Fender Bender?

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 27 July

I wanted to create a fender for those front wheels on the Summerhouse. I spent some time looking at fenders online and while my DH and I were out riding around on the weekend, I noticed some fenders on utitlity trailers that I liked. Didn't get a chance until today to try out my plan. First I fiddled around with a paper pattern until I got a shape I thought would work.  I had purchased some 1/16 basswood the other day just for this so got out my utility knife and cut the shape out very carefully. Cutting the piece on the outside edge of the fender was a little trickier, but I did manage to cut it out without doing any personal injury....always a good thing! LOL! I glued the top of the fender to the straight part first and let it dry, also the small curved piece on the front edge.  After the glue was dry, I bent the wood around that curve and superglued it.I made sure the Captain wasn't around and added my bling aka rivets!  I put the first coat of paint on and thought maybe that was the end of it....  But when I went back to check on it, the front edge had started to ripple....since the paint was dry to the touch, I clamped a couple of pieces of wood on either side and will leave it overnight in hopes of flattening it out. Otherwise, either the Captain had a fender bender last time he was out in it or I'm going to have to start over! Won't worry too much about it until I unclamp it and see how it looks. I tried putting brick paper on the back of the house while the wheels were off and it ended up crooked! So that came off and I am waiting until I feel more amiable towards the brick paper. Still really hot and humid here, I'm beginning to feel refrigerated....have a great day all!

Porch and Calamity!

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 20 July

I have been cautiously glueing on bits and pieces that I have made for the Summerhouse. I try to think through whether it will be in the way of something else or there's a chance of it getting knocked off. The bathroom exhaust fan seemed to be okay to glue on, so here it is: 
I know I can't glue the balcony on yet, but I can glue on the sticks with rivets: 
I glued the porch posts in place and borrowed one of my husband's clamps to hold them in place.  I also was able to finish painting another piece of the porch roof and glue it into place.

I knew it was time to quit, but I had another idea I wanted to start on the back of the house. I needed some, well, kind of alot, of rivets and wanted to use the smaller ones I had. It was kind of awkward trying to glue them on, so I had the house in my lap. Well, these smaller ones are adhesive backed and they were stuck to my fingers, stuck under my fingernails and stuck to the tweezers! Everywhere but where I wanted them! Of course I had a rapt audience and I swear one of the minions was selling popcorn as I was being quite entertaining! LOL! I managed to unstick them only to find that I had knocked out one of the porch posts and knocked the fender loose. Got those fixed again and finally got all of the rivets where they were supposed to be and now have to wait for glue to dry.  When things get tough, the tough get going...out of the room and on to something else! LOL! Have a great day all!

Had to add a PS to all this craziness....I was washing my hands and in the mirror saw two more of the adhesive backed rivets stuck to my arm:Then when I took off my flip flops, there was another one glued to my little toe! I guess I'm just stuck on this hobby! LOL!

Laundry Day at the Summerhouse....and Front End Work

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 16 July

Rose announced that it was laundry day and you should have seen people disappear! LOL! She's been teaching the steampunk robot how to operate the Wringer Dinger Washer and he has really gotten the hang of it. But there was a fatal flaw to her plan; she decided to include minions on this venture. It all sounded so innocent at first. All they had to do was hold the laundry basket and catch the clothing that shot out of the wringer part of the washer.... Rose figured two minions could handle the job without any problems. Things seemed to be going well when the rest of the minions decided they wanted in on the fun too. They all grabbed baskets from my stash and positioned themselves to catch laundry too.  What happened next was epic....laundry was shooting out of the wringer, minions were running everywhere trying to catch it, grabbing laundry out of each others baskets and then smacking each other with the wet laundry. Then one of them got smacked in the head with underwear and they all dissolved in laughter! I thought the skellies were going to fall off their carnival ride they were laughing so hard and Rose got a fit of the giggles and couldn't even talk! When she regained her composure, she gave the minions the rest of the day off. The laundry finally did get done, but we were all out of breath from laughing. When calm returned, I started working on what is technically the front end of the Summerhouse. This end has been ignored because I can't really finish it all the way until wiring and interior wallpaper are done.  So I added the brick paper and decided I could glue on the front bumper that I had built quite a while ago.  I made more sticks with rivets and the front is starting to take shape. The large opening is for the bay window which will be the helm area.  I have headlights made too, but they stick out too far so will have to wait until the interior is done also. I still have to finish the brick paper on each side of the large bay near the porch, then we can finally do the porch roof and the porch posts. Have a great day all!

