The Terrible Two Return!

Or....What to do with old, thick, perfectly good paint... I don't believe that I have ever shown this technique for plaster work. Some will say that it's not a legitimate way to do it, but I learned to do it in oil painting classes a long time ago. It works.

I happened to have partial bottles of my two favorite colors for half timber houses. Not enough of either to paint the whole building and both were getting older and thick...So...I cut off the tops of four bottles and scooped out the paint that was the consistency of mayonnaise. I stirred them together and added a bit of new white paint that was thinner, until I got the thickness that I needed.

There was enough for two coats. The first coat, I put on with an inch wide, flat brush with a cross hatching technique. I needed to cover the texture of the wood grain. No "with the grain" painting.

The bottom half of this photo is the first coat. Covers well, but not enough texture. For the second coat, you can either ruin the brush that you are using, go find one that you don't care about, or use a round stencil brush. Bristle, not sponge.

The second coat, at the top of the photo is simply a thick coat pounced on randomly. I try not to put in any kind of pattern.

When it drys, instant plaster. Notice, I didn't put on any primer. I just went to it with the paint. It works just fine.

I did that and then I went and got a piece of door skin(luan 1/8" plywood). I had a scrap that happened to have enough room for the base.

This piece will be the ground.

I will also have to make the foundation of the house. As it is...there is no foundation. Not very realistic.

I need to take a trip to the hardware store for more wood. The base/ground will set up a bit. An example of this is the ground around the Tudor Trailer. I need some 1/2" to 3/4" square stock to do this part and the foundation.

I am not sticking the two structures together or the roof on the main building until I get further along. Right now everything is floating.

Well....It only took 24 hours. Tessie and Zar are back.

Tessie was delighted to see the loom on the second floor....She climbed up there and went to work.

I made a big mistake....I forgot that she knows how to use it.

Zar was not far behind. I heard them talking from the kitchen, where I was cleaning up from breakfast.

Tessie started with, "Wow! A new building for me to do my weaving!"

So much for peace and quiet. If she starts weaving, there will be no stopping the clicking and zipping of the loom.

The next thing that happened was even worse.

Zar dragged in his woodworking bench from the Clockwork Cottage....I am going to have to finish that one of these days....He keeps emptying his stuff from there into other buildings. He thinks that puts a claim on said buildings...

I don't think that I will be able to stand the click and zip of the loom AND a man with a hammer and saw downstairs making furniture!

At least I have the length of the build to figure out how to talk them out of the idea. Who knew that they would band together to claim the building. I was expecting the usual fighting and not speaking to each other for the duration....One can only hope that things will go back to usual. I love it when they get annoyed and don't talk to each other for days on end....I'm going back to work, fingers crossed....

See you tomorrow.