Floored....

I have been working on Sautillo Tile for the past two days and I imagine that I will be doing it for a few more.

I have this many tiles left over from the first one. 

There is enough left for another floor this size and another one about half this size.

I still have to depress all of the seams, color them and put a gloss finish on the tiles.  They are usually a shiny finish.

I didn't show you the horse trough for this year. 

Again, I am attempting tomatoes.  So far I have had very poor crops.  sooner or later I am going to get it right!

Meanwhile, I am going to go do something completely different for the rest of the day.  I am tired of floors. 

I am going to make a couple more of these rings.

The pattern is on Bronzepony's site on You Tube.  She has some good patterns and very good instructions on how to do them. 

I don't want to floor.  I want to bead! And that is just what I am going to do.

See you tomorrow.

Experimental Minis

I was going to add one of the three little prickly pear cacti in this pot to George's garden... 

However, for some reason, Kota is fascinated by this.  I don't think that it would be a good idea to add this plant that he seems to want to take a bite out of... prickly cat?

I sat the pot in the bowl to see how one of them would look.  I like it... I just don't think that it would be smart with Kota stalking it... 

Maybe I will put it in the conservatory.  Yes... I know.  I still have to finish that one...

I turned Tessie loose with some egg cartons and the glue syringe. She has five rows done already.... Not particularly straight rows. 

I asked her to go back and straighten them... She said... "I wouldn't want to ruin the primitive look of them.  I want this one to LOOK like I built it.". It does!

Then a pause and she continued with... "And besides, you ARE going to stitch me a rug to cover most of it anyway... remember?  Something to wiggle my toes in?"

It is going to have to be a BIG lumpy rug.  The tile are a bit uneven.  As I said, she is experimenting to see if terracotta tile can be made from the other side of the theater trays. 

I guess I had better start a rya rug to cover most of it.  Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Cookbooks, Floors and Flowers...

Here again, is a photo of my favorite cookbook... I have never cooked anything from it... It has some good looking recipes in it.  I just never got around to cooking them. 

It is my favorite because it's the heaviest book in the house...

It's great for flattening floors... I got the main coat of paint on the stone floor for the conservatory this morning.  The book was put to good use... The foam core is flat as a pancake!

Now about the blooms...  The flower is not quite as spectacular as it looks in the photo... It is less than an inch across. I think that it is from somewhere in vicinity of the Himalayan Mountains, but I got it in good old Tucson.

I am just proud that it likes my kitchen window enough to reward me with the bloom!

Last but not least, this is actually on a Stonecrop plant.  I am not sure if it is a flower or just the shoot of a new plant, but if I get a few of them, they are going into some drying medium.  I am wondering if they would stay together.  Perfect roses for minis if they do.

The "flower" part is less than an inch across.  Perfect full blown rose in mini...

I bought several of these plants.  They were on sale and I am hoping that they will produce mini roses by the dozens!  If not, I like the plant as a groundcover anyway.

I am going back now and do some shading on the floor. 

See you tomorrow.

All in a Day's Work...

In the past twenty four hours, I have paved a floor.  Finished a macrame plant hanger and made a  bracelet... Oh and I potted a very strange plant.

First the floor.  I used the movie trays for the floor of the conservatory.

One part in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Four different trays.  Two different colors.

It doesn't make a difference.  The floor will be painted with a number of different colors and washes. Those will come in tomorrow's blog.

The plant hanger and the bracelets that you see are Seth and April's birthday presents.  They were born eight days apart, in the same year...

We are taking them out to lunch today... Outback, here we come!

Seth is on vacation. So we can all go.

The last subject of the day is this plant. 

Walmart has gotten into some rather exotic succulents. 

I have never seen one that is both furry and has little soft spines sticking out everywhere. 

I bought one for myself and then went back and got one for April...

I am not sure what is going on there, but I hope that they keep it up! 

I am making this short today.  I have to go get ready to go out to lunch...

See you tomorrow.

Good Things...

 I stopped at Goodwill this morning, on the way home from Walmart.

It's a good thing that I did...  I got a new glass dome for $2.40.  It needs to be cleaned up but is a really nice size. 

I am not sure what it will hold, but I know a good thing when I see it. 

