Yes, I'm still here...

..., just in case anyone was wondering *smile*. I admit, I have been slow getting off my rather substantial butt and getting to work these last several weeks. I figure it's time to turn over a new leaf and get to work! Of course, that thought strikes me on a somewhat regular basis. I'm usually able to ignore it. However, our FAME group is working on a small room box as a group project so I guess I'd better get some pictures and instructions up so people can try to follow along, should they wish to do so.

Okay - as I told my club members when I handed out the kits I had made - you have to keep in mind that, as a person who has only been building minis for about three years now, I am definitely still a "work in progress". As a result, many of my cuts may not be exactly straight. Oh wait -- I made them crooked on purpose so I could teach another useful skill - sanding, sanding, and more sanding. Yes - sure - that's why they're crooked! It had nothing to do with my poor cutting skills! Yes, that's it!

Anyway, the kits were delivered and we worked at the basic structure at our meeting last month. Here's how it has gone so far:

I started by giving out the kit pieces themselves.

There is a top, a bottom, back, front, two sides, and two small pieces which will fit at the top and bottom of the window space to form a bay window.

Then I suggested everyone dry fit their pieces together to identify anything that might need sanding or other adjustments (remember the wonky cuts I talked about?).

The top of the room box has a large piece cut out to allow for extra light to come into this shallow box. It will have a piece of plastic or Plexiglas in the finished piece.

Once everything was fit in place and any adjustments made, we glued the boxes together. I put my box together first, before priming or painting because I felt that the 1/4 inch mdf would glue more securely if it was bare wood to bare wood rather than gluing painted pieces together. However, if you check out Marijke's progress at her blog at Pulchinella's Cellar, you will see that she chose to prime first. Probably easier in the long run, especially if you have a large building. Due to the small size of this one I figured I could get away with gluing first. Here it is with everything but the two small pieces that go into the top and bottom of the window area.

So, as I mentioned, at the end of the last meeting, everyone had their basic structure put together. Here are our busy little beavers working away on their room boxes:

I started mine earlier so I could have a "prototype" to show my fellow FAME members, although I didn't finish it before our first working session. Here is where it stood at the time of our first session:

My room box will be a library so the first thing I did was print out a suitable picture for the back wall to make the room box look deeper.

I painted by box outside and inside, laid a floor, boxed out the underside of the bay window and built a little seat around the side of the building. I used bird gravel to look like small stone aggregate on the seat and under the window.

I don't like how white the stone is so am planning on darkening it a little. I also don't like the white I used on the door trim and the corner trims - I think I'll change it to cream. The white is too bright and clean looking. I still have to attach the upper piece to the top of the window. That is where my sign will be. I will be building a counter for the library, adding some wainscoting, shelving, etc. I'll also be adding the "glass" to the front window. But that will be tomorrow's post! Stay tuned! TTFN! - Marilyn