100th Post Giveaway - The Loot!

Now that the package for our 100th Post Giveaway has reached the winner, Shelley, I can reveal all of the loot!

The stuff I made:

Bath Basket Set

Espresso Machine

Potted Plants

Nautical Themed Rugs

More Nautical Rugs

Modern Sofa

Bed With Tufted Headboard

The Stuff Not photoed

• Glass Buoy
• Sea Glass
• Metal Jack
• Spalted Maple Cutting Board
• Sea Shells
• Beach Sign

The Stuff From My Shapeways Store:

Hip To Be Square Lamp and Shade (with bulb and wiring socket)

Masculine & Feminine Sculptures

Nautical Wall Art

Kitchen Double Sink & Modern Faucet

Shower Fixture

To Shelley and all of you who entered, and those of you who just stop by to check in on my miniature adventures...

A Giant Thank You!!!

It truly means the world to me to share my minis with you!

Update on the "Bad Idea" Fixes...

The roof panels are not finished yet... In fact, there is a LOT more to do on them! I have been working on them every moment that I can spare. The hubs and I are going on a little weekend adventure over to Olympic National Forest, so while spackle is drying, I thought I'd give you a little update...

First I tried to sand down the texture. It was fairly successful, and I thought I'd be able to live with the results. This was great because I really did not want to have to make new panels and deal with getting the skylights perfectly square. I am still working on those jigsaw skills. I also did not want to wait for new panels to arrive. That also felt like cheating, so I was determined to find a solution. In the photo, you can see the panel that's been sanded, and the one that hasn't. It took the top texture layer down, but it's still too prominent.

Because I used two kits, I had two sets of roof panels. Just like the floor, I had to turn them into one large main roof panel, and one small bump-out roof panel. I  added brace beams for additional strength to the seams. I glued and clamped the panels together and let them sit overnight. The photo below shows a dry fit after the roof panels have been joined together.

Then I added all of the fascia trim and let that sit. While those were drying, I started to make all of the exterior skylight frames. I ordered a 16 oz jar of Apple Barrel black acrylic paint to ensure that I wouldn't run out again! I threw some paintable caulk  in with the order, too, figuring I'd definitely be needing it for the finishing. I love Amazon. My package will be here when I return from the weekend trip.

After sanding the fascia and touching it up with spackle, I got an idea. What if I filled in some of the roof texture with the spackle? That and a flat coat of black paint might just do the trick! Currently, the spackle is drying. I won't get to learn whether this new idea was a good or bad one until I've sanded and painted. All in all, I'm just happy that I still have ideas. I'm also grateful for the intestinal fortitude to take a risk and go with them. As frustrating as it is, sometimes, the mistakes are where I learn the most and come away with a little more skill.

In other news...

Sometimes reading the Greenleaf Forum or other mini blogs gets me into trouble. I see something that looks like so much fun to do that I start to plan for it. Oh boy. Here we go again... At least this project is going to take up much less room. I'd like to give Debora all the blame credit. More to come on this...

Under the heading "Today's Adorable Pet Photo"...

Woodson and Rusty are best buddys, and I couldn't have asked for more! Thank you universe!

Contemplating "Bad Idea" Fixes...

When last I posted about Alki Point, I had pondered making stain for the outside siding. I put some Apple Cider Vinegar and a piece of Steel Wool into a plastic bottle and planned to let it steep until the weekend. Well, that project got a bit derailed. You see, while "waiting for stain to develop", I started working on the roof pieces. This has lead me right down a rabbit hole, and I can't seem to gauge how long I'll be trapped here.

I began with a little remodeling. The starting pieces are the Dollhouse Skylight Roof kit that was available as an add on to the original Asahi Tea House. There were 24 pains in the roof piece to begin with, but I wanted to continue the linear look of the front windows. I carefully cut out the unwanted mullions, sanded and primed the panels.

I plan to have some recessed LED lights in the ceiling, so I drilled the holes for those.

Because there is so much skylight, there is very little roof area left. I looked at many roofing options, but in the end, I decided I wanted something like a hot mop type of roof but with an asphalt texture. I painted a base coat of black.

Then, in a leftover plastic container, I mixed some pretty course sand with more black paint. I applied it pretty liberally, and after the first piece was finished I decided that I didn't really like the way it looked. Too thick and uneven.

