Category: Argo Wool Works Showroom

Wroughting Iron, Again

16 Comments

hand_clamp_100216

The human hand often makes the best gluing jig, yes? After considerable deliberation about style, I’m making a salvaged wrought iron railing for the wee balcony off the Argo Wool Works showroom. These are portions of the same laser cut panels from JMG Miniatures used in the Sea House Warming Hut. The best thing about making “vintage” wrought iron is the globbier the glue and the cruddier the paint job, the more scale authenticity.

scarlett_100216-1

Observe my current working conditions. The railing joints are reinforced with black paper brackets and “bolts”, which add tremendous stability to the fragile structure.

scarlett_100216-2

Scarlett was on her way to inspect my suspiciously-tinkling glass of white wine (Layer Cake Sauvignon Blanc, vintage 2015, lovely). Soon after, she sat down on the many 1/16-inch punched bolts (and x-acto knife, etc.) which clung to her fur and trailed after as she sped on to the next investigation. (The dots clung, not the knife :)

porch_100216

The railing installed, with mounting brackets. It appears a bit too “freshly painted”, so I want to hunt down some examples in the wild to see how they oxidize. But not too much. Structural integrity is important :) Also made brackets for the scythe from Sir Thomas Thumb, which will support some sort of sign. Perhaps Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate?

Nah. Probably just Argo Wool Works.

Argo Wool Works, Plastic Litter Collage, Scarlett

5 Comments

shelved_100116

After serious depredation wrought between new kitten and granddaughter, I had to relocate the Argo Wool Works build from my worktable to a higher shelf. This made working on it difficult, and me sad.

aww_100116_3

Frustrated, I’ve moved it back to the worktable, and hope to protect it from marauders by covering with a dropcloth when I’m not present to defend it.

aww_porch_100116

I made small progress with the lights.

aww_interior_100116-2

And spent considerable time thinking anew about the interior.

aww_interior_100116-1

In other news, the plastic litter collage is complete, and made its debut in the Pacifica Beach Coalition booth at the 31st annual Fogfest celebration. I noticed it suffered some depredation of its own, as it came back with some pieces missing. Seriously, who steals trash art?!

plastics_collage_092516

Scarlett is three months old, and thriving. Our older boy cats have resigned themselves to her presence, tolerating, and even initiating play.

voice_092616

Here she is complaining about a recent heat wave, from her in perch in another relocated (and depredated) build, my first-ever Loft (1)961.

aww_100116-4

Wish me luck!

 

 

 

Nope.

12 Comments

s_091916-01

I am not going to meet the HBS bloggers build deadline for September 26, 2016, and I am using cute kitten photos to distract from my mingled sense of failure, regret and self loathing.

s_091916-02

I *have* met all my work and all most of my volunteer deadlines.

s_091916-03

Feel free to judge me, but look at my belly first :)

S_091916-05.jpg

Though I will continue — and finish —  the build, I’m more than a bit scattered and distracted with other projects.

S_091916-04.jpg

Sweet dreams, best beloveds.

 

Retro Sofa, Fairy Surprise

16 Comments

sofa_061916

The retro sofa made from one of Kris Compas’s excellent kits, and upholstered in silk cut from a gentleperson’s tie, is finished. The legs are painted a medium gold, a tone somewhere between the multiple shades of butter yellow and tan in the fabric.

sofa_piping_061916

For the piping I corded three strands each of a blue and gold DMC floss. I liked the variegated result more than a single color.

I love the design of the sofa, but I’m disappointed in my fabric choice. I now see that a simpler, far less patterned fabric is called for, one that does not compete with the rhythm of the sofa’s luscious curves. Oh well.

In other news, I walked out in the garden this afternoon to find that the fairies had vacated their backyard terrace location, leaving their outdoor furnishings and accessories behind.

moved_061916

A short tour found their dwelling relocated to the front southside terrace, an area I have been working on clearing of its irredeemably overgrown lavender, rosemary and other shrubberies.

moved_front_061916This is a street-facing, far more public location, and I’m frankly surprised. What will the neighborhood make of the new inhabitants?

