I SPLURGED!

I really did.  My credit card will never forgive me.  Heh.

We've been having a bit of a beastly time in our neck of the woods and, I suppose, I like retail therapy as much as the next girl.  My wonderful, entirely too supportive husband encouraged me to go ahead and buy the one thing I really wanted (that can be purchased): real marble tile for the Haunted Beacon Hill.  And, well, that led to him pointing out that, really, I shouldn't compromise my vision for the house by using less-than-desired cladding materials.  You can see where this is going.  Pretty soon, I'd bought out the entire store!

I can't say that it made this morning's funeral any less wretched, but it has given me warm and fuzzy fantasies about how I'll distract myself in the upcoming weeks.  

The tile, while ludicrously expensive, is really lovely.  It's pink!  Richard Stacey's entire line, I've recently discovered, is available for sale on eBay.  I don't normally care for eBay, but for some things I'll make the sacrifice.  This is particularly good, because it's not static; you can see, in real time, what sorts of colors of marble they're offering.  I also (hey, why ruin a good thing?) bought some deeply veined gray marble for the conservatory.  I'd originally been planning on going in a completely different direction, but this project has--appropriately for a haunted house, I suppose--taken on a life of its own.

In other news, I'm coming along with the carvings, and should have something to show for myself in that department soon.  I'm really excited to write about it, and show you what I've done.  What's holding me back right now, more than anything, is the mail--waiting for things to arrive!  The time I have (I took a couple of mental health days), the materials...

Also, too, I've been pondering the interior window trim and have realized, in doing that, that having any sort of sense of what I want necessitates having an indoor design plan.  The only room about which I have absolutely no ideas--or no good ideas, I should modify--is the dining room.  Normally I'm mad for dining rooms; I don't know what it is, this time.

On a final note, my son behaved really, really well today.  Jim and I were commenting that if only he were old enough, we'd take him out for an ice cream and presents.  He put up with quite a bit--strange, looming people not the least of which--and handled himself wonderfully.  Now, of course, everyone thinks we have the perfect baby!  Which, of course, we do.

Back at home, with Teddy.

I'm still sort of struggling along with the catacombs...

I hope everyone else's week has ended on a high note.

The Tools I Use

I thought about going around and taking pictures of all of them, but then wondered, does anyone even want to see them?  Plus, too, my newest toy isn't yet out of its box.  Jim and Jackson went to Home Depot with me yesterday before work, and we got some MDF panels, too.  They're pretty good sports.

Jackson in his jumperoo; he turned 5 months two

London feels left out.

Yesterday, I purchased a Rigid 10" 15 amp table saw with a portable stand.  Due to my oft-discussed space issues, I'll be using it outside.  

I also have a MicroLux Tilt Arbor Table Saw, which is what I do most of my fine cuts on.  I bought this to replace the PREAC.  I had two PREAC saws for years, and was not happy with them.  My biggest issues were vibration and lack of variability.  I found it very difficult to achieve precise cuts, because the PREAC just wasn't calibrated right.  My MicroLux, however, is accurate to within 0.03 mm, which makes a huge difference to the final product.  Also, because it tilts, fits larger blades, has a variable speed motor, etc, it's much more versatile.

The only thing I miss about the PREAC is Pete Boorum's jigs, but jig making isn't that hard and you can always make your own.  Micro-Mark sells some pretty good accessories, including a nice feather board.  I also have their anti-vibration pad, which works great and is worth the comparatively small investment.  My workbenches are kind of old and warped--they came with the house, which was built in '38--and the anti-vibration pad even works in that less than ideal situation.

After experimenting with several different Dremel products over the years--I've owned an embarrassing number of tools that didn't quite work out--I settled on the Dremel 4000.  Not all Dremels are created equal, and the less expensive, less powerful ones aren't always up to the tasks I have in mind for them.  I love dremelling, and most of my projects, large and small, feature some.  I used my Dremel to create the arches in the greenhouse; I cut two arch pieces, placed them back to back, and used my Dremel to create the actual arch shape.  It's a lot easier to create a composite Gothic arch out of two pieces of wood, than try to get that perfect little point.

