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I am finally finished with the Orchid! Or the little brick house, LOL, whichever one you want to call it. Although I am pleased with the exterior of this house (the pictures don't show it well but the outside is a very light blue), I am not very thrilled with my wallpapering job. It wasn't my best .... Anyhow, here it is!

My wallpaper is now COMPLETELY done, although I am not real happy with it. It is not one of my better jobs .... As of now I'm leaving the stair case out, because I can't find what I did with some of the stair treads... Time to put the porch posts on the house. Because I bricked the house and the little slots are NOT going to fit in there, I cut the slots off the back side of the porch railing. I'm gluing these on with white glue, but I'm also using a little technique that Rik Pierce taught me. I put the white glue on the back of the rails, and a good dab on the bottom, and then I take SuperGlue and put one TINY drop on the bottom ends and two TINY drops on the back of the railing that goes against the house. The point of doing that is to instantly bond the rails to where they need to go and to hold them in place while the white glue dries completely. Then comes the front door. I'm not making this to where it will open, and I'm just gluing it in. I still need to put the door knobs on. Then comes the upper railing, and I'm still using white glue. Actually, once I've painted something, I almost always use white (Elmers) glue. On the very top of the upper railing only (where it meets the house) I put three TINY drops of Superglue to hold it while it dries. I've got a gap on this, probably where there is wood putty on the house so I'm not getting a flush fit. I'll have to run a piece of wood behind it and then I'll have Jimmy run some caulk in it. I'll get him to wait so I can take pictures of what we do to fix that. Not that I know HOW to fix it, LOL, I just have an idea in my head. And now we're ready for the roofer! Oh Jimmy! Where are you?! Hey Nutti, why is it that every time I pick up a can of blue paint I think of you? Compliments of LPCullen

Because this house has double hung windows, cutting the wallpaer at the windows is a bit tricky. You have to trim the wallpaper large enough for the double hung windows to go in, and sometimes the wallpaper doesn't want to come off the wall when you trim on the inside. Like so: I've already used a razor blade to cut around this window to where I want the wallpaper to be. So, to remove that paper that didn't come off I take a wet washrag--not dripping but good and wet--and wipe it along the paper so that I get the paper throughly wet. Let it sit for a minute to soak up the water. Then I just take my fingernail and scrape off the paper. You may have to re-wet the paper several times to get it all to come loose. After you're done getting that excess wallpaper off, then go back over that area with the wet washrag to finish removing any bits of paper and remove the glue that's there. Now, the kitchen window was a bit more tricky, because that paper was stuck on that wall good! So, I've cut where I want to remove the excess wallpaper with my razor blade. Then I just wet the paper good with the wet washrag, let it sit for a minute to loosen. Then I again just use my fingernail to scrape off the paper. Once the pattern portion of the paper is off, I just continue to wet and scrape, until it's all gone. Compliments of LPCullen

Been working on the wallpaper in the Orchid. It's coming right along. I chose this for the livingroom. And this for the kitchen. And this for the bedroom. As most of you know, I like to "lay over" my wallpaper at the edge of the walls in my house. This is how I did that partition in the upper rooms. I had to cut it, lay the top edge over first, and the bottom edge over second. Compliments of LPCullen

I've painted the base coat of the bricks all a nice wash with Brown Iron Oxide. And then I went back and added some Dark Burnt Umber, some Hippo Gray, and then I changed it out a bit and added Burnt Sienna instead of Red Iron Oxide. Same results, I think. What do you think? I still need to clear coat the bricks, but it's raining here so I will have to wait for it to stop raining .... Now, on to wallpapering .... Compliments of LPCullen

I was so impressed with Tracy's porch, that I've decided to copy it, sort of. So, I had Jimmy go ahead and attach the porch to the house. Then I started covering it with paperclay. Now, to make my brick patterns. I'm only putting bricks on the outside of the porch, so I have to make some measurements all around and I'm using the little tool that I got from Rik Pierce's class. I make indentions in the clay all around using the smaller end of that tool. I think that's a 5/8 inch measurement, but can't remember. And I've got my measurement all around the top of the porch. Time to move on to the step. For the corners, I make a line across it and angled, and then I begin cutting in some bricks. I'm using a little yellow tool to cut the bricks. I kind of "cut up" the bricks on the edges. Once all my bricks are cut in on the top, I take my little white tool (you can use whatever you have on hand) and kind of roll that around the edges of the porch to finish the cut for the bricks. And now we're done cutting bricks for the porch. Have to wait for that to dry and then I can do my "dirty wash" on the bricks and begin painting! Compliments of LPCullen