And finally, a wee acknowledgement. Today is 19 June, or 619, which was my house number in a faraway sojourn, an amazing house in a now enchanted place. The *best* water, phenomenal night skies, and the site of epic revelries. To all of you who enjoyed Plain Meeting House Road, salut!

 

Retro Sofa Upholstery

14 Comments

sofa_batting_061116

I did as much as I could last night on the retro sofa kit from Kris Compas, before I needed to decide on the fabric. This is the base, seat and back cushions padded out with batting, and the back (being held in place with rubber bands until the glue cures). The dots mark the tufting positions (with a small correction).

bottom_cover_061116

I surprised myself somewhat by going with the gold and blue fans — originally I thought the Paisley. Thank you all for your input. It was fun and interesting to hear what you would choose. This piece is the covering for the bottom of the sofa.

back_061116

Here is the curved back. There is rather a lot of triangular notching to do.

back_on_061116

The back glued on to the seat base. Silk is slippery to cut and glue straight!

sofa_061116

The sofa so far. Next up is tufting and covering the back cushion, making the buttons (with the cute button press supplied with the kit), making the piping or braid, and painting and attaching the legs. Oh, and pillows. More tie silk fabric choices!

 

Retro Sofa

21 Comments

kit_061016

Kris Compas had two new kits up in her Etsy shop, this sofa and some equally awesome chairs. I chose the sofa kit for the Argo Wool Works showroom porch.

porch_061016

I want to use tie silk for the upholstery. But which one? Thanks to the generosity of friends, I have a curated collection of about 30 ties from which to choose. I’ve narrowed it down to these six:

escher_061016

Blue, gray and black Escher flying fish.

dots_061016

Ivory and black dots, which I used on this bench:

bench_silk_050516

fish_061016

Leaping trout on a burgundy background

paisley_061016

Blue and white Paisley on black

rounded_rectangles_061016

Multicolored truncated ovals on burgundy

pale_yellow_061016

Gold and blue fans on pale yellow

MLR_061016

I feel like my granddaughter, Maddie Lou, making decisions with the happy abundance of choices.

Which one would you pick?

 

 

Foundations, Éclairs

9 Comments

backwall_brick

Attempting to integrate the show-through back wall brick arch, I built a few brick foundation ruins.

backwall_brick_frosted

After sealing the bricks, I mortared them with DAP CrackShot.

front_frosted.jpg

They have been since grunged, weathered and eroded, and cast into the background.

More importantly, we celebrated my husband’s birthday with the question, What is your spirit animal éclair?

spirit_eclairs

We received so many heartfelt responses, mostly off the list of the available tiny animal figurines. Sloth, hyena, bunny… nope. Thus far, B has resonated with rhino and lion. I found the tiger encased on its side in delicious dark chocolate this morning; I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

 

 

Back Brick Arch

2 Comments

back_brick_arch1_050616

After tipping the build backside up, and using the same pattern as on the inside wall, I glued on the bricks and sealed them with Mod Podge. I favor these bricks by Andi Mini Brick & Stone because they’re a solid color throughout, well-priced, and easy to cut.

back_brick_arch2_050616

Mortared with a palette knife and gloved fingers, using DAP Crack Shot. This and the following shot were photographed at night by ambient light of my Luxo lamp, hence the color variations.

back_brick_arch3_050616

Gruzz brushed on with gray and deep green powdered pastel.

back_brick_arch4

Finishing out the rest of the farmer style board-and-batten siding. Yay for using up offcuts. Fooling around with preserved reindeer moss, mostly roots and mid-structure  (rather than the rounded top mounds) to give a slightly more lichen-y feel.

back_brick_arch5_050716

The finished-for-now back wall. I added some floor board remnants and foundation elements to the existing structure. After carving out a lot of mortar and rounding all the exposed brick corners, I sea-sponged on a thin white wash of white acrylic, then re-scrubbed individual bricks clean. The siding nailheads are made with a soft-leaded pencil tip rotated in place, then wiped downwards with a fingertip to create stain trails. Convincing!

