Four Hands

 

Years ago when my youngest daughter was diapering her baby girl, Great Grandma Violet was right there, her hands reaching for the diaper, following the mother’s movements as the young mother wiped the baby, and positioned the diaper—in other words, helping. She was always there ready to “help,” and it was at that moment when Jennifer coined the euphemism for too much help, “four hands—I don’t need four hands, Grandma.” We fondly laughed about Great Grandma’s instinctive need to help. Still today, years later, we laugh about the need for four hands, which in our private way sort of means just getting in the way.

 

Sometimes, though, we need four hands to accomplish a task, like  needing to remake a wall with a door or cutting a hole in a kit roof.

With the great desire to get the Manchester finished, I dedicated myself to finishing the exterior, which I've almost accomplished, but more difficult were these two projects: remaking the bathroom wall to accommodate a door and installing the skylight for the Real Good Toys room addition that will bring much needed light to the second story room. I needed help. So I asked my husband if would make the cuts for me. He agreed and finally on Saturday, he completed the little projects for me.

The skylight project began on the Cricut Maker Design Space. If you are new to Design Space, here are two handy links that will teach you how to use the tools that I used in this project:

• how to attach one shape to another
• how to slice shapes
• how to center and align shapes

·Free:Practically Functional https://www.practicallyfunctional.com/design-space-cheat-sheets

·$6.00 Cricut Design Space Cheat Sheets https://thehomesihavemade.com/cricut-design-space-cheat-sheets/

·      Search Youtube, to,  for "how to" tutorials on how to use the various tools and functions on Design Space to create your own miniature projects.

 

Supplies for the skylight:

• 1/16 inch basswood or 1.5 mm chipboard. Circuit provides carries beautiful 1/6 inch basswood, but I can only find it at one Michael's store in my area, so I purchase my basswood chipboard at Hobby Lobby.
• 3/8 inch corner trim. I purchase mine from HBS (miniatures.com) You can purchase it in a bundle or individually. While you probably don't need the dozen, I'd buy extra because cutting the mitered corners may require numerous cuts to get it right 😆
• 1/8 inch trim HBS or Hobby Lobby
• sheet of acrylic acetate HBS or Hobby Lobby for clear window

Tools and other supplies: Saw of your choice and/or skill. These cuts will require either a jig saw or scroll saw sand paper, tacky glue or wood glue. I used my hand held craft miter saw to cut corner trim, while my husband used both my table top scroll saw and his jig saw and a drill to cut the opening for the skylight and the new wall.

 

Begin by making cardstock template of the roof area where the skylight will be installed. I am installing a skylight in the roof of the Real Good Toys addition kit that is attached to a 1990s Dura-Craft Manchester Country Home. 
 
You may be working with a larger roof area, so start with a template size of the area where the skylight will be installed. 

   This roof hangs over the eves of the addition, so I had to reduce the size of the template to interior area rather than the outside of the roof.

2.     It took several attempts get the correct size of the windowpanes that would fit inside the window opening. Originally I had designed a 3 pane window, but the 3 looked awkward in the space, so I added a 4th pane. Expect, then, to make adjustments along the way. 

a.     Determine the size of the window and draw it in Design Space (DS). My window is 19.6 x 4.5 cm.

Note: I've mentioned before that I measure in metrics because it's easier than converting imperial (USA standard) fractions to decimal points used in DS. Use a good ruler that has both inches and metrics so that you make more accurate cuts and work more easily in DS.

I remeasured the interior of the window AFTER I add the corner trim to get an accurate measurement for the window frame. THE WINDOW FRAME IS NOT THE SAME SIZE AS THE WINDOW. IT WILL BE A SMIDGE SMALLER. 

Even after adjusting the frame size, I had to lightly sand the edges to get a good fit--tight enough so that the thin basswood doesn't bend or so that it doesn't move around. 

c.See image 3,4, and 5 below. Next place the newly created window frame in the template that represents the roof, positioning it where you want the wind. Use the "slice" tool to make the place for the frame. 

d. Create individual panes that will be aligned in the frame. Attach and slice to get individual panes and position this piece in the template cut out and attach.

