Sugarplum Cottage to Monarch Cottage 05

 The chimney is made of stones torn from paper egg cartons. 

 The first step was to paint the chimney with a medium gray craft paint, just a bit darker than the gray of the egg carton. This will serve as grout between the stones.

The "stones" glued on in a random pattern to mimic fieldstones. The "grout" looks more like background than a substance holding the stone in place. A little more magic is needed.

To reach this stage, some of the "grout" gray was brushed over the stones. Not a solid layer, but enough to cover any printing and add some highlights to the stones. 

The next step was to add a darker gray in spots to define some shadows, which enhanced the surface texture.

The last step was to add a third gray color, the darkest gray, which further enhanced the texture of the stones and did a bit of aging.

Click on the photo to see the detail in a larger view.

Notice that the stones stop beneath the slots where the roof pieces will attach. The upper part of the chimney will be finished after the roof is installed and the chimney top is built out. Some of the pieces will have to wrap around the corners of the chimney to mimic real stones.

The timber pieces are taped in place. The chimney needs to be smoothed where a few "stones" stick over the edge. A sharp knife or razor blade will do the job. After that, the timbers can be glued in place.

I found photos of several cottages online that looked like this one, with no bricks at the bottom. I am now thinking that this cottage does not need bricks. By the time the landscaping and butterflies are added, it is going to busy enough.

Time to dig out the instructions and go on to the next step.