Beach house: Part 4 -- painting and installing the windows and doors

 

So this is where I was so far:  the needle felted backdrop mapped out and started, the walls with the door and window openings cut out and the roof selected.  

Next:  the doors and windows!  But first, a little set back:  I broke a corner of the shelf!  Just the underside (presswood) but still, I'll have to be more careful when I install the needlefelt blanket.  Glue, some clamps, a bit of sanding and we were back in business!

The windows and frames are all painted white for the inside of the room.  This was a bit of a fussy task, to make all the edges nice and clean.  I used an acrylic, but I think my paint has gotten a bit too old.  Anyway, it turned out fine.

 Blue painters' tape is great for holding little things down.

It was a thrill to install the window and French doors and finally get to see what it really would look like.  WOW!  The intricate "wrought iron" window insert turned out really nice!  And the doors?  I have always wanted French doors in my real house so these are really satisfying.  

Instead of the thick acrylic that came with the windows from Vio, I used a thin acetate sheet.  This fit the width of my walls better.

I should mention that, just like in real life, shims were needed to make the doors and windows fit the holes.  

The outside frames were made using 3mm square sticks.  Instead of stain (I hate the smell and mess), I used a Prismacolor pen in "Goldenrod".  This way I got a nice weathered look and didn't have to wait very long for the ink to dry.  

I left the hardest window for last, the big curved one.  I wanted this double window to open (even though there isn't enough space to open very much) and it came with hinges but they were too big, so luckily I had a set of Classics "H" shaped hinged which were narrow enough to attach to the frame.  (These came from an amazing shop in Meaford. Ontario, called Georgian Bay Miniatures.)    

As with the French doors, attaching the hinges required patience and a steady hand.  And then, of course, the windows had become too large with the paint and fit too tightly so I had to cut a slice off of one window (and repaint it) to make the two panes close properly.  Ugh!  Of course a cut like that is never as nice as the original but I think I'm the only one who will see the difference.

Oh, but it is so worth it!  Here's the third wall!

So this is what it looks like so far:
  

I'm very pleased with how it's coming together and am excited to start the wainscoting next!

Beach House: Part 3 -- the walls

 

Building the beach house/room started with cutting the three walls down to size.  This proved to be terribly difficult:  nothing would cut this wood!  These were 12 x 12 inch sheets of basswood and I tried a utility knife, an X-acto knife and various coping and hand saws.  I even got new blades!  Wow, I managed to make the 3 cuts I needed but it was very hard and I couldn't see how I'd be able to cut out the doors and windows.

I hunted online and was lucky to come across this lovely accessory for the Dremel:  a mini circular saw!  I bought it and a Dremel even though I really don't like power tools.

But I was desperate.

So with safety glasses, clamps holding the wood and everything secure, I zipped through my walls!  Yeah!  I definitely need practice but for now I had my windows and doors cut out!

The half-moon window, however, I had to cut out by hand.  I used the X-acto and spend at least 30 minutes slowly cutting through the wood, using the window glass as a template.  It was worth it:  the glass fits perfectly.

And so I had my three walls!  

The outside was then primed and painted a nice, inviting yellow... I used leftover paint from our kitchen!  The interior was painted a sky blue, leaving the last 5cm or so with no paint so the wainscoting will glue on better.   (This paint was leftover from our bathroom.)  

I tried to leave an unpainted 3mm around all the holes for the frames to glue on better, but this proved to be a mistake and I had to make quite a few touch-ups where there wasn't enough paint.  I wouldn't bother trying to do this again.

I got a really helpful tip from this book, The ABC's of Dollhouse Finishing.  Instead of using sand paper, try a piece of crumbled brown packing paper and rub it across your surface.  It was enough in this case to smooth everything down, with no dust!   

I hadn't really thought much about the roof except that I wanted as much light as possible and thought to use plexiglass.  I love the idea of lying on the floor on a blanket, a dog (or two) curled up against my side and looking at the stars!  Or watching the rain fall... 

Mom and I brainstormed and started looking at my collection of picture frames, mostly bought at thrift stores.  We came across this perfect one, a frame with an insert for four smaller photos!  Wow!  Four skylights!  It's slightly smaller than what I need but a strip of basswood will fill the gap.  

Next:  setting in the windows and doors!  

Beach House Part 2

Before the fun could begin, I had to lay out the land.  I used foamboard and built up three layers so the house will be a little higher than the beach.  Also I wanted the pond inset a bit so I could naturalize the area around it.  The house is on a 12 by 12 board that can be slid out if need be, also making it possible to take it to a show (just in case).

This project truly proved to be a house of cards:  every piece affected every other piece.  The walls had to fit around the floor, the doors had to fit into the walls and rest on the floor, the windows need to fit over the wainscotting and also leave room for the pictures I wanted...  Change one thing and it domino affected everything else!

So first I laid out the floor tiles and glued them down to the wood sheet.  Now I had something firm to work with!   I needed to cut only 2 pieces:  this proved to be quite the headache and my cuts were ragged-edged.  Luckily my baseboards will hide the edges so I was okay!

I then decided to add a 3mm spacer to allow room for the wainscoting and baseboard so as not to obscure the pattern along the edges of these lovely tiles.  

Next I laid out the garden and pond.  I wanted 2 chairs to be out there so I needed to place the pond to allow for a sitting area, and room for my 3 weasel sculptures.  

A 7 inch tall stone wall will surround this little garden, to keep the blowing sand out and provide some privacy and shade.  Foamboard provided the base to which I will glue the embossed stone paper, but the pattern repeated too frequently on the paper so I ended up cutting it into strips, shifting the design up and down so no pieces are alike.  

