Hazel's House (Roofing) - Part Six

Hi everyone,
Of course I had to let the tree grow into and onto the roof!

Tree branches just have life of their own. (And yes, the front panel still opens up.)


Now the next picture is a bit of a failure and it is too late to go and photograph it again.
It is supposed to be showing how the three stories stack together with the new roof.
However, the top layer is actually on backwards!
You are looking at the back of the house and the front of the third story. Oh well.

Cheerio,
Sam

Hazel's House (Roofing) - Part Five

Hi everyone,
The exterior of Hazel's house is now finished, and the paper mache is drying.
There's only one problem – I hate the roof.
The original plan was to have a roof garden, but to put it simply, I have cats.
(A smorgasbord of delectable plastic plants would be irresistible to my beasts.)

The old roof from Dr Zoe's house has been sitting in my office, and I wondered if it would fit this house. So I tried it.
Here it is from the front,

the back,

and the side - perfect!

Inside you can see that there is a gap at the back, but that can easily be filled in with scrap wood.

I think Fairy Hazel should be happy with the new roof. It will give her some extra storage too!
Cheerio,
Sam

Paper Mache Fun

Hi everyone,
I have been having a blast doing paper mache on my dollhouses. Probably the best thing about doing paper mache is that once you start, you cannot stop to answer the phone, cook meals or even do chores! You are literally up to your elbows in glue.
I have been watching 'Everybody Loves Raymond' on DVD while I'm working. Well, not exactly 'watching', but more like listening and having a good laugh. (If you have in-laws you can relate to some of the situations.)
Here are my secret ingredients (well, not so secret) for adding texture to Hazel's house - white glue, water and paper towels.




Cheerio,
Sam

Hazel's House (And a Feline Intruder) - Part Four

Well, I am still messing with Hazel's house.
I thought that some of the front panels were too thick, so I carved away some of the foil and styrofoam, and I have been covering the structure with newspaper.
You know, for every step I take forward, I always seem to take half a dozen steps back.
No wonder it takes me forever to get any crafting done!


Suddenly, I noticed a claw waving from the upper window.
Who is that?

It is my Nova. He really enjoys being up high, and the third story on this house fits him perfectly.


Cheerio,
Sam

Hazel's House - Part Three

I have been adding texture by gluing stuff onto Hazel's house using my hot glue gun.

I got a nasty little burn.

-NOT from the glue gun, but  from COOKING!!!

 I can handle a glue gun and a jigsaw, I just cannot handle a saucepan lid. 

Stupid thing just flipped in my hand and bit me.

WARNING - cooking is dangerous. (I think I should refrain from doing it.)

I made an interesting mess with the styrofoam and I have also enjoyed sculpting with foil.



Getting somewhere slowly.
Cheerio,
Sam

Hazel's House - Part Two

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts.
I am currently working on Fairy Hazel's house.
Of course, she wants a"tree" house so I started adding bits of cardboard and foil for texture.

I was very interested in Sharon Ojala's technique for making bark so I decided to try it.

The only problem was that I found the cheap masking tape I used did not hold very well.
I gently tugged on the tape and the whole side came off.
This was not very encouraging, so I removed it all.
I also decided that this house was too big.
I originally wanted rooms connected by little hallways (kind of like a rabbit warren) but the footprint took up too much space, so out to the garage I went to modify it.

I decided to go upright, stacking the "room-boxes" to make a three story house.

This looks horrible right now, but I am confident that I can turn it into something interesting. I have plenty of scrap wood and some old dollhouse parts to use for my experiment.
Cheerio,
Sam