Thatching

The material came from Dollhouses and More which I found on Amazon and it came with a set of instructions.  However, I found a method that was better for me using Modge Podge and smaller amounts of fibers.  It is coming along slowly but I am pretty pleased with how it is turning out.  I also watched a YouTube Video on thatching and got an idea of how it is done in the real world, so it gives me an idea of what I need to do.

 I know it looks kinda of ugly now, but I think it will shape up after I am all done.  One thing I must say is that you really need a strong pair of scissors as this stuff is hard to cut.  The little scissors in the picture I was just using for trimming.  I have to use a better pair and I may have to borrow the ones used in the kitchen for cutting chicken bones as I am afraid I am going to dull what I have in my hobby room.

More to come later, but now I have to take a little break.

Making Progress

I am about 75% completed with this project, and I am more than obsessed with it.  I have had two very sleepless nights thinking about it - I try not to work when in the middle of the night because the quality really suffers.  I still have to thatch the roof, mortar the bricks in the front stoop, mortar the "stone" floor, coat the floor with modge podge, and install the front door.  However I am going to have to wait because I finally found the coconut fibers to do the roof with on Amazon and have to wait until they are delivered.  I found a great tutorial on the thatching process, here.
More pictures below.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with how it has turned out.  The reason I have been able to do all this is that currently I am unemployed after being laid off.  I did get a new job but that doesn't start until the 21st, so I have some time to myself.  It also snowed about 8 inches last night so I was not going anywhere today. I also did a little rearranging of my workspace and you can see a tiny bit of the first house in the corner of this picture.  I had my second house in the hallway, and I was not able to get any enjoyment from that at all.  So I cleared off my lamp table and put the little house there.  Now I get to enjoy it every time I am up here and the light behind it allows me to see the inside.  I just have to work on getting the big house situated in the window and I am all set.

The last things I have to do is get some accessories for the studio.  I have an easel with a small picture my son drew when he was small.  It is a little large for the scale but I think it will work. I found a great artists bench on miniatures.com and even though it is pricey I am going to get it.

 

Taking Shape

Pardon the quality of the picture above; I think I got something on the lens.  But things are beginning to take shape with the new project.  I have the house together for the most part and now I am working on getting the inside prepped for paint and finishing.  I am getting excited for how it is working out.  The kit, I found, has these cool cutouts that look like half timbers which will look great.  I laid them out and then took them off and painted them brown.  I got balsa wood and cut them to size and will paint them to match the half timber and glue them down to the ceiling to look like exposed beams.  I made a chimney shape for the inside and outside and used the egg carton trick to "stone" the chimneys. You can see the outside one in the second picture where I experimented how the half timber frames will look. I like it.  

Now I have to source where to get the coconut fibers to do the thatched roof, figure out how I am going to do the floor (I think I want it to look like stone) and work on the inside furniture and accessories.  It's going to be an artist's studio so I know some things will be hard to find and others I will have to figure out how to make.  I found this really cool tutorial on how to make brushes with thread and toothpicks so I am excited about that.  I don't have a whole lot of time, but on the days I have nothing planned I will get working on this. Getting excited.

Found My Muse

Late last night for some inexplicable reason I went up to my office and started work on my artists studio.  I thought it was the Storybrook Cottage house, but found it was not.  I started it a while ago and put away because I found out as I was working on it that it was not 1:12 and I didn't know how to handle that.  I has posted that here and got some great feedback about taking out the second floor and treating it like one room, so I did that as well as putting back the window openings on the second floor and then put it away.

I had decided that I would do this little one as a thatched cottage and went to the Internet to look for pictures and found this one.  It really struck me and I decided that I would try to copy it as much as possible.  My little cottage does not have the addition on the side but it does have a bay window there, so that's fine. I like the little flowers on the trellis and saw one like that at an online miniature shop I have gotten things from before. The inside will be an artists studio so I will be collecting and making things to go inside.  Of course as with all new projects I stayed up half the night because my mind was swimming with possibilities.

So for now I have to finish the structure and then work on the decoration.  I found a great tutorial online for doing the roof with coconut fiber and it looks pretty easy.  I was agonizing on the exterior finish, but the white stucco is great and I already have the textured paint I used on another project for that.  So it appears that I am all set.  Now all I need is to make the time to do it.

An Award!

First I want to apologize for the lateness of this posting.  Things have been so crazy in my real life right now.  Thank you so much to Jamie at http://jlilroomer.blogspot.com/ for giving me an award.  It is my turn to give it to 5 others.  So here goes:

Tiny Treasures
A Life in Miniature
Bear Cabin Miniatures
It's a Miniature Life
Beautiful Mini Blessings

Thanks to new followers

A big thanks to my new followers. I am sorry I wasn't able to thank you earlier, but here goes. Thanks to:
- Maija from Finland. Her site is at http://iidasanttu.blogspot.com/. 
- A follower from California whose blog is at http://myrealitty.blogspot.com/ who writes of her 20 houses. 
- Karin whose blog I can't seem to locate. 
- Sylvia from Spain whose blog is at http://miniaturasnatasylvia.blogspot.com/and has won some awards and has some lovely pictures on her blog of her work.
- Michelle from Belgium whose blog is at http://michelle-minithings.blogspot.com/http://michelle-minithings.blogspot.com/ and has a really cute bathroom she is working on.
- Angeles from Spain whose blog is at http://elrincondebaldu.blogspot.com/and has some darling pictures of baby clothes on her site.
- Cheryl from Hawaii whose blog is at http://aminiatureplace.blogspot.com/ and is venturing in to some really small scale things.
- Cynthia from Pennsylvania who's a writer, a minaturist and web designer and has an Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/BriarwoodMiniatures
- Susan from Australia at http://minicrochetmad.blogspot.com/ who does the teenist bears I have seen.

A big thanks to my new followers!

Almost Done

Finally got the astroturf for the garden and put that down.  Got a cute little birdbath and put that in the garden. 

The last few steps are putting the resin in for the pond, getting or making a few more plants for the garden, and getting a few more touches for the inside. 

Other shots of the cottage: