Heritage – front bay window, part 6

Finishing the top of the front bay window. The top of the bay window needed finishing. I had used sheet cork painted black for the parapet on Baxter Pointe Villa, but it was too thick of a material to use here. I did a test sample of 320 grit sandpaper painted black and loved it! So, I glued the sandpaper to the bay window roof first.

I then slathered on black paint.

A paper towel blotted over it evened out the texture and color. Here it is still shiny from the wet paint.

To finish the edge, I used quarter scale widow’s walk railings by Grandt Line. The railings are very delicate but look suitable in scale for the bay window.

I spray painted them flat black to start and then trimmed them to fit end to end, shown here unattached.

To age them, I dabbed on some Bittersweet Chocolate and Terra Cotta by Americana. Rusty old iron was created.

I attached them with a combination of super glue gel and tacky glue. These are so delicate that I am certain they will need to be repaired or replaced at some point in the future. I painted six to use three, so I’ll store the extras.

Categories: The Haunted Heritage
October 27, 2012 | 0 comments

Adding a wire after it’s too late

Well, it’s never too late to add a wire really, but sometimes it’s not worth the effort or deconstruction in order to add it after everything is already in place. But, in this instance, I was lucky.

When I originally made the cellar unit with working doors, they were to hold any flickering fireplace unit I might add to the parlor at a later date. Now, I thought, it would be a great place to hide the battery switch for the light I needed on the front porch. After consulting my photos of the basement supports and lighting configuration in an earlier post, I saw that it was workable. I cut a hole in the foundation behind the stairs to access the basement. ;]

I had already planned to keep the front steps removable since I might want to change the outer décor from time to time. Having a hard-wired light bulb sticking out of the stone steps isn’t ideal for that reason. Initially, I thought I would just hide the battery and its on/off switch in a crawlspace hole behind the stairs, but then I would have to remove the steps every time I wanted to turn the light on and off. The cellar is a much better solution.

Here is the path of the wire and the thin gap I needed to aim for.

A hole drilled in the back of the cellar provided access to the adjacent compartment.

I used a bit of plastic tubing angled up toward the basement ceiling and fed a length of floral wire through it. I used floral wire since it is more rigid than electrical wire and therefore moves more easily through the tube.

After a little fishing (and a little swearing), it broke through the gap. I tied the end of the floral lead wire to electrical wire and started the feed through the tube.

Now to retrieve the floral lead wire from inside the crawlspace.

Yes, my hand fits in a hole 2 3/4″ wide x 1 1/2″ high. :D I first lined the hole with masking tape to save myself from splinters, though.

And, there it is! Hooray!

I pulled the floral wire until the electrical wire came through the crawlspace hole.

I removed the floral lead wire from the front end and the tube from the cellar end, leaving the electrical wire ready to use.

What’s the wire for? You can probably guess…but Blake and Lyssa aren’t allowed to say. :D

Categories: The Haunted Heritage
October 22, 2012 | 0 comments

Heritage – grandma’s neglected lawn, part 5

Continuing work on the lawn. Around The Tree, there was a whole lot of winging it. I first glued in a few larger pieces of the Savannah TuftGrass by Heki, including leftovers from the left side of the lawn, and then just patched and patched and patched. Here is a work in progress shot. I applied the grass in the same manner as I had done for the left side.

I have a large piece set aside for the back corner where the chimney will be. That will remain unglued until much later.

I love the way the burrow looks with the grass in place. Before it was somewhat obscured by the dark base all around it, but now it stands out amongst the green. :D

The roots also stand out more now.

Since the stone steps are mossy, I added moss to the walkway pavers and the pedestals. :] The stone step assembly and pedestals will remain removable even after completion of the build.

While I was at it, I gave the tree trunk and roots a little moss covering here and there. I might add more to fine-tune the landscape but wanted to get at least the base coat on. I think I need mushrooms, too. I’ll have to work on that. (Here they are!)

I have yet to add the rest of the goldenrod flowers since I was battling a headache today. But, I love it so far.

Pretty Ophelia. :D

Categories: The Haunted Heritage
October 21, 2012 | 0 comments

Heritage – grandma’s neglected lawn, part 4

Continuing work on the lawn. The grass mat I will be using is Savannah TuftGrass by Heki from Scenery Express. It has low and high grasses in variegated coloration to simulate a late autumn lawn. It’s pricey, but the look is spot on in scale for a poorly kept lawn with some overgrown and dying spots in the grass. The sheets are only 6″ wide, though they are 17″ long, so there are places on the landscaping board that will need to be pieced. I bought four sheets, which should be plenty.

