Warming Hut Rockscaping

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I’m using air dry clay to sculpt the boulders that populate the Warming Hut foundation. For the largest one I used a small tin and a plastic cup as a base, then coiled unevenly-rolled lengths of clay around it.

I made certain decisions about the type of rock I wanted to see, then used my hands, a small metal ruler and a ball point stylus to make like the earth, wind, water and all the other magics of geology.

This is my model rock for style and color.

Even though the clay’s just one day dry, I’ve put the first coat of acrylic glaze on. There are a lot of rocks to build and paint. Most of them will fit under the foundation, as if the posts have been drilled and set into them, so the painting part will be a wee bit tricksy. (That was part of my conundrum of when best to glue or not to glue the hut in place.)

The gaps between the boulders will be filled with beach gravel and tiny pebbles (from my prized collection), with some driftwood logs wedged in here and there, and small bits of greenery.

Sea House Warming Hut Stairs

2015/03/292015/04/301 Comment

I began staining and applying the siding to the front entry. Some of us would rather be gardening.

There is a broad, deep stairway leading up to the Warming Hut. I glued up two lengths of one-inch x 1/16-inch basswood for each step. For the risers, I only had 1/32-inch x 3/4-inch stock, so I glued those two up.

I fiddled with math on paper, and then in Illustrator, then printed out the pattern for the stringer. (Which made me think of Stringer Bell from The Wire. Always a pleasant, if complicated thought.) I put a fresh blade in my Xacto knife, and cut three support forms from illustration board.

While waiting for the glue to dry on the staircase assembly, I stained the foundation posts. Then I hurt my brain trying to think through the building process. I make so much up as I go along, it’s hard to solve for all potential problems. Finally I determined I should glue the Hut to the project board before proceding with the air dry clay boulders. The deck extension and stair case are too fiddly not to have the main structure set in place.

Here is the stairway glued in place, and the beginnings of the siding applied. As you can see in the photo, I’ve lost the light and it’s past time for dinner.

I’ve cleaned my tools and cutting mat. Here’s my work table with the Warming Hut, on the other side of my studio/office (itself a work in progress.) Finally the glue will get a good chance to dry.

Sea House Warming Hut Deck Extension

2015/03/282015/04/305 Comments

Floor and foundation plan for the deck extension

For the Warming Hut front deck extension, I glued two pieces of illustration board together with wood glue to make a 1/8-inch (3 mm) thick subfloor. I let it dry thoroughly, then sanded the edges smooth and even.

You can also see one of my preferred pencils, the Palomino Blackwing 602. (“It’s not just a pencil, it’s an experience.”) If you like pencils like I do, it lives up to the hype.

Deck extension plan v2

For various reasons, including some ~~mistakes~~ aberrations with the front wall alignments, I decided to switch the deck extension to the right side of the Hut, and inset the foundation so the deck overhangs consistently with the base kit. I remeasured and cut the pieces from 5/8-in poplar (which is what I had on hand).

Gluing up the deck extension foundation

Of course I forgot to flip the plan back over to account for building it upside down, but the glue had not yet set and it was easy scrape it off and reconfigure the layout.

Adding the support posts to the rest of the Warming Hut

While that was drying, I measured for placement and glued the main structure posts to the foundation.

After the glue set, I flipped the hut back over onto the project board, and set the extension foundation in place. Most of the posts will be obscured by the boulders and bedrock of the site, and for now I’m leaving the build loose from the board. I plan to model and mold the boulders with air dry clay, which worked so well — and are so fun to make! — for the Sea House Pavilion. After the clay dries and shrinks in place, which seems to take several days, I’ll glue the posts to the project board.

Sea House Warming Hut deck extension, vision in progress

Here’s the kit deck and my illustration board extension subfloor. I’m glad it’s still March and the contest deadline is not ’til December 16.

Which also reminds me: I have the whole beautiful unopened base kit HBS/miniatures.com sent me, which I’d like to pass on to one who wants to join in the miniature madhouse of real imaginary world building. Just leave a comment, and I’ll randomly select from the respondents on 31 March, 2015. Please! Thank you!

Fun with Cream Cans

2015/03/262015/04/306 Comments

Another great tutorial from Kris Compas

I took another break from construction on the Warming Hut to make Kris Comapas’s latest project, a miniature covered cream can. I always learn something new from her! This time it’s how she paints a galvanized finish. It’s like magic.