Doors and Mischief.....

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 14 July

Was in the kitchen having breakfast when I noticed it was too quiet in the shop. If you have children, you know that too quiet is not a good thing! LOL! When I went in, I heard a lot of scurrying and found this on my bench. Rose was giggling and there was general hilarity on the skellies carnival ride. They took Selkie's comment about the alien faces and ran with it. I told them "Forget about it...!" Everyone just cracked up then and it was a good joke on me! Once things calmed down a bit, I glued the medallion onto the door.  I had decided to hinge this so cut a piece of tyvek aka white envelope to use for the hinge. I tried this on the front door and it has worked great so after the glue was dry on the green door side, I glued the strip of tyvek onto the hinge side of the black part of the door. After that dried, I glued both sides of the door together and that's where they're at right now.  So, back to the sticks with rivets! Made a few more this morning, just waiting for the glue to dry so I can paint them all black.  As you have probably surmised, you spend alot of time waiting for things to dry with this hobby! LOL! Of course the Captain had to happen by while I was taking this picture and Rose hurried him away for a game of darts before he was dazzled by all the bling. I'll probably only need to make about half a dozen more small pieces of this and then we can move on to the porch roof. My DH suggested I put a touch of black on the porch post and I had to "metalize" it too. What do you think? 
The minions have been settling in nicely although two of them have designated themselves as Rose's personal bodyguards. Personally, I think the smaller one just likes to snuggle.....Have some laundry to finish up, so you all have a great day!

So Much Randomness....

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 09 July

After posting the current picture of the progress on the Steampunk Summerhouse, something was off.  I couldn't put my finger on it at first; but as I looked at it, I realized it needs to have the wood paneling continued onto the wall to the left of the front door. Good thing I didn't install real brick there! I checked in my junk box and I have just enough stained planks to do it too. That might have to wait as I need to make a WalMart run today. I might even have to run wood under the large bay too, but will see how everything looks before I go that far. I have the black side of the back door done and Selkie suggested that I install some rivets on the inside green part of the door.  I was happily gluing on flat backed crystals and painting over them when I realized that I didn't allow any space for door knobs! Oopsie! So I had to pry a rivet off of each door to make room for the knobs I found in my stash. I cut some nice windows for the doors, but I think there needs to be screen for more air flow. Looks like I'll be spray painting more bridal veil material! The neighbors must wonder what I'm doing out there spray painting what appears to be nothing! LOL! Also pulled out the ship's bell I was working on as I got an Aha! moment. I realized that I have quite a few of these little bells because I use them on felt Christmas stockings for the grandchildren. So with one of those attached and a wooden support to make the structure a little more substantial, I can't wait to glue it on the Summerhouse somewhere!  On yet another note, a catalog arrived yesterday from Victorian Trading and I found the perfect sign to hang above the Doozie of a Jacuzzi: 
I know Rose will love it....have a great day all!

A New Door for the Summerhouse....

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 07 July

Was getting bored making sticks with rivets! The Summerhouse is looking good, but I wanted to switch it up and do something else today.It still needed a side door and I was going to build one but thought I'd check my scrap box first. I couldn't believe there was a door in there and that it also fit the opening!  Looks like it needs some rivets to me! LOL! This is a two part door that is typical of the Greenleaf kits so was wondering how to paint the back piece that would form the panels. I ended up painting it copper like the fender I built the other day. The Captain saw all the bling on the door and fainted dead away!  I hollered to Rose to get the smelling salts and quickly painted black over all those flat backed crystals. We revived him straightaway and Rose took him inside for a cup of tea. He was mumbling something about how I would be the death of him yet..... When I painted the opposite side the color of the interior trim, it looked like it definitely needed something. I was going to try building a steampunk contraption on the door, but Rose had other ideas. She wanted something more decorative so she went looking through my box of wooden parts. This is what she came up with:  It fit on the door perfectly! So a little bit of paint later... This still needs more work and since the door opening is just a little bigger, I've decided to hinge it instead of just gluing it in place....so there will be a working side door on the Summerhouse! Stay tuned as we continue work on this in between making more sticks with rivets! LOL! Have a great evening!