The backing of the grass is a clear, rubbery substance though not sticky. This makes it more flexible than the grass mat I had used for The Aero Squadron Lounge, which will be good for the uneven landscape I need to cover.

I cut the side piece to fit.

To make the divide between the grass and the dirt look less planned, I tore the grass mat backing along the house edge, removing only the tiniest bit of material.

I spread glue on the base board and on the edges of the grass mat.

I pressed it into place and then moved on to the front pieces. Here the side and side front are shown mostly filled in. The camera tends to flatten things, so you can’t really see just how well the grass conforms to the uneven ground underneath. There will eventually be finishing trim along the edges of the baseboard (I now do this finishing step from the beginning to make things easier).

For a bit of non-grass vegetation, I have the Goldenrod Weeds “Silflorettes” by MiniNatur. These come all webbed together, and you cut the stalks off the web to apply individually. I have summer, late summer, and autumn colors but I might not use the summer ones for this particular project. The others have softer, muted tones.

These are obviously not in-scale goldenrod stalks for 1:12 scale, but they do look like little flowering plants. I used an awl to make holes in the ground to plant them. I left the awl in place while I prepped the individual flowers for planting, otherwise I’d lose track of the hole.

I’ll be adding more, but I already love the way they look.

Here you can see the ballast dirt dried to a nice dark color. :]

I had to piece the grass mat together in many places, so I saved every corner and edge removed from the larger sheets. I used these scraps to fill in areas where the grass sheets met the house and each other.  If you look to the left, you can see it wasn’t always seamless.

If you have something that sticks out and could be mistaken for sloppy work instead of a planned aesthetic, often the best solution is to draw more attention to it. I used the goldenrod flowers as well as Extra Long Autumn Tufts “Silflorettes” by MiniNatur — little clumps of grass material that you apply individually to fill in here and there — to address a few of the problem areas. The autumn tones coordinate perfectly with the grass mat while looking like a different sort of weed grass.

Your eye is now drawn to these plants and not to the bare patches and inconsistent seams between the grass sheets. :D

I have the other side to tackle next and more planned for finishing this side as well, but wow, does a little greenery ever change the look of the house! :D

Categories: The Haunted Heritage
October 21, 2012 | 0 comments

Heritage – grandma’s neglected lawn, part 3

Continuing work on the lawn. Now that The Tree is planted, Grahame’s burrow is in place and the stone walkway is in, I can start landscaping.

The pavers attached with a mix of spackling and glue held tight! Hooray! In fact, if I had to remove them, I think they might take the foam base with them. :D

I added paint washes to stain the grout and to darken the stones, which also brought out the cracks. Moss will be added later to the walkway pavers so the coloration looks a little off on them at the moment.

I then dirtied up the lower portion of the brick foundation, the pillars and stairs with a brown and black paint wash.

Instead of having the grass go all the way to the house, I decided to have dirt showing along the foundation. After spreading a layer of glue with a brush, I added the Ballast Fine Dark Brown by Woodland Scenics. I worked in small sections so the glue wouldn’t dry out before the ballast could be added. (Note from 2024: I would now use Scenic Cement for projects such as these but didn’t know about it in 2012.)

I used a glue syringe to fill part of the lines between the stone pavers.

I used the syringe to fill the areas around the roots.

I glued the cellar doors onto the base board but didn’t add the ballast dirt on the main wall behind them. I’ll have to complete this portion of the landscaping after the chimney is installed, which can’t be done until all of the wiring in the house is complete.

I let it set for quite awhile before brushing the excess back into the container, then vacuuming the remainder. I have a good amount of ballast dirt around The Tree and the house, but I can always add more when I get to the grass portion of the lawn.

I added a dark wash of brown and black to the dirt, though this may lighten in color as it dries.

I think the front walkway looks fabulous so far. :D

I left Grahame’s burrow the original lighter color inside so it would remain visible. Besides, that dirt has been dug out and is fresher. :]

I’ll need to let this dry completely before moving on to the lawn.

Categories: The Haunted Heritage
October 20, 2012 | 0 comments