I have both a MicroLux electric mitre saw and a regular old box-style mitre saw.  I use the cheap one more.  Spending a lot of money on a mitre saw is, I've discovered, like spending a lot of money on a bottle of champagne or a serrated blade knife: past a point, not worth it.  Korbel tastes better than Veuve Cliquot, and our OXO serrated knives work great.  Our Shun knives, however, are worth every penny.

I love 3M sanding sponges.  The best sanding supplies are made for the automotive industry.

I don't have an airbrush, but I'm seriously considering getting one.

I like X-ACTO #11 blades, #2 pencils, and metal rulers.

I stopped using T-squares awhile ago.  Even the really expensive ones are often slightly off-angle.  But speed squares still rule--and, for some reason, are generally cheaper and better made.  Huh?

I only use Olfa self-healing cutting mats.

To be honest, my favorite brushes are the synthetic bristle ones available at Michael's.  It's all about the quality of the bristles and the actual construction of the brush, not the brand name.  A set of several costs about five bucks and, on the whole, they're better brushes than some brushes I've paid twenty times that for.  

Q-tips rule, and that is all.

Everything I make, I make with these tools. 

Where's Everyone From?

I've written a couple of climate and location-related posts, recently, and it got me thinking: where's everyone else from?  And anything else you'd like to share about yourself?  Obviously, you don't have to share anything, but I thought it might be interesting...

My vacation project...

Getting the rings apart and back together again was really hard...

We found a very large caterpillar.

Metallic "ruby" turned out to be My Little Pony purple, so I repainted it with "insignia red."

"Easy Off" oven cleaner really does remove enamel paint, but the fumes will knock you out.  I had to use a respirator...and even after repainting, I still wasn't happy with the finish I got from the Floquil.  Hence it becoming an "aged" stove.

Some old, gross pots and pans, either for my Haunted House or, potentially, for my Hillbilly Shack.  Or I could make another (similar or slightly different) set, one for each.  Thoughts?

Cast iron pans, one new, one "old."

So enough about me...

PS: If anyone wants to know how I did the cookware, let me know and I'll make a tutorial.

Etsy Showcase: Worth It?

As I'm sitting here writing this, I'm surrounded by the tools to make miniature bread.  Polymer clay food is just about the coolest thing on the planet.  Growing up, making it was always my favorite hobby.  Now, as an adult, I find I've somewhat lost my confidence.  So we shall see!  

At any rate, once I finish making my many mini loaves (or don't), I'll post them for sale to our Etsy shop.  We opened it at the beginning of February, and I'm still figuring everything out.  This last Monday, we bought space in one of Etsy's "showcases".  Basically, you pay 7.00 USD for 24 hours' worth of banner promotion on Etsy's site.  You can choose which sub-category sees your banner.  For example, since we sell dollhouse miniatures, we chose that one.

Etsy claims that, by purchasing a showcase, you'll gain two things:

1. Short term exposure, in that you'll sell more items.
2. Long term exposure, in that more people will learn about you, "heart" your shop (i.e. add it to their personal list of favorites) and, hopefully, buy from you in the future.

So was it worth it?  Well, it's too early, as yet, to see whether the second--and far more valuable--asset has been gained.  I can say with complete confidence, though, that we did sell a number of things during that 24 hour period.  A word of caution, though: the danger, here, is in spending more to promote your item than you'll make on selling it.  Etsy's fees are, generally, quite low--but, when amassed, can have the effect of drowning you under a ton of feathers.  Twenty cents here, another twenty cents there, and a 3.5% commission on everything you sell can add up.  Add to this an almost ten dollar surcharge, and it's doubtful whether, in certain circumstances, it would be worth it.

Everything we sold was small.  We, indeed, sold out of our cheaper items completely.  Nonesuch House, however, is still alone and sad.  The moral of this story: before purchasing a showcase, make sure you've got plenty of smaller items for sale.  I think we'll probably purchase another showcase after making some meaningful additions to our (as yet forthcoming) mini bakery.  A showcase would be, I think, a good way to debut new items, or new categories of items.

So there you have it, our review.  Etsy, like any other selling tool, has its ups and downs.  I've been making and selling miniatures off and on my entire life, starting when I was about ten, and I've found that, in this field, the personalities can sometimes be quite difficult.  I don't think filthy lucre brings out the best in anyone.  So, one advantage of selling online (apart from the obvious advantage of being able to reach so many people at once) is that the personalities are taken out of it.  Your items are judged on their individual quality, not on your individual ability to make a sale.