Now I have to do a bit of research on street names and sign styles of 1906 San Francisco. I’m tempted to use my old address, but have to see if the area was even developed then. (It was in the outer Richmond, near the backside of Sutro Park.) Alternately I could cut a very fine stencil of the Argo Wool Works logo

AWW_logo

to paint on the bricked-in arch, which might look something like this:

back_brick_arch_AWW

My final offering is this delightful piece filled with the pure light of truth, by one of my very favorite contemporary writers, Mallory Ortberg of the-toast.net

http://the-toast.net/2016/05/05/everything-thats-wrong-of-raccoons/

It’s satisfying to read aloud.

 

 

 

Ceiling, Standing Stone, Brick Arch, Yipes Stripes, Bench

13 Comments

ceiling_050316

For the Argo Wool Works showroom ceiling, I glued the two roof sections from the Backyard Bungalow base kit together, and edged with half- by quarter-inch (13 x 6 mm) basswood to extend the overhang. I measured the placement of the beams and walls in dry fit like three or four times, encountering anomalies each time.

roof_dryfit_050516.jpg

Yet another dry fit, this time with the upper window frames in place, and one section of ceiling planks. I’ve decided a 1/16-inch wiggle room is acceptable, especially since the whole ceiling and under eaves will be semigloss white, and any gaps will blend into the painted bricks… or something. I’m using the ever versatile 3/4-inch rustic clapboard siding from miniatures.com to cover the ceiling.

In the lower right of the photo you can see this standing stone feature I’m working on:

upright_rock_050516

It’s two gorgeous crystalline mineral shards that I promptly forgot the name of, found at a very eccentric bead and rock shop here in Pacifica.

back_brick_arch_050516

The back of the build was to be clad with the yellow and gray siding, but I decided today to have the bricked-in arch from the interior carry through to the outside wall for interest. I might mess with the foundation to suggest remnants of more of the building, too. There’s only just over an inch of space on the base, but I think it’ll be enough :)

yipes_stripes_050516

Small progress on the Yipes, Stripes rug, at 2.5 x +2.5 inches, it’s a bit more than half finished. It’ll fit well in the showroom. (Stitched on 48-count silk gauze with ten colors of Gütermann silk; making up the design as I stitch :)

bench_silk_050516

And here, lit by the westering sun, is my first bit of tie silk upholstery — nothing too challenging. Our dear BW sent a vintage Daisy House bench kit (so sad they’re no longer in business), and the fabric is a lustrous gray, black and ivory woven dot pattern. Thanks again, BW and Suz and Dave!

Elephant Tea Cozy

4 Comments

tea_cozy_041316

Finished the elephant tea cozy from Janet Granger Designs! It is stitched on 32-count silk gauze with Anchor stranded cotton. Bummer side note: Janet’s site was hacked and hijacked and she’s in the process of restoring it; you may not be able get through :(

The differences in the elephant’s blanket shawl were not intentional, nor part of the pattern. By the time I realized I was off, I was disinclined to rip it all out. I can live with an imperfect tea cozy, especially because you only see one side at a time :)

tea_cozy_041316-2

Here it is trimmed, and the two sides hemmed and stitched together. So adorable. I want to make the ginger cat next.

tea_cozy_041316-3

A new load of barewood outdoor furniture was delivered today, so I made tea —green, with fresh mint leaves and ginger — and sat on the unfinished deck to think about color.

Table and chairs from my stash of Bruce Dawson, regrettably retired from miniatures. Ooooh! I just saw that SP Miniatures has some of his cherry pieces. Grab them while you can!  Teapot, cup and saucer are from HBS/miniatures.com.