Forget the stain pens!

I've given up waiting for the stain pens.  It seems that Aussie Customs may have them in their clutches or else they've been lost in the post.  Either way they just haven't arrived at home.  Peter packed up all the parcels and envelopes that had arrived and posted them off to me here, and they arrived yesterday - no stain pens were among them.


So a few days ago I mixed some paint to a colour that I thought would go well with the wallpaper supplied and also look good with the Arts and Crafts furniture kits that have already arrived from Susan of sdk miniatures.  It is mainly Burnt Umber, with a bit of Ceramcoat Nutmeg mixed into it.  I did both the floors with this, then gave them a few coats of satin varnish (Jo Sonja) and they look lovely. 

You can see that I've added the foundation pieces to the ground floor.


And this photo shows the 'dry fit' of the house pieces.  They aren't glued together, they are just propped into place.

Dry fit house and porch

I have ummed and aah-ed a lot over the colour for the house.  As you know I wanted the milk coffee colour that the house appears to be in the photos.  So I experimented.  My first effort was too yellow looking and  couldn't really be distinguished from the siding.  The second time I added a bit of black to the mixture but that wasn't right either.  The third effort was too pink.  The next came close and I kept that - in the end I used it for the porch.  But finally I got just what I wanted by using a mixture of Ceramcoat Nutmeg, some Burnt Umber, Ceramcoat Light Ivory and a bit of black and here's a photo of the siding painted, attached to the walls and the walls assembled around the house.  Actually the paint looks a fair bit darker in the photos than it really is.

Left front and side

Before I glued the walls in place I painted the interior sides with white, as I always do.  I have mentioned several times on this blog that I was taught right at the beginning of my mini adventure that doing so makes the colours of the wallpaper more vibrant, and that because it seals the timber it helps the glue to adhere to the wallpaper better without just being absorbed into the wood.


I also cut out the window and door openings before I glued the walls in place.  Obviously that is much easier to do whilst the pieces are flat. They splintered much more than usual, maybe because they were painted before I glued them on this time.  I usually follow directions and paint them after the siding is attached and dry.  I wonder whether the paint stops the surface of the wood from cutting as cleanly?  The part that isn't covered with cladding will be covered with shingles by the way.

Showing right front and side wall

The house was strapped together with painters' blue tape at this stage, and Kylie and I took the boys bowling.  It was their first time at League Bowling and they had a great lesson.  Luke is so cute, he is only 5 and can't bowl the ball with his fingers in the holes yet, so does it two-handed at this stage.  But he still manages to get some strikes.  Cameron is 9, and being left-handed he gets a great natural curve on the ball.  He scored quite well tonight and got a couple of strikes and spares.  The coach even got him to slow down and take his time instead of rushing - I was most impressed by that!  By the time we came home after buying tea on the way, it was time for the boys' bath and bed and their father came home early as a surprise so I came up to the van and unwrapped the house then gave it another coat of paint.


The porch also received a couple of coats of matt varnish - we wouldn't want our mini people to go for a slide on slippery surfaces now, would we? Here it is just sitting in place against the house - not glued.  It doesn't really show in this photo but the porch is just a tiny bit darker than the milk coffee of the house.

Front view, with porch

Because I had come up to the caravan a couple of hours earlier than usual I had more time to work on the house tonight, so I went ahead and did the columns and steps for the porch as well, and also the chimney.  The pieces all fitted together so well, it was a dream to assemble it.

Porch with columns and front steps in place.

Showing back steps going up to porch

After I took these photos I filled the joins with spackle as per the instructions and have left them to dry overnight.  I also sat the verandah roof in place and marked where I want to put the light there, sat the 1st floor in place on the spacers and worked out where I want the ground floor lights to be in the dining and living rooms.  I am going to run them in little channels across the ceiling and down the walls.  No, that wasn't the plan, but I forgot to put them under the floorboards of the first floor and went ahead and did both the floors together.  Again!  


And I was going to have an early night, so how come it is suddenly 12.25am?!!! 


Anyway, I am pleased with today and tonight's progress.   Now I have to give some thought to where I am going to put the switches for the lighting.


What do you think of the colour?

G'day Terri

You are very welcome indeed! I apologise that it has taken me a while to welcome you, but I am so happy that you had a look at my blog and decided to become a Follower.  You don't list a blog of your own, do please let me know if you have one.  I hope you will come again often and leave comments, share in this exciting world of little things that has such a huge impact on the lives of those of us who love it.  And isn't it wonderful that people from so many countries could be drawn together to share our interest and passion?  Please do grab a tea or coffee, sit and browse and let me know what you think.