Tiny cream cans, made from card stock

I left them overnight, for the wood glue she favors to set up.

The next day, I sanded them smoothish, and painted two coats of gray acrylic.

My approximation of galvanized base, a blend of nimbus gray and a touch of lamp black.

Then I got really involved, and didn’t take any more pictures. But that’s OK, because Kris’s tutorials are always very well documented. Also I tried and failed twice to drill a hole lengthwise through a quarter-inch length of toothpick for the wooden handle, so I used a little roll of cardstock painted black to look like a piece of hose.

Poppies for the Warming Hut Roof

2015/03/242015/04/306 Comments

1:12 California poppies kit from The Miniature Garden Center

Contents of a 1:12 scale California poppies kit

I went micro today, and made up one of the flower kits from The Miniature Garden Center. Those dots you see are 3/16-inch (4.7 mm) in diameter.

Inspiration: volunteer poppies near the herb garden

California poppies might be my favorite flowering plant. If it wasn’t for freesias. Or peonies. Or coneflowers.

The kit assembled, with some variations.

Because these will be growing on a windswept roof, I cut the two-inch long stem wires in half. California poppies are rarely leggy.

Waiting to be planted on the living roof

Even though California poppies are too delicate and wild to be a good cut flower, they’ll be a nice spot of color in building tableaux. I made more eucalyptus branches, too. Come sit and have a glass of orange juice, and enjoy the morning light.

Oh also, this is the whole of the background picture I used in the deck extension shot. It was taken at sundown on the aforementioned cliffs at Mussel Rock. There was a brisk wind that lifted Lula’s ears as she leaned into it.

Lula reading the smell stories on the wind, December 2014

Your scale reference here is that she was a 130-pound (59 kilo) Mastiff mix (Dogue de Bordeaux and Bullmastiff), and she died two weeks after this walk. We miss her.

Warming Hut Deck Extension

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Mockup of the Warming Hut deck extension, with a little Photoshop tomfoolery

The Sea House Warming Hut is snugged into a rocky outcrop on the cliffs, and will have an L-shaped front deck. Here’s a cardboard mockup of the extension, with the Bruce Dawson benches in place for scale.

I drew a plan in Illustrator to work out the measurements, based on the 5/8-inch square poplar I’ll use for the additional foundation and the supporting pillars. I like using Illustrator because I can enter exact dimensions, and easily move stuff around.

Deck extension plan (not to code)

The exterior siding is going to run horizontally, and my plan is to wrap it around the curved deck wall in a seamless run. We’ll see how that goes.

There will be a wide stair leading up to the entry, either of wood or stone. Going to try the salt trick on the painted air-dry clay boulders and bedrock that supports the entire hut. And to top it all off, a living roof of moss, grasses and California poppies :) I ordered some flower kits from Georgie Steeds’ Miniature Garden Center Etsy shop. Love her stuff, as well as SDK Miniatures’ kits. HBS/miniatures.com used to carry some of the SDK kits, not sure if they still do.

I knew you were wondering. The rock formations you see in the ocean shot above is Pedro Point, southern-most in Pacifica, as seen from the cliffs at Mussel Rock, to the north.

a wealth of opportunity

2015/03/182015/04/309 Comments

The limited edition 2015 HBS/miniatures.com Creatin’ Contest starting kit

Like some of the other miniaturists who were enticed to participate in HBS/miniatures.com build blog-along, I had already purchased and begun to build this year’s starting kit. And I’ll enter the Sea House Warming Hut in the contest come December 16, even though I have no aspiration of winning, having been honored with the Grand Prize in 2013 for my Sea House Pavilion. (Note to all those who don’t enter their projects because you think you have no chance: no one was more astonished to win than I was. Truly. So show your work and enter! It’s way fun.)

So what to do with this second kit provided by HBS?

Much as I’d like to, I haven’t the time (or space) to do another project. I’d like to offer the kit as encouragement to anyone who might be hesitant to enter the contest, or undertake miniature world building. Leave a comment, and I’ll randomly draw a name on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 from those who respond. I ask only that you consider using the kit to enter the contest, and that you pay shipping costs (I’m in Northern California, and the kit weighs about 11 pounds). What say you?

Perfect furniture by Bruce Dawson, who has shuttered his studio and is closing out inventory :(

Not a lot of progress on the Warming Hut, what with all the March birthday celebrations.

