Stairs and Stones....

This may look strange, but it works... I finished the staircase this morning.

The chain that I used was very heavy. I was having trouble threading it through all of the holes and getting it to hang right. I would get it through a bunch and the weight of the chain would pull it right back out if I wasn't careful.

After about the third try, I came up with the ball headed pins as a solution. I put one on each side of each ring as I went. This also allowed me to space the swags of chain just right. Yes...I know the one on the end needs to be shortened. The photo was taken before I made everything permanent.

The solution was Gorilla super glue. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I pulled out the first pin and put a drop of super glue in the ring, over the chain. I pulled out the pin on the other side and the chain wasn't going anywhere. I did this to each ring, making sure that the chain was untwisted and hanging exactly where I wanted it, before moving on to the next one.


The staircase is officially finished and safe. Tessie has been running up and down it, grasping at the chain, for the past hour. If it doesn't break now, it never will...

Zar barred her way to the roof. That still isn't fastened down and he didn't want a lawsuit if she fell through.

After I finished with that, I painted the top stones on the shower tower. Then the step to the shower tower.

I did the walkway to the tower and started the rock work around the edge of the property. I still have a ways to go on that.

Where Zar is standing, we will plant flowers. There will probably be more plants around the yard. That will be the next step after I finish the rock work....Speaking of which, I should get back to doing it now...

See you tomorrow.

Stairway to Heaven....

Well, maybe it's not that high.... At least it reaches the roof garden. I am almost done with the railing...The usual excuse. I am waiting for the glue to dry.

I didn't want a solid railing so I cheated a lot. It's more fun that way.

I made the posts with bamboo skewers, a little thicker than the porch posts, painted black and cut to the same length as the ones on the roof garden railing.

Thanks to Jill, I had just the right rings for the top of the posts. They are of flat metal and about 1/16" wide. I pulled the rings apart. They were just a scrap of a necklace or some other piece of jewelry. I fastened them to the top of the posts in three steps.

I cut some metallic gold tape into 1/8" wide strips. I fastened about half of the strip to one side of the post. Then I strung on one of the rings and pulled the strip down tight to the other side of the post, leaving the ring tight in an upright position on the top. The last step was to wrap a piece of the tape around the top of the post underneath the ring. The fourth post in the photo is what it looked like when I was done.

The next problem was how to fasten them to the steps. I already had that one figured out. I took some small metal eyelets and glued them to the steps with the wide end on the bottom. The opening just happens to be the same diameter as the posts.

When those were fairly dry, I put glue in each hole and fitted a post into them.

In answer to your next question...No. I have not gone mad and started building mini stairways to get from one level to the next in the cat tree. That was just a convenient place to put it until it dries.

It is still not completely dry. I will probably wait until tomorrow to string the copper chain through the holes. The chain is pretty heavy and by the time I got two threaded and started on the third, the first one was tilted sideways and not too happy to be holding the chain. If you enlarge the photo, you can see it through two rings to Zar's right, your left.

I took it out right after taking the photo. It needs to dry a lot more.

That is as far as I am going to get today, what with laundry and housekeeping. Real life sometimes gets in the way...

See you tomorrow.

Never Leave a Sketchbook and Pencil Unattended...

I laid my sketch of the trailer on a kitchen chair last night before I went to bed. Little did I know that elves would add finishing touches to the drawing....I caught Zar, pencil in hand, standing on it this morning.

Poke the photo and you will see what he did to the plain old half timber trailer....Now he wants all of his ideas put to use. I am beginning to think that he is related to Rube Goldberg as well as being Steampunkian.
He now wants a rooftop pavilion, a staircase leading up to said pavilion, lots of plumbing around the kitchen area and also pipes leading to what he is calling the "Shower Tower"...

As if I didn't already have another couple of weeks of work on this project.

Oh well....I should start. He is helping. He wants this done, so that he can stop handing out cookies and muffins and relax.

I started with the stair steps going up the end of the trailer to the roof. At least he didn't demand an enclosed staircase....Please don't suggest this to him.

I am making the stairs from 3/4" cove molding. It is perfect for making stairs without a lot of math and planning. I cut it in 2" lengths and then applied those to a piece of 1/16" bass wood, cut to size. One edge of the front of the cove is cut straight across and the other is rounded. I glued each step to the bass wood base with white glue, keeping the rounded edge of the cove to the top. I will later put an extra cap of wood on each step with an extended front. Right now I am just blocking things out.

I fitted it to the side of the trailer and cut between the steps that I didn't need, knowing that I could use the rest of the steps to finish the L shaped stairs. I think that Zar is going to have to do a few steps ladder style, going up the straight side of the roof.

I cut a couple of old porch posts to the right height to make the steps level.

Right now they are just propped up against the wall to make sure that they fit.

Of course, Tessie couldn't wait to try them on for size. And of course, she started complaining when she discovered that they didn't yet go all the way to the top.

I am designing this, with Zar's input as I build. Who knows what it is going to look like when I finish? At least I am not getting bored and the six year old's attention span is keeping busy.

See you tomorrow.