Scissor Step Follies!

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 28 June

I woke up ready to take on adding the new step to the scissor stairs! This should be simple, I thought. Just pull off the seed beads and take out the pins.
I found one last piece of the paint stick I used for the other steps so cut a new step and drilled holes in the ends. 
Thankfully, I had saved my work on the diamond plate in Microsoft Word so went back and printed it out again. I sealed it like I did the other pieces and made sure to wear a glove this time! LOL! 
Once the diamond plate was glued onto the step, I thought "This is going alot smoother than I thought it would..." Little did I know.
I had forgotten that pinning the step in place was the trickiest part. I even resorted to using my hammer with less than perfect results. 
Finally, after calling this piece of you know what some colorful names, I got it put together! Only to turn and see my glue bottle, without the cap of course, tipped over and spilled onto my wood siding! 
Thankfully, I had put the hammer away as I wanted to pound the steps into oblivion....Took a few deep breathes, well maybe alot of deep breathes, and rinsed off the siding pieces. Captain Happy Pants was right there with "Well, you know if you had put the siding on when I told you....." He's just lucky he still has his head. So here are the finished steps, I'm happy with how they came out but I think that's enough work on this project today! :)  
Have a great day all!+

Scissor Steps and Porch Floors

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 27 June

The scissor steps have been folded up in a corner waiting for me to figure out a way to mount them to the Summerhouse. I couldn't just glue them on as they wouldn't open all the way that way. What to do! One night as I was falling asleep, the thought came to me to just hang them from hooks....all well and good, but I don't have any hooks small enough I thought. In the morning, I knew I could use pierced earring hooks...they have a small eye on one end and they're not as bendy as eye pins. Once I started fooling around with wire cutters and needle nose pliers, I remembered I had an old wind chime part kicking around with nice small eye hooks in it! I'm so glad I save junk! LOL! So when I was done, this is what it looked like::They open all the way now and the Captain can unhook them and stow them away when they travel.  DH came in and said how amazing they were.....except maybe I need another step near the top? It will mean taking the top part apart and cutting another step; doable, but not today. I was starting to drop things and knocking stuff apart so knew it was time to quit!

While the glue was drying, I was working on the porch floor. I decided to paint the edge of the porch and the trim underneath black:  Then I primed the floor and cut a pattern for the scrapbook paper I was going to use. I probably wouldn't have made a pattern first but I only have one sheet of this and the rest of it has to be enough for one of the rooms inside. I saw this idea for a porch floor on Pinterest and really liked it, so here it is.  Not glued down yet as I need to dry brush the black edge and trim of the porch with Gunmetal Gray metallic but not today, time to put my feet up and chill. :) Have a great evening all!

Sticks and Steps

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 18 June

Have been getting up at 7 the last few days because I was thinking about these steps! After staring at the picture I have, figured I needed a support bar at each end so spent part of the morning painting a stick. LOL! I thought that would be the end of it, but had a few scratch-my-head moments assembling the small top section. Cut a couple of pieces wrong so thankfully had a few extras. Always make a few extra pieces if you attempt building a set of these!

Well, drum roll please, here are the finished steps!The only thing left to do is to come up with a way to keep them closed once they are mounted on the Summerhouse. I think a cool leather strap would work....will think on this some more.

In other news, Rose gave me a call this morning! She said she was using something called a "cell phone". The Captain wasn't very impressed, said it didn't even have one gear on it! Rose said they have been walking on the beach listening to the waves and enjoying the sunsets together. She has quite a collection of shells to bring back and was wondering if I could design a display cabinet for them. If I can build scissor steps I can build anything! Don't worry, I didn't say that to Rose, it's our surprise when they come back. They have been to antique shops and ladies' shops and I hope there is room in the Summerhouse for all her shopping! I think the Captain and Rose are going to need their own little cottage for year round use and the Summerhouse will be for their trips. They come home tomorrow, I can hardly wait! Have a great day all!

Scissor Step Crazies!

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 17 June

Finished drilling holes in the ends of each step. When I partially assembled the steps and one of the sides, I realized I had to also paint the ends. So I did that and set them aside to dry. I assembled the opposide side of the scissor steps and was feeling pretty proud of myself when I realized that the other side had to be a mirror image of the first! Well, I don't know if I was having a bad day or what but I had a heck of a time wrapping my head around how to put the opposite side together! LOL! Finally succeeded after working up a sweat. Then touched up the little ends and set them aside to dry. I decided to try sealing the printed out images of diamond plate with some Rustoleum Crystal Clear Enamel. A few light sprays on both sides seemed to do the trick.  Also sealed my thumb nail and part of my hand, next time I will wear a glove, I promise! Since the paper dried quickly, I used some Elmer's glue and tried gluing it to one of the steps. I think this is going to work... After looking at my original picture of scissor steps, I can see that I have a few more strips to cut for braces on each end. Tomorrow's another day! Have a nice evening!

News! News.

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 16 June

A letter has arrived special delivery! Sounds like the Captain and Rose are having a real good time and are enjoying tooling around in the Summerhouse. Wait 'til they see the steps I'm working on! While they were here, the Captain would pull her up with a little assistance by Reginald bringing up the rear so to speak. I think Rose just likes to make him blush. From now on, Rose can disembark in a more elegant way. Also, no more leaping into the Captain's arms to get down......that can't be good for his back.....

Not sure how much work will get done today, the laundry pile is again summoning me.....still puzzling away at the steps, not sure if they are glued to the pins or have to move freely but I will figure it out! Have a great day al!