Today Jimmy got to play with the Orchid for a change. He put the one roof section on the front, and then put the two small windows in. Then he wrestled with the big front section of the house, and taped it ALL up, LOL! Then he turned the house around so that he could work on something, and I realized that he had not put the bottom support in at the back of the house. Oops. That's something that will need to be bricked, so guess what! We're not done with bricks after all, LOL! He will not put the back section of the roof on yet, because I will need to wallpaper the upper rooms before that piece goes on. He will add caulk in to give me smooth lines to wallpaper to, and I'll try and get some pix of that. Compliments of LPCullen

Been working on bricks, painting, etc. We left off with painting using dark burnt umber. I finished one side, and this is where I ran out of paint on the front. Gotta mix some more paint, still using the two drops and mixing water into it. Once I've finished with the front and get ready to move to the final side using the dark burnt umber, I want to again look at my corners and see what bricks I've painted on the corners with dark burnt umber so that I can continue it to the other side. Remember what I told you about not worrying too much if you ran some bricks together (by getting paint in your mortar lines) because you could re-define it later with another color? Well, when I got to the final side with the dark burnt umber color, I found some. The first picture is where I ran the mortar lines together. The second picture is where I painted one of them with dark burnt umber, but the paint is wet in that picture. The third picture here shows it where the paint is dry. And we're now finished with the dark burnt umber. See? Next, I will be using Hippo Gray, which looks like this: I again take two (or three) drops of hippo gray and start mixing in my water with my paint brush to make a wash--also go ahead and get some fresh water in your cup before you start making your color wash with the hippo gray. I'm still staying with the same scheme, meaning I make one gray brick per row on the sides, and two gray bricks on the front per row, but I decrease the amounts of gray bricks when I get into smaller areas, around the windows and at the top of the peaks. Oops! I've found some bricks that I ran together, so I've used hippo gray here to re-define those bricks. And we're now finished using the hippo gray. The next color that I will be using is Red Iron Oxide, which looks like this: But, before we get started with the red iron oxide, I want to warn you that red or orange tinted paints tend to overpower/take over very quickly, so you should use them sparingly. I also make the wash more thin than the others. One thing I meant to tell you earlier, if you happen to get too much paint on a brick, like this: Just take a paper towel and touch it to the brick to soak up the excess paint. Don't wipe it, just touch it to the brick. Very important when using a very strong color. See? I will not be using the same theme, meaning painting one brick per row on the sides and two bricks per row on the front with the red iron oxide. Instead, I'll just be basically breaking up the monotony. This is again because this is a strong color. So, just anywhere that I think another color needs to be, I'll paint a brick with the red iron oxide. And now we're done with the red iron oxide, and we're DONE painting individual bricks! Yippee! I've discovered that acrylic paints tend to rub off if you touch them a lot, so I have a habit of putting a coat of clear coat paint over anything that I paint with acrylic paints. I covered up my windows (where the panes were already installed) and took the house outside to spray it with clear coat. This is what I use for clear coat. I usually pick it up at wal-mart, I think. I just spray the outside of the house with one coat, but I make sure that I cover it good. Be careful though, because you don't want it to run. Now we're finally finished completely with the bricks. So, what if you only want brown bricks, can you just use the brown iron oxide? Yes, you can. What if you don't want to use red iron oxide because you don't like red? You don't have to do that either. Can you use different colors, including just using different shades of brown? Yes, but I would still paint all of the bricks first with brown iron oxide. Can you use funky colors, throw in some pinks and/or purples? Yep (actually I did that on Anna's Emerson Row)! It's your house! Paint them whatever color you want! It really is fun! Compliments of LPCullen

Let's see, where were we? Ah yes, painting bricks. I remember now. The color that I use for the base color of the bricks is Brown Iron Oxide. Looks like this: I now have all the bricks painted brown, see? Whaddya mean all bricks are not brown? You mean I'm not finished yet? Nope, I'm not. Gotta add some more colors in. I'm going to use three different colors, Dark Burnt Umber, Hippo Gray, and Red Iron Oxide. I'll start first with the Dark Burnt Umber. I'll put two drops on a plate (you can use either paper plates or styrofoam, doesn't matter, whatever's handy), and you only want to start with two drops. I'll then take a cup of water and dip my brush into it and then put the brush into the paint. What I'm doing is thinning out the paint with water to make a "wash". And I keep dipping my brush into the water and swirling it around in the paint until I get it really thin. If your paint is too thick, then you end up losing the texture of your bricks that you worked so hard to make, so make sure it's thin. When you think you're done add just a bit more water. Then take your brush and tap it on the plate just to check the thickness of your wash and to remove the excess paint off your brush. Add more water if you need to. For the sides of the house (and because I'm left handed and drag my hand across things, I have to flip the house the other way and start at the bottom), I'm going to paint one brick on each row with the wash that I have just created. Try to look for bricks that you've run together with the brown paint and paint one of those so that you can "re-define" your brick, if you need to. Just dip the very tip of your brush (I use a soft brush for this) into the paint and start randomly painting bricks. And now I've got the bottom of one side of the house painted with the dark burnt umber, see? When I get close to the window, because I'm working in a smaller area, I'm going to switch and paint one brick on every other row. Remember, we're still adding two more colors after this one. When I get to the part above the window, well that's a really small space, so I'm going to switch to every third row. Don't want to make too many bricks different, because it wouldn't be realistic. Just use your eye as you're painting, and see what looks right to you. If you need to skip more rows, then do that. And now I've got one side of the house painted with the dark burnt umber. Next I'll be moving to the front of the house, and I'll paint two bricks on each row with dark burnt umber. First though, because you're rounding a corner, look for bricks on the edge that you've painted with dark burnt umber. See this one here? You'll need to continue with that brick in dark burnt umber so that you stay consistent with your bricks. That's all for now. Next we'll move into the painting of the front of the house. Compliments of LPCullen

