English Cottage

Rik Pierce Class - Day 4

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Homework Homework 2 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Variations Finishing Up

We start the morning with glue and a lot of tape. The house sides had warped outwards slightly and needed to be tightly taped in order to have the trusses line up.

More cross bracing.

Smudging up the outside of the house to give it a rougher texture. Just random blobs of paperclay smooshed on (without glue) and texturing heavily with my stippling brush.

Boris does some demolition of the rock above the fireplace. This was planned ahead of time when laying out the rock. (See Day 2)

The paperclay was removed by using a sharp utility knife and slicing through the paperclay until hitting the foamcore. Boris had to be gentle around the electrical wiring to not slice too far into the foamcore. After all the cuts were made, the pieces were flicked out in big chunks (see floor) with the edge of the utility knife.

Finished lintel and mantel! I put in 6 small brass hooks, blackened. To blacken the small hooks, I used "Blacken-It" which I found in the model railroad section of my local hobby and craft store. I first had to rough-up the brass hooks with sandpaper to get rid of the shine in order for the chemicals of "Blacken-It" to be able to work on the metal.

To place the hooks, I used a small pin-vise bit and tapped that into the wood first to create a pilot hole. The screws went in fine by hand at that point.

Here's a shot of Rik showing us how he made our thatched roofing.

Close-up of the results.

The bay window seat is now in place. We needed to notch out a channel on either side of the window seat area to be able to snugly slide in the window seat. This also helps keep the window seat from warping when using the glue to adhere it into place.

We're starting to paint our stonework! I have a lot left to do but things are definitely starting to come alive.

Another photos of the process of painting the stonework. I'm not entirely happy with the color on the top step - hopefully tomorrow morning I can do something about it.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Homework Homework 2 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Variations Finishing Up

Mini Home

Laura Isabella laura@sylvan.com San Jose, CA
Last updated 9/1/2002

	We start the morning with glue and a lot of tape. The house sides had warped outwards slightly and needed to be tightly taped in order to have the trusses line up.
	More cross bracing.
	Smudging up the outside of the house to give it a rougher texture. Just random blobs of paperclay smooshed on (without glue) and texturing heavily with my stippling brush.
	Boris does some demolition of the rock above the fireplace. This was planned ahead of time when laying out the rock. (See Day 2) The paperclay was removed by using a sharp utility knife and slicing through the paperclay until hitting the foamcore. Boris had to be gentle around the electrical wiring to not slice too far into the foamcore. After all the cuts were made, the pieces were flicked out in big chunks (see floor) with the edge of the utility knife.
	Finished lintel and mantel! I put in 6 small brass hooks, blackened. To blacken the small hooks, I used "Blacken-It" which I found in the model railroad section of my local hobby and craft store. I first had to rough-up the brass hooks with sandpaper to get rid of the shine in order for the chemicals of "Blacken-It" to be able to work on the metal. To place the hooks, I used a small pin-vise bit and tapped that into the wood first to create a pilot hole. The screws went in fine by hand at that point.
	Here's a shot of Rik showing us how he made our thatched roofing.
	Close-up of the results.
	The bay window seat is now in place. We needed to notch out a channel on either side of the window seat area to be able to snugly slide in the window seat. This also helps keep the window seat from warping when using the glue to adhere it into place.
	We're starting to paint our stonework! I have a lot left to do but things are definitely starting to come alive.
	Another photos of the process of painting the stonework. I'm not entirely happy with the color on the top step - hopefully tomorrow morning I can do something about it.