Wooden "posts" will hide the seams.

Next:  the needle felted backdrop!  I used a wool blanket because it's nice and stiff and almost stands on its own and is the color of sand.  Mom had the brilliant idea to attach loops to the blanket with little dowel pieces and put them through the little gap all around the shelf to hold it up.  

It worked really well!  

There was a lot of sky to needle felt... a lot of sky.  I was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the thing and luckily had a eureka moment!  I could get a prefelt in blue and safe myself a lot of work and time!  Fibrecraft came to the rescue and I purchased a sky blue 1/2 metre which turned out to be just the thing!  I had a blue sky without a sore hand and thumb!

Then the fun part:  pulling out all my colors and choosing the fibres to create the beach of my dreams.  

Ah, the colors and textures!

For the sky, I used a Romney braid from 3dogknits called "The Blues".  I pulled and cut the colors I wanted from this plentiful braid, placing the darker shades over the land and lighter, more hazy shades over the water.  

I also mapped out the beach sand and shoreline.  Now it was time to move the whole thing onto the big table and save my knees!  

It was at this point that I realized my lovely French doors had swivel hinges and would not be able to open the way I imagined.  So I took the doors apart (cutting off the threshold to do so) and put on wee brass hinges so the doors now will open all the way like real doors.  Also I added pretty little lever handles to the inside of both sets of doors (they only came with handles on one side).

Next:  the walls!

Beach House Part 1

I've enjoyed building and collecting1:12 scale miniatures since I was very young.  And my goal with all my 2D needle felting is to create the perfect beach.  So when this idea came to mind, I saw an opportunity to create something really special.

It started two years ago with weeding the books to end up with valuable real estate:  one empty shelf.  This shelf would become the home of a miniature beach house with a needle felted beach and a garden with a pond (made by a local artist and purchased in Kincardine) and weasel sculptures (found on etsy a year ago).    

Planning began in earnest last fall with a mock-up made of cardboard.  I needed room for three chairs and three tables and a few dog beds (and bowls), no other furniture.  This was meant to be the perfect spot to come and while away the afternoon, eating fancy pastries after a leisurely stroll on the beach with the pups, the sunshine, the heat but with a cooling breeze,  and the gentle sound of the waves and seagulls. 

I took chairs from other doll houses to test my room size and layout.  There would be French doors and lots of windows for lots of light.

Then the threat of a post strike put urgency into getting started as I wanted this to be my Winter project.  So I started in October to gather supplies and purchase what I needed.

Since there is very little furniture, I wanted a really lovely floor.  I found it on etsy!  Check out Gravik and shop owner Ihor who is in Ukraine (which made it an extra special find considering the war going on there).  I purchased 2 sets and Ihor was kind enough to include some extra cut pieces after I mentioned I was concerned about being able to cut the tiles.   (It turns out that these tiles dictated the size of my floor, so I would have to cut as few as possible!)

Then I bought the flagstone embossed paper and stone wall paper for the garden from Greece, the etsy shop starboc2.  

I was then shopping in the The Netherlands!  I don't travel much but my credit card does!!!  Vio of MiniaturesbyVio on etsy was very helpful and custom made the arched window I purchased, along with two smaller windows and some kits to build tables.   

 

Back to Canada, I found the French doors I wanted and got them from MforMiniatures.  

I wasn't concerned about the wood as Amazon had what I needed (sadly there are no hobby shops where I live) and they don't use Canada Post.

All my parcels arrived before the strike began and I could now plan the details so all my parts would come together well!

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Youtube Treasure

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all the talented people who share their instructional videos, skills and tips, on YouTube.  What an amazing resource and I really appreciate, enjoy and continue to benefit in so many ways!  

Thank you!

This Jack o'Lantern was made by following the instructions on The Felt Studio's YouTube tutorial to create a 3D vessel.  It was fun and a great learning experience!  I didn't believe I would be able to make such a round pumpkin from something that started out flat!!  

For those who saw this Jack on Facebook, I finally was able to fix the problem of the lid shrinking more than the pumpkin:  I used the cut out face pieces to enlarge the lid and now it fits much better!

A good start to January 2025

Good riddance to 2024!  In July I suffered a fractured bone in my right hand, in December I had septic bursitis in my left elbow.  So onto 2025 in which I hope everyone enjoys good health, inspiration and creativity!

As for me, I'm back to the graveyard, my favorite place.  This project started with an unfortunate purchase, a piece of think prefelt that was so lumpy I didn't know what to do with it.  I thought to wet felt over top...

...and chose greens and blues.  Sadly, the fibre I added did not fuse to the prefelt but still the end result was a lovely, dreamy landscape of sorts.

Which way was up?

A marshy pond perhaps?

Or a moonlit clearing?  

I went with the clearing after my sister said she could see a cemetery there!  Thanks Doris!  

Using my big garden kneeling pad, I laid out the piece and started adding landscape features:  earth and grasses and shrubs...  and a lovely huge full moon coming out from behind misty clouds.

When I had a background I liked, I cut out gravestones from paper and laid them out to see how to arrange them and to see what sizes would make the image 3D.

I then cut them out of very thin black prefelt and tacked them down.  A mix of a blue-y grey color was felted into the black and each stone got highlighting in light grey where the moonlight hits.  Shadows were also fun, in a greeny-grey color.  

And this was the end result!

Here are some close-up images to see the details of the gravestones.

In muted light, it looks even better!

For those who are wondering, I sewed three loops of felt onto the back and inserted a dowel through the loops.  I then used a piece of pipe cleaner to use as a hook:  since the image may not be balanced weight-wise, it was important to be able to move the hook to where it's needed to get the cemetery to hang straight!