I did see that one of my favorite miniature furniture builders, Bruce Dawson, is retiring (again) and closing out all his inventory through his Etsy shop bedMiniatures. Shown above are the unpainted 1:12 basswood items I picked up. (He has some half-inch scale pieces as well.) Do check out his shop. His prices are more than reasonable. There are still a few cherry Mission style tables and bookcases that are especially wonderful. Don’t miss this opportunity! You’ll be very, very glad.

count olaf’s house

2015/03/072015/03/079 Comments

I got to take a behind-the-scenes tour at Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio, and encountered the model of Count Olaf’s house used in the 2004 movie Lemony Snicket.

Count Olaf’s house movie prop, built at ILM

It randomly occupies half of a small lobby, and stands maybe seven feet (2.1 m) tall. It is fabulous. The sign says it took three months to build in the Industrial Light and Magic model shop, and another two weeks to light and film it on stage.

This is how it appears in the film:

image from the Lemony Snicket wiki

Says the Lemony Snicket wiki:

The house is described as a dilapidated mess. The bricks are stained with soot and grime, the front door needs repainting (and contains a carving of an eye), and the entire building sags to one side. Rising above the house is a tall and dirty tower. In The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition, Lemony notes that his sister Kit has proposed that some of the eyes in Olaf’s house contain secret peepholes, cameras, or microscopic lenses.

Fittingly, they have let the model accumulate dust :)

The ruined chimney:

A disheveled downspout, a course of eye motif blocks, and a great circular window with web panes. Looks like the model builders used bermuda grass roots or something similar for the dead vines creeping up all over the house. (Minus one point, though, for the not-in-scale tattered lace curtains :)

The front door (with reassembly notes :)

Here you can see the dust coat and teeny, tiny rivets. I was particularly taken with them.

The inadequately-repaired drafty dome, with more rivets (and dust):

and its finial topper:

This is a particularly fine eye-paned window, and a closer look at the corbels. Such great distress and weathering.

And finally, a closer look at some of the tower eye windows:

Warming Hut Paint Prep

2015/03/012015/04/304 Comments

There are many, many sides of many windows that must be masked, with many small strips of masking tape. But still, the paint will leak.

With 90 percent honesty, prepping and painting miniature woodwork is as tedious as prepping and painting their full-size counterparts. For the Sea House Warming Hut, I considered staining all the trim — a mildly less tedious process — using the same Minwax Classic Gray that the exterior cladding will be. Instead, I opted to paint a semigloss “Simply White” for contrast. My impatient paint application suggests the multiple paint layers slapped on over the years in an effort to preserve coastal buildings from salty corrosion.

And so I carry on, striving for both mindfulness in the process and the satisfaction that only sanding with tiny squares of 600-grit paper can bring.

Through the unpainted window above you can see the Chrysnbon kit stove I assembled and painted like 300 different colors before returning to matte black, that will heat the hut. Still unsure if I’ll use it. I’m rather taken with this modern “Shaker” stove, designed by Antonio Citterio with Toan Nguyen in 2006. I think it would translate to 1:12 scale beautifully, and be fun to build.

Shaker wood burning stove/fireplace, designed by Antonio Citterio with Toan Nguyen. Beauty.

Finally, this is the unobscured featured image for March on this site’s landing page. It’s a birch tree in Soquel, California that wants to see you.

Until next time, when the paint is dry, and ready to be sanded, then painted. And sanded.

Floor and Build

2015/02/152015/04/30Leave a comment

The Sea House Warming Hut floor is bleached, salvaged wood planks milled from the old mythical Sea House Pleasure Pier. Even though the scale of the woodgrain is off, I favor HBS’s 3/4-inch “rustic clapboard siding strips”. And a lot of sanding and pencil point nail heads.

I soaked a few strips of 1/32 x 5/32-inch basswood in water, and bent them round the rim of the same bowl used to draw the half-circle for the stonework. Then I let them dry in the sun (which made me feel better about the freakishly warm weather we’ve been having).

This part was fiddly. I glued the curved pieces, one at a time, to cover the uneven gap between wood floor and stonework. I held them in place by hand until the glue set up, then clamped to dry fully. This surround will also help keep the debris from the wood stove contained.

A few coats of satin varnish, and I’m ready to start building.

Also fiddly, especially if one first fits the sidewalls overhanging the back foundation rather than the front, as it says nowhere in the instructions, other than “Sidewalls will slightly overhang the foundation”, and have to pop everything off and start again. Even though one did a complete dry fit.

Next up is painting the trim and the sliding door.

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