Shining light on the matter

It was time to electrify the Little Duck House yesterday.  First we drilled tiny holes, one above the bed, one on the kitchen wall further down from where the cupboard will go, one above the bay window alcove and one near the front door.

I have written in detail about lighting Woodnook Cottage ((click here to go to the post)so I won't go into the same detail here.  The difference with Little Duck House is that I am taking the wires down the outside walls and will camouflage them behind foliage from vines or with the arbour against the wall, after painting the wires to match the house.

I was fortunate to receive some beads for lampshades from a generous person on one of my groups.  They make a difference to how the lights look and I am grateful for them.  Once the holes were drilled, I threaded the chip LEDs through the hole in the end of the bead, then through the hole in the wall.  I tested that the light was working by twisting the wires together with the wires from the battery.

Once I knew that the light was working I snugged it firmly against the wall and held down the wires on the outside with a bit of blue painter's tape.  Then I added a drop of glue to the end of the bead to keep the light in place. 

Once all the lights were working and in position I twisted the red wire from each of the lights to the red wire from the battery, not forgetting to slide the shrink tube over the wire from the lights first.  The green wires from the lights were then twisted together with the black wire from the battery, again sliding a shrink tube over the black wire.  Again I checked that they worked.  Now they need to be soldered together and the shrink tube slid over the join, then heated with a heat gun to shrink it tight over the join.

Here is the house with the lights on.  It certainly enhances the look of it.  This one is looking at the left side, and you can just see the one over the bay window enclosure.  The glow over the mezzanine is a reflection from the one below the mezzanine.

This shows the light above the mezzanine window and also the one near the front door.  The blue tape on the photos is holding the wires in place.

I've kept the tape on the wires on the exterior of the house so they don't get accidentally pulled or something.   Once the glue dried on the lampshades I attached the roof of the house.  I'm not happy with the roof though.  I thought that it would be less fiddly to tile the roof before I put it onto the house but it wasn't a good idea :(.  I might have to buy a new roof if I can't get it working better.

I also added the second last layer of Realistic Water to the pond today, and put a couple of rocks near the pier part of the walkway.  They are bits broken off the Sydney sandstone we use in our real-life garden to edge it.  I will add a bit of paint to them later.  Hopefully I won't wreck the rocks doing that!  I wonder whether I've made the 'water' too deep though, it seemed a bit cloudy after the last lot even though I left it for 1 1/2 days before adding today's layer.  It won't have a full 1/8th inch layer over this one, I'll just add enough to hold the ducks in place and anything else I want to add.  I have some waterlilies I bought from BJ Miniatures which will look good on it too.

I hope the flower kits from sdk Miniatures arrive soon, it is a lengthy process to assemble them and I'd like to get going on them.

So that's it for today.  Now I just need to give some thought to whether I can salvage the roof.

Blessings
Sandie

Waiting for the water to dry

My friend Stephanie from Tasmania persuaded me to take the plunge and use Realistic Water for the pond on the base of the Little Duck House.  I have wanted to do water in my projects for a long time now but for some reason had a real hang-up about doing it.  I had heard that the Scenic products ended up with a tacky finish and that using two-part epoxy was the way to go.  But I just kept having cold feet when it came to actually doing anything - hence the lovely kit 'Pickett Pond' has been sitting there for years waiting for me to take the plunge!  But Stephanie has had good results with Realistic Water and gave me some hints on how to use it, so I ordered some.  I have been adding a layer about 1/8th inch deep each day or so, so it is not a quick process.

It starts off cloudy like this

and gradually over the 24 hours it becomes clear as it sets.  This is about the fourth layer.  I hope it is dry enough for me to add another layer before bedtime tonight but it isn't worth rushing it if it's not dry.

While I've been waiting for the water to set and dry I've been making more furniture kits up.  I showed you the kitchen before, here it is with the knobs added.

And just to show you the size of the stools, here is one on my finger:

I also did a drop-leaf table and two chairs with rush seats (another kit from BJ Miniatures)

These kits are lovely, made of delicate timber - very fragile but they look lovely.  I don't know why they have come out so dark in the photo though, they are made from cherry wood and they come with the tiniest gold no-hole beads for doors and drawers.

After doing the table and chairs I started on a rocking chair and side table, but broke the rocking chair in the process :(.  I've removed the rockers and salvaged enough of the chair that it will be okay if I drape a 'throw' over it.  The side table is sweet

I've forgotten for the moment how to crop photos on the blog so everything looks a bit lost :(

The last bit I did was a hutch.  Love hutches with bits and pieces on them.  This one doesn't have opening doors and drawer like the one I used in Woodnook (from sdkMiniatures) but I like the pretty cherry wood and it will look good with the bits I have ordered from True2Scale Miniatures to go on it.

No, it's not drunk, my hubby took the photos partly side on.

 The furniture isn't glued into place yet, and I still have to work out whether to put in a bathroom or not but the cats have already moved in :).  If you have followed my blog for a while you will know that I always have a cat (or two, or several) in each of my buildings.  I get them from minigems, she makes wonderful animals. 

There's a cat snoozing very comfortably on the bed

And another has claimed the arbour - again, taken a bit side on by my hubby so it looks skewed

The house is now ready for lighting and for the roof to go on.  Hopefully I will get those things done this evening. 
Blessings
Sandie