Miniature Fireplace

This is what was in the package to the Petersiks from Young House Love.

A miniature replica of their fireplace!

I've been waiting until they'd posted about it to share it with you.

Which they have done. Check it out here, especially if you want a size comparison of the fireplace with a chihuahua. 

I've been known to make the occasional miniature fireplace and when I saw their post with a step by step of how they made their actual fireplace the two things connected.

I thought I would make their fireplace, and then maybe see if they wanted it. It's not like I had anything else to do (still no job).

This would also allow me to try using plastic materials which I'd been introduced to on the model making course I took, instead of card and wood.

Half way through the process of making the miniature the Petersiks announced they were moving house. At first I thought 'oh no!' but then it was even more of a reason why they should have this model. As a memento of the fireplace they built in their own house.

As soon as the model was finished I emailed a photo to the Petersiks and received the best email back from Sherry. It started with an excited 'AHHHHHHHHH!'

I love it when people are emotive over email, and Sherry is that fo sho.

#bloggerfangirlmoment

A few more emails back and forth and the mini fireplace was off to Virginia.

The hardest part of the model, or rather the most time consuming, was the tiling. I had to cut and then lay so many tiny tiles.

And then do the grouting.

The tiles were made from thin pvc card, painted with acrylic to look marble-y, and then cut in to individual tiles. 

Recreating the decorative trim was tricky, but achievable!

I'm really proud of this fireplace, and am pretty overwhelmed by the response it's got over on Young House Love.

I'm also really happy that I could give the Petersiks a way to take something with them from their old house to their old house.

House progress: It's all in the details

All that's left to show you of my model house are the finishing touches.

Like the scattered leaves (mixed herbs) around the drain pipes.

The pink umbrella in the porch.

The slate house number and the doormat.

The concrete passageway down the side of the house.

Note the handy mirror in the background that makes the house look like it's part of a neighbourhood.

Here's hoping the examiners like what I've made.

House progress: The back bedroom

 It's about time I show you the back bedroom of my miniature house.

Bed, books, fancy picture.

Nothing weird here...except shouldn't there be a duvet?

Purse, pens, jewellery box.

Wait, are those fleck of blood on the drawers?

Oh, it must just be a nose bleed.

Dude, stop looking in the bin. You guys are gross.

Erm...I think it might be a bit more than a nosebleed...

Holy cowbags!!

The next day this happened.

No relation!

I just got a little too confident with the craft knife.

(Sorry if real blood makes you squeamish, but I had to live it! And I'm kind of a medical lightweight so I had to just sit very still for a while until I stopped feeling funny)

"But Lisa, if you had cut yourself the day before then you could have used real blood for your piece."

No! You're sick.

Geez.

House progress: Roof

The house has a roof!

Took long enough!

The roof panels start out like this.

Lots of 1x1cm square piece of card.

I got very excited the other day when my friend lent me a War-gaming making book and they'd used the same method for roof tiles. It means I'm doing it right.

Each roof tile is then glued to a piece of mount board which I measured out horizontal lines on.

That's the part that took a long time.

For example, when working on one panel I got through the last Harry Potter film, A Town Called Panic, an episode of The Voice and an episode of Casualty.

But, in my defence, A Town Called Panic has subtitles so I had to keep stopping to read. 

Once all the titles were stuck I went over them with chalk and charcoal to make them look weathered and added some 'moss'.

I made guttering and drainpipes out of drinking straws.

Cutting straws so that they're straight is hard, so just don't look too closely.

They really help the piece look like a proper house.

I also made lead flashing out of paper that I painted a silvery grey.

I didn't know that it was called lead flashing before this, so it's nice to see that I'm learning something.

House progress: Rubbish bin

For the narrative side of my house I had to make a rubbish bin.

For this I had to be the crazy girl in the street taking photos of her own wheelie bins.

The whole thing is made of paper and card. Oh and a paper clip may have been involved.

The bin has been knocked over (the tyre marks in the background may have had something to do with it) and all the rubbish bags are spilling out.

I loved making this bin.

Is that weird? It's like when I made this toaster.

It was nice to make one small object from beginning to end in one sitting, and try really hard to make it really detailed.

I love it so much I'm tempted to exhibit it on it's own for the degree show!

Kidding. I haven't spent three months making the rest of the house for nothing.

House progress: front bedroom

I hadn't planned what was going to go in this room of my miniature house as it wasn't going to be a plot point for the narrative of the piece.

I thought about just filling it with little cardboard boxes and calling it the spare room but my friend encouraged me to at least put a bed in it.

Which I did, and then I added some shelves and drawers.

And then I needed things to fill the shelves of course so I made some tiny books and dvds, a laptop, and iPod and even a magic 8 ball.

A few posters on the wall and suddenly this room was a teenage boys bedroom.

So I guess that's him, with the purple socks, hiding under the duvet.

But what's he hiding from?

The answer to that is in the other bedroom.

Which you'll see soon enough.

Degree show tree progress

You've seen the tree I'm making for my degree show piece so now I'll show you some progress on the rest of the piece.

The tree slots into a hole in a piece of wood which is attached to a piece of MDF.