P.S. Grabbed a couple of minutes away from the laundry pile to dry brush the railing for the back balcony. I think all the iron on the Summerhouse will be done this way. I like it! Here are before and after pics, subtle but I like how it looks less "plasticy".

 

P.S. again...When DH saw the balcony all dry brushed, he said it looked more "metaly". LOL! We must be married!

Scissor steps and Tool Dreams...

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 15 June

Good morning! It was a crazy weekend around here but managed to squeeze in a little time for the scissor steps. The picture I have of them wasn't real clear so I had to fiddle around with all the bits to see if I could get them to work. I used the pin vise to drill more holes in the side pieces and pinned them together temporarily to see if they would fold the way they are supposed to. So far, so good!  All I have to do now is finish drilling the holes in the ends of the steps, apply my fake diamond plate and pin it all together! The Captain and Rose will be so surprised! Good thing I measured the space before they decided to elope! Haven't heard from them as yet, but I'm sure they are having a good time and enjoying each other's company.

Went to Lowes with DH yesterday and saw a very tempting tool: The child in me said "Gimmee! Gimmee!" but the adult said, "You just got a new truck and those payments aren't going to pay themselves..." So unfortunately, I listened to the adult. When the salesman came over, I said "Hey, I know, he can buy me one for Father's Day! I would even let him use it......once in a while!" We all laughed. I think I'll look at reviews online to see how it fares. Thanks for reading and have a great day all!

This is a drill, this is a drill....

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 14 June

The light finally came on the other day...."Hey, I have a rotary tool!" So I dumped out the box of attachments and looked for a small drill. Sure enough, there was one just a little bigger than the one in my pin vise. Also made good use of the little vise that's kinda been kicking around for quite awhile. After drilling a few holes on the end of the steps, I lined up the small pieces with pins to see how they fit. I'll have to cut the pins shorter, but I think this is going to work! I'll just drill the holes in the tiny pieces with the pin vise and use the rotary tool on the rock maple step pieces. Also found some nice diamond plate images and sized and printed out what I needed. I chose a color that closely matches the silver paint on the side pieces.  So the experiment continues! And don't forget to wear your eye protection when you use power tools:  Have a great day all!

Portraits of Frustration!

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 12 June

I was searching online and came across a photo of our dear Captain! I'll have to print it and frame it up for Rose, I'm sure she will love it!  The Titanic was an unfortunate incident in his career, so I think that's why he prefers more of a "land yacht" right now. I hope he doesn't have any mechanical trouble on the trip, those skellies are not the most reputable of mechanics, you never know what they'll be up to next! They're always trying to get something apart, I'm surprised the steampunk family managed to get them to help....at least I hope they helped, the skellies always have an agenda all their own. Maybe I'll hear from Rose soon; perhaps she'll send a postcard next week. I'll be sure and share it with you all here.

So, these scissor stairs are kinda making me nuts! After cutting them to size:  I thought it would be easy to drill small holes in the ends of each step...ha! I think this paint stick is made from rock maple! I finally have one hole drilled out of 18! Between using the tiny drill that has now discovered how to unscrew itself just like Selkie's and using a corsage pin, I think it took twenty minutes to finish! So DH and I are going to put our heads together and see if we can come up with something else. I wanted to have a diamond plate finish on the steps but couldn't find a source for it in miniature. Thanks to the Greenleaf Forum, they directed me to Oakridge Hobbies and Toys website where they have it in several scales. Then the thrifty Yankee in me kicked in and thought, why not just do a google search for images of it......score! All I have to do is pick out the one I want, size it a little and print it out and we shall have diamond plate steps! That's if I ever get the silly holes drilled in them.......Have a great day all!

Scrap Happy!

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 01 June

Yes, I am one lucky miniaturist! My DH gifted me with some great scraps and I am making good use of them. Cut them in half lengthwise and think these are going to work perfect! Also did some work on the scissor steps this weekend. So much time spent on a little stick! LOL! There had to be a hole in the center of each one that would fit a head pin so dug out my tiny hand drill and measured and drilled.I started to put the pieces together when I realized I need to cut the pieces for the steps as they are connected to the sides....(the shoulder bone's connected to the arm bone....)And of course, I have nothing one inch wide so will have to go out to DH shop and dig around. I think a paint stick will work well and I know we have some of those somewhere. So I have a nice little pile of sticks with holes drilled in them! LOL! Since I haven't done that yet, worked on the large wheels some more. You know me, detail, detail, detail! Noticed that there was a faint design on the outer rim and also a gear behind the wheel...never miss an opportunity to glue a gear onto something! LOL! I used a high tech method for the design on the rim...a yellow colored pencil. ;)Unfortunately today's projects include finally doing something with those bananas! Banana bread, here we come! The Captain approves: Just got a call from my SIL saying "Why don't you just put the bananas in the freezer and make the banana bread on a cooler day?" That's all I needed! The bananas are in the freezer! The Captain is going off for a good pout.

Scissor Steps

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 28 May

I think I'm avoiding the electrical....Now that the Steampunk Summerhouse has wheels, I wanted to create a set of steps that would fold up when not needed. Found a picture online:At first, I was going to just glue the whole thing together; but now want to make it so it works! Nothing like making more work for myself...I found some wood strips at Hobby Lobby yesterday (my reward for having to drive all the way back to the truck dealership) that I thought would probably work. Figured out I have to cut 24 1 inch pieces, then drill three holes in each one. So made a start on that: Have some jewelry head pins I can use to assemble it so will show more progress next entry. Oh darn, I just remembered I was going to paint the wood strip before I cut it! Guess I will get on that now. Captain Morin thinks this is a dubious endeavor at best, but if I wanted to, I could remind him of a certain Titanic incident.....