Saturday 19 February 2011

The Leaky Cauldron....Roof and Attic

I have been working on the main roof of The Leaky Cauldron this week. I chose conker roof tiles from Richard Stacey which I thought would be a good choice for the Tudor feeling of the building. They are much brighter than I expected but after washing them and adding moss etc I hope they will not stand out quite so much. I do like the textured effect of them, looking well worn.
 They were very easy to cut and shape, using my razor saw or simply sanding with an emery board. I usually use PVA for this sort of job, the brand that comes in a brown bottle, but for some reason I have a huge bottle of Elmers Glue-All, so I used this instead.
This was not a good choice. It was much too thin and the tiles tended to slip around a bit so you had to keep an eye on them and push them back into place every so often.
 I also thought about letting the odd tile slip for effect and even tried to curve the tiles in order to make the roof more interesting but decided this would have to wait until I am brave enough to try making my own paperclay tiles.
 This one edge will need some ridge tiles which I forgot to order so I will wash the roof with shades of grey to tone the whole thing down and by that time the ridge tiles should arrive.
My Diagon Alley project has a corner shop at each end and they will be decorated in the same style externally.
The main look I will be hoping to achieve will be like many old high streets in England. Very old shops which are inter-mixed with other more recent styles, or replaced completely in places. So my high street will have a mix of Tudor, Victorian and Georgian influences. I am thinking that all the upper levels will maintain their Tudor heritage while the shop fronts will have been 'modernised' at some stage.
That's the plan anyway!
 The washes have been added to the tissue attic and I am really pleased with resulting look. The tissue, despite being soaked in PVA/water mix, soaked up the wash which was fine as my dirty brushes water, thank you Sabs for that fabulous tip, was a little too dark. I have now added two washes one dark brown based, from painting wood, and one dark grey based, from washing the roof tiles. 
Extra wash in the corners and along the edges where dust and dirt build up more. 
These photographs make it look quite clean still but it actually looks much more grungy and dingy.
The little loft hatch in place for anyone wanting to brave the dust and the mice! 
You can probably see there are small white areas, these are where the tissue base was not applied thickly enough and when I added the washes the tissue broke up a little bit.
Tip for next time - build up the tissue base all over...
But I have left the little patches as the floor and walls will eventually be hidden by junk and other dust effects. No need to be too picky when there is so much still to be added.
Pouring with rain here and so grey. Definitely a good day to be playing with my toys!

9 comments:

  1. Janice your Leaky Cauldron is coming on a treat. If you wanted to tone the tiles down try dry brushing them with Acrylic paint..

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  2. Debbie, sounds a very good idea but errr.......what is dry brushing!

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  3. Busy busy! Looking great, if it were me id be inclined to dirty up the roof tiles too, they are quite new and I think dry brushing them will give the right effect to match the paint effects of the interior style. Its lousy here too and Ive been working on my alice room, but cant get on the PC where the photos are to post, as the children have hijacked it!!! Kate

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  4. Hi Kate, so nice to hear you have managed to get some mini me time at last! At least the children are occupied and busy without you. Rainy days are good for freeing up a bit of unexpected time, my son's football match was called off and my tennis match so I had an unexpected free day. Lovely!

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  5. Goodness on your roof already! I used Richard S's grey one's for my witch's house. Yes, mine slipped about too even with PVA, wood glue is much stronger and dries in a short time too.You know me I'd have to age the tiles, as they look too new.

    The attic look most effective and a great idea to use the space in this way!

    The loo roll will still go thin and move in places even with a good layer Janice,so I just replaced and plugged mine when this happened. :o))

    I haven't decided on what type of tiles I'm having on my roof's yet. I'd like bow roofs, but I will have to see if this affects the fitting of the roof's themselves. I'm deciding between paperclay tiles and wooden ones, like the ones I used on Hogwarts greenhouse. I've not advanced on Slugs since you last saw it!!

    The weather here has been mostly wet and grey all week...Grrrr!

    Michelle xxx

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  6. I love your attic Janice! I am going to do this in my Vulture's Roost attic bed rooms. Thank you for sharing this! Your roof looks great, I agree with debbie and Kate it needs some grunge :) I an enjoying a day indoors too as it is snowing and cold here.

    Victoria ♥

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  7. paste all the tiles, my mother, how much effort! I remember when I pasted them on the roof of my house .... they never end! :))
    I like the effect of dirt and mildew, which I believe will be a good job!
    Good Sunday!
    Caterina

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  8. The tissue attic has worked a treat! nice job Janice x

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  9. Janice dry brushing is when you put some paint on your brush then take most of it off on a piece of paper. Till there is hadly any paint on the brush, you then brush over where you want a little colour and it will leave a small amount of paint where you want it.

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