The stairs are painted and distressed; for the distressing, I used a tack hammer, a pointy rock from the patio, a sponge sander, emery board, and a small screwdriver, with occasional applications of the back edge of my Xacto knife.
Our local Michaels is now carrying a limited supply of MidWest basswood, and although they didn't have the thickness my project called for, the sander belonging to the Carpenter-in-Chief thinned the pieces just right to make the last five stair treads. I hope the store carries more of this product, as it is way better than the stuff they carried the past several years!
We are still scratching our heads as to how to have a part of the steps open, in order to replace batteries on the eventual lighting, the wires etc. of which I'd really like to hide there. There is a real dearth of miniature, vintage industrial lighting fixtures available, which means I'll have to create my own from scratch. I need four hanging lights, and one wall sconce in a cage for the stairway wall. I also have no idea how many LED lights can run off a coin battery, nor how long such a battery would last with five LED bulbs on it.
Now the risers and treads need a varnish coat, and once that is dry, an application of antiquing gel to bring out the dents and scratches. Once the stairs are glued in place, I can dirty up the wall and the corners to look well used, and perhaps not all that carefully cleaned....
love the distressing - great touch!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Troy. I find I quite enjoy messing up nice fine finishes!
DeleteI do prefer my miniature structure to look lived in and used, to the point of "planting" weeds around foundations.
The stairs look great, Marijke, and I love the way the distressing came out! So Authentic! I keep thinking about your stair removal, and all I can come up with are two options:
ReplyDeleteThe first is having the stairs be free standing and completely removable in order to access the wiring. Ypu could build them using art board or foam core. I made a couple sets of these when working on my New Orleans kit. You can see what I mean here:
http://my-miniaturemadness.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-wink-nod-and-stair.html
http://my-miniaturemadness.blogspot.com/2017/08/back-to-drawing-bo-er-paper.html
The second idea would involve making a lean-to storage box outside of the structure with sliding or removable doors to house the plug strip. I did something like this on the New Orleans, too, and maybe it will inspire some ideas for you:
http://my-miniaturemadness.blogspot.com/2019/02/what-have-i-gotten-myself-into.html
I bet you have already came up with a list of ways to go but each one has it's drawbacks or limitations. Isn't that always the way with our projects, and compromises are always the way forward. Best of luck and I am excited to see where you end up with the solution!
Oops! This was the link for the lean to shed:
ReplyDeletehttp://my-miniaturemadness.blogspot.com/2019/06/summer-in-new-orleans.html
Thanks, Jodi! I'm experimenting with an idea, but have to find out stuff like how many warm LEDs can run on what sort of battery for how long - my plan is for for 5 lights for the workshop. The battery demand will decide if my idea will work....
DeleteThe stairs look very good and realistic. A very fine job! I am afraid I know nothing about lighting. I need to get acquainted with electricity for dollshouses soon or Huis ter Swinnendael will become a dark house indeed.
ReplyDeleteI do know that leds require much less electricity than the classic light bulbs. So if the number of lights on a battery work with classic bulbs leds should not pose a problem.
Huibrecht
I wish there was a model railroad person I could get to teach me miniature lighting! There must be shops in Rotterdam or area that would perhaps teach you how to light Huis ter Swinnendael? Lights add so much atmosphere to miniature buildings!
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