Miniaturas, Final room count, attic plans, and Loggia furniture!

Hello all!
I hope everyone has been well. First off, I just want to thank everyone who follows my blog. I never dreamt  this many people would take an interest in my work. I hope my blog will keep on inspiring and giving people ideas. Thank you all so much!

Before I start, I just wanted to share some very happy news. "Miniaturas" Magazine is running a series of articles following my work on Dewell Manor. I saw the first article just hours before we left for our trip.  I have to congratulate Pedrete and Madelva for putting together such a beautiful article. Thank you very much my friends! I am honoured!

Jo and I had a wonderful vacation. I was worried about a Caribbean cruise because I'm not a beach person! The inner child in me is still very strong, so I get bored, restless and annoying in very calm situations. However, I did have a lot of fun.

I built a little sand castle , read "The Shining"  and a Hercule Poirot mystery, and of course, I thought of Dewell Manor.

As I sat at the back of the boat, looking at the sea, I made a quick sketch, yet again, of what Dewell Manor would look like from the sunken garden

the vision



the reality

Before I get to exterior work I want all interiors to be complete. The opening panels will be rather large and I'm afraid I might damage them while I work. I always had a 95% clear vision of the entire manor, except for the attic. Happily,  After many weeks of thinking, I commited to a floor plan for the top floor. So here is the finalized list of rooms for Dewell Manor and their measurements in inches:

First Floor
1.Kitchen 20 x 24
2.Loggia 13 x 13
3. Dining Room 16 x 20
4. Game Room 14 x 33
5. Drawing Room 17 x 30
6. Entrance Hall  12 x 34
7. Music room 20 x 36

Second Floor
8. Dressing Room 20 x 24
9. Master bedroom 16 x 20
10. Bedroom Hall 15 x 31
11. Girl's Room 14 x 17
12. Boy's Room 14 x 17
13. Gallery and Landing 12 x 24
14. Library 20 x 36

Attic Floor
15. Morning Room 14 x 24
16. Sewing Room 12 x 16
17.Nursery 15 x 21
18. Attic Hall 10 x 21
19. Bathroom 13 x 13
20. Gentlemans Room 14 x 24
21. Office 12 x 16

There will also be a tower, originally a clock tower, but I'm thinking of making it a room instead. Because I want the plans to be realistic, a tower means another staircase in the attic. Yet again, it will barely be visible, but it will be there!

I originally wanted to have servants quarters on the attic floor, but I've decided they all live in small cottages on the grounds of the estate near the main house.  I had furniture for the Morning Room, Nursery, and the Bathroom, so I got online and ordered a set for the Gentleman's room. This room will be visible only through the office double doors, so I wanted a set that would stick out and be noticed.

The office will have built in bookcases and will be completley paneled in walnut, so I only need a desk, and the sewing room only needs an armoire and sewing machine. With the furniture purchased, I chose my wallpaper. Since I have not worked on the manor, here are pictures of the furniture and the wallpapers to give you an idea what the attic will look like.




Morning Room 



Morning Room



Sewing Room



Nursery

Nursery

Hall

Bathroom

Bathroom Tile





 

Gentleman's Room



Gentleman's Room

One other room I originally had not planned on was the Loggia. 2 days before we left, I received the furniture I ordered from the Little Dollhouse Company.

The loggia will be red brick and stone, but I want marrocan tiles for the floor and a light fixture with colored crystals. I might also add curtains between the columns to block out the sun.

Before I tackle the attic, I have 3 rooms left to finish on the second floor. The Dressing Room, Master Bedroom and the boy's room. The next 2 weeks I will work on the flooring for these 3 rooms...very boring...and then I will finish them one by one.

Well, you are now all up to date and I can't wait to get some work done. I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful week. I only had time to pop into some of your blogs, but I promise I will catch up soon.
All the best my friends, and once again, thank you all!

Giac

Music Room

Hello Everyone.
I hope you all had a wonderful New year! I had a week off for Christmas and New Years, so I wanted to finish the Music Room before I went back to work. I'm glad to say mission accomplished!

