ORCHID UPDATE AND NEED HELP PLEASE

[Peggy]

Well, after almost memorizing LPCullen's tutorial on bricking, I dived in and the pictures show it in the drying process.  Notice I bricked only 1/2 of the sides.  Two reasons:  (1) I am not sure I have enough clay to finish (but have mail ordered more), and (2), I am still working on the bay window (really beating me up but I think I understand it now).  Linda recommends bricking around the windows installed.

What do you think?  When (if) I get that bay window in, will I be able to blend the bricks and just continue where I stopped?  Thinking maybe I should use a trim as a divider and start the new brick under it.   Or, maybe I should use siding instead of bricking it.  Here in Ohio, a lot of houses are bricked in the front and have vinyl siding on the rest of the house.  My own, though, is all red brick and I sort of planned to make it look like mine.   My big problem, though, is how in the world do I paint it without getting the windows and door dirty?  I have to paint right up to the trim and I am not sure taping it all will do the trick?  Maybe I should just leave it white.  

Any ideas?    Thank you.

[KathieB]

The brickwork looks great! Do a careful taping of the windows with Frog tape (which is better at preventing paint to seep beneath the edges than masking or painter's tape) and paint it. You'll be a lot happier if it is painted to look like brick than leaving it unfinished white.

I'd brick beneath the bay window, too. I think siding below with brick above would look strange. A real house wouldn't put the weight of brick above wood or vinyl siding. (Although there is a house in Marshall, Missouri, that has faux stone above vinyl siding. It is disturbing to look at, but there it is. Just goes to show that whatever you decide to do, you've made the right decision.)  

[chapchap73]

It looks great! I haven't used Frog tape; it's a new product to me, but it looks intriguing. I do all the painting in my RL house and never use painter's tape because it annoys me.  I just can't seem to stop the paint from seeping under somewhere and making a huge mess,  I do have some fancy mini painting to do however so I may give it a go. For mini painting, I have found that the quality of brush makes  HUGE difference in the finished result.  I use nail art brushes like these . 

 

[havanaholly]

The brickwork looks excellent.  If you have an art supply store (like Utrecht's or D I c k  Blick) or a big box craft store (like Michael's or Hobby Lobby) you can find paperclay there.

[Peggy]

I think you are right, I wanted all brick from the start so will work toward that goal.  Kathy, thanks for info on the brushes, I never thought of nail brushes and will try them.  But if you look at Linda's brick tutorial, the first paint kind of gets "slopped" on.  The following coats are more defined.  

Holly, the bricks so far are "Creative Paper Clay", natural white, which I can only find on line.  My Hobby Lobby does not have it.  They have other clay but I am afraid to switch because of the blending I will have to do.  I did buy from Hobby Lobby a "Crayola Air-Dry-Clay".  Playing with it, it looks the same but do not know how it will hold up over time.  I have read NOT to use the Crayola Magic Clay but this is not "Magic", just says "Air-Dry".  Has anyone used it?

I will try the frog tape when I paint.   I have used it in real life and it is better than painters tape, like you say, but nothing seems fool proof.  Thanks all, for your kind words and encouragement.  

 

[havanaholly]

I have used the Crayola product and it is nothing like the paperclay; by all means finish with what you began.

[KathieB]

1 hour ago, Peggy said:

But if you look at Linda's brick tutorial, the first paint kind of gets "slopped" on.  The following coats are more defined.  

"Slopped on" doesn't necessarily mean sloppy painting. Take Holly's advice and use a good quality soft brush and don't overload it to the point that it will drip uncontrollably. Keep in mind that you can do several thin coats to reach the base color you want. All of the paint doesn't need to go on in the first coat.

[shamrockgirl18]

I think the brickwork looks wonderful!  I have never attempted it before- I'll have to liook up the tut you used and see if I think I can handle it.

[Peggy]

Kathie, what a great blog you have -- it is now in my favorites list to be studied.  I will do my best with the painting, it has been too much work to be ruined by messing up now.  Erin, here is Linda's tutorial on bricking.  When you get there, look it up as she went through it (Day one, Day 2, Day 3 - etc.)  http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/?app=blog&module=blogs&controller=entry&id=756  She is an awesome teacher!!

[havanaholly]

Sarah gave the brush advice, but I concur with using a good quality brush; I tend towards water color brushes, myself.

[MiniaturesInsight]

I'll definitely second the comments about how the quality of the brush matters. I've had good success actually with using a makeup brush rather than a paintbrush for tiny detail work like grout. In my experience, the synthetic fiber makeup brushes are better quality than the synthetic paintbrushes at the same price points. At least for the small tipped ones! For larger brushes you probably want to go with a paintbrush. Also, if you look, many of the shapes between both types of brushes are same or similar. The only thing I've had to be careful about is how much paint I load onto the brush, because the fibers of the makeup brush are generally thinner and won't hold it as well. But when you consider that it's detail work and you don't want much paint at any one time anyway, it all works out!