    Use Alignment "align vertically"  tool to evenly space the windowpanes then "attach" them.

e.     Drag window panes into the window frame

f.     Use Alignment tool "center" to center attached panes inside frame.

g.      Use Slice tool to create cut lines for the frame and window panes.

3.     Place window frame in the roof template and Slice again.

1. Represents entire roof

2. Resized template with window frame ready to use the "slice" tool. 

3. Steps for the "slice": create the shapes, for the panes "duplicate"; align them; attach them, making them one unit; drag panes into the frame, center, attach. 

4    Cut template from cardstock first. Use the template to mark window frame cut lines on the roof.  Make the cut—I sought that extra pair of hands to do my cutting.

Cutting Wood on Cricut:

Purple Mat

Trim wood to 11 inches long for horizontal placement

Move 4 Star (white) wheels to far right

Secure wood with masking tape around the edges

Use knife blade set to 1/16 inch

The machine is programed for 14 rounds; my machine cuts through to the mat at 11 rounds. 

Cut with the grain

P

6. With all of your cuts made, you are ready to fame your window and install the window.

With the frame cut, begin layering the pieces in place. 

Position the mitered pieces to frame the window opening, working from the inside of the roof--or the ceiling side.

 Begin with placing the corner edge trim on the interior (ceiling) side of the roof, making sure that the corners match up--mine did when the hands 3 and 4 installed them.

Next install the 1/8 inch edging that the frames will rest on, see here on the exterior of the roof. Then place the first frame on top of the edging.

You can see the 1/8 inch edging on the reverse side (the outside of the roof)

Add the acrylic "glass" and the second pane that will hold the acrylic in place. I use bead and jewelry meant for glass because it does not cloud the acetate.

While he was at it, I asked my husband to cut a new wall for the bathroom after I decided to add a door to the bathroom The kit comes with partial walls, so we purchased fiber board to cut the extra wall. I think he found it at Home Depot.

Nice work, Honey. Thank you

On a final note, I cut the acetate with my older paper trimer. I leave the plastic wrap in place in both sides and with pressure run the blade over the acetate a least twice, not cutting through the acetate, but rather to score it so that it will snap apart along the score line.

                    

Well that certainly was a lot of work, but so worth it. Kit bashing is not for unskilled or the faint of heart. Sometimes, independent as we are, we have to call in back-up. While the family fondly remembers Great Grandma Violet's willingness to help, we have come to realize over the years that four hands can be quite handy.

I hope this all makes sense. Writing this tutorial was a bit complicated. Let me know if you have questions. I just sort of "wing it" as I try to figure things out, so I hope if you find a better way, please share it! There are so many great tutorials both print and video that will teach you all the skills that you need to build to beautiful projects. 

The balcony and the front porch railing have been installed. What an ordeal, but I'm loving the front of the house. Here it is before the installation.

Windows are installed and "glass" has been glued in. I did not glue in the doors and windows since they fit very snuggly. I'm thinking that some day someone might appreciate having to go through a rigorous removal.

Originally I painted the ceiling side of the balcony blue, but I liked it as the balcony floor. The blue floor added some interest, but with this position the balcony sits on top of the porch supports and lacks sturdiness. 

  

Nonnies Dollhouse has a beautiful Manchester that I used to help assemble the porch. Her photo shows the roof install with the balcony trim downward with the porch supports fitting inside the the trim, giving it more stability, so my blue floor became the ceiling after all and I do like the clean, white balcony floor.

There is little else holding the  balcony in place other than glue, so I use shims above the door to hold the back of the balcony in place while the glue set.

And that's not all. I made the wood floors for the second story addition room and kitchen. Now that is progress. I'll write about them later. So it was a very productive week, with all of my inspirations and random thoughts coming together with the aid of 4 hands. 

