Chapter 100 - Two External Hanging Lanterns, Finishing for the Underside of the Eaves, More Tiling

September 15 - 18th 2014

I put aside the pieces for the lanterns as I would do them last (since I had the other four to put together at the same time). 

Next was to finish adding the wooden strips to the underside of the eaves.  I checked the instructions and as suspected, the strips get attached even if they are not actually seen from the outside of the eave.  That’s what I like about this kit.  The detail for even things that are not easily (or will never be easily) visible.  So, I cut up some of the strips into the usual 55mm pieces, then cut them into even smaller ones to fit into the angles and edges of the underside.  I did my best to have the angles meet at 90° at the corners but not all matched up.  But it is fine for me.  I then repainted the tips white again and moved on to the tiling.

Measuring out the placement - even for pieces not visible.

Completed underside.

I glued on the next bunch of tiles again trying my best to match up the irregular ones.  I hope this works out later! What’s done is done and I’ll have to figure things out if the tiles end up being so badly off.  But not going to worry now.  I guess sometimes we need to trust the instructions and make a leap of faith.

More tiling.

Inspiration for color and grillwork.

Now I could finally get on with the lanterns.  These are called tsuridōrō and are usually made of bronze.  They hang on the outside of buildings and in temples giving some light to the buildings.  Sort of an ancient idea of a spot light.  I did some research and found a few pics I could use for coloring the lanterns.  But what I liked most was that some of them have intricate grillwork. 
The kit had me just gluing in some intersecting cross in the middle but I found a Japanese circle design which I figured I could glue or tape onto the lantern block.  The block was around 14mm square so after a few test runs on the printer, I settled with the dimensions and then put the strips on double sided tape.  The strips just wrapped around the little lantern block. 

All the lantern pieces.

Cutting out the lantern grillwork and applying double sided tape.

Taping the grillwork onto the lantern base.

I thought they looked good so continued with the construction of the lantern - up next painting. 
Following the pictures of the lanterns I found on the net,  I decided to go with the bronze green.  So I mixed some Bluegrass Green and Venetian Gold Metallic.  This acrylic metallic has some flecks of gold running through it so by mixing it with the green, it showed a little metallic sparkle on the surface.  I thought it was pretty cool.  I painted everything then cut the pieces to size and glued them as per the instructions. 

Green paint with gold flecks.

Adding the top knob for hanging the lamp.

Next I attached the jump rings and chain pieces and then used some eye shadow to age and darken the edges of the lanterns.  I tried using a brush for applying the shadow but it just didn’t work well enough.  So I resorted to using my finger.  I suppose just like applying eye makeup, sometimes fingers are the best option. 

Adding the hanging chain.

Penning in the "grillwork" using a 0.05 pen.

The lanterns obviously won’t be attached until the roof is completed so I packaged them away into a zip-lock bag till then end of the build.  I think they look quite cute.

Finished lanterns.