Sugarplum Cottage to Monarch Cottage 15

 

The roof is evolving!

The gable roof turned out to be the same felt/sod of the main roof. Sometimes I overthink the challenges. Using a different type of roofing would, I think, have messed up the overall look. 

I carefully painted the edges of the roof to match the green of the sod. In a few places the paint got onto the felt. It was the same color, just a bit darker. That set me to thinking. A few minutes later, the roof had some shading.

What do I see on the chimney? Can it be the first of the Monarchs?

Thinking: I am not sure about the color of the benches. I am pondering what color to wash them with to age them.

The shaded sod looks good on the roof of the bay window. This angle shows the gable roof. Continuing the felt on those surfaces worked out well. 

There will likely be some tiny flowers popping up here and there on the roof, interspersed between the butterflies yet to come. I need to check the Landscaping tub for possibilities.

Sugarplum Cottage to Monarch Cottage 14

 

Life got in the way of building this week, but some progress has been made.

The furniture has all been painted ivory. It is a nice, soft color, perfect for the cottage. I considered painting some embellishments, like flowers or stripes, but then I found some watercolor flowers in a free clipart site. 

The photo shows them printed them out on plain white paper and taped in place as a test; they passed. I have some decal paper to print them on, so the background will be clear. It will appear that the decoration is painted on. The process requires spraying with a clear sealer, which had to be ordered, so this is as far as this step has gone.

The sod roof is now glued, except for the gable over the front door. I'm afraid that the felt will look too bulky in this small area. I painted some of the shingles green and stuck them on to see if the gable can be shingled. I'm not in love with the effect.

(Click on the picture to enlarge it for details)

The layered look worked out fine on the small bay window roof.

The wooden edges of the roof should have been painted green before gluing the felt, but once again I got ahead of myself. 

It is hard to see in this photo, but the door now has wood-patterned Contact paper on both sides and the window is installed. It will be glued in place once the interior is finished. 

The felt roofing worked well on the open back. The boards that reach from the roof to ground on either side have been stained. They blend well with the Contact paper wood pattern.

The easiest way to stain small pieces is a stain-filled felt pen, available wherever stain is sold. When it runs out, the felt tip can be extracted and the pen refilled.

Sugarplum Cottage to Monarch Cottage 13

 

The roof!

 The sage green felt worked better than I had hoped. Stretching it flat was pretty boring but layering really put some oomph in the exterior. The strips are taped in place and the slopes over the front door are not yet covered. 

The green of the porch benches now clashes with the green of the sod roof.  They need to be a warmer color, maybe pick up some of the burnt orange from the Monarch butterfly wings. Since the benches are not removable, repainting is going to be tricky; time to hunt up the Frog Tape. 

The furniture has been painted with gesso. It was painted ivory after this photo was taken. Tomorrow some decoration will be added before it makes its final appearance here. There is a lacey handkerchief in the stash that may serve as a sheet and pillow cases for the bed. Will need to dig into the fabric box for some suitable bedspread material. 

Since the "windowpanes" will be glued on the inside of the windows, the edges of each window needed to be painted to cover the gray edges of the cardboard timbers, the wooden edges of the walls, and some gesso that slopped over from painting the interior walls. The outside corners, where two bits of the timbering met, also needed to be touched up. A jar of brown paint and a very tiny brush took care of all that. The interior window frames need to be made.

So many details at this stage but it is fun to be able to hop from one thing to another. It will all come together in the end.

Sugarplum Cottage to Monarch Cottage 08

 

This weekend there were some fiddly bits to work on.

The rough spots on the benches were Spackled. 

The paint on the benches has been touched up. A couple of light swipes with the sandpaper smoothed out the Spackle. They still need to be aged/weathered. 

The roof pieces have been glued in place, as has all of the timbering.

The cottage has let me know that it wants a sod roof. Right. Never mind that sod roofs are more likely to be found on Scandinavian homes than an English half-timbered cottage, but this is fantasy, folks, so why not go for sod? The Monarchs will love it!  😊 

Off the top of my head, I can think of a couple of options to make a sod roof. More on that in a future post.

Before any kind of roofing can go on, the chimney needs to be finished. The bits and pieces on the floor are the rest of the chimney. 

One of the chimney pieces was stamped into a particularly dry piece of wood. It delaminated as it was pushed out of the sheet of plywood. A thin layer of tacky glue put it back together. With the clamps to keep the pieces held tightly, it will be dry and ready to go tomorrow stronger than ever.

Now it is time to focus on the interior. No real thought has gone into it so far. There was an urge at one time to give it a coat of gesso and leave it a blank slate, but that has little appeal now that the exterior is getting so detailed. There was also a thought to paint the floor a base color and paint a colorful rug on it. And what about the furniture that came with the kit--to make it not?

At dinner tonight I was reminded of a doll kit that I've had for several years. It is an early 19th century lady peddler. She may like the cottage as her home. In which case, she will want something with a bit more detail. The interior ought to be finished to suit her. Stay tuned!!