 Then I added a lot more black paint so that the paint to sand ratio was about 2/3 paint to 1/3 sand. This worked much better, but I am still not satisfied with the texture.

I brushed on a heavy handed layer of black paint only. This helped a little, but I still don't like it. Now I am out (I think) of black acrylic paint.

Options are:

1. Apply a coat of dollhouse stucco to help fill in and even out the texture.
2. Apply a coat of black latex satin that I have stashed away for furniture touch ups (I have several pieces of black furniture). Hope that adding more paint will help even out the surface a bit.
3. Spray paint it in a lighter color.
4. Live with the results (never gonna happen). Come to terns with my terrible idea.
5. Order new skylight kits and start over. In other words, give up trying to fix it.

I don't give up very easily. Some call this stubborn, some call this persevering. Right now, though, I just need to back away and contemplate a while...

Any tips, ideas or sage advise is most welcome and appreciated!

BTW... The stain is doing great! No scum, no explosions, just a dark rust color and no sign there was ever a steel wool pad inside. If you do this, REMEMBER TO LEAVE THE LID OFF! Hope to get back to this experiment soon!

Have you ever made wood stain?

The next logical step in finishing Alki Point is the exterior. I've been playing around in my mind with colors, textures, and finishes, but nothing yet has cemented the decision. I'm definitely going in two directions, and one of them employs vertical wood siding. 

Have you ever made wood stain using the apple cider vinegar/steel wool method? White vinegar and rusty nails? How about coffee or tea? Well, I never have, but I plan to do some experimenting this weekend!

I read a great blog post from A Piece Of Rainbow. She tested several wood staining methods on several wood species. The great thing about all of them? No smelly chemicals! All of her methods used natural ingredients, and I bet most of us already have them at home! That means, it's almost free! I like that!

HBS/Miniatures.com has a little tutorial on this topic, so that tells me it must be a tried and true method for miniaturists.

For my experiment, I am using the Apple Cider Vinegar and Steel Wool concoction. I want to achieve a very dark brown (to compliment the wood floors in Alki Point) or a very dark and weathered grey (this is a common finish seen in wood siding here in the Northwest). The Apple Cider Vinegar is supposed to achieve a darker stain. How handy is that? It is just what I found in my cupboard!

I started with a non metallic container. Apparently, this is very important. The acid in the vinegar reacts with metal, and will ruin any metal container. I had a Rubbermaid salad dressing bottle, so that's what I used.

I took a piece of steel wool, about the size of an S.O.S. pad and dropped it in the bottle. My steel wool does not have the blue sticky soap stuff like S.O.S. pads. It is the kind that woodworkers use to sand fine finishes. It would be interesting to see how the soap effected the stain... Then I poured in the Apple Cider Vinegar until the steel wool was completely covered.

Everything I read about the process said to leave the lid open. Not because the metal and acid would cause a dangerous reaction of any kind, but because the process that is happening is actually oxidation! The pair needs air to work! Man, science just geeks me out!

Reportedly, the longer you leave them stewing, the darker the stain will be. After 24 hours, I am not seeing much change in the color of the liquid in the bottle. Is that because the color of Apple Cider Vinegar is already so rusty looking? Time will tell. Unfortunately, I don't have any White Vinegar on hand. It would be interesting to watch the color change happen. Oh well. Someday...

I'll probably just let them hang out together until Saturday. Then I'll try the stain on a couple of different scrap pieces. In the blog post, Ananda added concentrated brewed coffee to her vinegar stain and got darker results. The tannins react with the wood.

I may just experiment with that a little, too. The miniatures.com tutorial recommends straining the liquid to eliminate the tiny shards of steel that are left behind. I like it! I'll get out my trusty funnel, put a coffee filter in it, then pour it into another sealable container. Gosh! I hope I made enough!

The Hardest Challenges, The Greatest Excitement!

It's been an exciting few days which started with the Seahawks' shocking last second victory over the Vikings due to a missed chip shot 27 yard field goal. I am still pinching myself over that one. I do feel very bad for the Vikings and their fans. Been there... Remember last year's Superbowl? If you are a Seahawks or Patriots fan, you'll never forget it.

