Going Downhill.....

OK. See the last line of rocks going around this side of the tower?  They are a bit slanted....

I didn't think much about it. So they go down hill a bit.

I went around to the other side and guess what? They are even more slanted on that side.

I wasn't paying attention to where I was going with the blocks.  Too much K-Drama playing in my head....

The terrible two were also watching it and none of us checked for level on the blocks.

I hate to say it, but I am going to have to fix this mess.  Maybe take out a couple of rows or plan a row or two that will go uphill to compensate.

I am setting here laughing at the mess. It doesn't do any good to cry about it. I think that I can fix it without tearing too much out.

Now if I can just get the glue unstuck.  Isn't I fun to see someone that has been doing this stuff for almost forty years, screw up? 

Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

I have just about got the back fence the way I want it to look, so I did do something right this morning.

I am going back to work now and start tearing off rocks.

See you tomorrow.

Missing the Terrible Two...

NO. I don't miss them... They are missing.  As soon as I start doing stone work... They disappear...

So. I didn't expect their company today... Yesterday afternoon, I made the mistake of telling them that I was going to finish the stone work today if I could.

I am doing pretty good, but I don't think that I will get much more than the tower finished.

 The two of them didn't even come in and say "Good morning" today.  I haven't seen hide nor hair of either of them.

Anyway, it was to be expected.  They do NOT like stone work.

Anyway, I have never gone through all of the steps for good stonework.  So I will just go through it photo by photo.

The first photo shows me measuring to cut another strip to finish a row.

The second photo shows the curve that I make in the pieces if they are going on something circular as in a tower. I simply bend the piece to a bit steeper curve than the wall. Then I lay it against the wall to see if it is going to lay right on the wall.

The third step is to start cutting the pieces and put them on, one at a time.

I do NOT spare on the glue.  I put on a good coat. It is going to have to hold for years!

Then I fit it into the next piece that I just laid.

The row with the blue tape is one that I just finished.  The one above it is just getting started.

That one will now have a piece of tape started to hold the stones in that row.

Usually one strip of masking tape will hold the tiles in place until they are dry.

I let them dry at least 24 hours before I start painting and shading the stones. 

I will continue with that part when I finish getting all of the stones glued and dry.

It may be a few days until we get to the next step.  Without the help of the Terrible Two, I may be able to finish a little faster.

I do think that it will take a few more days.  If they were coming along for the ride, it would be more like a week... or two.

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

Rock'in It!

It helps to hire a supervisor before starting any project.

Kota volunteered, so he was hired on the spot!

Of course it didn't help that the other one that likes to boss me around  didn't show until much later.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning, so I got a late start on the rock work. Nothing to worry about, simply checking to see that everything is OK.

 Here is the method to my madness. I start at one of the doors and work around to the other side.

In this case I was starting at the side of the front door and working around to the side of the other door that goes into the living room. I have already done the space between the doors.

See all of that blue tape? That is what holds everything together until the glue dries.

I just keep putting new pieces of stone on and then running the tape over it.

When I get to the side of the second door, I simply wrap the tape to the inside and tear it off.

Tessie finally showed up after I had finished four rows.  I had already taken the bottom three rows of tape off.

I am not sure that she approves, but since she is not in charge of supervision, I don't think that it is going to make a whole lot of difference.

Kota approves. I gave him a handful of Kitty treats and he thinks everything is just dandy!

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

Thicker Walls....

The only trouble with using a pre made box is... Thin walls.

If we want the walls to appear thicker from the outside, we have to use a little bit of magic.

That's in the form or making the walls appear thicker when you look at them from an angle.  It also helps to make the stone blocks appear to be whole.

I took strips of the theater trays and cut them into a U shape, about a half inch wide..  Then I glued them around the edge of the door frames inside.

Then I made strips that would wrap around the edge of the doors. That makes the walls appear to be about twice as thick. 

I decided that, that would be thick enough for what I was doing.

There will be three doors involved too.

I have to make two curved top doors and one straight topped door.

One of the curved top doors will go in the doorway that Tessie is standing in, in the second photo. The other one is on the second floor at the head of the stairs. There will be a straight edged door in the opening behind her, on the bottom floor. 

I am thinking that for viewing purposes, the door behind her will open so that it is behind her.  The other door on the main floor will open in back of the first door.

That will make it so that the viewer can clearly see the stairway and how it goes up around the trunk of the tree from both sides.

If the clothespins weren't in the way, you would be seeing and open doorway.  It leads into the living room.

Now that I have you thoroughly confused, I am going back and try to finish some more of the walls.

I want to get the tower covered before Wednesday. I have witches here this week.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

I Am In Soooo Much Trouble!

