I "guesstimated" that seven sheets of 9"x12" black construction paper would be sufficient to make roofing "slates" 1"x1", knowing I can make more if I must.

I had bought a pack of all black construction paper on sale at Michael's a while back. First I pulled out seven sheets of paper and painted one side with lacquer and let it dry.

On the other side I drew 1" grid lines with a #2 pencil, the graphite shows up really well & by using a bit of pressure to draw the lines the coarse construction paper scores nicely along the pencil lines. THis comes in REALLY handy for the dimensional part of making paper "slate".

On each of seven more sheets of construction paper I used combinations of no more than two of the following pastel chalk colors: red, violet, dark green, dark blue, brown & white. I rubbed them across the sheets as I did the sandpaper for the "bricks"; because the paper is coarser than brown kraft paper it picked up the colors, and because it is much finer than the 240-grit sandpaper I used for "bricks" the effect is much subtler. I sprayed the colored sheets with my ever-trusty acrylic matte sealer and on the reverse sides I drew 1"x3/4" grids; I lay each sheet of construction paper down on a sheet of waxed paper both to protect the chalk surface & to protect the work surface.

The next stage was to crease the colored sheets along the 3/4" lines and tear them carefully into strips, then crease & tear at the 3/4" lines into individual "slate" layers. Then I glued them randomly onto the unlacquered side of the 1" grid sheets.

Once they were nicely dry I took the white pastel chalk crayon & drew bits of random squiggles on the colored paper bits & when I'd done one sheet I cut out a strip

and laid it on the right bay roof and cut it to length. I then cut between the "slates" on the vertical 1" lines approximately 3/4"-7/8" and ran glue beads across the back (I'm using Elmer's white glue on the construction paper)and stuck them down. As I finished gluing on the second strip DH walked in & said, "It looks like slates".

As most of the day was spent dealing with DS#3's breaking his arm at 4 AM & not getting out of hospital ER until 11 AM, I'm going to be working on this part for a while. One of the advantages to construction paper shingles/ "slates" is that I have not had to use the first piece of masking tape to hold them in place. When the glue dries I shall paint the whole section of shingles with another coat (or two) of lacquer.

complements of havanaholly