, it doesn't look too bad, but it's not my standard of work.  :-)

Inside I had to work with the two different clays, because I was running out of the Creative Paperclay and the last packet I had I wanted to keep for the outside walls.  So I had to finish of one wall with the other paperclay.  I am glad I had foreseen the problem with the colours, because it is now apparent that the other clay is more grey then white.  If it's going to worry me when it's all dry I might just put a light coat of paint on top, but I'll wait a while before I take that step.

I am also glad that paperclay is so forgiving.  You can do almost everything with it and repair mistakes.  Now, that is what I call great!  I said last night that I was going to try something different, and I am glad I have been able to make repairs.  I wanted to stencil a nice edge with flowers along the ceiling, but I didn't have the right stencils for it.  Then I thought I'd stencil a bit next to the dormer window on either side.  Well, that didn't quite work.  I think the old paint I have for stencilling has dried out too much, so I got some more paperclay and pasted that over the top, just like when I repair cracks.....

Next picture shows you the other tiles that I have framed so this tile picture can hang on the wall next to the door.  I thought I'd allow myself a picture with flowers in a flower shop.

And all this will have to do for the time being, because tomorrow I am going to pack and take of to New Zealand on Friday.  I am going to the Dollhouse and Miniatures Convention in Auckland with a friend from there and then on to stay with her for a fortnight.  we'll have a great time, I guess, because we'll have a lot to talk about and a lot to mini together.  So, will see you back after the 5th of November.

But, before I go I want to quickly welcome a few more followers (not all new, because with 3 blogs you tend to see well-known names...), but at least new on this blog.  A warm welcome to:

Teresa Martinez at Tiny Ter Miniatures
Natalia at Scarlet Sails Miniatures
Karin at Mini Ramblings and Musings and
rmartedal for whom I cannot detect a link.  If you have one, please let me know and I'll add it on.

That's all for now.  See you around in a few weeks' time

Marion

The inside walls are finished

Today I finished the inside walls.  Glad it's done, because once the walls are in place you have a heck of time to get into the corners.  It's easier when you plan a building, work with foam core (gator board) and clad the walls before you put the lot together, as we did with the witch's cottage.  Never mind, it's done, because where there is a will there is a way....

I was asked what to do with the cracks.  Well, it depends of course on how big your cracks are.  Even though I am not world's biggest expert on paperclay I could probably also say, it depends on what kind of clay you work with.  From my own experience I could say that the depth and the number of cracks appear to be different when working with two different clays.  I don't think weather has a lot to do with it, but it is possible of influence: in warm weather the clay dries faster and dries out faster when working with it, so that could be a reason. However, when working with the paperclay I definitely feel the difference in structure, so I think that might be the biggest reason.  So far I have worked with Creative Clay in cold weather, although we had a heater on in the room, and in warm weather and the cracks are minimal.  When I did 'Scrooge' (with the 'pottery paperclay') it was very cold and the clay dried very slowly, but still the cracks were bigger and there were more of them.  I feel there is a lot more moisture in the latter clay.  Sometimes, however, it also depends on how you combine layers.  If you are a bit short and just move two layers alongside and against each other without smoothing out each layer your chances are that you will have not only cracks, but parts that will curl away.

Now, what to do with them if you have cracks.  I will show you with a few pictures what I do.  I had a crack in the corner where two walls meet (yes, didn't smooth out enough) and a smaller one next to it.  For the crack in the corner I rolled out a 'worm' with wet hands and placed it in the corner from top to bottom, then smoothed it out with my fingers.  I am not a nail biter, so generally my nails get in the way with such a job, but I was lucky that I lost a large part of a nail from my index finger the other day and hence I had a nice smoothing tool. :-)  Where I couldn't even get my finger in the corner I used a plastic smoothing tool to finish it off.  Apologies for the first picture.  It's blurred and I can't take it again, but you get the drift...

For the little crack in the top corner I picked up a little ball of clay with wet fingers, worked it flat and into a not too moist paste and rubbed it carefully into the crack.  The crack was only tiny and didn't need to be filled, but I did it anyway, so that I could show you.  Bye the way, it now shows the wallpaper that I have used for the ceiling.



I figure that when you have bigger cracks you could do the same.  Make the clay into a (very thick) paste and rub it in.  If you have used a stiff brush to texture the walls don't forget to repeat it on your repaired part.  Don't forget the glue either in the corners (like I did!).  I just hope it will hold anyway.

This brings the inside plastering to an end.  The top floor is finished and drying:

I don't know yet what I'll do with the ugly edges, but I am not going to worry about them now.

For further decoration I have something in mind, but I need a sample wall with dry clay to try it out, so once I get that done I'll let you know.

