iseecerulean

I glued down the first layer of sea life into the bottom of the tide pools last weekend.  It looks superfluously colorful and busy now, but keep in mind this is just the first level.

Wednesday I poured the first layer of resin.  Then I remembered I hadn’t poured on Sunday because I wanted to put some crushed up shell on the ground first.  Also, I forgot the sea stars.

 The sea stars omission is not of great consequence, I can add them in subsequent layers.  I walked over to Joann’s yesterday afternoon for air dry clay.  I don’t want the sea stars flat and lifeless, I plan to shape them and let them dry in position.  Practice sculpts will commence this afternoon.

i am using a different resin than I have before.  EnviroTex Lite.  I decided upon it after researching model railroad forums.  I really like it so far, but each layer is a shallow, 1/8” pour, so this will take a while.  I will report my findings when the project is complete.

It’s been almost two months since I posted.  I’ve worked on a post several times, with a preamble on the current societal situations...how I feel anxious about the future, scared for loved ones, angry at my fellow citizens, guilty for being in a better situation than so many others.  It’s stressful for us all and I want you to know you are not alone, and I care about you.  I’m going to skip the planned preamble, as the stress, combined with everything else going on, makes me alternately cry and shout.  I am mostly coping in a balanced, healthy perspective, but some days it’s very difficult.  Thankfully I am much better about talking honestly with friends and family now than I used to be, and am not bottling it up inside.

Anyway....

I was working on the back wall of the conservatory build when I last updated you.  I finished bricking, then grouted, but I forgot to seal the wall first, so I had to remove all the grout that was loose then let the wall dry.  Some bricks came off.  It took a long time to dry, as it has been a humid summer here, then even longer to let a slight warp relax.   

While the wall was drying I thought I’d work on the seascaping.  I mixed various sand colors then glued some into the bottom of the tide pools and immediately HATED IT.  I can’t get it back off without making a worse mess of the base, so I’m going to have to live with it or cover it.  I think I’m over the disappointment now.

On a good note.  A wonderfully generous note, I got a box in the mail from blog reader and friend Bill, with a fascinating, beautifully documented assortment of natural supplies from the Pacific coast for the tide pool and future builds.  I am contemplating a biological station in the near future, next door to the Boatworks.

After gawking for days I used some shells to fill a 1:12 printer’s tray from Stewart Dollhouse Creations.

In an attempt to meet the deadline I’m going to continue on with the seascaping and leave the conservatory‘s back wall until the contest kit is done. More to come soon.

Thinking through the tide pool seascaping...

I am planning to build the seascape upward, in steps to match intertidal zones.

I have been accumulating flora and fauna for months, as I researched.  I’ve arranged the fauna by zone, with the exception of sea stars, which will be sculpted in situ...

I have lichens, flocking and lycopodium to serve as flora...

I have sand, small rocks, and crushed shells to serve as substrate, and some larger faux rocks Nancy made from air dry clay...

Nancy also sent some beach-combed treasure...

I’ve also a few items gathered from nature that aren’t meant to be anything that lives in a tide pool, but won’t look out of place if I need to use some as filler...

I am waiting for one more box of supplies before I start seascaping.  My friend Bill, who lives on the Pacific coast of Canada, assembled a mix of treasure for me, it is en-route now.  While I wait for it to arrive I have been happily engaged in Bill’s online research assignments.  :)

I didn’t get the base finished this weekend, but I worked at an enjoyable pace and got a more than fair amount done.

The rocks will barely be visible in the end, but I had fun painting and it was good practice.

I cut a piece of plywood for the back wall, stained and repaired a broken door, and started bricking.

I screwed in pier supports cut from Trex scraps left over from my daughter’s remodel.

The top surface of the pier will be made from strip cut from the Trex.  Trex is very, very messy to cut!  It makes ten times the sawdust.

The whole front of me was as covered as my arm.  I used the shop vac to clean most of it off.  My husband walked in as I was vacuuming my boobs...he rolled his eyes, turned around, then walked back out.  :D

The only thing that needs to be finished before I can move on to seascaping is the brick wall.  I can finish that this week in the evenings.

I am using magnetic cabinet closures to attach the rear wall, so I can have access to the interior of the conservatory.

The walled off square is room for electrical stuffs, should I decide to electrify.

I probably could have finished bricking the wall this evening, but I have to clean my studio at the end of every weekend, so I can use it for my office during the week.

Anything I work on during the weekday evenings has to be low-mess and fit on my rolling cart.

