Roof tiling

I am rather horrified to admit my Toy House has been sitting without a proper roof since... well since Lock Up.

At least, I had painted the roof, just so it wouldn't look too horrible while I worked on the finishing touches. 

The thing is - I wanted a tiled terracotta roof like these: 

 

As you can see, these types of tiles are different to the barrel tiles seen in southern Europe and are laid in straight lines with interlocking ridges (does that make sense?).

I searched online for mini-versions to buy or tutorials for how to make them. I did eventually find these from Miniacons in Spain. Real terracotta in the right scale - Perfect.... 

 

... only getting them sent to OZ was going to be more expensive than I was prepared to pay. Perhaps I could make them...?

For several nights, I had a production line going.

I used airdrying clay, rolled out really thin. To get the undulations in the tiles, I made up a board from scarps of plywood and wooden sticks. I could then lay my clay strips across the ridges...

...and press the soft clay into place. Once the clay was half dry, I scored the strips so that they could easily be broken into individual tiles. It was all looking every promising. 

But when I started laying them - and, I did (luckily) do a small practice run - I soon realized that they were nowhere near precise enough. Overlapping them caused more problems,  I would need to do so much sanding and tweaking along the way and I was far from convinced that it would be successful. Sigh.. 

So there the house sat,

and sat,  

and sat.

Patiently waiting for a roof.

I had right at the beginning, briefly looked at these wooden tiles from Mini Mundus, but had held off getting them because of the cost. 

Then, during a hardware store visit, I spotted a timber molding with very similar profile. Perhaps I could..???

I bought just one length to give it a try. And as the saying goes: 'the rest is history'.

I cut the molding into tile size pieces and got to work. I don't have any fancy tools, so I just used whatever was at hand to make sure all the tiles were the same length.

I originally had thought, I would tile the roof of the dormer window also. I felt the tiles were a bit heavy, so decided to cover it in zinc (painted heavy duty foil) before I started placing the tiles.

I glued down narrow coffee stirrer sticks above each row of tiles before starting the next row. This is to slightly lift the lower edge of each row, so it looks like it overlaps.

I am so glad, I had left the roof loose. It is so much easier to just lift the whole thing off while I work on it rather than having to move the whole house around.

Cutting in around the dormer was 'fun', especially the angles around the roof, but I think it looks ok. 

I still need to finish the 'ridge' tiles - just a piece of half round timber beading before I can paint. But at least it is now starting to look like a roof.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Anna X 

Corner cupboard

The cupboard doors are on and I could not be happier with how it turned out.

It was not as straight forward as I had wished for. At one point, I almost thought, I had ruined it all together.

This is how it went:

After painting the outside of the cupboard with several coats and lots of sanding, I carefully measured and cut out little notches for the hinges to rest in. 

Then I glued the hinges in place on the doors. It seemed to be going ok. I decided to leave the excess of the hinges overhanging the edges, thinking it would be better to trim them after I had glued the pins into the holes and the hinges were properly secured. 

Sorry, I forgot to take photos of the next bit - This is where I started to panic, thinking I had ruined it all.

I added the pins and then repeated the processes to attach the doors to the cupboard carcasses. Even though I had recessed the hinges and pushed the pins in as far as I possibly could, the extra bulk of the pin heads, meant the doors wouldn't close. The glue had not set hard yet, so I carefully pried the hinges off, cut the recesses deeper and tried again. Still didn't work, still wouldn't close nicely. The deeper recess meant there was too much strain on the thin hinges and they broke!

Deep breath!

I cut and made new hinges, this time without holes. I decided the cupboard won't be opened and closed so glue alone would have to do. 

I glued the hinges into the recess and once that glue had dried, instead of cutting the excess off, I bent and glued it around the edge of the door and to the back of the cupboard like at tine cranked hinge. 

I know this it not very authentic for a cupboard door, but I figure this is my small world, so I can bend the rules and I don't think it looks too bad.

The doors now open and close nicely, What a relief. 

I must confess I was rather excited, so I couldn't help but pull out some of the minis that will be going into the cupboard and pile them in to get an idea of how it will look...

... and then, I piled it all out again (you should have seen my work table that night!) and popped it into the apartment, keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn't look too big and bulky in the little room.

It is snug, but it is how I had imagined it would be. Truffle the dog could not care less of course. He is simply put out, because I still have not made him a bed to go in front of the stove. Before I do that, I have a couple of little finishing touches to do on the cupboard.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and thank you so much for all the kind and encouraging comments. 

Anna X