Time to paint the bricks! To begin with, I take a very thin wash of brown iron oxide (acrylic paint, in the bottle), and put one coat of that on each and every individual brick [if you don't know what I mean by a wash or anything else, just send me a PM and I'll post detailed pix so that you can see what I'm doing]. No, she didn't say that, did she? Yes, she did. You have to paint EACH AND EVERY INDIVIDUAL brick. Remember that lil conversation I had with the house when it said it wanted brick? Yep, you have to paint all of them. The brown iron oxide gives them just the right color, and so I do that first, and I paint each and every one of them. Really, it's not so bad. It's actually MUCH easier than painting trim! Remember what I told you about the "stippling" is basically giving texture to the paperclay? Here's a close up of the bricks, with a coat of the brown iron oxide wash on them, and you can see what I mean by texture. I turned the flash off so that you could see it. If you happen to get some paint in your mortar lines on some and it looks like you blurred some of your bricks together, don't worry about it. You can re-define those bricks with a different color later. Now I have to let that dry for at least 24 hours, and then I begin adding some different colors to the bricks! Compliments of LPCullen

My bricks are all cut and all mortar lines cleaned out, although I probably don't do them as well as I should. The house now has it's dirty wash all over too. It's just about time to begin painting the bricks, once everything dries. For drying times for me, in betwen cutting the bricks and the dirty wash, I usually wait 24 hours. To begin painting the bricks, I wait at least 48 hours after dirty washing, but usually 72 hours. If you're in a dryer climate, you may not have to wait so long, but I'm in the south and we've been running 50-70% humidity since July 1, so my drying times are longer. I want to make sure that the clay is completely dry before I begin painting them. Compliments of LPCullen

Time to paperclay the other side of the house. I've gotten Jimmy to do this and I'm just taking pictures, since I wanted to show "blending" and Jimmy does that MUCH better than I do. He begins by rolling out the paperclay, and you want to roll it out to about 1/8" in thickness. We usually use 1/2 pack of paperclay at a time. Once his clay is rolled he puts glue (wood glue) on the house. We usually just squirt the glue on there and then use an old credit card to spread it around so that you have a thin layer of glue on the wood, although Jimmy uses much more glue than I do. He then puts the first tier of clay on the bottom of that side and pats it down, trims it out, and then begins preparing the clay to be "blended" into the next layer. What he does is take his paperclay tool and smash down the side where the next tier is going to go. Now, for the second tier. Gotta roll out more paperclay, LOL, and he also "cuts" the clay to make straight lines. Once he has paperclay rolled, he puts his glue on where the second tier is going, including putting in on the clay ONLY where he has smashed it down so that that clay and the new clay for the second tier will stick together. Then he puts his clay on for the second tier and pats it down. Then he takes his little yellow tool and "blends" the clay together, basically smoothing it together so that you can't tell it's been joined. He also smashes down the top of the second tier, preparing it to be joined with the next tier, and trims the edges off the side of the house. He also uses his hands to smooth down the clay and make sure there are no air bubbles. Now for the third and final tier, he basically does what he has done before, and he's sure to smooth it real well and close around the window frame so that it doesn't pull away. Once Jimmy is done applying the paperclay, I do what is known as (or at least the term taught to me) as "stippling". What that means, basically, is that I texture the clay. Using an el-cheapo paint brush that has had the ends cut off to blunt it up real well, I basically take the brush bristles and beat it on the clay. This textures the clay, and I do it all over, turning the brush as I am working so it's not all one way. This is what the clay looks like when it has been "stippled". I then begin drawing my lines for bricks again, using, once again, my trusty lil piece of cardboard. Once all my lines are drawn, I then begin "drawing" my bricks. Basically, I want the bricks to be about 1/2" in length, and maybe 1/4" in height--of course, they probably aren't, but that's the general idea, LOL! The first row of bricks that you "cut" are the deciding bricks, and then you stagger the next rows as you go. It's not hard, and once you have that first row cut, it's kinda mindless. I turned the flash off and took a closeup of what the bricks look like when they're "cut". Are they straight? No, but houses do settle, you know. Are they all the same size? No. I don't care--all bricks are not equal, LOL! I hope I didn't overload you with too many pictures. Plus, I know some of them are dark, but I wanted to try and show detail. Next step, the front of the house, and when that's done--it's time to PAINT SOME BRICKS!!!!! Compliments of LPCullen

