Well, I Did Get Stuff Done Today

The left side false wall has been built, clad, aged, and fitted in place but not glued in yet. The half-round windows are in place, and I believe I know what I'm going to do next. The original design had the shop upper façade wall extending over to the left-hand false wall, which really doesn't make much sense, so I will  extend the upper façade out to the left as if it is a jettied second story. This means it will overhang the alley-way but not join up with the left-hand façade. The plan will require knocking out one of the wall supports hanging from the vignette box ceiling; hopefully, I can do it with a minimum of damage to the MDF of the box, as it has been glued in place for some weeks now.

The brown door still needs its door handle, window glass and bars on it, as I'm thinking of it as the back door to a betting shop or something of the sort. I'd really like  to do a bit of a drainage channel in the middle of the pavement between the two shops; that would allow me to create a trickle of moisture effect from the corner behind the green shop door. I don't know if I can fit that in as the doorstep of the green door is low. For a drainage channel to work, the pavement has to slope ever so slightly into the centre. If I do go with the drainage channel, I will put a "lead" gutter pipe in the corner, maybe with one of those key-hole shaped splash stones I've seen in older North American cities. Good opportunity for some algae and moss work on the stucco and the cobbles!

The wonderful Victorian street lamp I picked up will fit nicely on the façade of the false side wall. It's a battery LED light; all I have to do, I am told, is to adhere the metal back plate to my building, and then the rare earth magnets will hold the lamp in place. It came without instructions, of course! There is a tiny switch just on the edge that will face out.

 For fun, I tried doing some decorative plastering, using a large jewelry finding, in the square area above the false door. While this one isn't deep enough to be easily visible, I think I may use some silver Art Deco brooches I have of deer in trees and the like, to make some molds for future use as decorative plaster elements. I have at least one small and one large one, they remind me of gable stones in the medieval streets of my childhood home town, Maastricht, in The Netherlands.

Tomorrow, if all works out, I hope to install the upper façade; once that is done, I can glue the green door unit in place, as well as the false side wall unit. Then it is on to cobblestones, each of which will have to be modelled individually from paper clay. Maybe I can figure out an assembly-line method and speed the process up a little. The cobbles I remember from my childhood were rounded on top, and sort of squarish in shape, so perhaps a log shape that I cut the top slice off may do it. I'd have to round the top off again each time before cutting the cobble off.

 I just may have the "build" of this vignette done by this coming weekend!