And here we are!!

 
 
 


OK. it needs some touch ups here and there, as yet, the paint unfortunately has a soft shine, so I need to try and "matte"it more. And the brickwork IS horrible, will see whether I can touch THAT up ( hmmmmm)

For the "grass" I used some crumbled oasis(florists foam), mixed with some colors of flock, not seeing any railway landscaping materials in the house:-)

about paperclay and Fiona's tips

 
 

Fiona gives a good tip for rolling paperclay if you don't have a board nor lay your grubby hands on them quickly:
use baking paper for the underground. I did so. using silicon-coated paper, byw;I used some scrap wood for thickness, like you can see.
For makingg the faux thatch in this scale she advises using a hard brush ( toothbrush for smaller edges like near the chimneys),going over the applied but still wet clay. I happily combed my way over the roof. In paperclay you have got lots of time to do that.

Flowerpot cottage continued

 
 


Today I made faux-thatch for the roof( with a hard cleaning brush over the paperclay). It doesn't look too bad, actually.At the moment, it is drying.
Since the walls of the cottage were not dry enough as yet, I decided to work on the brickwork and the garden patch. I need to make windows and windowsills as yet, do not know whether I will make it today. We will see...

Flowerpot cottage -next chapter

 
 
 
 

Today I clad nearly the whole cottage plus the chimneys in paperclay(thank you Patty, thank you Sue and thank you Rik Pierce for the tutorials I found, and big thanks to Bea for her beautiful workshop coming with this kit). I also made the brickwork - well, I can assure you that every quarterscale bricklayer should be heartily ashamed( or heartily drunk) to deliver this kind of work. As long as I don't use a magnifier to look at it, it will be fine, though, and besides, this kind of cottage is not really neat, either.
Since the paperclay has to dry before I can get on, I will leave it for now. Hope everything will be dry enough tomorrow to get on with it.
As you can see, Floris is still watching me. He loves me mini-ing.

My first adventures in quarter scale

I started working on Flowerpot cottage, as I am off-job(being battered after a meeting with the orthodontist and not being allowed to work during the next few days).Nobody said anything about miniatures being forbidden, though, as long as I don't talk to them , it seems.
Here is the start of Flowerpot cottage. Tomorrow I am going to have a go at working with Paperclay for the outside decoration. Keeping my fingers crossed, it is the very first time I am trying this!
At the top you see the prototype; I wonder whether I can even approach this lovely effect!
PS My little helpers are present again in full force, as you can see....

Update on Floris!

Today I received an e-mail from the Veterinary faculty at Utrecht, asking about Floris, my kitty that had a holmium treatment for his sarcoma.
Welllllll, as soon as I was home, I grabbed the camera and photographed the little patient.He is a happy kitty and I am a happy kitty-mom; up to now ( 8 months after the operation,a bit over 6 months after the brachytherapy) he is still free of disease, chasing after the other critters and biting in my toes when I try to fall asleep....

Sukkot is over

here some pics from all over the world:Johannesburg,
Hawaii
minisukot in Detroit
Costa Rica ( the bundle of the 4 "sorts"