Building Inspectors and Ship's Bells

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 06 July

Monday morning.....working on some laundry and riveting the Summerhouse in between! I have alot of these pieces to prepare, so will just show you the first few and catch you up with the finished product in a day or two. I started with some stripwood and bejeweled them! LOL!  
The Captain was busy taking deep breathes at the sight of all that bling, so I painted them black.  After waiting for the black paint to dry, I dry brushed with Metallic Gunmetal Gray. 
This is how the pieces will look applied to the Summerhouse.As you can see, the building inspectors dropped by to examine my work. They told me it wasn't bad for an amateur riveter, but I need to do better at lining up my rivets.....and did I have any bananas.....(?!) I never met any building inspectors like these guys..wonder if they were imposters....Meanwhile, I saw a ship's bell in one of the pictures of the Neverwas Haul and thought ."Hmm, I need one of those..." I looked around in my stash of stuff and found a piece of plastic fencing and a small bell that I think will work.  After cutting away the parts I didn't want, this is what I ended up with. 
It still needs some work, but I will mess with that a little closer to the finish line as it looks like it will be a bit fragile. Just thought I might add a piece of wood backing to it to make it a bit more sturdy and provide a larger glueing surface. Onward and upward! Have a great day all!

Swirling Skirts and Fenders

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 04 July

Happy 4th of July! Sat on the tailgate of our pickup last night and watched the neighbors' fireworks. They were great! Real humid outside today so I am back in my shop. The Captain expressed some concern for Rose and her long skirts around that large back wheel. He didn't want a horrible accident on their next trip! I had actually been thinking about how to deal with this, so started on a fender right away. I was wondering what to use for the curved top when I saw a piece of scrap wood curling up near the bus kit that is slated to be the next project.  My DH (dear hubby) cut a piece out of a paint stick for me on his bandsaw and I had my pieces to start.  I glued them together and curved the edge with my heavy duty scissors.  Next is the part where the Captain always leaves the room because he's never quite sure if I'm making rivets or if he's going to have to put up with bling! LOL! Between you and me, they're definitely going to be rivets....  I was going to paint this metallic Gunmetal Gray, but decided that the front needed a little more color to it. I think I will paint this with a matte finish or maybe dry brush some bright copper on it, but for now have to wait for paint to dry. 
Pray for our country and have a great day all!

Vents and Chimney....continued

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 23 June

Well, let's finish our latest project! Remember yesterday when I was glueing flat backed crystals to the "sheet metal"? This is what it looks like now after three coats of Gunmetal Gray metallic paint::
The plumbing piece now has 3 coats of Antique Copper metallic and Brass metallic paints:  I know what you're thinking, it doesn't match the other one! After a couple of coats of Matte nailpolish, we're good!
So on to the piece of 2x4. After priming it, I coated the wood with a thin layer of Elmer's White glue and applied brick paper. I figured if the white glue made the paper crinkle a little, it would just look more realistic. Came out the way I wanted: 
Now to finish the chimney cap. I cut strip wood to fit around the top of the chimney and glued it to the bottom of the piece of wood I cut and had added the "sheet metal" to.: 
Dug out some more flat backed crystals and glued them on. 
Two coats of black paint made the crystals look like rivets. A quick dry brush with Gunmetal Gray metallic made the cap look more like metal. The Captain was relieved that he didn't have to have sparklies on his Summerhouse! LOL! 
Once all glued together, this is the new set of cowl vents for the Steampunk Summerhouse!  What shall we tackle next?! Have a great evening all!