We got a  copy of the new Mac Kinzie-Childs catalog this morning...

It took a while to start reading it.  Kota claimed it as soon as Walter dropped it on the bed. 

He can get mean and bite if you try to take away something that he has claimed as his.

Well... At least he doesn't play favorites.  He wouldn't let Tessie near it either.

Safe for a while... 

I went to work on the back of the box for the dressing room.  This took me a couple of hours.

While I was doing the stonework, Kota went to sleep.  So I grabbed the catalog and looked at it for ideas.  I am thinking that I had better hide it. 

If Tessie sees it, I am going to be enlarging the room and maybe adding an annex,

Anyway, I did get the back finished. There's not a lot of tray material left over. I am going to have to use a few more. I still need to do the sides and the top.

I went into the workroom for more trays and when I came back I heard whispering behind the big glue bottle...

I am in so much trouble.  All I heard was Zar, apologizing to Tessie for being mad at her for so long... Then agreeing to help her get her room done if she would help him get the Clockwork cottage finished... No. He was not volunteering to help with the work.  He was volunteering to help with the harassment!

I am going to lock myself in the workroom for the rest of today.  I will be safe. I told Tessie a long time ago that when I am in the workroom, I have a spell on it so that she can't get in without an invitation... Silly Tessie! She believed that.  Please don't tell her I lied.  It was to save my sanity... What there is left of it. 

I am going now and catch them behind the glue bottle. Then I am going to run to the workroom.  Get inside quickly and lock the door. 

Wish me luck.  See you tomorrow.

Putting Up Walls...

I am being closely supervised today.  Tessie wants this room done in the best way possible. 

She is even trying not to nag too much... Sort of... Kind of...

The first thing I did was cut apart 5 or 6 theater trays.

There really isn't a lot left when I get done.  That is, there is not a lot left to throw away.  Mostly the part where you place your drinks.  But I even put them to good use once in a while.

Some of the strips I bend lengthwise.  That way when I come to a corner, I can decide which end I want to stick out more and cut off a section. 

I usually do one side of the box at a time, but I do the corners as I go so that I can see how the next side is going to look.

The top and the sides both are wrapped around on this one.  Whichever strip fits in the holes that I have like the ones at the top, will be trimmed down to fit.

I really don't lose a lot by doing it this way. If a piece doesn't fit here, it will fit somewhere else.

This is the other part of the trays that I trimmed.  I will use the rolled edges for Spanish tile for roofs and there is still a lot of flat parts, but I will save them for last.  And if they don't go on this box, they will be saved and used for another one later.

I am going back to finish the rest of the walls now.

See you tomorrow.

Just Needs Shading Now.

OK. I got sidetracked by a couple of toilet paper cores for a little while.  I now have frames for a couple of carpet bags and eleven purses.

Then I went back to work on the stones.

I went over all of the lines with my crochet hook.

Then I painted a base coat of Antique White all over the stones and the bare walls on the outside.

I still need to take it in and while sitting next to the music tower, I need to do some antiquing and shading on the stonework.

All I have to do is get Tessie and Spike to move.  They both seem to think that they are going to own this one.

Anyway, that's all I am going to do today.  I have to go out in the back yard and recover some of the plants.  The wind is blowing things all over the place.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Tessie and the "New" Tool!

Yes, Tessie is helping and the "NEW" tool is actually an old one that I just never thought of using for glue before...

Tessie is merely pointing to the corner that I was working on when she happened to come into the room.

The new tool is an emery board.  I never thought of using them for glue sticks when I have a lot of glue to spread.

I picked one up this morning When I started work on the roof.  I grabbed one to spread glue on the back of the "rocks".

It actually works better than any other spreader that I have used!

 It picks up more glue than toothpicks or Popsicle sticks.

It moves glue around to where I want it and it takes glue off of an area that I don't want it!

It holds on to whatever amount of glue that I want.  Moves the glue better than other implements of destruction...

Unfortunately It doesn't make rock work any faster, but it does make the gluing easier that anything else I have found.

The edge of it will pick up any glue and move it to another area if need be.

 I am doing the roof of the castle bedroom.

I have decided to do the stone work like the stone work on the music room. I am thinking a series of castle room boxes that, when displayed together. shows you the whole castle... Well.  At least two rooms will match.

Here's one of the corners on the edge of the room box.  I simply cut a V at the top where I wanted the stone to have a corner.  Then I glued and pined it in place to dry. 

Yes.  I am using a LOT of pins. But as I move forward, I move the earlier pins to the new stones. It is slow work because I cut one stone at a time.  I don't like bricks or stones that are all the same shape and size.

I forgot to mention the best feature of my new tool.

It stays up in the neck of the glue bottle instead of sliding down inside like toothpicks and Popsicle sticks both do.

