Saturday 24th April, 2010

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside, oh I do like to be beside the sea......

That's all I can remember of that song at the moment, but it seems appropriate vbg!  I'm taking an evening off tonight, because my back is really complaining and I can't stand up for more than a few seconds.  Hopefully it will be happier in the morning because we have another full day of painting scheduled.  That's what we've been doing - painting our (real life) house.  But I have sneaked in some more moments here and there (mainly in the morning waiting for loads of washing to finish before we leave to go around to our house) to do some more on the Sea Shanty.  Yes, I know I could do the washing at night, but not enough loads because we are getting back home very late - sometimes midnight - and I am too tired.  And besides, it gives me an excuse to mini, even if it is just a few minutes at a time.

I stripped off the previous lot of 'water' and did it again - this time being careful to do it the right way around.  The Capt'n and Mrs McGregor didn't seem impressed with going down theire steps into the waves, for some strange reason vbg.  I'm happier with the result second time around.  Then I did the sand.  The first lot was just a thin covering over the surface, and that would never do.  So once that was dry I added globs of glue where I wanted piles of sand and added spoonfuls of sand to that.  When that dried and I tipped off the loose sand that's just what it looked like - globs of glue with sand on them.  So I mixed sand and PVA glue together into a consistency something like icing sugar and spooned it on then spread it out and mounded it up a bit in places, adding some loose sand on the top.  When that dried it was far more satisfactory so I added another layer where I wanted more depth and even a third layer in places, allowing it to dry thoroughly in between each application.  Being shut up in the caravan all day  with our weather at the moment was perfect; we are having an Indian Summer with temperatures into the high twenties during some days even though it is nearly the end of April.  Beautiful.  Even at night it doesn't feel like Autumn sometimes.

 

I wanted the water to have little 'waves' around the pilings, and the sand to be built up a bit around them.  There is a larger pile near the steps and some on the steps as well.  When I was happy with the sand I anchored the standing seagull into the sand/glue mixture and added the sitting one when the sand had dried.

It felt like an enormous step forward when I was finally able to glue the Sea Shanty to the wharf.  Now I am getting somewhere!

The furniture is almost all glued in place too.  All of the kitchen.  Don't you love the aga?  It's by Jenny Wren, and I bought it from Grace Shaw of Virtual Dollhouse who now carries some of Jenny Wren's lovely handmade items.  I changed the cupboard - the slide-out shelf is now pushed in so you can see the lighthouses on the doors better.   

The pot-belly stove in the living area came out well; it's a white metal kit I bought from Grace too.  I haven't glued the furniture into place in this part yet, I am still fiddling with it. The Captain's desk has had to go, as I suspected it would :-( or else it was just too cramped.  I might get one of those boat-shaped bookcase kits from Karen Cary to go in there.  Or not. 

 All of the bedroom furniture is glued into place except the dresser - I want to add some items to the top of that so need to be able to take it out for easier access.

So - progress has been made in spite of acute lack of time!  Next step - flowers.