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January 2004 I came across a reader's letter (with a photo) in a copy of Dolls House & Miniature Scene which referred to a Tudor House designed by Gerry Welch for Dolls House Projects. Unfortunately not available at my local Miniature group... Onto the Internet to search for the magazine - horrors! It is out of print... Just when I am about to give up and go on to something else, Gerry Welch came up with another, slightly different, Tudor House in a new issue of Dolls House Projects. Right, so it's off out to buy all the necessary materials and paraphernalia required! |
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(Pause as Life intervenes) September 2004 Discover that my timber for the base and roof of the house has gone missing - carted off, we assume, by the junkman who took a pile of old timber and presumably padded the load with all my sheets of MDF! Will have to go and buy it all again. December 2004 Finally, I get the plans out and start to draw it all up on paper - yikes, this house is huge!! Forty eight inches wide didn't seem that much until I start converting to centimetres - where on earth am I going to house this grand establishment?? Manage to spend two weeks thinking about it, while my Butterfly Mind flits from Fimo sculpting... to lace-making... to doll-making...and then of course, Christmas just sort of gets in the way.... |
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January 2005
Ahhh! a New Year (and the anniversary of the first purchases for the house) and
I've finally decided... It's going to be only ONE wing of the house! Cut the base out - laid out the timbers for the foundations, put up the walls. Then decided I would need a flight of stairs to gain access to the first floor - add a strip to the side of the base! |
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Discover my bandsaw is "wandering" - I have
timbers which vary in width from one end to the other -
spend most of my time sanding them level. Search
the Internet to find out how to fix the problem. Finally, I swallowed my pride and asked the male members of the Guild what I should do. "Replace the blade with one of a finer tooth..." "level the table..." (I could have sworn it was already level) ... after all this, it turns out my "square" is not square, even though it is a reputable make - all this out-sourcing to the East plays havoc with quality! "... and turn the cupped washer under the tension spring upside down so that there is more tension on the blade..." (not mentioned in the instruction book, but it works!) |
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Oh, what a pleasure - I could stand and cut timber all day! Well, now I have lovely straight window frames - the only trouble is half were cut before adjustment and what I thought was 6mm isn't... Well, with something this small, you'll only be able focus on one thing at a time, right? (I just know those helpful men will pick up on it immediately! |
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February 2005
Decided I need to take a break...how about trying out the
mini lathe? I spent frustrating hours going through all my DH books (I'm not ashamed to admit that so far I have 41) but no-one has instructions on how-to-do a four poster bed. I did, however, find some small photos, but no measurements... Finally I found an auction site with a photo... |
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March 2005 It's been a frustrating time trying to find a replacement
for the draught excluder to make the walls. In a hot country there's not
much call for something like that but finally the problem is solved (or so I
think) with a sheet of rigid aerothane foam. Only problem is - the Polyfilla won't stick to the surface!!! So it's out with the white glue and some scrim (gauze bandage) and yes, it sticks! Since I'd plastered the walls panels before gluing into place It's all too easy to forget that, once the walls are plastered, there's no way to identify them! I forgot, for the first few pieces, to write on the bottom edge and on the house frame which piece is which (A, B, C, etc., is enough) and also draw an arrowhead showing which side is the front. By mistake, I later sanded off the numbers on two of them - won't do that again in a hurry!! Finally got it to the stage where it has some walls and I've done the flagstone floor. It's now beginning to look more Tudor! |
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2006
Decide to take a another break (flit!) and do some more woodwork - this is the Staircase from
the first floor to the attic.
And then..... I decided to add another whole floor.... 2008 This project is on hold until I find some time! |