I case you can't tell, The emery board is my new friend.  I like it a lot.  Try it the next time you have a lot of gluing to do.  You might like it as much as I do.  Also, emery boards are cheap and when one gets clogged up, just throw it away and grab a new one.  I am going back and play some more.  See you tomorrow.

Advancing, One Step at a Time...

 One of the steps was going to Goodwill this morning... I got 42 barrel cacti for $2.00.

I may have scored a few more plants, but I have to see how they look when I paint them.  Wish me luck.

 When I got home, I hunted up the half finished terracotta pots that I started a couple of months ago. 

They will go on shelves along the wall opposite the door. They will have various fake plants in them. So far, I have 19 pots.  I am also planning to have a potting bench on that side.

The real plants will have to be out in the middle of the room, where the sunlight can get to them.

I did another row of stone under the pitch of the roof peak.  I will probably put another course of
stone at the bottom.

It needs a more solid foundation. 

I am getting there, slowly but surely...

Back to the stone work and plant making. 

See you tomorrow.

Just for Fun...

This morning, I decided to mock up the crenelated top for the conservatory... I hate it even more than the wrought iron on the top.

Now I have to come up with another idea.  Bah Humbug! See me stomping my feet?

I did put another layer of bricks along the top of the end wall.  I like it better with more thickness. I still want to put another layer on.  I want the top to be more  heavy.

I am going to just keep adding until it looks right.  This could take a while.

Tessie wandered in and added her two cents.  She hates the top also. Maybe between the two of us, we will be able to come up with something else.

The way that things are going, I am not sure if this thing will be finished by Christmas or not.

Any suggestions for something to do with the peak of the roof? It's too bad that I can't just remove the ironwork.  It's welded on tightly.

Back to adding layers to the ends.

See you tomorrow.

Iron Work, Paper Work...

OK. so they are one in the same...  I decided that I needed to do the hinges and door handle for the conservatory. 

I started with sketches done on my usual 1/4" square paper.

Granted, the sketches are very rough... Basically, I needed shape and size.

I went with the shape of the hinge.  The plate and handle got reshaped as I went. 

I cut the pieces from black cardstock weight paper and went from there.

I added some extra details with a mechanical pencil and will probably do some more sculpting with my stylus as I start working on the stones.

The plate for the latch is completely different from the drawing.  I went with a longer narrower shape and put a keyhole at the top.

It's hard to see in the photo, but it's there.

When I put the wall back on the side of the building, I decided that Tessie would need somewhere to stand whilst unlocking the door.  I will add the step in front of the door.  It will attach to the frame below.

More stonework to do.  I want to get it done, so that I can start the inside.  I am determined to have this done before Christmas.

Everybody stand back.  I may be throwing things right and left before I am done. 

 Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Cut and Paste...Stonework...

 It pays to go to Thanksgiving dinner... There were branches laying on the ground in the back yard.  I scavenged... More plants... Either for the greenhouse or something else.  I liked the shape of the branches.  Good mini tree material.

 I finally finished the bricking on one end of the conservatory.  I still need to go over it all with the crochet hook, but I at least have most all of the stonework in place.

I have a couple of gaps at the ends, between the wall and the roof.  Gargoyles or dragons?  Anything to cover the gap.  We shall see.

This one is the worst.  It will be somewhat fixed when I glue the walls in place.  They are a bit catawampus right now.  I have to keep the roof separate from the wall because that is the only way to get into the structure. Sooner or later, I will figure it out.

This one is in the back, where the hinge is.  The whole roof tilts back so I have to keep it somewhat open.  Another, figure it out as I go, situation.

Ignore the pins.  They are just holding stonework in place until it dries.

I am off to do more stonework now.

See you tomorrow.

Things to do Before Christmas...

 I have been working on the conservatory this morning.  I had to rework both end walls to make them a bit wider. They fit around the ends, but with a bit of stretching... Not a good thing.

So having finished that, I went on to do a bit of scoring around the edges of the blocks. Then I started putting the side pieces on the roof.

 Here's some of the blocks after scoring.  It doesn't show too much now, but when I paint, it will show more.

 Here is some of the edge that I put on the end of the roof too.

The tool leaning against it is the one that I did the scoring with.  It is #0 crochet hook.  I use both ends.

By running the tool between the bricks, it rounds the edges.  That makes them look more like real stone.  It takes a while to do all of the little extras like this, but that's what makes them look more real.

After I do just a little more, I am going to spend the afternoon getting started on purse tassels and maybe some bracelets and/or key chains for a few people for Christmas.

You know how I like to switch horses in the middle of the stream...

Now... Where was I before I got sidetracked into writing the blog?

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.