Floors and Windows

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Entry posted by hydroped August 10, 2006

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Well I know it seems like i"m going in slow motion on this - that's how it feels to me anyway. To be honest this is a sweet little house to build and I should have been finished with it last week if I only knew what I was doing :lol: After much trial and error I finally am getting some progress on the floors, windows and arches.

First the arches. I had a lot of trouble getting them to hold the bend - it seems heat really does help a lot! The wood needs to get good and hot and wet then go into the jig before it cools too much - to get it really hot and wet I found an old spagetti pan and boiled the wood in that - My only complaint is I wish the pan were a bit taller. You'll notice a second pan sitting in the first one. I used that to hold down the wood and to keep a bit of pressure on them in the water.

Getting desperate in waiting for the wood to dry completely I finally put the entire jig in my oven and cooked it for a bit. The wood did come out good but next time I'll try it on lower heat - probably around 125-150. at 350 part of the jig started to burn so that's definitely Way too high! (aren't you glad someone else is trying this? :o )

I was determined to have some nice stained glass windows in the front of my chappel.. I tried printing on the transparency sheets I have but they were not made to go through the printer and the ink just sat there without drying. After several hours of hoping it might dry I gave up and went for try number 2. I borrowed a book from the mini shop called Dollhouse Stained Glass Windows. I'd heard of it but after borrowing it an having time to look through the great designs I'm definitely planning to buy a copy of it for myself. I scanned in the grid I wanted for the windows on the black and white setting and printed it off to the size I wanted and laid it under a clean transparency sheet. Next I opened a package of Gallery Glass window leading strips

Using a ruler with a metal edge and an X-acto with a new blade I cut each of the thin strips in half lengthwise to make them thinner and peeled them off the paper backing. They are pre-glued so you just peel and stick and I laid them on the transparency following the lines from the pattern beneath.

Now I need something to hold them in place and I posted pictures of the Window frames I made with the Scroll saw before so it was now time to cover those with paperclay. Here's a shot of that and also my high tech tool - aka the cut up credit card heheh. It's not a real credit card but one of those that the company sends out with something like "John Doe" in the name space - still they're plastic and easy to cut with scissors and make great tools for working in paperclay. I cut all my block lines with this and a 6 inch clear ruler. You'll also notice an old china cup that I keep water in to smooth out the clay. And finally a picture of the windows in 3 stages of completion to give you an idea of how it will look when done. I still have 5 more windows frames to finish and 2 more window panes to make for the downstairs part of the chappel

I was also having a lot of trouble with the flooring and after trying the linoleum knife, wood V gouge and X-acto I finally got round to trying the dremel. I found that it does dig up the flooring a bit and doesn't give as nice a finish as using the X-acto does however - it's a LOT faster and tons easier on your hands - In the picture below you can see the floor I did today. I have gone back with the Xacto to clean up the edges on the right half - the left half have been left as is for the photos. Even having to go back and clean up with the blade is still much easier on my hands than carving the entire thing with a blade. However if you do try this with the dremel or other moto-tool I'd suggest using a flat tipped cutter and not a pointed or rounded tipped one as they want to wander. A flat topped cutting tip worked best for me.