Not quite going according to plan...

OK, so I finished cutting out my egg carton bricks and sticking them onto a piece of balsa wood in a herringbone pattern - all good (or so I thought!).

Starting to paint them has highlighted a crucial error - I didn't leave any space between the bricks (and there was me thinking that I was being clever getting them so tightly together) so there isn't any space to see any mortar. In fact when I went to paint it, the bricks all gelled into one and you could hardly make out the pattern - aarghh!

I was a bit reluctant to start again so I've had a go at trying to 'fix' it. I traced the outline of the brick using a pencil which isn't ideal as the mortar now looks a bit shiny lol! Silly isn't it, I'm just typing this and suddenly thought why didn't I use a white or grey pencil (doh!)...
It looks a bit better with the bricks outlined. The next step was to add some black pastel dust....

And I was much happier with this.....until I put it into place......

Errr, it doesn't quite fit in with the existing brickwork lol! Oh well, I'm just deciding whether I can get away it or not. I suppose once I add a cauldron in and add some wood and ashes for a fire, it might not be as noticeable!
I do like this style of brickwork though, much better than my sandpaper bricks.

Welcome!!

I can't believe it, not only do I have people following my blog but now there are 12 of you!! I'm honoured. Thank you so much following my blog, welcome to.....

Irene at The Tenement. My very first follower :) Irene's wonderful blog was one of the inspirations behind me starting my roombox. If you haven't seen Irene's Cloth Merchants Booth then go at check it out, it's really beautiful.

M Carmen at Mini Shabby. A lovely blog full of Shabby inspiration and amazing transformations.

Dales at Dales Dreams. Dales does amazing things with fabric and textiles.

Dangerous Mezzo at The Tudor/Medieval/Jacobean/Queen Anne Dollshouse Project. Another inspiration for starting my roombox. Their Tudor house is simply amazing and they have some wonderful tutorials.

Michelle at Michelle's Mad World. I love Michelle's Hogwarts especially the beautiful conservatory and her fabulous Witches house.

Karin at Mini Ramblings and Musings. A lovely blog that is really interesting - you will really want to keep up with it.

Kiva at Kivas Miniatures. Kiva makes the most amazing food. It is so realistic and things that you wouldn't come across in a normal shop, well worth a look!

Anthoula at A life in miniature. Anthoula is another wonderful food (and drink creator - check out her wine!) and is also starting to dabble with transforming dolls house furniture and making her own.

Sans at The Dollshouse Diaries. Sans has created the most fanastic Maharaja's palace and is now turning her hand at 'kit bashing' - turning a jr dolls house into a fabulous tribal house!

Sonia at MiniTink. A lovely blog, she is currently making the most amazing roses!

The Old Maid at The Sunny House 1:12 Miniatures. The old maid is currently is the process of building Professor Severus Snape's office from Harry Potter. It's looking really good and the walls are actually made from real toy bricks rather than wood which adds a great effect!

Lara at Lara's Miniature World. Lara has a lovely blogs and a real talent for flower making.

and just as I'd finished writing Acension from My Miniatures also joined!

So welcome all, and thank you for following... x

Fireplace taking shape

I've redone the fireplace and I must admit I'm a lot happier with it now. I sanded down the original polyfilla and glued egg box stones in above the fireplace. I then repolyfillered it (minus the PVA glue this time - don't know why I included it in the first place!). It's drying well and it just gives a hint of the stones underneath.

I just need to finish off in between the other beams now and then I will have a go at the colour washes - eek!

I've gone for a herringbone brick base for the floor of the fireplace. The Tudor/Medieval/Jacobean/Queen Annes Dolls House Project listed a fab tutorial for creating the brickwork from eggboxes. The original tutorial is from The China Doll. This is my progress so far -

Sorry it's not very clear. I just need the patience to sit down and cut out a load more bricks now before I can paint it.

Decidedly shabby......

Looking at other wonderful mini sites and trying to work out what I could do with the main house that I have, I've decided to go for a shabby chic theme. It's not going to be perfect as I'm not sure the house is proper 1/12th scale (I must get my ruler out and measure the rooms), but I can have fun making it look a bit better and hopefully it's something that my DD will enjoy when she is a bit older.

