The Apothecary Just Needs a Bit More Tweaking.......

No photographs of my new dolls I am afraid as the light has been awful here this afternoon. Instead here is the Apothecary with most of the hard work done.

 The front of the shop has all been assembled, glued, grouted and  art mached.

 All the wood work has had layers of cream, gold and brown acrylic paint. They have been crackled and sanded for a distressed worn look. I do love these bay windows.

 The shop door is made from MDF which is not the easiest of materials to paint and sand but I am quite pleased with the finish. Usual story with these Sid Cooke kits, there is so little room for manoeuvre, any paint added to the door surround and door means the door simply will not fit. I can't understand why they make them to fit so tight. So quite a bit of post paint, cross sanding went on here!

 I have given this shop a 'lead' roof as the design seemed to call for it. I have bashed it around a bit and I will age it a bit more and then hope for it to tarnish naturally.

 I wanted the windows to look aged so I laid the acetate on the cushioned pad I use for my flowers making and with a fine ball stylus punched in some old glass blemishes. It almost looks like the bulls eyes you see on really old windows. 

I have also painted the acetate with a khaki porcelain/ceramic paint which also adds a slightly dusty and aged effect.

 The interior shelving are two really cheap pieces I bought on Ebay and they are the perfect size for what I wanted in the main shop. Quite tall shelves and a deeper shelf at the bottom.

 I will be using LED lights within the shelving to ghost through all the potion jars that will eventually line the shelves. The middle will have a very special opening door that will be surrounded by hanging herbs and barrels.

 This counter has also been painted and will need a bit more sanding before restoring the 'glass' and drawers. I think this piece is ideal as a counter as you can add so many things to it, all of which can be seen either through the counter top or front.

Unfortunately I cannot remember where I bought it!

 A close up of the paint work. This effect has come through a mix of sanding and crackle glaze over many days and layers

 It just needs a tiny bit more work and then I will add some Rub'n'Buff in gold to a few of the edges.

The inside roof wall has been bricked and grouted too. I was initially going to ridge tile the edges but when I had a little play with a few I had they just did not look right, a bit clumpy, so I went with ArtMache rendering instead.

I have nearly achieved my goal of finishing two carcasses by Christmas. I will now start ageing the ArtMache and pavement paviors a layer at a time. I can't do the bottom bricks because I am waiting for some more to arrive to finish off the right hand side wall. It doesn't matter how many I order I never seem to have enough.

I tried to get some at KDF but they had sold out of the type I wanted. I hope they arrive this week because once the cast comes off on Friday, I will have to lay down tools and begin the great Christmas rush before my children come home from Uni and my family arrive to eat me out of house and home!!!

Plus I really will have to dust those skirting boards!   

Bricks Galore! Mr Mulpepper's Apothecary......

I decided that this Diagon Alley shop would be half and half. The top half exterior is cladded in Art Mache and waiting to be aged.

The bottom/ground floor is to be all brick. I had used Richard Stacey's brickslips on the exterior of The Leaky Cauldron so decided to stick with these to provide the link between the shops.

I like this product as they are reasonably light, which means the finished shop will not way a ton, plus they are very easy to cut, sand and glue.  

 I started with the side of the shop as I wanted to get into a rhythm before attempting the front which needed a bit of a think. I always apply the brickslips from the bottom up as I use the edge as my guide. A good layering of glue and you can slide the 'slips into place very easily. I pair of tweezers or a long darning needle are useful for this. 

I don't paint the carcass as I always grout after washing with a 50/50 mix of PVA and water. This washing is very important if you intend to grout.  

 I have learnt that a it is also best to use a very thin PVA glue, I use Elmer's Glue All, as the tiles/'slips will slide into place much more easily.

This not a quick job but I think the results are worth it. I even got a bit artistic and added a little pattern! Quite daring for a Boring Betty like me!

 I had to have a think about the front because of the window and door. I decided to add all the 'slips beneath the bottom window ledge first because I thought grouting these might be a bit too fiddly once the whole bay window was glued in place.

I have also decided to add all the wooden mouldings after gluing and grouting as I did not fancy trying to cut really small pieces of brick around the door way columns.

So now lots of grouting to do but nearly half finished, whoo hoo!!

By the by, anyone know of a UK stockist of Elmer's Glue All who do not want to charge 4 times its US price tag? 

Have a great weekend wherever you may be.