Gave Myself a Mini Day (Photo-Heavy)

 It is very warm and humid out again, we've gone from sort-of-spring to right into summer. The temperature today was 30C, which is rather more than we usually get here in May! So it seemed a good idea to work indoors, in our downstairs room, which is nice and cool.

This is a small project, designed by Cat Wingler, for which the instructions are in the March 2003 issue of Miniature Collector. I bought the magazine second-hand at a show, years ago, because this little scene really appealed to me. Now I've challenged myself to make my version of it, using cardboard as much as possible, and making just about everything myself. We'll see how well I do at that challenge! I do like faux finishes, and this one could have a lot of those.

The instructions were for making the box out of foam core, and then painting the base of the simple box black. There was some black foam core left over from my younger daughter's time at Art College, so that meant I didn't have to paint! The box is held together with sewing pins and Weld Bond glue.

There is a shallow false wall, with my guide lines all over it (I am straight-line challenged, after all!). It is held away from the back of the box by strips of foam core (mine is 1 cm thick, about 3/8"), and for greater thickness I glued two strips back-to-back for the spacers. In this photo, the interior of the window opening has been lined in pieces of skinny coffee stir sticks. The inside of the doorway will have the same finish.

Instead of wood, I'm using cardboard strips in a board and batten design; this seemed the best way to do the walls in lieu of using the recommended stuff. I was testing an existing doorstep, but it is too low and the other piece I thought would work is too high, which means making a doorstep to size for the project.

Testing, testing, testing....

So far, all I've used is the foam core (scraps of which are in the photo), two kinds of cardboard which we get in our boxes of tinned cat food, skinny stir stick and rough piece of wood cut down from an old mandarin orange crate, along with straight pins and so far, 3 kinds of glue.

Before I go to sleep tonight, I'll give the cardboard board-and-batten walls and door surface a coat of sealer, and tomorrow or Friday, I can start painting it to look like wood. So far, this is fun!