I Have Shingles.....

No. Not the medical kind! The kind that go on the roof. Katie is a bad influence. She made a comment on an earlier blog that she wanted me to start shingling so that she could get tips. I don't really have any special way of doing it, but I will explain the method to my madness when it comes to shingling.

First of all, I don't like the size of the pre-cut shingles that the dollhouse stores and websites sell. They are usually about 1" by 2". I order from miniatures.com. The first thing I do is cut all of them in quarters, once horizontally and then again vertically. I know that theirs are supposed to be 1/12 scale, but to my eye they seem out of scale. They look too large. The ones I get are the ones that are 1/32" or thinner and can be cut with an old pair of scissors.

Oops! I misspoke. First I stain them and then I cut them. For staining I just simply hold them one at a time with a pair of jeweler's needle nose pliers or tweezers and paint both sides at once with a light coat of Minwax stain. This is my brand of choice for all things mini. This time I used Provincial. Then I lay them on a couple of paper towels to dry. I try to get as little stain on as possible. Some people dip them in the stain. That is a waste of stain. most of it goes on the paper towel where you have to wipe off the excess. The reason for doing both sides at once is to prevent warping. With dipping you stand a greater chance of this.

Here's the first step of putting them on. I put a small strip of wood the width of the roof at the bottom edge. This may seem like an unnecessary step but don't skip it. It makes the first course of shingles lay at the same angle as all of the rest. If you don't put it on the bottom row seems to be sagging a bit.

BTW, I am using Aleene's Fast Grab for this. I am not crazy about regular Tacky, but I like this because you can just keep going. You don't have to wait for one row to dry before putting on the next one. It is just what it says. It grabs on fast!

If you haven't done a lot of shingling and want your courses to be straight you will have to draw lines at 1/2" to 3/4" rows across the whole roof. I have been doing this for a long time so I am exempt from that rule......Why? Because I said so!

Here you can see a partially finished row. I draw a line of glue on the previous row of shingles and one on the bare roof along the imaginary line that I just said that you have to draw. I always start at the inner corner if there is one. It is much easier to adjust the size of the shingle at the edge than it is in the corner. The first row you start with a whole shingle and go across. The second one you cut a shingle in half vertically and start with that. You want the seam of the shingles in the second row to lay on the middle of a whole shingle on the first row. Keep alternating the first and second row until you have the roof panel covered.

I didn't want the roof to be neat and tidy looking. That wouldn't go with the storybook style at all. I just winged it and made a few of the shingles look as if they were slipping a bit.

The glue's not quite dry on the top row in this picture. It will go away in a few minutes. I have to go get a wet paper towel and wipe the excess.

Up at the peak of the roof you will see that I just kept on going with the last row of shingles. They stick up above the roof line. After they dry, I will come back with the scissors and trim them off.

Then I will shingle the other side, doing the same thing.

I will trim that side the same way and then put a cap on the top.

After I finish the whole roof I will put a sealer on it to keep it clean.

That's about all there is to roofing. I am going back to do the other side now. I will show you what it looks like on top tomorrow. See you then.