Bye for now

Marion

How I 'plaster' my walls

I noticed that a few people would like me to show more in depth what I am doing with the paperclay.  Yes, I am 'plastering' the walls with paperclay.  Since I have done a workshop with Rik Pierce I am totally addicted. :-) 

Before I show you the pictures and explain I need to tell you that there are different kinds of paperclay.  One is rather expensive (for me and probably for a few more people) and that is the Creative Paperclay that Rik uses.  It's also the best. I can't deny that, but having said that, I have had satisfactory results with the paperclay that I buy locally (in Brisbane, Australia) at the pottery supply shop.  The good thing is, I can get 10 kilos for the same price as I can buy the Creative Paperclay over here.  The local paperclay is produced in Sydney, I've been told, and the quality is generally good enough for the work I do. 

For my florist I have been using the Creative Paperclay.  For the paperclay workshop I took ('Scrooge', on my other blog) I have used the pottery paperclay.  I am not sure if it was the paperclay itself of the fact that my current batch of Creative Paperclay has dried out slightly, but at the moment I don't have a lot of shrinkage or the cracks that go with it, which I did have with the other sort.  Also, I don't have much left of the good stuff, so I am putting on thinner layers, which also may make a difference.  Thinner layer, less moisture, less room for shrinkage.

Anyway, this is how I do it.  I roll out the paperclay on a tray with edges of approx. 3mm, so when I roll (I use a piece of drainpipe) the sheet is of even width.  I measure the wall and cut out the shape that I need.  I smear glue on the wall, lay the sheet of clay on top and flatten and push it gently in place.  I make the corrections that are needed here and there and roughen the surface with a stiff brush.  When done, it can be left to dry and you can do whatever you want, leave it or give it a light wash for a dirty wall, or paint it in a particular colour (also a wash; for a natural look don't 'paint').

The picture that you see on the wall is a picture made up of tiles.  I have worked it into the 'plaster'.  To my idea it presents a bit of a rustic look.  They are six individual tiles that I have glued on a piece of paper to hold them together to stick neatly onto the wall.

I have made up another one as well, but that picture will hang 'on' the wall.  It's also a series of tiles, but framed.  I'll show you it at a later stage.

I'm going back to work now, before the last of the afternoon light fades away.  I don't like working with artificial light.

I hope my explanations have been of some use to you.

See you around

Marion

Starting on the walls

I am very pleased with my self, but my back is screaming.  It needs a rest.  So, for tonight I show you what I have been able to do today and then it's off to bed....

All went well so far.  I have painted the floor boards with a coat of gloss semi-transparent baltic pine.  I like the colour, but not the gloss.  I had a big can still left from another job, so I thought I'd better use it.  I am going to try and sand back the floor and then put on bees wax.  Hopefully it will look a bit more worn.  But I do like the colour, so that's great.

You can't see this, but the ceiling hase been done with decorative white wallpaper.  It's a bit like an old fashioned decorative plaster ceiling.  I've tried to take a picture, but I can't get it focussed, so you'll have to believe me. ;-)

What you can see is the plastered wall.  I have left the wall to the right to be done later, because I have other plans with that one.  If I can manage what I have in mind I'll show you tomorrow.  The other walls are done with paperclay.  Very difficult to do it on the inside when the walls are in place, but I had no choice.  I am curious as how much it will shrink overnight.  Well, I guess I'll see the damage tomorrow....

And I couldn't help myself, but next is a picture with the lights on.  It looks so real.

The floors done (again)

Changing my mind caused indeed a lot more work, but something I gladly did, because I like working with wood.  Next month it will even be better, because then I will have my own table saw.  But for now I can get a lot done with my scroll saw and the disk sander.  The latter has been one of my best buys. You can do a lot of precision work with a disk sander, that's what makes it such a great piece of equipment.  I have used it a lot today to sand all the diagonal parts of the timber floor boards.  If you measure correctly you don't even have to use the attachments to set the angles, which makes it even a lot quicker.

So, what have I done today?  It doesn't look like much, but it took me the best part of the day to glue all the floor boards on the ground floor in place and to cut and glue the floor boards for the first floor.  However, I did say it was fun and it looks great.  The floors look quite light, but I am going to think of a colour that shows the wood mellow with age. 

Did I tell you yesterday that I thought I was going to cheat?  Well, I haven't.  At least, not really.  If I couldn't think of a solution I was going to use balsa.  Now, that is what I call cheating...  :-)  Although, I have used balsa a lot in the past, even to make furniture. However, I discovered some bass wood of equal thickness as the other timber, so I used that.  I still consider it cheating a bit, because now I have used two different kinds of timber.  Not only that, but they don't look alike, nor do they even smell alike!  I got around the problem of the two colours by cutting the planks up here and there and exchange them with the different colours.  Worked a treat!  So, now I have a ground floor of lovely smelling camphor laurel mixed with bass wood.

The first floor is probably done in Tasmanian oak, but I am not too sure about it.  I should keep track, not only of what type of timber I use to make something, but also of the discarded parts, because although I am learning, I can not yet tell the differences most of the time.

Anyway, enough of my chattering.  Here are the pictures:

And now it's Saturday night, nothing worthwhile on tv, so I might get on with it.....

Bye for now

Marion