And, of course, compared to competing venues like eBay, Etsy is quite a bit more time and cost-effective.  You aren't reposting the same abysmally unpopular listing every ten days.  I also do like the "heart" feature.  I've "hearted" a number of items, myself.

How To Kit Bash A Medieval-Tudor-Fantasy Bakery

I started out with a kit to make this:

The "Potters Place" kit from Earth and Tree.

It cost 41.00 USD, which seemed kind of steep (it doesn't come with the door, cupola, or anything in the picture.  These days, I mostly cut out the pieces I need myself, or get a friend of mine (who's very long suffering) to do it for me.  If I'm paying him for his time--and he's a skilled cabinetmaker, so his time isn't cheap--it's still cheaper for me to start from scratch.  But, I digress.  And, anyway, I bought this kit back in the heyday of my ignorance.

Since I started transforming it into a bakery, so far, it's turned into this:

I've yet to add a roof, or most of the trim--including any of the half timbering--but at least the basic structure is complete. 

The bare bones of the outdoor bakery area.  I plan to finish everything with a combination of Richard Stacey products (see our "Shopping List" page).  Back in the good old days--and, thus, in the fantasy world in which this bakery belongs, which takes its cues from various late medieval, and early tudor realities--most people didn't have their own ovens.  Chimneys were expensive to build and, in some countries (like France) you needed to obtain a permit beforehand.  Most people brought their dough (and whatever else needed to be baked) to the baker, who baked it for them.

In much of the middle ages, in many parts of the UK, the baker was also the miller.  Although I haven't included a mill (that's off somewhere else, I suppose), I'm envisioning such an arrangement, here.  It goes toward explaining this particular baker's relative prosperity.

Eventually I'll add some support posts here, to prop up the rear end of the hosue. 

A window overlooks the street.  Below, that great gaping hole will eventually be the primary vending area.  Although visitors can also come into the shop, most would've purchased whatever they needed directly from the street.  Many humbler tradesmen lived in one, or maybe two room cottages, and sold their goods basically out of their living room windows. 

The vending window, when closed.  Eventually I'll buy some chain, that'll hold the tabletop open, and also assist in pulling it up and into place.  Designing it took awhile, because it wasn't easy to find hardware and fittings that'd achieve my desired aim. 

This is what it'll look like open, more or less; use your imagination! 

A view of the interior. 

The chimney column runs straight up through the center of the house.  I've left room, over on the left hand side, for an additional fireplace--although the chimney column, itself, would've given off plenty of warmth.  All four sections will eventually have leaded panes; I'm waiting for the next batch of window mullion inserts to arrive. 

Right now, I'm in the process of designing the half timbering.  I also need to get some more wood for the roof.  I'm still in the process of deciding whether the bakery should have a slate or a thatched roof.

So what do you think?  Does anyone have any questions, comments, or concerns?  I'd love some feedback!

Bashing A Bakery

Yes, I've got a number of projects going at once.  This isn't unusual for me; I find that some days I'm in the mood to work on some, et cetera, et cetera.  For the longest time now, I've been searching for a good bakery kit.  I absolutely adore miniature baking--it's a hobby I share with my mum, who's extremely talented--and have decided that I need somewhere to put it all.  But what to do?

I'm not opposed to kit bashing--I kit bashed the heck out of the as-yet-unrevealed large tudor--but for kit bashing to work, there has to be something reasonable to, you know, bash.  Every possibility I discovered was either too tiny, or too enormous.  On the one hand, nobody wants a ridiculously large bakery.  At least, I don't.  If it's baronial in scope, well then, it might as well be a Dutch coffee house from the 1600's, and I'm not especially interested in reproducing the dawn on the stock market at this time.  And if it's too tiny, it's rather ridiculous.  A bakery needs at least two distinct areas: for displaying and selling, and for baking.

Now, for some time, I've been working on a small outbuilding for a different project entirely.  As I'd rather lost interest in the outbuilding, it's been sitting on my shelf.  It occurred to me that, well, I could take a mallet to that.

Pictures forthcoming but, in the meantime, I have a question: have any of you built bakeries and, if so, how?