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Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Cornice Progress

Now that I have the cornice moldings painted and installed, I really like them. So much better than the original trim I had on the window tops. I learned how to use on hand supplies, just 1/8" basswood and chair rail trim, to really dress up the frames. If I'm smart, I'll make molds of the fancy resin pieces and have them on hand for future projects.


I like the lower profile and finer detail of the decorative resin piece I used on the dining room cornice, but I only had one. I still like the ones in the living room, just not as much.



I assembled the cornices using the arched front pieces I made on the Cricut, then added structure pieces on the top and sides using 1/2" x 1/8" pine scraps that I had on hand. I painted them with the Americana Blue Mist, the darker of the two shades in the color scheme since it was a closer match to the almost see through fabric.


The fabric is nice and lightweight, so it was fairly easy to mold onto the cornice forms using only Quick Grab Tacky glue. I really like the texture and wish I could get my hands on more of this fabric in different colors!



You can see that the color is a nice complement to the wall color, and is an almost perfect match to the darker door color. I like the way you can see the decorative moldings under the arch, so I'll most likely just have straight panels hanging down on either side.



I have the test pieces iron hemmed, pleated and sprayed. I'll pull them out when dry and see if the Stiffen Quick seems like it will do the job (from Brae's tutorial). If not, I'll try additional test pieces with Elizabeth's damp fabric/gel glue tutorial, or Sheila's watered down white glue method. One thing I noticed on my test fabric is that I'll need to have careful measurements overall and carefully calculate the hem into them. I ended up with a longer pleat on the end of the right fabric because it was too short for another pleat. I imagine this would look bad if it happened to my "real" fabric.


Also, I was watching a movie called The Queen. I noticed that all of the white moldings appeared to have some sort of gilding or highlighting and it looked amazing. Not so stark, and the detail showed up better. I found a couple photos online. What do you think? Should I give it a try? Maybe just a bit of chalk pastels brushed on would make a difference.



Anyway, off to bed to dream about the panels. Hopefully, I'll have some show and tell to share in the next few days!

Sleep tight,

Jodi

16 comments:

  1. Hello Jodi,
    The window case is awesome. It has so much more depth and character. I love it. The cornices came out beautifully. that is the perfect fabric! I would maybe test the gold highlighting. It is a very nice touch and helps make detail stand out. Keep up the amazing work.
    Big hug
    Giac

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    1. Thanks, Giac! I love the windows too - almost too much to cover them up!

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  2. I do like the idea of metallic detailing. I think it will add something special to an already marvelous addition. :]

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    1. I'm going with the idea and we'll see how it works out. I can always paint over them if we all hate it!

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  3. I think touches of gilding on the details will be lovely, and echo the gold around your fireplace.

    And the cornices look wonderful!

    Good luck with your curtain removal!

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    1. Ugh... The curtains. They are taking too long and are too fussy. Cotton or silk only from now on!!!

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  4. Your cornices look SMASHING!!! I think that a touch of gilding will be just the ticket, but How Marvelous it all looks and How PERFECT each of your choices are!

    elizabeth
    p.s. I had never heard of Brae's Stiffen Stuff before so I made a trip to Micheals and picked up some because it is always good to have more than one way to do anything! :)

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth! The Stiffen Quick worked awesome on the cotton samples, not at all on the rayon or whatever this material is. I ended up with watered down tacky. Still cutting, shaping and in general trying to get them to behave!

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  5. It looks great. I love the curved cornices. I do like the idea of a little gilding.

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    1. Thanks, Cyd! I never would have attempted to cut them without the Cricut. My Xacto skills are mediocre at best!

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  6. Hi Jodi, the new trim looks amazing with the cornice on top! Did you cut basswood with your circut machine?! Did I read that right? How did you manage that? I like your inspiration photos with the chalky highlighting, I think it would be a beautiful touch! Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thanks, Kristine! I only cut the arched curtain cornice faces with the Cricut - out of chipboard. That's what they call it, but it's really just about 1/16" thick laminated cardboard basically. I use Cricut's Deep Cutting Blade, and customize the settings to have it pass through to cut 3x. For the window trim cornices, I used 1/16" basswood that I had to cut myself.

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  7. I really like the cornices. I especially love that you have similar hues of the same colour running through the rooms. I agree with the comments above - a little gilding would just finish them off :0)

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    1. Thanks, Pepper! I am hoping to keep things in hues of the turquoise/seafoam and keep them cohesive all the way through. I love the gilding too, and have to keep myself from going a little overboard - it's just so fun to do!

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  8. I just watched that movie too.. It was on one of the cable movie channels and what can I say.. the architecture sucked me in... Obviously you too. :D
    I think your cornices look lovely in both rooms. Having the castings under the fabric pelmet is such a lovely detail. I think you should give them a bit of gilding also.. more is more, I say!

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    1. Thanks, Sam! Watching all those period dramas is how I get the wants! Problem is, I want every period and I want it NOW! Patience is not one of my strongest virtues!

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