North Shore Retreat: 18 - 20 January 2008
My Miniaturist's Sanctuary

The first thing we had to do was cut door and window openings into the front wall plus five U shapes along the top to hold the beams. Next we had a demonstration on using paper clay and how to form the bricks.

While the paper clay dried I made the door and window.

Once the bricks were dry it was time to paint. First the grout and then the bricks.

  

After the paint had dried the front wall was nailed on to the base. The tutor showed me how to drill holes before nailing. I was certain that I would still split the MDF when I hammered in the nails but surprisingly nothing went wrong. I had, however, drilled a hole where the doorway was. Then the other two walls were glued in position. The bricks on the corner had to filled in with more paper clay and then painted.

Next step was plastering the exterior walls. I have only covered the smallest side wall so far. Pictured below you can see someone else's plastered wall.

We had a demonstration on how to shape wire into a vine. This vine is then covered with several layers of a thin mixture of plaster and painted. Lastly leaves and flowers will be glued on.

More demonstrations showed us how to make the different types of paving and how to paint them. Paving stones on the front door step. Crazy paving in front of the door step. Cobblestones everywhere else.

    

Two lengths of wood were distressed and cut up into beams. I still have lots to do before this project is done.

The Venue : : : The Workshops