links and other stuff

Hello!
I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July. We spent the day at the beach doing nothing but relaxing.

Got home, fell asleep and missed the fireworks.. Funny how tiring "relaxing" can be.

I started adding some of my favorite links but still have more to go.  Please check them out when you have time.

This last Saturday and Sunday I did add the dormers to the roof of the Ashley.  Once I began working on them, I remembered how difficult it had been when I made my first Ashley.  Lots of sanding and trimming because nothing fit.  And on the inside, there were gaps where the seams should have gone together better.

So, out came the spackle.  More sanding and touching up the paint but it looks much better now.

While the paint was drying, I decided to start shingling.  Now, my method of shingling will make many miniaturists cringe, but I learned this long ago and have used it several times.  It is fast, inexpensive and I had all the supplies on  hand.   I used fine grit sandpaper.  It's paintable and easy to cut.

First, you will need several sheets of sandpaper, enough paint to cover all of them, pencil, ruler, utility scissors, amd glue.  I had brown sandpaper on hand but it also comes in black so you may not need the paint if that's the color you want.

The first step is to turn the sandpaper with grit side down and using your ruler, draw your cutting lines.  I made mine about 1" wide.  You will also need to make several strips about 2" wide which will be used at the very top of the roof and dormers.  NOTE:  You may need to do a little math or calculations on how many sheets you will need but for the Ashley I used 5.  The roof is very small.

Once the cutting lines are drawn, turn the sandpaper over and paint.  After it dries you can now start cutting it into strips.  On one edge of each strip, make a cut vertically about 3/4".  This will make the shingles more realistic.

 

Before you start measuring, cutting and glueing, there are a few things to remember.  Start from the bottom up.  This will make over-lapping the shingles much easier.  And remember all those little vertical cuts?  Well, the cuts should line up with each other on every other row.  The cuts on rows 1, 3, 5, 7, etc should line up and the cuts on rows 2, 4, 6, 8, should line up.  At this time also, you may want to mark some straight guidelines on your roof to keep every thing straight.  As seen below, the Ashley already came with pre-scored lines to simulate shingles.  You were supposed to outline the scored lines and then add a coat of clear varnish or you could just paint the roof, in which case the scoring would still show through.  I did not like the shingle pattern, just didn't go with my idea of a fishing cabin but I did use them as my guide lines.

As for the wider, 2" strip, do not make any vertical cuts just yet.  These pieces will the last thing you add once the shell is complete and the roof is attached.  It will serve as the top row for both sides of the roof and dormers.

The picture on the right shows how the dormers look now but they will be cleaned up once shell is complete.

I hope this  has given you an alternative to buying shingles or shingle tape and if anyone decides to try this, please leave a comment and let us know how it turned out.

Til later!

Kitbashing

I spent this last week getting my computer fixed and figuring out how to made an Ashley (my second one) into a fishing cabin.  I know this isn't the best dollhouse to make into a fishing cabin (because with all the trim, decorated windows, etc) but I do enjoy kit-bashing.  It's not all that hard nor time consuming and turning out pretty much like I planned.

The picture on the left shows how the front of the Ashley should look if no alterations are made.  The second picture shows my first major change.  I didn't want the large dormer window so I never bothered to punch it out.  I applied a thin line of glue along the punch-out lines for re-enforcement and then added spackle ( for no particular reason).  Since this will be shingled, I didn't need to sand very much.  On the other side, there were very faint punch-out lines but with a little spackle and sanding, they all disappeared.  So far, so good.

Next came the front.  I shortened up the two larger windows and did not punch out the narrow windows next to the door.  I will be making my own "glass" because the imprint on the windows is a little too fancy for a fishing cabin.  I have saved some heavy clear plastic that I will be adding quilling paper to for the individual panes.. This clear plastic is usually found on boxed greeting cards and is perfect for any miniature needing a glass element,  like a table top or maybe a backyard pond.  I'll post pictures soon to show you how it turned out.

Meanwhile, I am planning my next step, which will be adding the two dormers and shingling the roof.  This shingling is an interesting process so as soon as I take pictures, I'll be back.

Take care!

Diane ( in hot, humid Florida!)