More minis!

I also paid 2.40 for this wooden mat. That will make a lot of floors! Cutting apart will be easy.  It is glued on a fabric back  and will be great when cut apart, sanded and stained.

 April, Seth and Amare just came back from a four day trip to the Grand Canyon.  They stayed in a log cabin that was built in the 1800s! 

I have them trained to look for rocks.  Amare had two for me this time.

This is going to be kind of short.  I have company waiting for me.

Back to the fun!

See you tomorrow.

Round and Round We Go....

Before I start work on the fireplace for real, I have to finish the floor.

I finished the upper level this morning.

I doubt that I will get to the lower part today.  Other things sometimes get in the way.

I think that the fireplace, when I do do it will take up most of the wall.  I forgot that I opened up the kitchen some more.

Tessie says it's OK though.  She wants the dining area over where Zar is sitting, on the upper level.

By the way, some of you seem to be under the impression that the fireplace is going to be brick. It's not.  It is going to be the same as the wall in the front of this photo.

My other puzzle is going to be the pull out bed.  I am going to have to put some theater tray pieces under the area.  That will make it even with the rest of the floor and the bed will more easily slide in and out.  No getting hooked on the different levels that way.

I am going to try to get a bit more done before I have to do other things.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

More Stonework...

The stonework doesn't have to be perfect.  Real stone work isn't.   As you can see, when I do it, I do it on a dark background.  '

This floor is on black foam core.  If you don't have that, I recommend that you paint your floor charcoal or black.

When you paint it, the cracks will all but disappear anyway.

 Giac asked if I had to weight it.  Not very often.

I don't try to cover the whole back.  If the whole back is covered, it is more likely to warp and thus need weighting.

I just squirt a zigzag pattern of Elmer's Glue All or Aileen's Tacky.  I am using Elmer's for this floor.

 The stone to the left is the one that I just put the glue on.  It is laying perfectly flat.

Here you see a place that I did have to weight. 

I decided that the ones over the opening should stop at the bottom edge.  Less likely to get caught when pulling out the bed.

The ones on the front curve didn't get weighted, but the ones under and behind the glue bottles needed it because the two sections of the bend were of unequal length.

In that case the longer side will try to flip up. 
It only takes about five minutes of the bottles on that section to make it right.

I usually cut my pieces as I go along, by eye. However, I have been doing this for 30 years and kind of know how to do it now.

If it is your first time, I would suggest that you look on line for a floor that you like and draw some guidelines directly on the tray.

This will give you something to go by. Good luck!

Tomorrow, painting... See you then.

Floor Exercises...

 I thought that you might like a bit of information about how I use the theater trays...

The trays are shaped in some kind of form and the bottoms have a natural bend in them when you get them. 
I use that for edges and corners.  They are gently bent.  I have to pinch them to get a sharper bend in them to fit.

I put the tiles down in the kitchen then I went over to the other side and started doing the stone work there... Don't ask me why.  I just felt like it.

I had to allow for the bent pieces along the edges, so I didn't go all the way to the edge.  I allowed about 1/4" for the edge.

The step isn't fastened in yet.  I am just going to do the top and front and then fasten in the step and cover it.   That's easier than making them meet in the corners.

I will have to do a rolled edge on the part where the bed is to be placed. 

I will have to glue them in and put a clothes pin to hold them until they are secure.

To get the double bend in the edges, I used my scissors as a guide.  They are about the same thickness as the foam core.

Having that on the underside may make the bed harder to get in and out of the underside.  That is still to be worked out.

I am contemplating  a couch in front of the hole and when it is pulled out, the back of the couch will flip down onto a frame to make a wider bed.  I am pretty sure that it will work that way.

Stay tuned.  I may actually finish this before the people that are entering the contest get their prizes! 

Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.

Kind of Floored!

I am very late today.  Wednesday Witches Mini Meeting got in the way.

I did work on the floor of the Forest Fantasy Cottage.

I took along a piece of foam core that was shaped like part of the upper floor of the cottage. 

I proceeded to cut the pieces of theater tray for the floor.  Then I glued them to the piece of foam with Elmer's School Glue Stick.  They come of easily and  I can transfer them to the real floor in just a few minutes.

