The Artist’s Studio – Rustic wood ceiling

My idea for the ceiling in The Artist’s Studio was to have a wood plank surface here as well as on the floor. This is a mockup with a sheet of Southern Pine flooring propped in place. I would need to have finishing trim around the edges since it is just a fraction too short. I couldn’t use the same wood as the floor, because I didn’t have enough and I thought it was too variegated for a ceiling.

The walls in the living area will be grey – possibly two tones of grey: Daler-Rowney Dreadnought Grey and Canson Pearl Grey (shown here with Canson Ivory used in the bathroom).

I swear to you I am not making things up! There is such a thing as a natural wood ceiling in an art studio.

Here is a link to one that is more modern – by Olson Kundig Architects.

And, here is one that is more rustic – by rememberthewindow.wordpress.com.

Categories: The Artist's Studio
February 14, 2013 | 0 comments

The Artist’s Studio – Rustic wood floor, part 1

Now I can tell you why I had been searching for shoddy Dura-Craft trim wood. To make a rustic floor in The Artist’s Studio, of course! :D I love the variation in colors and texture.

Alas, the Studio was too big for the minimal amount I was able to gather. A few people sent me some scraps, but it still was not enough. But, fear not!!! Mike has come to the rescue! I sent him some samples of the original wood, and he cut a whole bunch of random planks of poplar and pine for me using the originals for size reference.

I will use my Dura-Craft boards mixed with his planks to blend the various colors. Most of the floor will be covered in the back left portion of the room, either with the stove platform, rug or furnishings, so most of the fancier Dura-Craft boards will be used toward the front. Here’s a quick random layout. I think it will be wonderful!

My scroll saw and I are getting acquainted quickly. I started cutting and placing the wood boards for the rustic floor. I’m doing my best to make it a random plank floor by using the various lengths Mike cut for me and then piecing end boards to finish each row.

My scroll saw is clamped to the end of the dining room table (I just had an image of carving a Thanksgiving turkey with it…haaaa!). The Artist’s Studio, however, is set up in the breakfast nook in my kitchen. That setup seemed like a lot of back and forth work. I moved the Studio to the dining room, but the light isn’t the best in that area. So, I’m using my sewing lamp as a work light. Not quite to scale, is it?

I decided to cut and place the entire floor without glue. I’m positive Mike sent me plenty of wood, but I wanted to see it whole before installing it permanently. Love it!

Toward the front, I interspersed the Dura-Craft wood I had at the start. I’ve left the very front edge uncovered and will finish that row once the whole floor is glued in place.

Categories: The Artist's Studio
February 11, 2013 | 0 comments

Heritage – roof finishing, part 2

Continuing work on the roof finishing. With the roof shingles applied and painted, the only thing left was to finish the roof ridges. I thought about doing lapped shingles but didn’t like the way it looked on the dormer when I tried it. It doesn’t look terrible here in this photo, but there were a lot of gaps on the top and it just looked off.

I decided to go with 1/4″ corner trim from Manchester Woodworks, which is also an easier solution. I used my new scroll saw to make the cuts; it’s a wonderful machine!

I used old Dura-Craft strip wood to enclose the flat roof portion. I didn’t trim around the bottom edge, because I didn’t like the way it looked.

I painted the new pieces to match the roof.

It already looks more finished, but once the moss is on it will blend better.

Final roof touches here.

Categories: The Haunted Heritage
February 10, 2013 | 0 comments

Autumn Throw Blanket in mini

I have another beautiful creation by Mary of Roslyn Treasures.

This is the previous blanket she made.

Some time ago, I found this real life sized pattern on favecrafts.com and thought it would be perfect in miniature. I contacted Mary since her workmanship is flawless. Mary adapted the real life pattern into a perfect miniature interpretation.

She works with sewing thread and I have to tell you, the level of detail in her stitches is just amazing. As someone who crochets in real life size, I am in awe of her ability to do the same craft in miniature.

Categories: Miniatures
February 5, 2013 | 0 comments

The Artist’s Studio – construction begins

With the wiring channels and basic landscape board in place, I started by gluing the foundation to the foam base. The foundation consists of the original kit floor board and two additional pieces of 3/8″ plywood to make up the front floor addition. I have multiple pieces because I used scraps from my wood pile.

I then glued on the back and sides after tracing basic templates onto drawing paper. Even though there is no glue holding the ceiling board on, I used it to hold the shape of the walls since eventually it will need to fit onto them like a lid. I will also leave it on when I am not working on the build to combat any warping that might occur in the walls.

It’s strange to me to start gluing the walls in place since my builds are often in dry fit for months! I guess I did dry fit the structure awhile ago, so it’s not that recent a development.

Thus begins the chicken or the egg portion of the build. I need to install the bathroom sconces before I can install the living area flooring since the wires for the sconces will run underneath it. To install the sconces, I need the center dividing board and its wallpaper in place. To install that divider wall, I need the bathroom tile flooring in place. So, that’s where we start. :D

I unpeeled the paper from the tiles and used no additional glue. These are relatively heavy tiles and don’t lift or warp.

I then glued in the dividing wall, using two triangles to keep it square. The top cut wasn’t very precise, but I can easily mask this with ceiling trim later on. And, I do have a ceiling treatment in mind that will make up some of the difference besides.

Once the glue dried on the dividing wall, it was time for the bathroom wallpaper: Canson Ivory drawing paper. I taped the paper backing over the tiles to protect them from the wallpaper paste.

I used Yes! paste to apply paper. Again, I didn’t worry too much about the paper along the tops of the walls since I will add ceiling trim later.  Note: I no longer recommend Yes paste – I use Wallpaper Mucilage instead.  Yes paste has problems with longevity.

To find the holes for the sconces on the wallpaper side, I poked a sewing pin through the holes on the living area side.

I glued the sconces in place and taped the wires into the channels.

The wires come out of the foam under the structure. I will splice them together to work as a set later.

I have a few others things to share, the first of which is my new Proxxon scroll saw. Sexy, no? :D

Categories: The Artist's Studio
February 3, 2013 | 0 comments