'Cabin Fever' Secret Book finished

It took quite a while to do all the little bits to go inside Cabin Fever.  These pieces are very tiny! They are 1:160 scale, which is very, very tiny indeed.  I feel all thumbs when doing them.  I have mentioned before how much I love my very pointy tweezers - well, they are even more essential for this scale.  You just cannot do it with your fingers.  In fact you can't even hold most of them with your fingers - you have to use tweezers.


Here are the little pieces in front of the book 'room', and you can see by the ruler in front of it just how little it all is.

Here are the 'rooms' with all the pieces in place.  Don't you love the detail?  This is just so typical of Robin Betterley products.  The artwork is superb and the detail is fantastic. There are cushions on the sofa, a throw on the chair.  The lamp has a moose on it, there's a playing board on the coffee table and the fishing creel has three fishing rods beside it.  Upstairs there is an armoire, bed and blanket chest.  The bed and armoire have tiny trees on the tops - such delicate detail.

Here is a closer view of the room, hope it shows things slightly more clearly.  I think I had the camera on the wrong setting.  I was trying out the indoor setting, but they don't seem as clear and sharp as usual.

Can you see the tiny little trees on the bedposts and the wardrobe?  And can you see the detail of the lamp on the ground floor?  And the fishing creel? 


It took all evening to make the bedroom furniture, and I did the living room today.  So I don't think I will be doing an entire book each night.  

Waiting for the stain pens....

Well actually I am wondering whether they have been confiscated by Customs.  But I have asked our nephew to post off all the parcels/padded envelopes addressed to me in a postal box, up to me here.  Hopefully he might not have recognised it for what it is.  If they have arrived I can go ahead and stain the flooring for The Avalon.  If they haven't, I will have to paint it. 


Meanwhile I have been keeping busy at night time, doing some secret books.  I had several that I hadn't made up yet.  In fact I had only made up the first one: Birchwood.  I've posted about it before, but here it is again.

I've also made up the bookcase.  I did it in a dark brown rather than the black that the model was done in and I really like the effect, especially with the 'distressing' that I did by sanding the edges etc. 

But the poor Birchwood secret book sure did look lonely sitting on there all by itself :)

So I packed the rest of the book kits that I've bought so far, and brought them with me.  This last week I brought them out and have been working on them; the first couple of nights I assembled most of the book interiors and covers, one by one and put each in a disposable food container with the label so I'd remember which one it was.  The next night I finished the last couple and started painting them with two coats of paint, which I mixed to fit with the colour of the artwork.  The fourth night that was completed and the ceiling inside was done with light ivory.


Here they are in process

I know I could have done them one by one, but I enjoyed doing it this way.  Then I went through and did the artwork on the cover and the interiors.

So here is each one, showing the covers and the interiors.

And here they are sitting on the bookshelf, keeping 'Birchwood' company.  I'm sure it feels much happier now :)

Jennifer, this part is because you asked on your blog how people managed to work in small areas.  Well, I actually have a large area to work on compared to my usual area of 2' x 18". folding table, where I have to store my supplies on the lounge beside me - and consequently get into a huge mess.  But if Nathan isn't sleeping in the caravan I can set up on the table. When he does he uses the long bench next to the table so I can't use it.  But here is a view of the table at the moment:

And beside me on the long bench I have the Avalon that I am working on (it's in the box under the second basket of paints with the baby wipes on top).  Since I took this photo I have put it into a plastic tub but it is still in the same place, with the basket of paints and bits on it.  And on the back of the couch I have a smaller basket with other tools in it.

For the secret books I obviously still have the interiors to fill.  You saw the detail of the Birchwood book, and the others have as much detail too.  Here is the contents of one of them:

And finally, the whole exterior needs a coat of 'dirty varnish'.  So there's quite a bit to still do on them.  I will show you how I go as I finish each one.


I also have a very tiny one, which I received as a Christmas gift from the Betterleys.  I haven't done that one yet.  I don't 'do' Halloween so I won't be buying that one.  That leaves about four more secret books to get now, until/unless they release more.

Finally started The Avalon

Last night I started on 'The Avalon', a lovely kit from Debbie Young.  She has based the house on a Sears Roebuck design from 1926,  influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement.  There are lots of houses similar in design to this in Australia, we call them Californian Bungalows and they were really popular from around 1913 onwards, especially in the 1920's.  


The paint colours are a bit of a problem for me.  We don't have the brand of paint here in Australia that Debbie used and when I looked up the paint chart on the web the colours that I could actually find were nothing like the colour the house looks like in the picture on Debbie's website or on the box.