The Music Room is right under the Library. I've mentionned that Dewell Manor is on the edge of a cliff in England. These are the 2 rooms that would have views of the ocean on 3 sides, So I made the windows as big as possible.

The fireplace, overmantel and ceiling cornice are from Sue Cook, and the colums from Unique Miniatures

I didn't make the arches in the top sections of the windows. The window treatments will cover them, so I saw no reason to spend time on a detail that would be lost. 

Since the paper was busy, the ceiling moulding ornate, and the fabric for the window treatments is a bright blue silk, I decided to keep the rest of the wall detail fairly simple. The most time consuming projects were the Atlantides and the Marble Columns.

Atlantides are male sculptures that top or replace columns and look as though they are supporting the structure. In a past post I used the term carryatides, but from what I read carryatides are female sculptures. I've only ever sculpted clay once, and that was for the 2 dimensional figures over the Great Room fireplaces, so in true Giac form, I told myself, maybe I'm gifted and just don't know it. Well, 2 days later, I can say my work is good, but not great.

If anyone ever wants to try sculpting, it's actually a lot of fun. I first tried working with regular clay, but the figures and detail were so small they dried out, cracked and chipped every time I touched them. I then tried Super Sculpey and I loved it. It's an oven bake clay and I thought it was easy and fun to work with.

I first twisted metal wire so as to make the figures stronger. Next I covered the wire frame with Sculpey



The matal wire was in the shape of a T. Here it is all covered




I took out some body building magazines and used those as guides to shape the musculature




(Again, sorry I can't get this picture right side up) I only had 2 sculting tools and needles, so fine details like fingers were left out. With more tools I think I could of done better, but I was more interested in the overall shape of the figures and not the details, so the investment didn't seem worth it.




Here are the 3 I made, Buba, Brutus and Adam (he was the first finished for the room). When they were done I baked them for 15 minutes. the slimmer ends, like the "hands" burnt a little, but it didn't bother me because I covered them in 2 coats of Gesso and then faux-marbled them. I'm proud of them, but know they're good, not great...but man did I ever have a good laugh at my first attempt below

This was my very first 3d sculpture ever. Jo asked why I was laughing and I told him I created a steroid loving Drag Queen in a flamenco version of Cabaret! Laughing at yourself is the best therapy in my opinion. Smashing him to start over was also fun!



The faux marble technique was the same I've used in the past. 2 coates of medium gray brushed on, 1 coat of off-white sponged on, 1 coat of pure white sponged on, then medium gray veins applied with toothpicks. The Atlantides were easy enough to paint, the columns were time consuming because of the fluting.



The columns are from Unique Miniatures. I had to heat them with a hair dryer till soft to straighten them. I had to cut out a section of the column to make them shorter. It went well, except after a while the razar saw I used with a mitter box heated the resin column and the saw had a hard time going through.  The columns in the corners of the room without Atlantides will hold busts of great composers.



This room was really long to put together, but I'm very happy with the result. I wanted this room to be very delicate and feminine, and I think it will be perfect once the curtains are up.

On another note, Jo and I are going on Holiday for a week as of this coming Sunday (the next 4 days of work will be murder) so it might be a while before my next post. I hope you all have a wonderful couple of weeks and I will definetely catch up on your blogs when I get back..

I wish you all the best and a great couple of weeks. 

Giac

Christmas 2011, I love Getzan Chandeliers

Hello everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderfull Christmas. As always I received both side on the 24th. I cooked/ ate all day and we had a wonderful time. This year was even better because we finally had a baby in the house. My sister Marilena had Alina in April. She's the most vivacious medium girl you've ever seen...I say medium because I refuse to refer to a 23 pound 8 month old as little!

 Once again, I was spoiled rotten this year. As always Jo and both sides of our family got together to get my presents. I am so happy to say, I have the first chandeliers for Dewell Manor!

