More Progress on the Wooden Shoe Factory

The interior windows are in; I was able to use my circle cutter to make the missing window glass up, although I will admit it took 3 tries to get it right. The homemade window glass is in the hallway window, but it is indistinguishable from the rest!  However, confession time, I pushed it too hard into the frame and, you guessed it, wrecked the frame. But, I (fairly calmly) glued the broken wooden half-circle trim back together, let it dry, and then replaced each of the three glazing bars, one at a time, with lots of drying time in between.

There are a couple of new items; the carving brake (I don't know what to call it, it is the workbench thing the wooden shoes in the making are clamped into) is done except for a long, thin knife that I have to figure out how to create. The knife is looped into an eye that allows it to lift and swivel. I think it is a kind of shaving knife to shape the surface of the shoes.

Yes, I carved those shoes, they are rough because they are in the process of being made. (They're also the first attempt ever by me to carve wooden shoes!) Also in the workshop now is the large chopping block; as the wood was cut this spring (apple, I think), it is quite "juicy" and usually sits on top of several layers of paper towel in the hope of drawing the juice out. It smells nice, though!

Marilyn gave me the dark blue enamel coffee pot, and next to it on the hot plate is a fat little tea kettle. A  bottle of milk stands ready. Still to come are sugar, mugs, and packages of tea and coffee. The gas tank has a label, made from a chain link with a red-painted centre. Next to the table and stove is a wood box.

Now I have to figure out how to make a large two-man saw with a curved toothed edge; my thin printing plate metal won't be strong enough for this, so I may have to cut it from a sheet of thin aluminum. With scissors. Which I use left-handed even though they are right-handed scissors. And I will need to file the teeth.....

A miniaturist's work is never-ending and always challenging!

 

I Had to See What It Would Look Like

Not much time to work on minis today, but I did put nails into the walls to hang up some of the tools; I just had to see what it might eventually look like....

 

Doors and Windows Fit! Finally...

It took a whole day, but the door finally fits as it is supposed to. We still can't figure out what the problem was, aside from the paper clay that wrapped the sides of the buttresses, but even with that gone, the door would only go in on a slant, top to bottom. The sides of the door were shaved just a little, but the threshold kept moving, making it near impossible to make the thing go into the prepared opening in a straight, proper manner. Then it suddenly fit....

The door will be framed on the back of the room box with plain painted boards, as that side is not likely to be visible. I hope that the door will stay closed when the box is picked up, and if not, I'll have to fix a barrier across the back. The last thing I want is for the door to break if I ever get to display at a show again.

The window "glass" is still missing, so I'm going to try to cut a new one from plexiglass, using a circle cutter I acquired years ago, primarily for cardboard. I'm hoping that scoring the half circle will make it possible to knock the half-round window pane out with a  minimum of trouble. The windows all have arches for the back side, although another one has snapped; that will be glued up overnight. They tend to break at the base of the arch, on the grain of the wood.

That blank wall on the left is crying for some of the tools to be hung up; perhaps I'll hammer in some tiny nails tomorrow. I say hammer in, but in fact I drill the holes and then glue the nails in with a tacky glue/super glue double dip. The ones I put in months ago have stayed put so far.

 

Just When You Think You're On Your Way!

Well, I did finish the hot plate and propane tank, although I still need to dirty up the tank, as it looks far too new right now.  A few rusty spots and a nice brass label ought to improve that situation.

However - the door won't fit, apparently the frame is now a little too wide for the buttress wall. That means I have to sand the paper clay sides down until the door fits. I had hoped to carefully insert the door from the top of the wall, but....somehow, it won't come off any more! I removed the screws holding it in place, and can only assume that I allowed the wood glue for the paper clay wall to get under the wood of the fake slanted roof wall. Sigh! Or perhaps it is the paper clay that caused the problem. Oh well, back to the drawing board....

I've also managed to mislay/lose one of the half-round window plexiglass pieces, despite being oh-so-careful in storing them in their original packages. The Carpenter-in-Chief says it is probably on my work table or in that general area somewhere, but I despair just a little: my garbage can is a bit  too close, and the garbage went to the dump already. I might be able to cut a new plexiglass window, as I do have a circle cutter. I hope I still have lots of thin plexiglass to experiment with.

The tea kettle could also stand a little evidence of use, and I should probably add an enamel-ware coffee pot. Other than that, the outside of the room box has been painted, the roof panel has been cut, and when I have had a good cup of tea I'll attempt to transfer the beam layout to the roof. Then I can get all gluey putting broom straw in place.

Someday, I will finish this project!

 

A Couple of Other Finished Things

We did have a meeting today, and I finished a couple of small things for the wooden shoe factory, like the shovel for the fireplace ashes, and the two-burner hot plate for making tea and coffee. The wire is to become the hose for the propane tank; I have to finish the fittings on that, and then coil this bit of black wire to look more like a propane tank hose.