iseecerulean

I already know how I'll make the next one better.

The porch floor is done, and I think I've solved my problem with the roof, which, as a bonus, negates my having to trim the skylight.  I ran out of black duct tape before I could finish.

Protype #1 of a marker set.  After I'm done with the build I'll design prototype #2 for the cricut so I can get something precise and repeatable.

All the siding is on, I need to clean up the corners yet.  I installed the siding with an overlapping butt join on the corners, but some overlap a bit too much and need to be sanded down and have the ends stained.

I had envisioned, originally, the edges of the roof trimmed in the same siding, but will leave as is unless I have time, before the deadline, once everything else necessary is done, to do that.  As it is now the roof is too thin and simple looking for my liking, but, on the other hand, it's not awful.

Next on my list is to finish the porch floor and trim out the skylight.

The hole for the skylight is larger than necessary.  I installed it with the trim on the ceiling side, so I could line it up with the striped ceiling paper.  Once it was dry I flipped it over and filled in the gaps with wooden coffee stir sticks and wood glue.  I need to decide how to trim it out on the exterior.

My friend April's etsy shop opened six weeks ago and I totally forgot to give a shout out.  Thanks for the reminder, Nancy.

April Wright Pottery

When I was making the yucca I was wishing I had more shades of green markers.  It's my birthday today, so I treated myself.  I also got a trio of brown and a couple of grays.

I got one side wall and the bottom front wall sided yesterday.  My thumb hurt from squeezing the glue bottle, so I took a break for lunch about 1:00 then fell asleep on the couch after eating and slept for the rest of the day.  The cocktail of antihistamines and steroids I've been on for the last couple of weeks has really  messed up my sleep schedule.  My doctor told me I had the worst case of sinusitis she's ever seen without any infection.  That is not some kind of award I wanted to win.

Hopefully I'll get the rest of the building sided today.

I knew I wanted the underside of the eaves to be either copper or aluminum.  I bought some shiny, mirror finish, silvery, tape, but it didn't stick to the mdf, so I switched to copper paint.

My original plan was to shingle the top of the big roof, but now that it's so close to the contest deadline I decided to do something faster, so continued the copper paint up and over.

The first coat brushed on poorly.

I switched from a brush to a sea sponge, which was messy but effective.  I sponged two coats on, then left it to dry overnight last night.

This morning I pulled the tape off.  I was left with a white line between wall and eave and along the top edge of the smaller roof.  The primer bled under the tape a bit.

I ran a black sharpie along the top edge of the roof, that was an easy fix.  I was going to paint over the line between wall and eave with a bit of burnt umber paint, but the tube dried up.  I put a little raw sienna on a pallet instead, along with some thalo blue to touch up the walls where I dropped copper on them.  The raw sienna was not the right color, but it mixed nicely with the thalo blue to make a accidental green patina-ish color.

Today I hope to get the wooden siding on and the skylight glued in.  I was going to use the wood strips as is, but test colored one with some golden oak stain.  I like the stained one better.  I guess I'd better get off the computer and start staining if I'm going to get the walls done this weekend.

I reupholstered an old green "velvet" chair this morning.

I finished the sides and back in black leather.

Now I'm working on the layout for the center table.  It's hard to find a good balance between not enough and too much.  I need to make some colored pencils, but we don't have the right size pasta in the pantry, so I'll have to go to the store.

I filled the smaller cabinet with folios, and stuffed one to put on the table.   Once that was done I made up the rest of the journal kits I had on hand.  (Folio and journal kits by Nancy Enge.)

My Nancy box is almost empty now.  I'm left with an echeveria and a yucca kit.

I don't want to permanently place the journals on the bookshelf because I want to play with them later.  I put in an order for enough of Nancy's vertical file holder kits to house them; those I will tape down to the shelves.

The remaining books Susan made have been shelved.  Now I know how much space I have to fill, so it's back to bookmaking.

 Just a thought, Nancy....your journals only fit on the top shelf.  Would you consider a scaled down version to fit the other, inch high, shelves?

Made from Nancy Enge's kit.

Save

I filled  the rare book cabinet with books that Susan made and sent me and still have a bunch left over for the big book case.  The smaller cabinet has shorter shelves so I'm going to have to make most of those.   I've made so many books already this week that I need a little break so I pulled my Nancy box down off the shelf. I'm going to play with journals and whatnot today.