The 3 chandeliers are called "Charleston" from http://www.jgetzan.com/, as well as the pans. The 2 antique Bronze finish fixtures and sconces are for the Great Room, and the gold one with the extra long chain will hang over the staircase. All the chandeliers I have chosen for Dewell Manor are from the Getzans. What I love about their chandeliers is the detail and workmanship. The fixtures have a beautiful architectural quality to them that is exactly what I envisionned for an english Manor house. I love cascades of crystals as much, if not more, then anyone out there, but they would of looked out of place in many of the rooms of my project.

To the left of the pans is a Ballerina figure from Randall Zadar. The detail in his pieces is amazing! 

And Jo remembered these pieces I wanted and found them online. The cabinet is for the Gallery, and the chairs will go in the Dressing Room. He got BIG husband point this year...BIG!!!

Now that it's over I've been working on the Music Room, I hope to have it finished before I go back to work on Tuesday and will post the minute it's done.

Happy new year to everyone!

Giac!

Merry Christmas

Merry christmas and happy holidays to all!

Thank you for your wonderful support and very great kindness. Creating this blog was a way to keep me focused and going forward. I never expected to meet such great people or make so many friends.

To all of you, whether you're celebrating Christmas or not, I wish you only the best and all your hearts desires.

I wish you happiness and peace in the home

I wish you prosperity and a dinner table surrounded by loved ones

And in the spirit of Garfiled's Christmas Special, I wish you lots and lots of presents

When I came down and saw an object in the house I paniced and thought "what broke", Then I saw it was santa...Jo just scored lots of husband points!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and now I look forward to a week off catching up on all your blogs.

I always say it, but it is sincere,

All the best my friends,

Great big Hugs

Giac



Girl's Bedroom and central attic partitions

Hello all,
I hope you are all doing well and not going too crazy in preperation for the holidays!
I finished the Girl's Bedroom today.

The biggest challenge was the door. It took me a while to commit to a design. I decided on a classic pannel on the bottom half and linen fold detail for the top. The field aroung the linen fold looked a bit empty, so I took a basewood corbel, sliced it, and glued it into the inner corners of the frame. All the other bedroom doors will be the same, only finished in faux-walnut.

  Instead of hanging picture frames in this room, I'm thinking of making a half round canopy with curtains to go over the headboard. Most likely it will be blue and white silk with gold trim.

 I also put up some partitions in the central part of the attic for the Nursery and Bathroom.

The Nursery will be 21" x 15"

To the left of the fireplace there will be a built in bench with curtains. Over the fireplace I cut out an opening that is over an inch deep for a 1:144 roombox. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking of a scene from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. On the back wall, where the crib is, I'm going to make a puppet theater, and I want to make a child height table with dolls, puppets and several different teapots...yes, Alice's Adventures in wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are amongst my favorite stories.

The bathroom will measure 13 x 13. I have white and pale green victorian tile sheets for the walls, and Mahogany bathroom furniture (sink, Toilet, bathtub and cabinet) from bespaq. I'm not sure what will go where just yet.

Finally, I've mentionned before that I am not a fan of spray adhesive. and here is why:

The parquet section of the Great Room floor came right up. It was an easy fix, I just re-glued everything with The ultimate Glue and stacked books on top overnight, but I can officially say I've gone from not liking spray adhesive to hating, loathing, and abominating the stuff.

And now I'm off to make supper. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and good luck with last minute shopping and holiday preperation.

All the best,
Giac

Library

Hello all!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend. After a long, hard week at work, I finally was able to finish the library.

Last post I had just finished the bookcases. When they were dry, I realized right away that the color would not work. I think I used too much liquin in my oil paint top coat. The finish was mat and boring and way too light. I mixed up new batches of black and Burnt Umber paint and re-did them. The flash on the camera makes the color look more brown then it is. The second time around I was happy!


Sorry, again I can't get it right side up.
I also painted the baseboards, doorframe and mantel pieces.

The next step was making the windows. I already posted about window making, so I won't go into the details again. Basically they are all made from basewood to look like double hung windows and faux painted.

