Bricks!

Hi Friends! I'm back with more detail. I'm even a little bit surprised at myself for getting so much done in the last two weeks. I know, my idea of "so much" is different from someone else, but busy moms have only tidbits of time for themselves.

To catch up, I applied paperclay to the entire front portion of the house in phases. I couldn't do the whole wall at once because I am too slow when I have to carve the little bricks with a ruler and X-acto knife. But it turned out well enough and I stopped being so critical of how straight (or not straight and seriously imperfect) my carving turned out after drying.

 
Like before, I overlapped the edges a bit to allow for shrinkage. I trimmed those areas with the X-acto blade after the clay dried to tidy up things. I also enhanced the gaps between some bricks that were not deep enough or shaved down areas that were too thick and lumpy.

I painted up the bricks using a dry brush technique. It took 2 or 3 times to layer up the paint just right. I really like it though. I like it much more than when I did the fireplace on my son's cabin. Also, since I had tried to rush things, I tested painting the damp clay and it didn't work as well as painting dry clay. I stopped and waited for it the whole wall to be ready. Patience paid off.

I ran out of paper clay, so instead of buying another pack, I finished the upper bedroom wall with the white paint and tissue paper stucco technique. It's consistent with the upper portion of the other side wall so it works.

Now I need to seal the painted paperclay bricks with something and apply grout.

I'm starting to think about the windows and doors. I have some bass strip wood I got from Hobby Lobby and Michael's that should take care of most of that.  I also picked up some baseboard molding from Hobby Lobby for the interior trim.

We're entering what we call "birthday season" so my project time will be more limited as birthdays come up and the school year ends. Haley has a science project due this week and Eric has been practicing for the computerized standardized testing at school. There is also the Mini Maker Faire at the end of May.  I know the organizers and I've been invited to show and tell my minis and crafts, but I'm not up to it at the moment. I'd love to go, but I will pass this year.

I will definitely see you again very soon! Bye for now.