Center Component FINISHED!

I finished the center component today --this means all the windows and the door are permanently fixed in place.  So I can remove the whole central bay of Merriman Park all at once!  No more windows toppling out and breaking into pieces!  I finished the stonework and I added corbels to the upper corners of all the second story windows.

          There's that ghostly specter again in the center window.  Spooky!

I'm deliberately avoiding bricking the end section --it's so tedious!  But I will try and get it finished tomorrow. (My last "vacation" day).  Yes, I should have been sitting on the beach this weekend --if it weren't for poor, crippled Glen-- but getting so much work done has actually been rather satisfying.

                  "Butcha ARE, Blanche!  Ya ARE in that chair!"

Installing the balustrade

We were supposed to leave for Florida today, but because of Glen's accident on the icy sidewalk our vacation was canceled.  Ugh!  This Winter has been a complete nightmare!  But I decided to take the day off anyway and work on Merriman Park.  I got a good start on the railing, after stewing about it for several days.  Thanks to all who "held my hand" and gave me the advice I needed.

The splats are set into holes drilled into the balcony floor and the handrails are set into the pillars.  the tops of the splats are set into a narrow groove cut into the underside of the railing.  I still have to cut spacers to fit in between the spats.  I'm pretty happy (and relieved) this task is almost complete.

 I permanently glued the columns in and reinforced them with small brads which were set with pre-drilled pilot holes.  No cracking this time!  At least now I no longer have to fret about the columns toppling over and breaking. Someday, I'll be able to say the same thing about the windows and doors.

My goal is to finish bricking the "East Wing" end wall, and fine-tune the stonework.  I also took Monday off, so I think this goal is attainable...stay tuned!  All this work done and no unsightly sunburn!  Florida, Schmorida.

Great News!

Sue Cook, of Sue Cook Miniatures in Cornwall, England wants to put a photo of my very own Merriman Park in her hallowed Gallery!  I am so excited!  And honored.  She also gave me much-appreciated installation advice for the balustrade, which comes from her catalog of exquisite components. The keystones, which I used to customize my off-the-shelf Houseworks windows and doors, are also hers as are the  scrolled brackets on the stair.

Oh, oh...

So I was trying to set the columns into the wall along with installing the "cast iron" balcony railing.  It all has to be done at the same time so everything is set sturdy.  My plan was this:  "dry set" the columns with wood screws drilled through the floor of the balcony at the bottom and through the balcony ceiling at the top. Then I'd measure where the balustrade splats line up (every 1/2 inch) and drill those holes into the balcony floor. 

As you can see by the photo, the balustrades have a rectangular pin at their bottom, so I would need to make a rectangular hole in the floor to accommodate them.  I thought I could accomplish this task by drilling two holes side-by-side and then using a wood gouge to create the rectangular shape.  I then need to mark the point on the columns where the railing hits and drill holes to inset the railing.  I think it is important to do inset the railings into the pillars because I see them snapping out if I just butt-jointed  them against the columns.  Right?

Here's where it gets tricky:  After drilling corresponding holes in the underside of the railing (where the tops of the balustrades fit), I was planning to unscrew the columns, and then glue each column one at a time, reset each screw, glue the balustrades in their pre-made holes, sliding the railings into the column holes as I went along. Repeat with each column.

Sounds like a plan.

Only, I didn't even get past dry setting the columns.  

I bought new 3/4" wood screws for the job, and a new drill bit for pilot holes.  I had a hard time drilling the pilot holes --the pillars are made of some kind of resin and the heat from the friction melts the resin and gums up the bit.  I found that by making short passes with the drill, waiting a few seconds between passes, kept the bit from getting stuck.  I took me about forty-five minutes to un-stick my drill bit and get one hole --one hole!-- drilled!

That Labor of Hercules accomplished, I then tried screwing the first column to the floor and ceiling.  You would think that this wouldn't be too difficult, wouldn't you?  Oh, how wrong you are!  Even with the pilot holes, the column still snapped off at the top!  I was, as they say, "a clean break" and I was able to glue the pieces together with little effort. Catastrophe diverted!

But how do I continue?  I strongly feel that merely gluing the columns in place will not be sufficiently strong enough --but perhaps I am mistaken?  Is there some kind of glue strong enough to hold them in pace without the added back-up of a screw?  I just think that when the center component is lifted out it is only going to be natural to grab onto the columns and start yanking.  And you just know that someone is going to end up with a broken-off column in their hand.