I am happy to say that the traveling floor worked well.  Now all I have to do is move it from one piece to the other and I will have half of the upper floor done.

To Entertain you whilst I am doing the floor, I took some photos of a couple of Judy's minis.

This is a cabin that she made for her 24 year old grandson. 

Actually, she was making it and he saw it and liked it a LOT.  It will be moving in a couple of months to his part of the country.

She describes him as an outdoors type and I think that he would like to have this one in real life size! 

This is an English manor house that Judy did a few years ago.  I would like to move into this one. 

Too bad that the inside is towards the wall.  The inside is just as beautiful as the outside!

I guess it is time to go glue stones to the floor. 

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Experimental and Weird in Places...

I mounted the tile on a piece of poster board this morning...Then I scored it with a crochet hook on all of the grout lines.  I am still seeing a ripple effect.  Maybe, once I get it down and with some other things on it, it won't be as noticeable.

I really like the tile and would hate to have to change it, so I am taking it one step at a time...  We shall see...

Here's the new chair that I designed.  I am not crazy about the slit at the top of the back, but I do like the new overhand weave, going back and forth.  It almost looks like knitting.

Here's a little closer look.  Nope.  I don't like the slit.  Oh well.... Maybe a fan shaped back cushion? 

I just noticed that the back posts are pulled out of position.  I am going to have to go pull them back to the right, right now.  Looks weird.

This is not the permanent seat.  I had this one lying around and thought it would look better with a seat, than without.

So far, I am not having very good luck with anything today... I misplaced my camera and had to take these with my I Pad.  Not bad, but the elf takes better photos.

I am going now to start hunting high and low for the elf.  He is hiding somewhere, in plain sight...

Rotten little elf!

See you tomorrow.

Terra Cotta, My Foot!

Their idea of terracotta is my idea of ham pink... Every one of the tiles are going to have to be painted.  As is everything else that I make out of this stuff.  I may still try to use it on the cottage.

If you do the tiles the way I did them yesterday, break them apart or cut them when they get leather hard.  I discovered that, if you leave them on the wax paper, they tend to curl if they aren't separated.  I forgot that this stuff dries from the edges into the center.  Curls aren't cute on tiles. I did get to them in time to flatten most of them.  Just a few of the edge ones were dry and curly.

Meanwhile, I finished another magazine basket.  All I had left was a bit of the handle.  I see a spot that I missed on there....It will be fixed.

Tessie crawled into this one and demanded, "Take me to the kitchen.  I need a cookie!"

I knew that it would be useful...Maybe if I make a lid for it, with a lock, it will be even more useful...

 I dug my bin of rug yarn out of the garage yesterday.  I have to use up some of this stuff or get rid of it.

Since rug yarn in nice colors is few and far between anymore, I decided to use it up.

So far, this one is about a foot across.  I am thinking that April's two cats could use a basket.

At one time, one of their cats slept in a large ceramic bowl that Seth threw in pottery class.  It doesn't seem like that would be very cozy...

Seth, April and Amare are coming over later today to finish my Christmas/Birthday present.

Seth has a large livestock tank in their back yard and grows all kinds of wonderful veggies in it.  I mentioned that I thought that I would like a smaller one. 

They got this one for me.  Today it gets filled.  I won't be growing as many veggies in this one as Seth does in his, but I am going to try. He plants in it year round here.

This seems to be a popular way of gardening right now.  I think that it is smart. Small space.  Rich soil. Equals lots of veggies.

I bought three plants for it this morning.  more will be added later...

I couldn't resist this one. I never realized that some of the heirloom tomatoes have totally different blooms on them.  This is a Pink Brandywine Tomato.  The bloom on it is going to be spectacular when it is completely open.

I do want the tomatoes, but I confess, it was the flower that sold me.

I also bought another heirloom just because I liked the story that went with it.  The tag said it was a Mortgage Lifter.  The story is that the man that bred this one, paid off his mortgage in the 1930s selling these plants. That's some tomato!  I had to have one of those!

Anyway, I am going to go try to get a bit of mini-ing done before the kids get here...Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow.

Saving Terra Cotta...

