Chapter 37 - Floor and Back Wall of Right Hand Room First Floor, Ceiling of Left Hand Room, Bench

March 24 - 30th 2012

About a month ago, I joined the Half-Scale Yahoo Group for people who are interested in half-scale miniature as opposed to the 1/12 scale which is more common.  I had mentioned that I am working on a Japanese inspired house and one member was nice enough to send me a file from a scan of fabric which were little kimonos.  All I had to do was reduce it to scale and transfer it to some fabric to make little kimonos for my house (and in particular, the Spa Changing room).  It worked out great.  You can find ink jet transfer sheets so all you have to do is print onto the transfer and then iron onto some cotton fabric.  Deal done and the final effect is very satisfying.  With the bench and the little details, the spa changing room is done (altho I’m still planning to add some things under the sink as well as a little bar or soap and maybe a mirror above the sink).

Iron on transfer.

Kimonos ready for cutting and folding

View from the side of the chaning room

Little bench for the changing room

Towels, kimonos for men and women, and geta shoes.

The ceiling of the first floor room was easy yet fitting it into slightly warped walls was a challenge.  At least it showed me that I had installed a wooden beam piece in the kitchen ceiling wrong so I had to take that apart and reglue it.  Much better looking now.  I drilled the necessary holes in the ceiling and the back wall to allow for the lighting once it gets installed. 

Will be gone for a few days on a trip to Hamburg to see the biggest miniature train set in the world (or so they claim...) Pics will follow obviously.

Chapter 23 - The Spa Changing Room, External Wainscotting, The Geta

February 22 - 23rd 2012

Painting and waiting.  But matching up all the pieces to the Spa room was pretty impossibile.  The pieces were so warped that now they are proving hard to match up.  Major glueing involved and clamping them down.  I think I’m going to have to sand most of the top of this extension down to fit the room section and be sure the next floor is level.  What a pain.

Then I attacked the Geta shoes.  These little shoes made for walking on surfaces with water (or snow).  WTF.  Nothing like the explanation would be remotely possible. 

After screwing around with these stupid things, I figured the best way to go would be thru simple glue glue glue.  They look great but need drying time.  Figured out a trick by clamping them and glueing the small cords onto the geta that worked well enough.  What a total BS that was.  But I must say, I think it’ll look great in the spa.

Yeah, right.

The Geta and the Spa Extension

This was the first chapter that I felt totally without desire and totally frustrated! Thank goodness the ground floor is nearly done!