The Mahogany faux paint technique I use is to apply a coat of delta ceramcoat Red Oxide paint. When dry, I go over with Black and Burnt Umber oil paints thinned with Medium. When dry, I added window handles and locks on the bottom sash.

 Next, I had to glue down the carpet. I had glued my piece of red velvet onto an illustration board subfloor with spray adhesive. When I took it out to attach it to the structure, the velvet came loose. Why I used spray adhesive I just don't know. I HATE the stuff because it never works for me the way it should. After 5 minutes of swearing, cursing and pacing the room. I calmed down and tried to attach the velvet back with double sided carpet tape...I ran out just before I was finished. I took out my glue stick because it is not liquid and would not go through the velvet...Folks, it went through the velvet! In the end, it looked like a well worn carpet and the area the glue came through was going to be hidden by a Turkish Rug, so I glued it down to the structure.
About 25 minutes later, I was pouring myself a cup of coffee when I froze solid...I haden't put the electrical wires in the channels under the carpet before I glued it down.
I ran down and ripped the carpet out. ..half of the cardboard stayed stuck to the floor. Thankfully the glue hadn't set so I was able to rub it off.
I put the wires in, bought more illustration board and double sided tape...thank God I had another piece of velvet just big enough for the floor...steamed the wrinkles out, and started all over. The double sided tape worked well to attach the velvet to the subfloor. I then glued it to the structure with the Ultimate Glue. This experience is why there will be no more wall to wall carpet in Dewell Manor.

I had painted the fireplace, overmantel and columns for the nook months ago. The color was great, but the details didn't stick out. I found some gold colored oil based paint with a bit of a metallic sheen and just went over some of the details so they would stand out. The painting over the fireplace is a postcard I got in Europe 

Finally, everything got done. In a past post I had mentionned I wasent sure about the red carpet. Some friends pointed out it might be too bright. However, I changed my mind when I put the painted bookcases in the room. I think the room needed an intense, bright floor color because the walls, ceiling and woodwork and furniture were so dark.
I will now work on the 3 ladders for the bookcases.

That's my update for this week. Welcome to all my new followers and once again, thank you all for your interest and for taking time to comment. I appreciate it very much.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week,
All the best,
Giac

Gallery update and Library bookcases

Hello all,
I hope everyone is well.  I had 3 vacation days this past week and planned on working on Dewell Manor the whole time. However, reality was spending time at my mom's and helped her around the house,  visiting my niece, and we had a family supper for my grandmother's birthday. Not what I planned, but it was fun!
I did spend 2 whole days working on the Gallery and the Library bookcases

Gallery

Originally, this space was going to be the bathroom and you'd only see the staircase balustrade through a door. I'm glad I listened to Jo and didn't close off the landing. I decided to make this an art gallery because I have a few sculptures I purchased on our vacations, and I have a soft spot for Randall Zadar figurines.
Note to all, when I assembled the floor I put 1 square with the grain in the wrong direction. I couldn't tell untill the floors were shellacked. That's the single yellow square that jumps out at you. My solution, I'm covering it with a large pillow for one of the dogs.

My second project were the bookcases for the library

They are 10 1/2 inches high, so I incorporated a brass rail at the top for rolling ladders.

Above,in order:

 I started by gluing bassewood strips to an illustration board back

I built up the bottom section for the doors

then, I added the front strips which match the door and window frames

I wanted the bookcases to look built in, however I made the false wall in the library 1/2" deep , but the bookshelves  are 1" deep. So I attached a 1/2 in spacer to the back of the front strips.

on the right, I added moulding and corner blocks

I added crown moulding, quarter bead moulding and doors. I decided the doors didn't need to open.

To hold the brass rod for the ladder, I drilled holes into corbels and glued them on.

The final touch was linen fold panels to add a little interest to the doors.

 Sorry, can't get the picture right side up!

This week, I'm going to try to finish the library...hopefully I'll be able to post next weekend.

I say it every time, thank you all so much for your interest and your feedback. I'm off to catch up on all your projects.
I send you all my best and I hope you have a wonderful week,
And a Very Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating.
Giac