I opted for option #2 in plans for last weekend. I was feeling pretty nervous about all of the things I needed to do for the front wall of Alki Point, so I spent most of the weekend watching football playoffs with the hubs. I practically eliminated the front wall that came with the Asahi Tea House kit so that I could have a wall of windows. I was a little concerned in my ability to pull off such a radical bash. Did I measure everything correctly? Was the lexan going to slip in between both sets of window frames like I planned? Had I thought of all of the variables? What if I really messed up? How was I going to fix it?

Thank all of the wonderful blessing/luck/good fortune/karma/guardian angels/planning/past mistakes etcetera - it all worked out magically! The scoring tool was perfect! I made sure to secure the 1/16" thick lexan to my cutting mat with painters tape, then secured my steel ruler to both the lexan and to the cutting mat before I started to score it. Nothing moved on me, so my score lines were perfect each time. After scoring with about 14 passes, all I needed to do was cut through the film on the opposite side with my craft knife. Only one small edge had to be sanded a bit, due mostly to paint build up on the frame.

With the front wall "glass", interior window and door frames and door handles installed, I could now attach the front wall to the structure - another scary proposition. Did I measure the door height to floor accurately? Did I cut the slots for the tabs in the right place? Gulp... Only one way to find out... Other than having to sort of jimmy the floor under the bottom of the door a bit, and enlarge one of the slots slightly, it matched up perfectly! Like I planned it or something! Actually, I did do a LOT of planning and dry fitting along the way and it paid off!

After the wall was attached, I just stared at Alki Point for a while. Then I got out the roof pieces and started fooling around with those to see how things were going to look. It was then that I realized that everything is totally coming together like I first saw it in my mind's eye. That is such an exciting and rewarding feeling, and why all of us do what we do. Right?

Then, I looked over at the poor pillowless bed and remembered that I still had some challenges in front of me. I thought "why are you so afraid to make a stupid pillow?". Really? I have enough pillow making material that I could screw up twelve times and still be able to start over. Shelley was even so kind as to find a great tutorial, give it a go, take in progress photos, then email it all to me! If she was willing to do all of that for me, I at least owed her a try! So I did...

I used a little fusible web on the first couple throw pillows to see how it would work. On the grey pillows, it worked well enough that all I had to do was hand sew the last opening. The coral fabric did not want to stay together, so I ended up hand sewing all of them. I made several of them and just finished the best four.

For the bed pillows, I covered 3/16" x 1-1/2" x 2" mat board pieces with quilt batting using Tacky Glue. Then I took cotton handkerchief material and glued it over the batting. For the pillow cases, I ironed seems into the material, then hand sewed two sides leaving one open to slide the pillows into.

My stitches are okay - not as clean looking as I'd like, but I got some experience and learned some things. I think I need to let go of the idea that everything should turn out perfectly. I am happy and can live with the pillows I made, especially when I look at the project as a whole - I think Alki Point, for the most part, is turning out just as I had hoped!

Got Sticks?

One thing I learned back in 2004 when decorating our first house was, you've got to have sticks! Every design magazine I've ever looked at whether modern, contemporary, traditional or retro all have one thing in common - sticks! In my current house, which is very traditionally decorated, I have two wonderful tall jugs/vases with... you guessed it... Sticks! I find that bringing wood elements into any design adds the perfect little touch of natures majesty.

Alki Point needed a little design element in the corner connecting the right wall with the front wall of windows. I made a large Asian looking plant in a resin wicker basket, but it seemed a little too big for the space. After all, we are not trying to block the view of Puget Sound. It needed just a little pop of nature so that when guests gazed out the big wall of windows, they'd have a little perspective. Here in the Northwest, we often combine elements of water with forest.

Luckily, I had some really awesome planters that I designed for Alki Point. The 3D printing process done in White, Strong and Flexible leaves a wonderful pottery type texture that is a perfect organic balance to the modern and sleek elements. I also just so happened to have several harvested, saved and recycled materials to create an interesting stick sculpture.

The ones on the left are pieces that I "borrowed" from an artificial arrangement that is stored away just to be borrowed from. The sticks on the right are "borrowed" from some stocks of autumn leaves I have to decorate the front porch for fall, and the sticks in the middle are actually huckleberry branches harvested from our beautiful Gifford Pinchot National Forest on vacation last summer. I always come home with lots of forest treasures!