I am very much enjoying both working from home and having a clean room.

Before I can start landscaping, or rather, seascaping, the base of the contest build, I need to build the base for the conservatory.  The two builds will sit next to each other as part of a cohesive theme.  To have seamless flow it would be prudent to seascape them concurrently.  I’d like to finish the base this weekend, then I will show you the flora and fauna I’ve accumulated :)

I LOVE THIS FLOOR.

I constructed it with authentic used bricks, grouted with spackle, put on some gray grunginess, then sealed it with a matte varnish.  It did not take as long as I suspected it would.  The only thing I wish I had done differently is stir a little gray paint into the spackle before I grouted.

Because I knew I would want to manage the randomness I made a decision to not look at any brick I grabbed from the bag.  It was a great opportunity to practice self-discipline.  Even when I grabbed the sixth (gulp!) light brick in a row, I just glued it down next to the previous one.  I am quite proud of myself.

Because the walls panels in the conservatory are made from MDF I cut down and glued in coffee stir sticks to create an all wood surface that will take stain. Once the glue was dry I applied a coat of a new product to me, Unicorn Spit, which I like, so far, though the finish was very chalky feeling when dry.  That meant it was easier to sand it back off places I didn’t want it, but it did have to be sealed.  I used an ivory colored finishing wax.

I may have to wax the exterior side of the walls too, they pick up every speck of sanding dust off my table and cling to it. 

When I buffed the wax some areas on the windows wiped back down to bare wood, which is okay with me, I deliberately left imperfections on the walls to ‘age’ them.  Because of the manufacturing imperfections (gaps and glue smears) this is never going to be a pristinely finished build.

The roof is meant to be removable, but since my frame is wobbly I am going to glue it in place. I think I clamped it too tightly during assembly. I am leaving the back wall removable, so won’t need access through the top too.

Next to my to-do list is to ink the rest of the roof pieces, cut a new floor from thinner wood, and figure out which glue to secure the windows in place with.

After a brief rant about how stupid the windows are I flipped them over to discover the panes fit into a recess on the other side.  Duh.  There is no trim, but if I glue carefully and sparingly with the right product I may be able to avoid both discoloring the panes and trimming.  Silicone, perhaps?

I am planning a brick floor, so need to determine glue and grout for that as well.  Tacky glue should do the trick there, and if I don’t have grout in the mosaic supplies I haven’t touched in a decade and a half then I’ll probably use spackle.  I need to figure out spacers as well, for when I glue the bricks down, I’m not so good at eyeballing things.  

Lots to do, lots to do, but my husband has been ill the past few days and I woke up this morning with a cough, so...

My original plan for the conservatory involved an oceanfront pier/dock.  Now that I’m using the contest kit for the dock I am reimagining the conservatory slightly.  I am going to build the conservatory and the contest kit simultaneously so I can landscape...seascape?...them at the same time.

I set the builds on my shelf, determining where I want which, since they’ll be pieces of a cohesive whole.

I did a quick dry fit of the conservatory, to jog my memory, then glued the roof frame together...

I’ve been playing around with the seascaping items I have so far....barnacles I made last year, some octopi, and teeny shells.  I have more shells, including limpets, on order, and Nancy is making me some rocks.  I’m in no hurry, I want to make sure it’s exactly how I want it before I pour water.  I’m also letting Nancy pour her water first, so I can learn from her process. :)  

I made a couple unsuccessful attempts at crafting sea anemone last weekend.  I have an idea to make closed instead of open ones, which will fit better anyway, since my seascape is going to be set in low tide.

It feels really, really, good to be engaged with a project again!

First coat of green/gray sanded, then more shading done on the front panels...

Third or fourth coat of green/gray...

I put it back into dry fit at this point to show my daughter when she stopped by last Thursday.  She said it looks like a boathouse.

Hmmm....

Not a boathouse, but maybe a small boat repair shop....or rather, the office of one, with the exterior wall of the shop behind it, and a boat or two, outside, to the left.

I could cut the conservatory kit down a bit, removing one set of windows to make it shorter, which would make it fit on the top of my bookcase instead of hanging off the front an inch.

I'll have to fix the doors.  They only open inward, which I didn't like in the conservatory but decided to live with.  It's a simple fix, I just have to the remove the header that stops them from swinging out.

While I spent the weekend thinking about it I assembled a dory boat kit.  I purchased it a few years ago for the Tropical Beach House, but didn't have room for it.  I'll show you pictures when I'm done, I've got to make the oars today.