 I fixed the screw up...  At least part of it.  I will do more when I get done here.

I made bricks and tile.

Actually, not in that order.  the bricks that you see are scraps from the tile, but I needed to show you the tools that you will need.  To make uniform bricks and tile is fairly simple if you have the right tools.

The all important thing is the quilter's cutting mat.  It is laid out in one inch squares with a ruler along all four edges.  With that, you can speed cut both tile and brick.

The second most important thing is the Wilton fondant roller.  I got mine at Walmart years ago and have never been sorry.  See those two little pink bands on the ends of the roller?  Those allow you to roll your clay out to 1/16" evenly...Caution.  Don't use it for food after doing this.  Food and clay don't mix!

Tools three and four are important to me for fast cutting....If you want to do it the old way, don't worry about these, but once you do it this way, you probably won't want to go back to the old way.

I thought this up in my sleep....That's where all of the good ideas come from.

I put about 1/8 of the clay on a piece of wax paper and roll it out to as close to a 4" by 10 to 12" as I can get it, using the roller with bands.  Actually the center photo is the one that I did first.  I trimmed it and fit the pieces into places where there wasn't any clay at the edge.

I am sure that there is going to be someone saying that the edge above the ruler isn't straight...I know.  This is Sautillo tile.  It is known for it's flaws.  I have even seen them with dog's footprints in the tile. I tried to get Spike to do that, but he refused to get his feet dirty.  They are never all one color either.  I am going to have to fix that with washes later.

When I was happy with the layout, I used my 12" ruler to pretty much cut through the clay.  I laid one end of the ruler on one of the 1" lines on the mat. The first two were to even the side and bottom and make it square.  After I was satisfied with that, I lined up the ruler at one inch away from the long edge. Then I lined up the other end with the same line and pressed down.  If this ruler didn't have the cork back, I would have been able to cut all the way through the clay.

I cut the long way first, then the shorter sections.

For the bricks I cut them 1/4" by 3/4". See first photo. That is close enough to scale for me.  At the edge, I cut some half bricks.  Usually you need quite a few of those, even on a fireplace.  If I were planning on doing any herringbone pattern, I would cut some of those into triangles for the edge.

Next you lay the tile out flat to dry.  I noticed that the corners are curling on these.  I will have to go flatten them.

I only used about a quarter of a package.  I have a ways to go, but it will go fast when I do it.

If you aren't going to use all of your clay at one time, seal it in a plastic bag inside the original package, with a wet paper towel.  That should make it last for a long time.  Just check it once in a while to see that it is still moist and the towel is still wet.

I am doing big basket weaving with one hand and cutting bricks and tile with the other.  This could get interesting...

See you tomorrow.

"It's Too Gray...."

That was me whinging and whining this morning.  I finished laying the walnut floor in the living room.  It just didn't go with the reddish tile in the kitchen.  It looked dead...

So, I whipped out the Provincial Minwax stain that I used on the baseboard and the crown molding, earlier. 

I like it better and what's more, Tessie approves.

It still needs sanding, after it dries and then varnishing.  It is so much richer looking than the plain walnut was.

 While I was working my fingers to the bone, I discovered that the Terrible Two were trying out the kitchen.

 The two of them ransacked Cordelia's kitchen, cooked breakfast, stole her table and chairs and made off to Daisy's cottage.

When I asked them what they thought they were doing, they explained that they were trying out the chairs, because they are like the ones that Daisy wants for the kitchen...

However, they had no plausible explanation as to why they took over her kitchen to cook breakfast and then moved everything to Daisy's house. 

They finally admitted that they had asked permission and Cordelia said that they could, as long as they cleaned up the mess.... I went and looked.  I hope that they are going back later to clean up...Not a pretty sight.

They finally agree with me that the triangular table is the answer to the space problem   They couldn't manage to get Cordie's table and the two chairs in the space, all at the same time.

Much to Spike's delight, that gave him a place to sit and look out the window with them, whilst pilfering sausage off of the plates.  He is going to be in so much trouble when they go back to their breakfasts. 

Thankfully, he runs faster than either of them.  I wish him luck.

I have to go  check on the drying floor.

See you tomorrow.