Thursday, August 28, 2014

Another Day, Another Building

I am so easily bored....distracted...led astray & in new directions. There is a never ending carousel in my brain & I never know what horse I will want to ride on when I wake up in the mornings.
So, after a year's pondering I decided my half-constructed, screwed up Beacon Hill would make a great base/ central  structure for a big ole magic castle/school.
I know in today's world you can't say castle/school without thinking 'Hogwarts'....but I take mine back a couple extra decades & say "Great School of Roke" ( a la Le Guin, Earthsea Trilogy). And rather than work on the BH, I decided to start building a tower structure that I will attach in some vague manner to the side of it someday. A couple 14"  round wood cutouts & some foamboard & I am off! 3-4 stories planned with an elaborate rooftop garden/gazebo & probably an astronomy deck.



I have an old Miniature Collector mag that featured a stone room with a raised area in the back & thought to try something similar, so I mocked up some steps, a raised platform & a silly (as in pointless, but nifty) archway. Then I cut out some doors & windows. Then I added some real wood beams, because my husband always says scary words like "structure" & "support" for some reason when he looks at my work.....

Paperclay stonework begins! I used some molds from Ebay of Greenmen & dragons for small embellishments.


This will be Master Doorkeeper's chamber, the secret entry into the school. It is to be filled with doors, keys & records of student's names.
Because Master Doorkeeper needs a door, I am trying to rig up a removable panel using magnets since anything with a hinge is beyond me! I want it to be easily removable, but also re-attach in a hinge-way so I can swing it open & leave it attached.
There are little secret doors all over the room. These were super fun to do.



Now on to more & more & more  paperclay!
 As wretched as it still looks, I have just two inside panels left to do, the fireplace, painting of the stonework, faux tile flooring & then the exterior stonework to go before I can attach the walls. And a ridiculously elaborate doorway to construct. And then I'll contemplate how to attach the 2nd floor.....
I hate thinking things through. 
Muddling along, hacking away like a blind woodsman is the way for me!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The Pottery Shop Update

Yes, it has been almost a year.....I have only a few months of the year not consumed by real life - but I have made slow progress on my two buildings.
The kit I used for the pottery was just too small. I had already removed the original back wall & re-constructed one with a doorway, so it was fairly simple to extend the back a few inches. I wanted to extend the width instead of the depth, but that would have taken skills... I have none, I just wing it, although I am attempting to use rulers now...
 So, while I'm making a  small change, I might as well add a second floor as well...living quarters.... so I started by mocking it all up with foam board
 And NO, of course my back wall doesn't exactly fit.....and my doorway is crooked.... I'll fill it in with something inappropriate & cover it with paperclay when I'm frustrated enough.
So, while I'm struggling along with structure it's more fun to ready things for the inside. Some inspiration for the walls......
Some glaze ingredients & tools
 I've so far used actual, real ingrediants....copper carbonate, red iron, flint, whiting, ball clay..... I intend to fill the glaze buckets with real glazes too, or at least splash them up a bit with the real deal. (The red iron has already stained the floor!) I have a  better scale coming as well....
A rack of fully readable Ceramics Monthlys ( though not replications of any particular issues, each is just a dozen pages of assorted misc real ads & articles.) 

 Normally, no frothy beers at the wheel......but this is not reality, so why not?
But now that I have an idea of the layout I must pack it all up & work on the darned building & making all the rest of the stuff I'll need..... a bunch of clay boxes with real bagged clay, more pottery tools, dry ingredients, glaze recipes, spills, lots of splatters, a floor drain, etc... and I'm also already starting to work on the kiln yard out back.... brick kiln, kiln shelves & furniture, a water pump.....

In other town news.....new products for Uncle rooster's: tried to make some cigars & boxes & some medical maryjane (no, sorry, nothing actually authentic in these baggies!!)

that's all for now..........