(Almost) finished!!

Over the last couple days, I re-read (for the umpteenth time) The Far Pavilion by M. M. Kaye. One of my favourite books! Then Joanne and I went to Reel Monday where we saw Belle which sort of tied in. All of which gave me a good excuse to let me delay working on the beach level!

But all your support (for which I thank you) encouraged me to finally finish the beach area.

In order to stand the clock case upright, I set the back on two books and a sheet of wood so it would stand upright as there are two feet on the front of the case.

I mixed sand with glue and spread it on the 'beach' shelf:

Then I added the driftwood to the back of the shelf along with the seagull and the basket of netting. - then seashells in the forefront.

I say "almost finished" because my dear friend, Cheryl in Nova Scotia, read my last blog and has mailed me some very small pieces of sea glass that I'll add later. So now I don't have to bury my big pieces of sea glass to make them more to scale.

So here is the final piece!

And here it is with the clock front in place. (Hope you can ignore the chair back that's in the picture.)

I'm very pleased with how it all turned out.

Figuring out the beach...

This seagull had no wire to place him so I took a the tack from a push pin (heated it with a lighter and pulled it out) and put it in the hole in the body of the seagull then pushed it in an angle in the side wall of the scene and secured it with glue.

Still in the thinking stages:

A pile of driftwood with the basket of net in place on the right hand side. That's pretty much what I have decided on. (The piece of wood in the back of the picture is just to measure the width of what I'm working with.)

The piece of sea glass is something I really want to show because it's something Grahame has discussed with Shirley but we're talking HUGE  so I think I need to have just a tiny corner of it showing through the sand to make it mini.

I have this bag of sand and the incredible bag of tiny shells.

My plan is to mix the sand with glue and cover the floor of the top section with it, then add some seashells on the left hand side, add the seaglass (semi-submerged) then add all the driftwood.

The concern is that the glue might warp the foamcore.

If I can figure this out, it will be finished!

Getting there....

Glued the flags in place.

I drilled a hole in the upper shelf to hang the lantern. When I found the telescope in the Serendipity Shop, I also found a batch of life jackets so took two for this. (I'll try to do a tutorial on them soon.) Think I'll glue the ships wheel above the life jackets. The crab was a gift at Camp Mini Ha Ha years ago and was made by Elizabeth Read of Ontario. It's so perfect that I want to highlight it.

This is still the question mark part of the scene.

Bit more accomplished (or at least figured out)

Although Grahame was originally a Kiwi, I think in the upper right hand corner, I'll put a Canadian flag and a New Zealand flag. The ones I printed out are 1" x 2" and I think I'll have to make them a bit smaller. New Zealand is in the process of choosing a new flag but this is the one he grew up under so I'll go with it.

Here you can see the addition of the third shelf with the basket of netting, the telescope and a brass lantern.

Still puzzling how to do the bottom of this section. I've already put some sand-coloured paper in there and I have some fine railroad sand that Grahame gave me when he took down his miniature railroad. Think maybe some sand with seashells, maybe the sea glass, on the left and a pile of driftwood with a seagull on the right.

Might put the basket of netting on the driftwood and put some of the larger seashells on the shelf, along with the crab - and maybe the ship's wheel.

Have several seagulls that I'm still pondering.

HINT: The molding that I used for the shelves was RL molding and the wood was hard! I tried cutting it with my X-Acto box and saw but that just didn't work. So I got out my jig saw. I propped up the angle with a Lego piece so I had an even surface to cut. I started my cut on the small side of the molding and put a piece of painter's tape along the long side so the wood wouldn't splinter as the blade went through.

Paint Nite

Well this just confirmed that painting is not my forte! But it was a fun evening and we helped raise a good chunk of money for the Friends of the Library.

Think I may try doing it in  miniature.

I knew I had a telescope in  miniature for Grahame's vignette. Finally found it in my Serendipity Shop so tomorrow I think I'll add another shelf and fill it.

odds and ends

These tubes were from a set of shelves that I got from the sale at Mom's place a couple years ago. I had used the shelves for awhile then put them in the Put and Take. These 'legs' were left over.

I have a WHOLE LOT of odds and ends of pieces of strip wood...think I need to transfer most into the individual pieces.

I can (hopefully) sort the strip wood into the tubes.

 One of these days....

The piece on the left was one that was in my "nautical" box...but it's not! It will fit perfectly in Joanne's bag lady back alley piece that she is re-doing.

On the right is the shopping bag that Tina gave all the older (in terms of membership) members tonight. The Toy Factory was a shop just off Whyte Avenue that was a miniature shop that most of us remembered.

Oh, my, love this! For several years now, Barb Striethorst has made a birthday gift for each MEE member. This is a ladyslipper in 1:12 scale. Both Barb R. and I received it for our March birthdays.

We all have UFOs (unfinished objects) and PhDs (Projects Half Done). But the new word for the days is:

SABLE (Stuff Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy).

another busy week

Mini club tonight, a Paint Night tomorrow and condo potluck dinner on Thursday.

The Paint Nite should be interesting. It's a fundraiser for Friends of the Library. Joanne and I are going. I expect my effort will either end up in the garbage or hidden under the bed. LOL!