 Speaking of  "clean breaks":  


To make matters worse, my beloved Glen just slipped on the icy sidewalk, broke his ankle (in two places) and will be laid up for several weeks.  Bye-bye, trip to Captiva, next week! 

Did I mention I hate Winter?

Taking a Breather

I had to take a break from etching bricks to working on the stone facade.  Unfortunately, I was working while having just a teensy, little martini before dinner and I jacked it all up and had to start over practically from scratch!  One step forward, two steps back...Ugh!  Note to self:  Don't drink and paint.  At first I was totally bummed by my idiocy, and not even watching the fur fly on RuPaul's Drag Race could console me, but I'm liking how it's turning out. Live and drink I mean learn.  Learn!

As you can see, I also finished the front door with knobs and kick plates.  They're gold-plated brass.  Fancy-schmancy, huh?  I decided to beef up the stairs, too.  I'm trying desperately to keep Merriman Park's footprint small as to not  completely take over my dining room, where it will finally sit, but --what's another 3/4 inch? 

The big push now is to finally install the cast iron balustrade between the pillars.  This will mean the pillars will at long last be fixed into place.  I can't believe they haven't broken to bits for the number of times they've tipped over!  I'm having just a little angst over this step --drilling holes into the balcony floor and into my columns  makes me kind of nervous...

The banisters are from Sue Cook Miniatures in England.  (As are the face keystones in the photo). The banisters are cast, I believe, out of lead but *confidential to Karin Corbin* --I promise I won't lick them.  BTW, I have ordered several items from Sue Cook and have always been perfectly thrilled with both the superb quality of her wares and her extremely prompt service. In fact, I just placed another order with her for a ceiling medallion for the Entrance Hall.  I know!  The interior! 

Book Review: Thomas Jefferson, Architect --The Interactive Portfolio-- by Chuck Wills

Those of you who follow this blog and the evolution of Merriman Park know that I am a huge admirer of Thomas Jefferson's architectural legacy and that my own Merriman Park is a bit of an homage to him. So I was thrilled to pick up this book the other day.  This gorgeous tome details Jefferson's most famous works, including his residences, Monticello and Poplar Forest as well as the University of Virginia and the Virginia State Capital.  I had hoped to see a chapter on the homes he designed for his neighboring friends (Edgemont and Barboursville in particlar).  But alas, these lesser-known works are left out.

As this is The Interactive Portfolio, the book comes with copies of some of Jefferson's original drawings, all stored in vellum envelopes.  The sketches are printed on faux crumbling parchment, which is just a tad cheesy, (and reminded me of my pirate treasure map-making days as a boy, when I used to concoct messages made of tea-stained paper with burned edges, stuffed into one of mother's cast-off wine bottles and tossed into the sky-blue waters of Lake Minnetonka --the irony of  pirates sailing into Minnesota somehow escaping me). 

But I digress.

Thanks to this book, I now have two or three plans for future dollhouses.  Everything is there: moldings, trim --just waiting to be built. 

I was a little disappointed at first that the chapter on Poplar Forest showed that eight-sided gem (the first octagonal house in America) with its roof in its unrestored state.  But as I already have books on Poplar Forest detailing its restoration, I am happy to have a record of it in "before" mode.  I saw in a magazine that  they recently repainted the dining room of Monticello in a very intense (but historically accurate) chrome-yellow, and this edition shows the older, and dare I say the more preferable "wedgewood blue" scheme.

Thomas Jefferson, Architect --The Interactive Portfolio--  is a must-have for fans of one of our country's Founding Fathers and for devotes of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century architecture. 

More bricks...

Had to take a little break and get away from bricking!  This is SO tedious --you can't even imagine.  I had to turn Merriman Park on its end in order to do the side.  I had hoped that I would finish both ends, but at this rate I'll be lucky if I get this side finished tonight.  My gouge seems to be getting a little dull, too.  It just doesn't seem to glide through the paint and gesso like it did at first, but maybe that's just my imagination.  Or maybe I'm just getting tired.


This is how I'm finishing the corners and the quoins.

Pretty cool, huh?  Ugh, of course I broke off one of my urns while working on the second story.  Bull in a china shop. Guess I'll have to pick up some Super Glue tomorrow. 

Ordered my double stairs this weekend!  Actually it's just two straight flights that I'm going to alter.  I'm thinking one or two steps up to a landing with the split going up each side.  Also ordered some more ribbed roofing so I can work on the aforementioned hips. 

It's still snowing out here in Minnesota.  Looks like another five or six inches.  Sure glad we're heading down to Captiva next month!