Intermediate Work : The Pavement Part A

Measuring the placement of the house on the board

26th May - 23rd June 23rd 2013

Almost a month ago, I began work on the pavement.  The first thing I had to do was to purchase a board which would be big enough as a base for the house along with the front sections which open.  I ended up purchasing some plywood that measured appx 60cm x 90cm.  My idea was to leave a little room to the right of the kitchen so I could build an external area where outside work in food prep and storage would be.   The back of the house needed a small space as well as my plan there is to make a small garbage container where I will hide the batteries that will power the LEDs in the house.  I then purchased a table at Ikea which could hold the whole thing.  I will screw the pavement base to the Ikea table in the eventual case that I decide to move the house or change the actual set up.  I 'll just use wood screws on the sides so I do not foresee any issues there.

Using stepping stone template to trace out on the board.

Still working out the placement of stones.

The next part was to decide what kind of pavement I was going to do.  I had thought about stenciling and painting stones but really didn’t like the lack of three dimensionality.  I then thought about papering and doctoring up the paper with some dimensional decor but I realized that wouldn’t work because I had two sliding areas in front.  The pavement had to be rather smooth and without much hinderance so the front room door would open without difficulty.  So, I decided on a method which I had found on the blog MitchyMoo. 

Flagstone pattern I used.  I made an mirror image of it and used both for as stencils.

I am using my Black & Decker type dremel tool and I carved out all the stones after stenciling them in.

Round headed tip for carving in between the stones.

Needless to say, it has been a very long process.

Mostly because my wrist and hands couldn’t take the vibration and stress of keeping the lines within certain areas.  I have sanded down the surface and any irregularities will be hidden anyway since I will be painting over the spaces in between the stones and covering them in moss like material.
In any case, as of today, the carving is done and I can now proceed with the painting, varnishing and grass decoration.  Hopefully, that will not take a month although I have a bit to do at work and my health issues have been acting up the last few days.  Still, I’m pleased I’ve come this far.