Sunday 11th July, 2010

More plastering, lots of snipping....

It was freezing sitting out at the Dollhouse Garage Sale all day today, and it took ages to thaw out when I came home.  But bit by bit I recovered and after a hearty dinner I got back into the cottage.  Adding the roof parts should have been straight forward but for some reason all the parts wanted to go their separate ways.  I would have one of them nicely lined up and glued, and taped into place to dry and next thing I knew it would have moved out of position.  So back into the microwave oven it would go to soften the glue, and I'd move the part back into place.  Then the next piece went on and I'd end up having to go through the same process all over again, often having to rearrange the first piece as well.  When you put a piece in the microwave there are only a few seconds to move it the way you want to, before the glue hardens again, so you can hold it in place and it hardens where you want it.

It didn't take long at all to do the strips of timber with the wash of burnt umber paint and I put it aside to dry while I was doing the next part, ready for the ceiling beams later on. 

Plastering the inside was enjoyable again - I really like using this woodfiller.  While it dried thoroughly in the cracks where the roof and walls joined together I started preparing the shingles, snipping them to different lengths.  This is a lengthy job, so I continued with it whenever I was waiting for something to dry during the evening.

Once the plaster was dry I added the strips of timber cut into lengths for ceiling beams. These need to be cut a bit short of the height of the roof so that the rear roof can fit on without them being in the way.

Now I am continuing to snip the shingles and trying to find out what Winsor & Newton Liquin Original is, so I can use it (or its equivalent) along with Burnt Umber oil paint to age the interior and exterior plaster and to the timbers.  A visit to an art store tomorrow is in order, I think.