I'm not up to the standard of making my own furniture, although I think it more comes down to the fact that I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try (yet). We also don't have a Micheal's in the UK or, from what I can make out, an equivalent so I've resorted to looking for bargains on ebay to experiment with. This is what I have won so far -

As I bought them in 'lots' the actual cost per item (including shipping) was less than £1, so I really don't mind painting them and seeing what I can do with them.

My first 'victim' isn't in this picture as I have already started revamping it. It's a sweet little dressing table. Once I have done a bit more with it I will post the 'before' and 'after' photographs (hopefully there will be an improvement!).

P.S Is this a side effect of miniatures LOL? Starting different projects before finishing the first ?!?

Walls

I am learning.....fast! I mixed up the wall filler today and not only did I find out that I'd made it too runny (after I started) but I also think that I should have done the walls before I'd glued the wooden beams on! Oh well...live and learn. The end result is, that it is taking me absolutely ages to get the filler on to the walls and right up to the edge of the beams without covering them.

The colour is whiter than I'd imagined as well, so once I've done it all I think I am going to have to learn how to do colour washes to try and tone the white down a bit.

Another thing I have discovered is that the fireplace chimney is not going to look right with just filler on it -

I'm going to go back to the egg boxes I think and follow New England Miniatures Tutorial. This means that I need to sand all the filler off and start again - arrrggghh. Oh well, I did say this was going to be a steep learning curve.

Back to it now... although I think it may be a fair few days until I get the walls finished!

Fireplace

Just a short one today. I managed to have a bit of a play with the fireplace. Rather than getting the paints out, I decided to use artists pastels on the surround and to add soot in the fireplace itself. I scribbled on a piece of paper and then brushed the pastel dust into the stones. It actually worked quite well and I'm a bit happier with the fireplace now.
I also finished gluing the fireplace into place and added a hook to the block inside so that I can hang a cauldron at a later date (you can just see it in the picture above). The surround is still loose as I think it would be better to add the wall texture first but knowing me I'll change my mind!

Timbers, Door and Lighting

Today has been the first time since I last posted that I have had a chance to work on my room box, but I am really pleased with the amount that I've managed to get done.

I 'ummed' and 'aahhed' about including a door in the room box but at the cutting stage I decided against it. Now, starting to put things together, I've decided that 'yes, it does need one'. Cutting a hole in the side at this stage would not be the best idea now I've glued together so I have created a 'false' door. I'm gobsmacked with how well it has turned out, it's a shame that this photo doesn't do it justice! It's made from a rectangle of balsa wood which I scored with an empty ballpoint pen. I then stained it and added the wooden braces (again made from balsa wood) and a frame (3 layers of balsa wood).

The wall timbers are also now in place. As this is my first project, I'm experimenting a bit so the timbers are again, all made from balsa wood stained with Medium Oak wood stain. Initially I started cutting the wood in straight lines with a ruler but they looked so fake that I ended up re-cutting wonky bits out of them to make them a bit more realistic. I then stuck them on with tacky glue - it's wonderful stuff!

Finally I've attempted my first ever lighting and unbelievably it worked first time! I bought these wonderful little Tudor torches from http://www.minimumworld.com/. They come complete with plugs and all you do is buy the socket and power adaptor and away you go. The only slightly fiddly part was pulling out the pins on the plug so I could thread the wires through the holes in the room box and then re-attaching the pins, but once I sussed out how to do it is was very straight forward. I love the glow they give out...

Next steps -

I'm really not happy with my fireplace surround and annoyingly I'm not sure exactly why. The colour certainly isn't right so I'm going to have a play with it and see whether I can get it a bit more realistic.

The bricks in the fireplace also need 'sooting' (is that a word?!? - but I'm sure you know what I mean).

The next stage for the walls is to put some daub in between the timbers. I'm going to make up some polyfilla and mix in some pva glue and see how that works.

For the floor, I'm going to try and make some separate flagstones from polymer clay (unless anyone can give me any other suggestions) for the fireplace and for the main floor, I've amazingly found some 'dry wall compound' sitting in our garage so I'm going to have a go the flagstone floor tutorial at New England Miniatures - it looks fabulous.

That's it for now. I hope it won't be too long until I can report back with a bit more progress.