Doesn't that look like a soft brownish colour to you? Like a pale milk coffee almost? The walls and stucco are Sherwin Williams Bunglehouse Grey and the shingles are done in Sherwin Williams Roycroft Bronze Green..

The first step was to lay the floorboards on the two floors.  These are laid individually, and it took all evening to do them.  Today I sanded them using several grades of sandpaper.  That took a long time, because the boards are not all the same thickness.  Only small differences but it is noticeable in quarter scale of course.  After a lot of work they have ended up silky smooth. The photo below shows one sanded ((on the right) and one before it is sanded (on the left).

 I don't have any 400grit paper though, and I need that to finish them off.  If I can get it - last time I went looking for it the best I could find was 320 grit.  And the starter motor on our car has packed it in, so we are without that until it is fixed, which will be an expensive business.

Tonight I have to decide what to do next: I don't have the stain pens I ordered here, if they have arrived they are at home.  So if I do go ahead and do the floor with paint instead of waiting for the sandpaper and stain pens I'm not sure if I'll be happy with the result.

There's not a great deal I can go ahead with until the floors are done though, so it is a bit of a problem.  But at least I have made a start :)

And now Cote has joined us too

Welcome - and thank you so very much for joining our little community Cote!  It was lovely to see that you had signed up too.  I hope you enjoy your time visiting here, please feel free to leave lots of comments.  I really love having the feedback and interaction with fellow miniaturists around the world. Your dollhouses look really interesting - you certainly have achieved a lot for someone who has only been doing minis for a few years.  This is such an addictive hobby, isn't it? Perhaps we'll convert you to quarter scale one of these days, maybe when you start to be over-run with your larger scale houses lol!  Meanwhile feel free to sit back with a cup of tea or coffee or whatever and browse through the different posts to get a feel of the site.  I really hope you'll come back often.

So pleased you found my blog Kabrina!

Hello Kabrina, and welcome to our little group here.  It is so kind of you to make such a lovely comment about my blog and to have read so much of it so quickly!  I am so pleased that you find it inspiring -- that is very encouraging and rewarding for me in turn, and gives me more enthusiasm to continue to share my mini world with you all.


As you read further you will find out that I have not quite completed construction on Pickett Hill but am getting close now, and most of the furniture is done.  So when the building part is finished I will be able to furnish a lot of the rooms straight away, ready for the final accessories.  And I am looking forward to landscaping it too.


I have visited you blog too, and will return again to catch up on everything you have been doing.  Thank you  for the lovely things you said on there about this blog as well as the lovely comment you left on the Pickett Hill post.


I hope you continue to enjoy visiting here, and will come again often and leave lots of comments, suggestions and constructive criticism.  I really appreciate the exchange of ideas in the mini world..

Welcome Elsa, Dulce and Valerie!

It was so nice to open 'Snippets' this morning after not looking at it for a week and to find that the three of you had signed on as the newest followers - a very warm welcome to each of you!  Thank you for joining our mini community; I do hope you are enjoying browsing through the different posts.  As you will quickly find out, I really love quarter scale buildings.  Most of the posts on here are about my quarter scale projects.  But there are other things I enjoy as well: miniature petitpoint, 1:12th scale minis, and 1:24th scale.  I also have quite a few things in 1:144th scale though I haven't done many of them or posted about them.


None of you have said whether or not you have a blog, so if you want to post a link to that it would be great!  I'd love to visit and see what you are up to.  I really appreciate the way the internet brings us together to share our love of miniatures no matter where we live right around the world.

Greetings from Western New South Wales

Sorry about the long delay in posting - I have been at my daughter's in western New South Wales for just over a week now.  Our youngest daughter is here too, so all six grandchildren are together - a rare treat for Peter and me to enjoy.  


I have no minis to tell you about.  I did a mini bookcase with Kylie's two boys, Cameron and Luke (9 and 5) while waiting for Kirsten and the other four kidlets to arrive last Sunday but we haven't done anything else together yet.  We will be doing some mini books to go into them but it appears it will be after the other family leaves on Monday now, because they are all being very good keeping themselves well occupied and I have run out of ink for my printer at just the wrong time!  It is half an hour's drive into the nearest larger town where I can buy some more cartridges and I haven't had a chance to do that.


 I have done a little bit of mini petitpoint (for long-overdue gifts) in the evenings, but haven't been able to finalise them yet.  


So I thought I'd just let you know what is going on, and say 'hi' to you all!