April 29, 2010
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Latest building project.
My husband has decided he really likes my tiny buildings and has requested a general store and a church to go with the couple of houses and a barn that I’ve done for him. This week I did the general store.
I started by cutting apart a cereal box, from which I built my basic forms:
Lots of masking tape is involved.
Next, I used leftover clay from last week’s tulip cane fiasco to cover the outsides of these forms, building the basic shape of my building. (No photo of that – didn’t think to grab one before I covered it all up.)
After doing a clay inventory, and thinking seriously about what color this place should be, I placed a lovely big clay order, which arrived on Tuesday:
Each of those are 12.5 ounce blocks of Kato Polyclay. All I can see there is possibilities! Kato clay blends beautifully, allowing a clayer to make virtually any color from these basic clays.
Not that I had any exciting color in mind for my general store. As I thought about it, it seemed to me that most of the stores I’ve seen in person, and on TV or in movies, are always gray. So mine is, too.
I cut windows in this building – first time for that, as is the porch. I put de-laminated mica sheets in the window spaces, and I actually put up walls and a floor, since you can see inside. I’ve got a variety of “grocery stuff,” ready to be painted and baked – I used junk clay for that, too, but it’s too small to cover, and I am going to try using lighter, brighter colors on those inside items, hoping they’ll be more visible. We’ll see how that works out.
Here’s a side view:
Especially evident from this view are the many flaws my eye entirely missed. I’ve already fixed many of them, like the slightly wonky posts and window frames. Looking at these photos for this blog entry, I’ve noticed even more flaws – I’ll do a quick once-over before it goes in the oven this morning. But all in all, I’m happy with it. Faron loves it.
As for personal stuff, we welcomed a new member to the family this week. My niece Cathy’s stepdaughter, April, gave birth to her first child this week, Emily Elizabeth weighed just 7 lbs and is 19 inches long. She seems to have missed out on mama’s red hair in favor of daddy’s blond stuff, but it is certainly early days for that to be for sure. I hear she’s precious. Photos to follow as soon as Cathy forks over a few!
Faron’s got his radishes, carrots and … something else in this past weekend, and plowed up the part of the garden where the potatoes will go in. He and Peter hope to get that done before the week is out.
And finally, but not least, as of May 1, you’ll be able to vote on the May Challenge of the PCAGOE “History/Historical Event.” All of the entries are in, as you’ll see on the website. Each month I’m amazed at how we all come at these things from such different points of view! Amazing stuff here, but you’d still better vote for me!
I’ll blog the prizes and the actually entries by Saturday at the latest. me<><
