Fairy Folk Cottages

Lit up at night, photos do not show how sparkly and pretty the cottage looks at night.

I painted a splodge on the tree for 'indoor' wall colour, secured the little red 'internal' door on the splodge. Set a framed photo of a puppy beside this and then when dry - fixed the whole bay window plus solar lighting, stained glass windows and green drapes to the tree. Tomorrow I have to fill the gap on the right hand side making sure the interior of the fill is the same as the splodge and the exterior gap fill will be made to look like tree. Now to wait for sun down and see if the little light turns on.

I've fitted front facing 'windows' made of clear plastic from a Coke Cola bottle, into the bay window and then decorated them with permanant markers to look like stained glass window. Then I have repurposed a garden solar light to make a light that will sit behind the stained glass windows and will turn on at dusk daily. Finally I made a little red door to secure to the tree bark before I fit the bay window over top. I am now quickly sewing drapes and then it is all to be attached to our poor cabbage tree above the purple front door.

I spent today making a bay window. This one is going to get a solar light installed.

I LOVE Silicon Sealant. The waterproof glue property is so useful. It sticks anything to anything and when dry can be painted over. I put more stairs in down to the swing bridge and glued it all in with a tonne of silicon. It looks messy at the moment but will all be painted over tree colour. I placed the slats in and they are okay. I did go and look at other bridge designs and decided not to over complicate it. The more I add the heavier it will be and I think light weight is better. It has to be the illusion of a swing bridge.

Not the usual conversation.
Him: "What are you making again?
Her: "A fairy house."
Him: "Really, so what part are you working on now?"
Her: "The landing platform for the swing bridge!"
Him: "🤔🤨🧐"

MAKING wooden slats for the swing bridge. Instead of going for the obvious popsicle sticks for wooden slats, I decided to experiment with gum tree bark again. The curved nature of the bark made excellent 'terracotta roof tiles', painted and varnished look very quaint as roofing. Seeking flatter pieces of bark I cut 'planks', lightly sanded and varnished. Then placed them on the suspension wire and I think I am quite pleased with this. I have a LOT of slats or planks to make and figure a way to secure them to the wire.

Working on the swing bridge.

More plans for 2023. Now that we have a Fairy Cottage, we need a garden around it. Watch this space for planting updates.

YAY! VERY EXCITING. The roof and chimney were added today. Touch ups to come once the silicon sealant is dry.

https://youtube.com/shorts/H_ThN6lFTbY?feature=share

Fairy folk cottages I’m building a fairy cottage in my garden

Painting the 'terracotta' tiles for the other roof side, making progress. These will be varnished and re-baked before securing on the stump.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MINIATURISTS & FAIRY FOLK 2023.

CHIMNEY.
I have made a Chimney out of a small metal plumbing fitting which I chose so it can be securely nailed or screwed into the stump rather than perching precariously glued on with silicon sealant. To the fitting I fashioned the shape I wanted out of heavy wire and then built the 'chimney' out of polymer clay. This was baked, then painted black and then given a sheen of silver metallic paint. Finally it has to be varnished for waterproofing. I also cut a hole out of the second roof side to give access to the stump for attaching to the stump. Today I shall start on the slow process of making 'clay' tiles out of gum tree bark again.

As we close out 2022 I am tackling the roof. This morning I put in place one half of the roof for the Fairy Cottage. It is 'glued' in place with silicon sealant. I had painted the open face of the wood to increase the waterproof nature of the stump previously, realistically the stump will be ruined by water over time, and with it the whole cottage. But I can slow this down a little. I also nailed the roof in a few places along the top to help hold it in place.

One roof side done, now to start on the other side. I am brainstorming how to do the chimney. What sort of look to do, and then how to create this.