The MDF is 45x55cm which is the same size as the top of my plinths.

To make the mound which the tree sits atop a scrunched up newspaper around the block of wood and then papier mached over the whole thing to create a gradual slope. 

Then I put the whole thing in the airing cupboard to dry.

Unfortunately all that water and glue from the papier mache-ing caused the MDF to warp. All four corners were bending upwards.

Mega annoying.

To try and fix this I coated the underside of the MDF with watered down PVA and then balanced it on a roll of masking tape. I put stacks of heavy books on each corner to pull them down.

I did this a few times and it has helped, but it's still not perfect.

I painted the mound first with a mixture of brown paint, glue and dried tea and coffee.

Yummy.

I used this mixture to build up an area around the tree.

Then I painted over some of the brown with green as a base colour for the grass.

For the grass I bought some grass scatter from Ebay from a seller that specialises in model railway supplies.

Up until now I'd managed to avoid using supplies like this, but I couldn't think of an alternative way to make the grass.

Then I started making some tyre tracks.

Stay tuned to find out what that's about.

Degree show tree

In addition to the house I'm making for my degree show, I'm also making a second piece that features a tree.

I've made a tree before and I was pretty proud of it -someone even bought it- which is why I thought I'd be able to successfully make another one.

Confirmation on that statement is still pending.

Here's how it's going so far.

I started with a lot of wire wrapped round a piece of wooden dowel which then branches out into..well..branches. 

I bought a whole heap (yeah, that's a technical term of measurement...) of Sculpey for this project, but only ended up using a quarter of it. More Sculpey for me!

I covered all the wire in Sculpey and I added some foil around the trunk before adding the Sculpey to bulk it out a bit.

Then, as you may know, Sculpey needs to be put in the oven to harden.

My tree only just fit in the oven! I had to take all the shelves out and was then worried that the tree would tip backwards into the flames.

The required time is between 15 and 30 minutes but when I opened the oven door after 6 minutes to check on it, a lot of smoke came out. So I thought I ought to abort the mission.

The 6 minutes was actually enough time to harden most of the branches but the trunk was still squidgy.

I put the tree back in the oven twice more with the door slightly open, but the trunk didn't get any harder.

So I gave up and went straight to painting it.

As I was painting it some of the bigger branches near the trunk started to fall apart a little bit.

Slight panic, but then I grabbed some small strips of newspaper and some watery PVA glue and papier-mached the tree Neil Buchanan style. 

The Sculpey is still squidgy under the newspaper, but at least it's not falling apart and I was able to finish painting it.

I'm not sure if the colour's exactly right yet, it's looking a bit grey, but trees aren't exactly brown. I like the texture I've got going on. 

House progress: Appliances

I've started adding more details to the rooms in the house, but have realised that the objects don't have to be perfect as when the house has the roof on not a lot of light can get in the rooms.

This is the television for the living room.

I decided to put something on the screen just for fun. I only had an Argos catalogue so my choice was very limited.

So they're watching the X factor. I don't know what that says about the inhabitants of this house...

The living room also has a side table and a sofa. I was able to make the sofa out of cardboard which I painted a shiny brown. In the dim light this looks like brown leather.

The kitchen now has a toaster and a kettle, which meant I had to then make plug sockets.

The sink has been filled with washing up (no taps though...I need to get on that). My tutor didn't like the way the sink was obviously made of aluminium foil and as I couldn't think of a better way to make it I added plates and cups to cover it up.

It will also add to the narrative of the piece. Why has the washing up been left only half done?

House progress: porch

More house progress. It's been a busy week guys.

The porch and garage now has a roof!

But before I attached the roof I realised I should probably finish the inside of the porch because once the roof is on I'll have limited access.

I made a little chest with a seat on which I imagine the little inhabitants of this house sitting on to put on their shoes. You've seen the fabric I used on the top here and here. That stuff was a good buy.

I also make a row of coat hooks from some small pins that I bent into shape. They kept scratching my hand when I was reaching in to arrange things. 

The porch also has a doormat but I wouldn't want to wipe my shoes on it as it's actually made of sandpaper that I painted.

Paving

More progress on my degree show house.

The back of the house now has paving!

I scored individual paving slabs into a piece of thick grey card and roughly painted them.

Then I smudged charcoal over the paving so it would go into the cracks to look like dirt.

I also added grass scatter, the kind used on model railways, along with dried tea and mixed herbs.

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out as it looks pretty realistic. It was also nice to get some instant results as it seems most of the parts I'm working on for this building are taking a long time, but it doesn't look like I'm getting anyway.

Inside the house

 Initially I wasn't going to bother too much with the inside of the house I'm making, but after being encouraged by my tutor and my family, and then getting a bit carried away, the inside it starting to take shape.

This is the ground floor with the hall, kitchen and living room.

View through the porch window of the stairs.

The front door.

Uh-oh, the glass has been smashed!

The view into the living room.

I still need to add furniture.

The kitchen.

I thought it would be cool to print the wallpaper using another hand made rubber stamp.

Cos it's not like I have tonnes of other things on this house to work on...

A house doesn't need a roof if it has hand-printed wallpaper, right?