Thanks so much visiting. 

Tedious

I spent the better part of last week building the porch and balcony railings for the Manchester. Tedious best describes the work: measuring, cutting, painting--with both a latex primer coat and paint. I built the stairs and assembled the balcony, painted both the porch, the stairs, and the balcony gray. I painted the underneath of the balcony--the ceiling of the porch-- blue to match the shutters, but then I decided that I liked it better as the floor for the balcony. 

Now, all of those pieces are finished and tomorrow I can install the porch and the balcony.

I have visions of hanging baskets lush with red geraniums. Maybe some whicker furniture, though the porch is very narrow and won't accommodate big pieces of furniture. I'm excited to see the front of this lovely house finished.

While the paint dries, I have a little paint story to share: I purchased the blue latex interior house paint last fall to paint the kitchen cabinets, the two front doors, and the shutter accent on the exterior of the windows. As with all of my project paints, I store them in the basement and have never had any problem with any paint--real house otherwise--going bad. However, when I opened up this can of blue paint the other day, it had an awful odor, but I stirred it up and began to paint the balcony. Even thought it stank so badly, I finished painting the balcony pieces, which stank up the basement. I began to feel sick, so I took the pieces out to the garage to cure. Feeling sicker as I came back in the house, I laid down and fell asleep, wondering just how toxic the paint was.

Feeling better after a nap, I took my can of stinky paint to the hardware wrote where I purchased it. The lady was so kind and replaced my can of paint, explaining that paint does go bad and will stink, but assured me that it was a water based paint and wasn't toxic. She offered to replace the paint, so I took white since I use a lot of white, thinking that I was finished with the blue.

Once home I realized that I still had to add a door to the sink cabinet for the kitchen that would need to be painted blue and the balcony was going to need a second coat. Darn it! So I went back today and purchased the blue paint.

These are the paint products that I like to use. I buy the large can of primer because it goes on everything as a base coat and the sample size latex interior paint at our local Ace Hardware store. The paint does tend to thicken over time, so I transfer a small amount to a container and  thin it down with a small amount of water, which makes it spread much easier and more smoothly.

In between coats, I use an emory board to sand the rough spots. 

I still have more exterior trim to cut, paint and install, so here is yesterday's challenge: Cutting an accurate angle for this peak triangle.

 

This is a tricky angle to cut. I remembered the struggle that I had cutting the trim for the peaks of Bellingham, ending up a gap that I filled with caulking so that the gap wouldn't show. 

This time I remembered a handy little gadget that my husband had given me and hoped that I could find it. It's called an angle protractor that you can find here on Amazon (just click on the links). 

In the name of transparency, I will confess that I had to call my husband downstairs to help me use the thing--he was a machinist and knows this stuff.

Now I have an accurate angle--fingers crossed.

I have three methods now for cutting the prefect angle accurately. The  miter saw in this case won't work because I can't cut the correct angle. I can lay the trim on a flat surface and use the miter saw, but I have a better idea.

Last summer my sweet husband bought me these two tools that have made my mini making so much easier. You can find this little saw here: Lowes. It's sort of a gig saw so it will make nice clean straight cuts as well as curved cuts.

The sander has been a great boon, too, also found at Lowes. This tool has made some sanding projects so much easier, especially when you need to take a wee bit off for a good fit, making some of those hand sanding chores much easier. It has two sanding platforms for a variety of projects. Check it out. I used both of these little machines to cut the pieces for the porch and balcony railing.

  

I don't like cutting so close to end of a piece of lumber because I don't as much control over feeding the wood toward the blade.

Even with the safety guard down, I am still nervous.

Instead, I use the sander that efficiently eats away the excess wood, creating a very clean angle for me.

I ended up with a nice mitered corner that I did all by myself today for one of the side peaks. One more to go. Yes, the trim will extend beyond the peak of the roof, but that will be okay once the shingles are on. I think a narrower trim would have avoided this problem, but I used what came with the kit. 