I decided on a good length, then cut them down with my nippers. I was able to get two sticks out of some of them.

On the test arrangement, I decided I wanted them to be sticking out of the planter just a little more.

So I filled the planter about 1/3 full with hot glue. I let it cool completely before placing the sticks so that they would not sink in. I added just a little glob to the end of each stick before I placed it in.

The whole project took about 10 minutes, even with stopping to take photos. I love all of the different textures together, and the planter is just what I was hoping for!

Now for the Asian plant that I did not use here (but will use in the future, or maybe outside the structure)...

I picked up a branch of this artificial leaf at Joanne Fabrics a while back. I have no idea what type of plant it's supposed to be, but the leaf color and markings combined with the dark brown stem reminds me of stuff I've seen in the Japanese Garden here in Seattle.

The container I'm using is one of the resin types that I picked up on a HBS/miniatures.com order. I start by just squeezing a bit of the hot glue to hold the first branch in place. I like to get several of them just tacked in place. That lets me arrange and angle them the way I like. Once I am happy. I'll fill the rest of the container about 2/3 full of hot glue. I hold onto the branches until the glue is set, because the hot glue will melt and sort of wilt them. That is a good thing, trust me.

Once the hot glue has cooled, you can further arrange and pose the new plant with floral wire. I just play around with it until I am happy with the pose. Then I wrap the wire around, give it a twist, cut off the excess, add a dot of hot glue to hold it in place, then camouflage the wire as best as possible.

To finish off the planter, I add a layer of white glue. I use a toothpick to cover the entire surface under the plant.

I used rubber "bark" that I have on hand from HBS to cover the glue layer. The glue dries clear. You can use dried coffee grounds or tea leaves as well. Just apply over the glue layer, let dry, then shake off the excess.

Although it turned out to be a littler larger than I was intending it to and was not right for the space, it will work out great someplace else!

Hope you give sticks and plants a try if you haven't yet!

A Bit Of The Boring With A Sprinkle Of Tedium...

I was emailing with an internet friend and telling her that I was working on Alki Point doing really boring stuff and that I probably wasn't going to blog about it. She reminded me that even in the mundane, there are warnings, tricks and lessons for others. So okay - hope someone gets something out of this!

Remember the wall that I made to separate the bedroom and bathroom? You know, the one I purposely left a channel in so that I could run the wires for the Shapeways lamps through it to the outside wall where it would be hidden by the siding and tie into the roof piece containing all of the wiring that will be removable? Whuuuuuuuuuuuaaa (deep breath in). Well, I glued the dang wall in thinking I could fish the wires through to the outside. No problem, right? Optimism is often my downfall...


It was not going to work, so, after gently ripping out the wall and scraping off the glue residue, I used a piece of 20 gauge copper wire with the electrical wire tied to the end and forced it through to the end for both lamps before I had to re-glue the wall in place (now tethered with wires) and get it clamped before it misaligned and left glue in all the wrong places. Whhhhhhuuuuuaaaa (another deep breath in)...


Wires through, taped in place, lamp bulbs checked, lit up nicely, crisis managed, all is well that ends well! Thank goodness!






Now for baseboards... Measured, cut (used this saw I got for my birthday - it's awesome) sanded, painted, sanded, painted, sanded, painted, rubbed with paper lunch bag, installed (all but front wall, more on that later).



Installed "net art" which is a leftover net painted white to represent monotone texture/sculpture kind of thing although I am nearly completely uneducated about what "art" is so I am guessing here that it actually is art or at least in my mini world it can be. Whhhhhhuuuuuaaaa (another deep breath in). Notice the tape holding it in place while drying because it is not flat on the back and there were very few actual points of contact where the glue met the wall.




Bed, nightstands, lamps, baskets glued in place now (still trying to muster "pillow courage"). Baseboards visible...






Glass buoy on coffee table recovered in hemp twine (didn't like the look of the fish net. If it bothers you, get rid of it!). Rug and sofa "permanently" installed. Baseboards visible...




Over the weekend, hope to get plexi and trim installed on the front wall, then affix to structure... Or maybe lie in bed with the hubs and catch all of the NFL playoff games with naps in between. We'll see... It's the weekend - do what you like!

Happy Friday my friends!