Less haste more speed!

Started a new project - and it is......

Church Farm Cottages!  I chose this one because I love the different finishes on the front: brick on the smaller cottage and the plain finish on the larger side.  There are two more kits on their way from Petite Properties at the moment, but this one might even be well on the way to being completed by the time that parcel arrives here.  I also have the Pickett Hill kit here but I'm a bit hesitant to start that at this time when our two grandsons are on school holidays and naturally would want to help me.  Pickett Hill is a much more delicate project, not really suitable for a 9 year old and a just-turned-5-year-old to help with.  Our youngest daughter will be visiting as well, arriving today along with her four children, aged from 10 down to nearly 2 so the place will really be jumping around here for a couple of days.

I started on Tuesday (today is Friday) by doing all the MDF pieces with sanding sealer.  So there wasn't anything to show then. The reason for doing this is that using paperclay always seems to make the MDF warp for me.  So I am trying to seal it even better than usual to see whether I can bypass the process of having to weight each surface down with books to flatten it out again.

I am very pleased to be able to start something again.  I think I can safely say my mojo is back!  and I'm pleased to be doing quarter scale again after doing two swaps in one inch scale and the birthday card exchanges in one inch scale.  Quarter inch is more my comfort zone now even though I still enjoy 1:12th scale.

On Wednesday I painted all the pieces of MDF with sealer/undercoat.  Then I did the windows and doors and assembled them.
The interiors of all the windows and doors are done in Ceramcoat Ivory
For the exterior of both doors I've used Folk Art 942 Honeycomb.  For the door with the little glass panel in it I've highlighted around the window with a mixture of Honeycomb and Ivory - about 50/50.
For the windows I did the glazing bars in Ivory and the outside frame in the same mixture of honeycomb & ivory, but I don't think it will be seen once they are in position behind the window cutouts.
The windowsills are honeycomb.


The pavement section that goes along the front isn't going to be a pathway for this cottage.  I have mapped out a garden for it, with two paths in 'crushed granite' or gravel (in reality very fine Sydney beach sand).  And I've started to make plants to go into the garden that will cover the rest of the space.  I already had daffodils and poppies and have made some primroses and am in the process of making some purple delphiniums and some gardenias.  I think the garden needs to be bright and colourful, with a climbing vine going up the front as well.


Peter and Nathan are also arriving this afternoon so I'm excited that our whole family will be together for a couple of days.  I miss Peter and Nathan very much and have been a bit teary today knowing that they are on their way.

I've made a big push with the cottages today, doing the clay work on the front and the sides.  That's where the title comes in.  First I rolled out some of my lovely new packet of clay on the tile, all the time thinking 'I've forgotten something!'  Oh yes - I should have put baking paper on the tile before rolling out the clay.  Scrape it off and start again.  Put it on the side of the cottage.  Ooops!  Forgot to put glue on first.  Third time lucky.  It doesn't look very exciting in the photo - I've left the fingermarks that made hollows in it and all the imperfections in it too, because I like an old cottage not to be pristine.  I am hoping it develops some cracks so I don't have to put some in myself.


The it was time to tackle the left side where I want the brick finish.  Going to be lazy and use the brick stencil I have.  Right.  Three efforts to make the stencil match up because it isn't tall enough to cover the whole wall in one go.  Hmmmm.  Some uneveness in the bricks here too - will sort that out when I sand and scribe the bricks to give more definition.  There is no way on this earth that I am going to try and match that stencil again!


Now to do the front.  Remembered the baking paper.  Remembered the glue.  Carefully lined up the stencil and it went fine.  Except that I cut off the bit that I wanted to go around the edge of the side!


That fixed, and reasonably satisfied with the brick part of the front I tackled the easier side.  This is a larger area but it was quite straight-forward.  Stippled it with the end of a stiff paintbrush then marked the bricks above windows and the left hand door and it's finished until I tidy it up properly once it is a bit dryer.  At the moment it is too soft to do much with any of it - being new clay it is quite moist and tends to mark really easily and I was getting too many finger marks on it.  I will tidy up windows and doorways when it is dryer and I don't cause damage.


Then I went on to the back roof - found a nailbrush, did the clay, remembered the glue, got the clay on, did the finish.  Whew.  Again cut off the bit that was supposed to go over the edge!  Added that again, did the finish on it, and the edges tend to bunch up when you do them.  I give up!


I wanted to do it all today because being Friday I won't do anything mini-wise from sunset tonight until after sunset tomorrow night.  I thought that would give the pieces a good chance to become semi-dry and if they are going to warp they should be dry enough to weight down to flatten them by then.

Peter is bringing my qs wallpaper with him - along with so many other things that I've asked him to bring that he reckons he will need a trailer to fit them all in vbg.  I want to wallpaper the interior of the cottages.  They will be one combined residence and will be lit - I actually have the lighting with me, just have to work out how I want the lights to go.


And here is my faithful shadow - who desperately needs another bath!  She had been trying hard to persuade me to go and sit on the bed but when I stubbornly refused she gave up and grumpily decided to make do with lying beside me on the couch at the table.  she's had a haircut so she's not fully living up to her name of 'Fluffy' but she's a loveable little thing.


There'll probably not be any more progress until Sunday - so have a wonderful weekend all of you!