Warped....

This morning, I sat down and started a birdhouse.  Walter was not awake and I couldn't pound and saw.

I actually designed these a couple of years ago.  Sometimes, I do things for no particular reason...More like doodling than designing.  Self entertainment.

I took some of the shingles that came with the kit and cut them  with scissors in the shapes I needed.  If it works, I will put a pattern in a future post.

I found three pages.  Birdhouses, wind chimes and flower pots.  Even a stone pattern.

I must have known that there was a garden cottage coming...

Yesterday afternoon, I did a little pokeberry bush in a pot. 

We have a real one of these in the back yard.  It came in and seeded probably by a bird.  I didn't know what it was at first, but I thought it was interesting, so kept watering it.  It is now the size of a small tree. In fact, it is the little tree that you see when I show photos of the squirrels and birds outside the computer room window.

I finally found out that they are a desert plant and grow wild in AZ.  I have never seen any in the wild, so I am happy to have it.  It is an evergreen and in the late summer it has tiny white berries that change to red orange after a while.

I probably have the only mini one in existence. 

I know....You want to know about the cottage.  This morning I got serious, after Walter got up, and dry fitted the whole thing.  I love Greenleaf, but this one is a bear to put together!  Some of the pieces have to be turned this way and that to get into a complicated series of tab and slot fittings.  And I had to do a bit of whittling here and there to get it together.

I am going to re cut the top floor.  I think that it will be more stable in one L shaped piece.

I am still debating the tower.  If I do it, it will go over the slanted roof piece on the right, that you see in this photo.

Notice though.  The floor is going to be perfectly flat when it is all glued together.  Sometimes that's all it takes.  I will not be unwarping this floor.

I had a 19th century German kitchen to fix when I worked at the museum.  When it came, one end of it was about 3" off of the counter top.  That's how badly it was warped.  I took some towels dampened with hot water and squeezed out as dry as I could get them by hand,  I laid them over the wood floor and weighted it down.  I let it sit for a couple of days until it was completely dry and when the weights were taken off, it was just as flat as it was the day it was made. I don't know if this would work where the climate is damp, but here in AZ it does wonders. This was an extreme example of what you can do when you have to.  Be warned, on the thin plywood, you do NOT want to get it soaking wet.  You will probably wind up with plywood that is coming apart. 

In this case, the only warping that I am going to have to remedy is the porch roof.  It seems to want to curl upward. 

I will probably just dampen it a bit and weight it down.  It isn't as drastic as the kitchen was.

Usually, the warping in the kits are taken care of when you glue things together.  I don't go crazy trying to straighten them before building.

Another thing that helps is putting a foundation under the building and gluing it to that.  I use the 1/8 plywood for that, but I build an under side frame with 1/2" square lumber.  Around the edges and a couple of cross braces is enough.  I put them together with 1/2" finishing nails and white glue.

I will certainly be doing that for this one.  It has to have space for the garden. 

Spike is the only one keeping  me company this morning.  If I drop wood, he fetches.  The Terrible Two are nowhere in sight. Since they found out that this wasn't for them, they are in a snit. Although Zar pricked up his ears when I mentioned that Daisy might have a little interest in Steampunk....

I am going back to work now.  At least Spike likes me....

See you tomorrow.