Tuesday 2 June 2009

Made a Decision at last!









I know I said Id wait and see when the house came but I think ive made a decision before hand!

Inspired by the Rick Pierce workshop pages and his webshots I have decided that the new house should infact be a Fairy house.
The first pic i found that I loved was Rick Pierce's English Cottage so i thought maybe to follow that style but with more of a fairy theme in and out. Love the thatch , think that would work really well, and the vines too, but brighter and more summery and fairy like obviously, like this delightful house by Julie McLaughlin here with the fabulous flowery feel.

The other house I have i think was a DHE kit which usually has more than 1 floor. This was only made to be 1, so I can do one of 2 things. I can make it a one room witchy house following the other pic shown here by Rick Pierce with lots of rickety wood added, pumpkin patch and cauldron bubbling outsdie. Or do as Debie suggested and build it up abit which is a great idea as I do have this vision of a Witches bedroom so it would be a shame not to have the 2 floors. I hate to make things out of wood so maybe I can try and find a room box to go underneath which once the whole thing is covered in paperclay will make the house an unusual shape?

Ill definalty be starting on the Fairy house first though and wont make a start on the other one until that once complete. I think we have enough projects on the go to just start on 1 more for the time being.

You know what Im like Ill be after lots of help and advice, hope thats ok! I would like to get a thatched look on the roof i think, so any help there will be much appreciated from anyone thats done that?! But for now i await the posty and look forward to all the wonderful things that will happen to the new house. And excited too that Nikki is going to be making fairy minis too, it will be lovely to feature Nikkis work in this house as well as our others!
Thanks for everyones imput and help!!




10 comments:

Tabitha Corsica said...

The answers usually come when you least expect it and, in retrospect, are obvious, aren't they? The house you've just bought does seem to lend itself more to the woodland "fairy" theme and the examples you've shown. Your older peaky roofed cottage does look more "witchy". In the end, I am sure they will both be beautiful and cannot wait to see the results.

Good for you for undertaking only one project at a time. ;o) Ha! Never works at my house...but usually results in never ever getting anything actually completed. I so admire those who are disciplined.

Tabitha

Katie said...

Good call! I can't wait to see whta you come up with. I love the thatched roof, too....but still haven't figured out how to do that...I have seen everything from Fur, to wood carved to look like thacth...and then there's coconut husks, straw??? LOL...If you figure something out, let me know, lol....although I think of just skipping the thatch and adding some moss instead.....Or pine cone tips....LOL. Too much thinking done over here, lol!!

I started with one project over a year ago, and told myself I wouldn't start another until I got that one done, LOL.....it's still not done, and now I have 5 houses in the works, lol!!!

Whittaker's Miniatures said...

Hi Katie and Tabitha , well thats the idea to just work on the fairy one and leave the witchy one til later, after all theres the Potter house, Sweeney, a choccie shop halfway done, and now our Lola is moaning at me to decorate her Alison Juniour's walls, and then theres all the others to keep up to date and add to, so we will see!!!
Katie, looking at Rick Pierces pages he mangles up balsa, but im not sure what to use for that. i even thought i wonder if paperclay would work , really scribing into it with something to etch deep lines to look like thatch then paint??? Will have to test some things out, is anythings successful ill let you know lol xxx

nikkinikkinikki72 said...

Hi Kate and John.
You can buy the material used for thatching miniature houses.
I'll have a look around and let you know where to buy from. I have some but not enough for your roof.
Thatching is ever so easy to do and i've seen a tutorial for it somewhere.
I think it may be in one of my mags. I'll try and find the time to go through them all and if i'm lucky i'll send to you.
Back in a bit with any info.

nikkinikkinikki72 said...

http://www.thatch.org/dolls.htm
You can also get it on ebay

Whittaker's Miniatures said...

Thanks Nikki Il have to have a look on ebay, that website has temporarily stopped selling for some reason. if you coan find the article that would be so cool!The wood way look so realistic but i would probably take a finger of trying to make that effect with a powertool!lol thanks again, Kate and John xx

nikkinikkinikki72 said...

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-make-roof-thatching-and-tree-material-for-dioramas-234007/
I had a good look around and this is all i can find. The products this man is using look similar to the material used on the penny thompson house i'm showing on my blog.
I would imagine it can be dyed to the colour you want with regular clothes dyes. It could even be dyed with watered down acrylic paint. I'd say half and half paint and water.
How about making a mossy covered roof mixed into this.

Crafts From The Stash said...

I love all those houses and I look forward to seeing your house and its journey into being.
Debie xxxx

Whittaker's Miniatures said...

Hi Debie, hope to get into it fairly quickly, just not sure where to start first!!
Thanks for the link Nikki, Ive seen this guy before, hes quite dizzy and fun!! Some of his tips are really good for any scale. Id like to do the thatching quite early on, probably after paperclaying the outside. Maybe Ill get John to use his grinder on some balsa tomorrow and see what happens, as that would be the easiest thing to cut out and stick on! lol xx

nikkinikkinikki72 said...

Also fogot to say. There is some sort of carpeting underlay you can also use. Its green too when bought.