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

Coming un-hinged

The corner cupboard for T. Tjørngren's apartment was coming along just fine.

Of course, I the glasses didn't quite fit into the top shelf (I knew, I should have tested them before gluing the shelf in place) but I was able to carefully sand the slots until they were wide enough for the glasses I have. 

Next, I built the doors. To get the rebated panels I sandwiched 3 layers of thin bass wood, even managing to to cut the curved upper edges to the front panels. 

Before gluing the panels on the front of the doors in place, I had 'undercoated' and sanded the front, thinking it would be much easier to get the nice and smooth that way. I also painted the inside of the doors the same pale yellow as the inside of the cupboards. Dry Australian summers are not kind to paint and I since I had mixed the colour a bit randomly, so was worried that if I left it too long, it would dry out and I wouldn't be able to match it later.

So far, so good. I was really pleased with how it was coming along. The plan was to to next pin-hinge the cupboard doors to the top, middle and bottom sections when I stacked the modules...

That's when I came unstuck!! 

Because I had built the drawer so it sits directly below and flush with the upper cupboard door there is nowhere for me to drill a hole to take a pin for the bottom of the door.

Ups! Now what?

Option one: redo the top cupboard with the drawer in a separate housing to take the pin for the cupboard door, or...

Option two: attach the doors with proper hinges (scary).

I really like the look of the drawer directly below the cupboard door and didn't really fancy rebuilding the whole top section. The problem with hinges are 1) The thickness of the door and frame is only 3mm, 1/8" or less. I don't have any hinges that tiny in my stash, and don't even know if they are available. 2) I am petrified that I will mess it up, trying to attach tiny hinges.

In the end, I decided to go with the hinges after all. I figure, if I do mess it up, I can always revert to option one and rebuild the top but it is worth a try. Now what to do about hinges??

I have had a go at making little hinges some time ago, so figured that by making them myself, I can get them the exact size I need them.

I cut the parts (6mm x 10mm wide) from tealight casing. This metal is so soft and pliable, that I could cut it with a craft knife which resulted in better, cleaner cuts than my scissors.

I knew from last time I made hinges, that my needle-nose pliers are not thin enough to roll the barrel to take the pin (sewing pin cut down) snugly. So instead, I simply folded the metal back over the wrong side of the hinge place. This metal is so thin and folded bit will be under the hinge once it is attached so I figure, once the rebates are cut in the wood, the extra tiny bit of thickness won't matter.

I then punched holes in the hinge plates to nails later just using an awl unto my cutting mat. To prevent the pin from falling out, I added a small dollop of glue to each end of the barrel as I cut the pin down to fit. 

And there four hinges ready to go. They are not perfect, but I am hoping they will do the job.

For now, I need to build and attach a pelmet at the top and some kind for feet to the bottom. Paint the cupboard and then hope and pray my little hinges work.

Wish me luck.

Anna