October 30th - November 6th 2014
I had a few days off since I was busy constructing some Halloween decorations for a small party I have every year. Since it’s really not celebrated in Italy (or celebrating incorrectly - as an excuse for young teens to vandalize and be destructive) I actually enjoy teaching my friend’s kids how to have fun on Halloween without hurting anyone or anything. So I put some effort into making fun food and decorations. But I really want to get back to the build of the house otherwise I feel it will just take forever to complete!
Having had a few days off gave me a little more energy and the correct mind set to attack the next few chapters. First up was some more tiling and the prep work for the peak decorations. I repeated the same procedure from the last chapter cleaning and recarving the bubble pieces and painting everything. I then put those pieces aside as I had to tackle the tiling of the right front and back roof areas in front of the peaks.
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| Bubble piece decorations and gable decor painted. |
I started cutting tiles and glueing them in place. Sanding them was still a messy dusty problem until a friend’s husband suggested I use a vacuum cleaner to suck away the dust while I was sanding. So, after Halloween, I tried it with my little hand vacuum “The Shark” and it worked pretty well! It reduced the amount of fly away dust even if there was still some depositing on my hands. I am still wearing a mask obviously but it does cut down on the dust that was covering my work area, computer, printers....
I managed to finish tiling the front roof area under the gable and insert the gable as well. I also got the top onigawara in place. So that was good. So the kit has me moving round to the back peak area and roof but....as usual...I deviated from the procedure. First because I had a ton of little pieces that could be used in filling the gaps in the center front roof so it just seemed logical to get it out of the way. So I decided I would. But first....
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| Finished right front roof and peak decor. |
I had been mulling over making a kimono stand. I had already made a small obi stand so I knew I could figure out a way with the extra scraps of my kit to make one so, I measured the space in the fire pit room and got to making the pieces. I cut, glued, sanded then painted the stand black. I then added the little copper embellishments that my friend had traded with me for some oak cleats. The top and bottom external pieces had to be filled with a little black Fimo and glued in place. Which I did. You can see the inspiration in the pic next to the finished stand. My next step would be to add folded obis or a full kimono to the stand....while tiling, I will consider which.
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| Working on the kimono stand from scraps. |
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| Shaping the copper decoration for the top and bottom edges. |
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| Finished kimono stand and the inspiration. |
I then turned back to tiling the center front of the roof. I measured out four full pieces and then cut back scrap pieces and was able to finish the front central roof area. I also cut some small pieces to fit into the areas right under where the peak’s tiles meet the roof. I did have to open Chapter 115 to get some tiles but since that was upcoming anyway I didn’t mind. Once that section was tiled, I turned the entire roof around and started on the final back roofing and gable.
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| Front of the roof with completed tiling. |
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| Remaining tiling to be done to the back of the roof. |
While the last tiles were drying, I came back to the kimono stand. I really wanted to try and make a paper kimono. I did (by cutting panels and constructing using double sided tape) but overall I really didn’t like it on the stand. So, I may use it elsewhere in the house as a wall decoration. But I still needed something for the kimono stand. So I made some folded paper kimonos. You really can’t tell what they are but I used kimono pattern origami paper do simulate folded kimonos, an obi and an obijime (a chord used to tie around the obi) and placed them on the stand. I even decorated the end of one obijime with some metal tips and cut the edges to form tassels. I then placed the stand in the fire pit room and I must say, it fills the wall perfectly. I really wanted something that was unique but that wouldn’t block the area where people would be eating etc. I think it’s a good fit.
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| Making patterns to cut paper and fabric. |
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| Cutting out some fabric for backing the paper. |
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| Adding the sleeves to the back panel |
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| Finished paper kimono. |
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| Finished kimono stand with "folded" kimonos and obi draped over it. |
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| Kimono stand in situ. |
So, back to the tiling... I attached the tiles on the back right side under the peak and off to the right so that when I installed the gable’s tiling it wouldn’t be blocking that area (which happened with the back left installation). I also had some extra little pieces that I managed to size up and glue to the right side corner of the roof. So even that bit of roof is done. Next I installed the decorative sections to the peak - sanding down the pieces and glueing the bubble piece and paper piece #3 etc. Then I could install the two tiles on top of the gable. As usual, I had to sand the tops down to match the length then glue them in place - still pretty tricky since the little plastic clamps aren’t well suited to the job. But while I waited for the glue to dry, I made some little hagoita.
These little rackets were used in a badminton type game back in the 15th-16th century. They are usually decorated with New Year’s images at court. Today, the rackets are used during New Year’s and are now covered with kimono fabrics and the figures are rendered 3D. The antique ones often had images of famous actors so I printed out some images and attached them to some pieces of thin wood. I decorated the handles with red and black and added all three to the buddha room. They do look cute.
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| Cutting out the racket and image to glue onto it. |
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| Wrapping a little black thread round the handle. |
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| Finished hagoita. |
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| Hagoita decorating the wall. |
Final phase of tiling was done in the afternoon adding the last tile to the right side of the gable and letting it dry. I still cannot add the onigawara because I still have to tile the inside of the back roof. But more of that later.....
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| Finished and final gable. Now just to push on with tiling... |
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