Glowing Embers

Bluette Class - Day 1

September 14 - 17, 2002

Bluette and Company describes this project in the class manual as a Dutch inspired roombox based on the work of the famous painter, Johannes Vermeer:

The exterior walls are finished with weathered brick and plaster, and the sloped roof is finished with copper and patina. A small up stairs window allows a glimpse of a shadowy attic area. The front trim is classic Dutch style. The interior focuses on a fireplace surrounded with Delft tiles. The remains in the fireplace are soft and glowing, adding cozy warmth to the room Complementary tiles cover the floor. The window wall on the left side permits faint light from an illuminated exterior street scene. Soft interior illumination is included and completes this wonderful project. The size measures 11-1/2" wide by 9-1/2" deep by 22" high.

Above is Bluette's finished roombox, but we have a lot of work ahead to get to that point. Here is our raw box! You may recognize the people-sized surroundings, this yet another wonderful class being hosted at Shellie's Miniature Mania in San Carlos, California.

The box comes pre-wired with soft (indirect) interior lighting. Since I am not a fan of trying to electrify projects on my own, I really appreciate this already being done for us.

After lightly painting the exposed "woodwork" with a dirty water wash, we were put tasked with applying our brick wallpaper to the front and sides.. The wallpaper is by Barrow, and is fantastically fun to work with. (I don't have any direct link to a place selling it, if someone does know, please email me. Shellie ordered this from Britain.) It does "shed" a lot of fiberglass fibers that can make the fingers a tad itchy, but other than that, I think this is a material I've love to work with again.

Side shot of the brick wallpaper. We were given one sheet to work with, when it was gone, we were done! The rest of the sides will be filled in with spackle and routed to look like plaster over brickwork.

Another shot from above. One thing I love about this roombox is that the roof and the entire second floor is removable! This will make for great ease of decoration.

Here is the exact spackling compound we used - featherweight is too light, yet it still needs to be lightweight in order for it to work well.

A close-up shot of the left wall. I managed to complete all the spackling and routing of the brick/plaster on the fronts and sides of the roombox. Time to go home for the night. (9.5 hours)

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Mini Home

Laura Isabella laura@sylvan.com San Jose, CA
Last updated 3/14/2004

	Bluette and Company describes this project in the class manual as a Dutch inspired roombox based on the work of the famous painter, Johannes Vermeer: The exterior walls are finished with weathered brick and plaster, and the sloped roof is finished with copper and patina. A small up stairs window allows a glimpse of a shadowy attic area. The front trim is classic Dutch style. The interior focuses on a fireplace surrounded with Delft tiles. The remains in the fireplace are soft and glowing, adding cozy warmth to the room Complementary tiles cover the floor. The window wall on the left side permits faint light from an illuminated exterior street scene. Soft interior illumination is included and completes this wonderful project. The size measures 11-1/2" wide by 9-1/2" deep by 22" high.
	Above is Bluette's finished roombox, but we have a lot of work ahead to get to that point. Here is our raw box! You may recognize the people-sized surroundings, this yet another wonderful class being hosted at Shellie's Miniature Mania in San Carlos, California.
	The box comes pre-wired with soft (indirect) interior lighting. Since I am not a fan of trying to electrify projects on my own, I really appreciate this already being done for us.
	After lightly painting the exposed "woodwork" with a dirty water wash, we were put tasked with applying our brick wallpaper to the front and sides.. The wallpaper is by Barrow, and is fantastically fun to work with. (I don't have any direct link to a place selling it, if someone does know, please email me. Shellie ordered this from Britain.) It does "shed" a lot of fiberglass fibers that can make the fingers a tad itchy, but other than that, I think this is a material I've love to work with again.
	Side shot of the brick wallpaper. We were given one sheet to work with, when it was gone, we were done! The rest of the sides will be filled in with spackle and routed to look like plaster over brickwork.
	Another shot from above. One thing I love about this roombox is that the roof and the entire second floor is removable! This will make for great ease of decoration.
	Here is the exact spackling compound we used - featherweight is too light, yet it still needs to be lightweight in order for it to work well.
	A close-up shot of the left wall. I managed to complete all the spackling and routing of the brick/plaster on the fronts and sides of the roombox. Time to go home for the night. (9.5 hours)