I am finishing the Chateau tonight. The base is next. I finally thought of a cool thing to do with the base to fit this particular house which is more formal than most of my houses.
I've got to glue the chimneys on after I am sure the turrets are fully adhered. I'm really happy about the witch weather vane. It's not perfect, but it twirls and is well anchored. I put a tape roll behind her because she is not balanced and she'll turn so that the heavy broom side is down and you wouldn't be able to see her very well. It's not a problem when I stand the house up though.
I made some design flaws that affected attaching the turrets. I did not make sure that the roof/wall intersection was flat so the turrets poke out a little bit at the roofline. And there is a bit of a gap at the top part of the turret. It's not terrible, but noticeable to me. I don't know if it would bother other people.
To make the door I glued 3 layers of cardboard together, painted it black and cut out the center door. I used some of the offcuts of the cornerstones to make the stone-framed doorway. I cut a door out from one layer of cardboard and made it a little smaller to fit inside the 3 layers of cardboard that make up the doorway. That way the door is recessed. I glued a piece of black cardstock to the back of the door frame and glued the door in this space. I like the dimensional quality of it. I should have done the upper window the same way, but I didn't think of it when I made the window.
Thank you for reading. Talk to you later.
Lucy
Sandra LaPlant
Hi Lucy,
I was wondering if you could share how you made your witch weather vane. I'm looking to make this for my Haunted house.
Thanks,
Sandra
Lucy
Sandra. I didn't take pictures for that step because I wasn't sure it would work when I first made it.
I wrote a little bit about it when I made the owl weathervane for Ebonywood Mansion. So basically I glued several layers of the cut out to the top of an eye pin (used in jewelry making). Then thread a small bead at the bottom - that allows the weathervane to pivot. Insert it in a hole on the roof piece. For Ebonywood, I just left it at that, but now I recommend taking 2 needle nose pliers to bend the bottom edge of the eye pin so the weathervane won't pull out. Use 1 set of pliers to hold the top side of the weathervane - the owl or the witch- and one to bend the wire under the roof so it can't pull out.
Laney
The door looks great! I was wondering about the turret roofs, but it looks good - can't see any issues. I'm intrigued about your idea for the base . . .