The roof is finally finished, slate and copper and all!
Next up…. Bashing and painting grandtline windows, and adding window glass (gulp)
Another view of roof–copper tops of dormers just visible
Detail view of finished roof
View of roof–can just see the copper on top of dormers
Second, the copper accents. Working with copper presents two difficulties: (1) making the actual parts, and (2) creating a nice patina. [If you want to skip the first step, Builders-in-scale (CC crow) (http://www.builders-in-scale.com/bis/parts-metal.html) sells pre-made roofs in several model railroad scales.]
Shaping the copper required a few easy steps. The copper sheeting I happened to have is probably a little thicker than 36 gauge—and so it isn’t the easiest to bend and fold cleanly to get that sanding seam, or ribbed roof, look–but copper is a soft metal so it holds scribe marks well. The steps were:
The copper sheeting (fortunately) did not have a lacquer finish. So it just needed to be cleaned up. Gloves prevent skin oils from getting on the cleaned copper. The steps were:
Materials used with copper
Raw copper pieces
Finished copper pieces
The beginnings of the shingles with copper gutter
THE ROOF
The roof—the folded up part of the books on the left that Shannon designed—is very unique. The question was whether to leave it as it was, or cover it with something more roof-like. Never being one for leaving well enough alone, I considered printable shingles, copper, or laser cut shingles.
Other alternatives to be considered: The printed asphalt shingles are from Clever Models http://clevermodels.squarespace.com/textures/ and the Laser Cut shingles are from Paper Creek. All good options!
A copper standing seam roof
Red asphalt shingles
Laser cut rustic wooden shingles
Gray asphalt shingles
Nothing seemed exactly right for this project. The solution: a slate roof complemented by (verdigris) copper flashing and gutters.
First, the slate. The idea for how to make the slate roof came from seeing the results of a class at IGMA School in Castine the first year I attended as a student. The 2006 class was called “Au Petit” and was taught by the amazing Pat and Noel Thomas (http://www.thomasopenhouse.com/)–who have graciously consented to let me share their ideas with you. The students created the slate roof using a craft knife to lightly cut and then peel off layers of the strips of shingles. My roommate was in the class, and I came home (after an evening drinking) to find her slaving over her cutting mat making shingles into the wee hours. Her roof looked fabulous, though–so I gave it a try for this book box. Again, my lack of painting experience will come back to haunt me.
Decisions to be made: the size of the shingle, the type of watercolor paper, and the color. After lots of experimentation: the final choices: 140 pound cold pressed 100% cotton watercolor paper, 5/16″ W x 7/32″ H (overlap) shingle, and a mix of Delta Ceramcoat hippo gray and toffee brown. After painting a light wash on the shingle strips to make it easier to see what was going on, a sharp craft knife was used to cut and then peel off pieces of the water color paper to create the distinctive worn shingle edge. Once this VERY time consuming task was done, it was time to paint. Since painting is not my strong suit (have I said that before?), I applied a series of light washes and blotted them off before they were dry, to have more control over the color and the density. The final color is a bit more brown than would be ideal (perhaps because of the initial brown wash)–and certainly more brown than any slate roof I found a photo of on the internet. But too brown is probably better than a more realistic gray would be, given the colors of the book box.
If you try this technique, I would recommend pulling a bunch of pictures of slate roofs down off the internet, to help with color and the wear pattern.
Too small, too large, just right
Initial strip and beginning carving
Sample strip- after carving
Finished strips
The next step was to determine the type of landscaping. A rough cobblestone sidewalk and path would have been ideal, and in keeping with the “quaint” look of the book box. But clay and I are not really friends (barely acquaintances), so I always opt for real materials whenever I can. Nature is much better with the palette and the knife than I. In this case, a few hours with a mallet and some shale paving stones from the yard produced hundreds of tiny usable pieces. The question was then: How to create a level path, and how to adhere them to the base of the book box firmly.
Basically: the steps were:
It was a rather painstaking process, so you can view a more detailed tutorial here–or just see the finished product below!
To see tutorial, go here: Flagstone path
There isn’t a lot of choice in small books. So the books I gave Shannon to work with had a lot more color than she usually uses in her book boxes—particularly for one as small as this. A light coat of spray paint unified the exterior and made it a little more understated, so that it would enhance and not compete with the interior. A light coat of Golden Fine Pumice Gel was applied before spray painting, to give the surface some texture. A little bit of gold mica powder was applied afterwards, and some of the paint was scratched off to emphasize the book titles.
The next questions will be: What windows to use? How to finish the roof? And how to landscape?
As many folks know, Shannon Moore (www.shannonsminis.com) makes wonderful bookboxes. A brave woman, she agreed to make one for me in quarter inch scale. A quarter scale bookbox poses a lot of difficulties, because the spaces are so small and difficult to work in and light, wires are not easy to hide, books are less stable and difficult to keep together, and the list goes on.
Shannon did an amazing job. The lighting is perfect—all the corners are lit up but not glaring, and the lighting itself is cleverly hidden away in the ceiling. There’s lot of access for furnishing the very small interior, and lots of visibility through the door, windows, and opening. Shannon did many incredibly creative things with this project—including arranging the books to create a two part building (with the raised roof on one part), hinging and lighting the horizontal part so it swings open (providing additional access or view of the inside), putting the books on a platform to hold all the wires, arranging the books to create a niche for the fireplace, and the list goes on. Everything is incredibly neat, with straight and parallel edges, and clean cuts.
Best of all, Shannon left lots for me to do—not only furnishing the interior. but landscaping the exterior, adding exterior lighting, and final finishing. Oh yes–the plan is to make this into a minishop with all handmade items for the home. It will be called: “The Artisan’s Table.”