Today I have to clean out my mortar lines. To do this, I use a little tool that Rik Pierce gave us in his class. It's a little stick with a pointed end, and what I'm doing is just basically defining my bricks and making them all look like they're separate bricks. I take the tool and run it across the clay for the bottom lines. For the lines in between the bricks, I have to kind of flick out the clay in between the bricks--hence cleaning the mortar lines. Once the clay has dried a bit and formed a "crust", meaning it feels like it has a crust on it when you touch it--sort of like if you were baking a pie crust and it had just started but hadn't dried much, just a bit, I can then begin preparing the bricks for painting. The first thing is to put a "dirty wash" on it to tone down the white of the clay. I use 3-4 drops of black and 3-4 drops of dark burnt umber (acrylic paints, in the bottle) in about 1/2 cup of water. I then take a paint brush and just kind of slop it on there, making sure to get in all the cracks and crevices. I'm now done with the dirty wash. Once this dries (and you should let it dry at least overnight, if not longer) it will be quite a bit lighter than it is now. Compliments of LPCullen

I just remembered that the windows in this house are double hung, so I figured it would be best to install the exterior of the windows before I start to paperclaying. So I glued the exterior parts together and then painted them. Once they were dry, I got them installed. Had to use some of our special handy dandy weights on part. And now, I think I'll start bricking the front. Took one half package of paperclay and put it on our rolling board. That's just a tile put into a board, and my "roller" is simply a piece of pipe. Got my paperclay all rolled out, so now it's time to put some glue on. I'm using wood glue, and I just dribble it on there. I use either an old credit card or in this case, Jimmy's broken up drivers license, to spread the glue around. I want to get just a thin film of glue to attach my paperclay to. I put my paperclay on, smooth it down, I had to patch it in a couple places (I'll show better pix of blending paperclay later--Jimmy's much better at it than I am so I'll get him to do it and I'll take pix), and then I take a paint brush which the ends have been clipped off, and I hit that on the paperclay, all over, to give the paperclay some texture. Time to cut some bricks. You can use just about anything that you want, or whatever is handy. I have a piece of thin cardboard, like the backing from a picture frame, because I can't find my metal ruler, and I make some lines across the front of the dollhouse in the paperclay. This doesn't put the lines all the way across for me--it's just basically giving me a start to my lines. Then I take my little white thing that I got from Rik Pierce's class, and I start cutting in my individual bricks. You can use anything handy though that's got a small edge--sometimes I use those itty bitty flathead screwdrivers, maybe 1/4 inch or less long. Once you have your first row cut, the rest is easy, and you stagger the next row based upon the first row. There's no real science to it, and I just do it all by eye. One thing to remember though with paperclay--less is more, meaning that as the clay dries, it shrinks a bit so don't cut deep lines or when it dries it will show the wood. I'm just basically making an indention in the clay, and as the clay dries it will stretch where I've made my indentions and it will become more defined. I really like this part, because I can just sort of drift off while I do it. OK, my bricks on the front are all cut. And now, if you'll excuse me, it's 10:30p, and I've got to go to bed. First though, I have to take some damp paper towels and cover up the front of the house so that it doesn't dry out. I live in fear of Rik actually seeing something I've done and me not having "cleaned my mortar lines", LOL! So, I don't want the clay to dry out overnight because I need to clean the mortar lines. Compliments of LPCullen

Such a cute little house! I love it's lines. I have of course pulled my floor boards out, which I usually do first, and I've used red oak stain, since that was the stain can that was open and I seem to like that color. I stained them, only used one coat, and put them out in the horrifying heat outside and let them dry a bit. Then I brought them back in and dry fitted the house together to see how it looked. Jimmy came home and decided to take over at this point, LOL! He's assembled a bit of the shell and is using our special handy dandy weights (paint cans) to hold it down, along with blue tape, while the wood glue dries, all the while fussing at me because I forgot to bring the rest of the clamps home from the other house ... and I think, you were there on Saturday, why didn't you bring them home? Anyway, at this point the Orchid begins speaking to me. What's that you say little Orchid? You want brick? Are you sure? You know that each brick has to be hand cut and hand painted--each and every one, you know. So, you are sure you want brick? Yes? OK. That sounds like a fine idea to me too ... Compliments of LPCullen