  

  

I've moved the house once again so that I can access both sides. I need to secure it to the base yet, as well. I'm playing around with the cutting sky lights in the addition roof since the room is so dark. Hubby will help me with that project.

The windows now have their "glass" installed and actually are permanently in place. Since they fit so tightly, I didn't glue them in place. I still have to finish the round window, though.

Not much else going on this week. It's a quite one, so I'll get a lot done on the house--maybe I'll have the exterior finished by my next post. 

Wishing you a wonderful week. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Just a Little Progress

 I don't have much to write about this week, maybe later in the week. I pledged last week to work on the Manchester exterior to get it finished, which a a big job. I did make some progress toward that pledge today.

But the last few days I've been playing with different ideas and layouts for the interior. That's what happens when you take forever on a project--you tend to lose focus or in my case forget the original plan.

First, I worked on the walls for the 3rd floor walls. For some reason, they did't fit, so I used my electric table sander to sand them down just enough so that they would slide right in place. I haven't decided yet what the space will be. Another bedroom, perhaps. It does bother me that there isn't stair access to this floor. It wouldn't be too difficult to cut a stair opening in the floor, but I'm not sure that I really want to build another set of stairs.

I have also toyed with the idea of moving the bedroom on the second floor that I have dedicated to the bathroom. 

In the end, the bedroom will remain to the left of the stairs. 

I've been searching the web for wallpaper that I can print. I found some plaid prints and settled on this one. It's printed on computer paper for a test run. I've decided that there is just too much blue plaid and I'll paint the walls or find a subtle contrasting paper that doesn't dominate the space. The only problem with painting the window wall is that I need paper to hid the tape wiring.

I absolutely love this plaid and this wall. At this point, I'm just fiddling around with ideas. I bought the shelf brackets online which will allow me to fashion a rustic wood shelf above the counter. I'm playing around with creating the sign. Eventually the wood will be painted and aged and the sign will be printed on  clear water slide decal paper. While the floral tray was created when I was just playing around trying make little round trays, I'm going to keep it. I like the floral Washi tape as nice contrast. 

I'm still playing around that old entertainment center. It could be modified to hold the coffee bar, but then I don't have room for the refrigerator. See how easily distracted I am?

The base of the house has caused so much stress. The original MFD base had to be rebuilt. My husband used good hardwood this time around. I glued the base for the addition to it today, which simple as it was seemed to cause me a lot of anxiety.

I have more work to do inside, but now I must focus on completing the architecture elements of the exterior.

Finally the bases are glued and clamped! Progress. Next, I think I have to install the front porch. It has an extension that needs to installed then I believe I can glue the house and the addition in place. Once the glue has set, hubby will screw the two foundations together to make them solid. 

While I have painted the pieces with a light gray, I considered using the kit's brick stencil; instead, however I'm going to use the stone stencil that came with the Dura Craft farmhouse, hoping that I have enough product to cover the base--but first I have to locate the stencil and the powder. UGH. 

Last week I had 5 DAR members sitting at my tables making Valentine's Day cards for our veterans residing in the Cheyenne VA nursing home. We made 40 beautiful cards. Twenty will be sent to the veterans and 20 will be sent to Michigan to Cards for Soldiers that ships greeting cards to military deployed over seas. 

Today I laid out the parts that I would need to complete the exterior of the Manchester, including punching out decorative pieces from the plywood sheets and locating the pieces of the kit lumber for the porch assembly. I had to look up the instruction booklet, and I was ready to begin measuring to cut the porch supports and for the railings.

It would be so tempting to go online to shop for more decorative laser cut gingerbread, but I've committed to assembling the kit as it was designed.

And that's what I did this week. The new week begins, sadly with a memorial for my husbands dear friend tomorrow morning, eye doctor appointments for both of us, dinner with friends, and a consult with a diabetic dietician on Friday. So the week is full. 

Wishing you a fantastic and productive week.

Thanks for taking time to visit.