Saturday, November 5, 2011

Colonial Dollhouse - new system

PART SEVEN:
Making the slate for the top & treads
I (scribbled) the water putty on to a piece of mat board - using a eye-dropper (see previous posts for details.)

I let it dry - then sanded it...

I painted it shades of grey with blends of red & blue...

Next I'll cut this into tiles, then round off & paint / touch-up the edges & corners...

I'll use this configuration for the slate that will go on the top (or floor) of the porch...on the treads I'll just use 3 tiles across the steps...

6 comments:

  1. Good luck, im intested to see how your slate turns out as Im looking into making slate for my roof, Im a DIY girl at heart and always prefer to make rather than buy.

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  2. Thanks for the tips, yes love sketchup could not make miniatures without it.

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  3. Hi Browny, thanks !

    I've also tried torn tissues; torn paper; torn poster board; old glue I had hanging around, instead of the water putty. The glue & the tissue peeled off when I tried sanding, but I think that was crappy glue I was using. The poster board or paper came out good but was a bit too large in the scale department (hard to tear small pieces.) So I went with the water putty. In the photo its difficult to see how textured it is. I wanted to keep the pattern in scale so its rather small.

    When you dribble the water putty its edges are rounded & smooth, but after sanding - plateaus are formed which have sharper edges. The slate almost looks like dripping paint in a wavy motion.

    If you're doing shingles you might want to use a wood veneer instead poster board & mix medium gray paint with the water putty. The veneer will cut & sand without peeling. I'd paint a large piece of veneer then cut it down & mix up the piece to get a nice random pattern.

    I'm with you DIY girl! And I enjoy your blog very much. I think I saw that you were using Sketchup - if you have any questions about Sketchup - feel free to ask :)

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  4. Hi Mike I have been researching and we dont get water putty here in the Uk, is this the same as wood filler or if not could you recomend an alternative?
    Thanks

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  5. Browny, do you have DAP Water Putty over there in the UK?

    I haven't tried anything other than Durham's Water Putty, but I would think joint compound or maybe plaster of Paris would work. I'm not sure if these products would crumble when you try to sand them, or even over time? I don't think wood filler can be thinned down, well not with water anyway. Wood filler is too thick & gritty.

    Check your local hardware store or your equivalent to Home Depot / Lowes, ask them if they carry joint compound or plaster that is possibly lightweight, non-shrinking, & has adhesive mixed in. (These 3 things would be ideal, but you might not be able to get all.)

    Explain your project to them. (hopefully they won't laugh...ask me how I know this...)LOL

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  6. water putty... hmmmm. I will be looking for some! Thanks for the tips

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