Up is the Phoenix from the Ashes

I can not believe it, but I have redone the left side mural-my husband thinks it is better than the original (I just love him so much). I made compensation for the top and bottom molding-which i did not do in the first mural. Now all I have to do is put the gold leaf on, make the cardboard backing and put the sucker on the dividing wall. I am so happy-I feel the world is off my shoulder. I must stop a moment and say a kind word about Natasha Richardson-a great loss. I think about her all the time and realize, when it is your time, it is your time.
Thanks for looking,
Kate

Tragic Events

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men, etc. I, for some reason, stopped thinking and used the wrong adhesive. That lack of thought helped me destroy the mural that took me 18 hours to paint. I am repainting the mural-unhappily. It is like going to the dentist every day. I am sure I am not the only one who has screwed up like this-my condolences. The dark area is where the adhesive seeped through. This is all I can say.

LET THE ELECTRICITY BEGIN

The pictures are backwards-so we will talk about RIGHT to LEFT.

In the house shell, I roto zipped (badly) two holes to run the electric tape through. I have all the center hall stairwell controlled by one switch. I put the wall switch in and the thing worked-I could not believe it (see middle left, beside door way in left photo). I also put a plug in the bottom electric tape to plug in a lamp-it works also. It will be clearer when I get the mural up on this partition. I wanted to finish the other side of the partition, but I decided against it. The wall paper is white and I was afraid it would get dirty if I worked on it too. I got the bottom row of tape upside down. I will have to correct that in other runs. Tomorrow I am glueing the partition in place, then the next day the two big dollhouse doors and the roof door, next the bump out-then I will set it up right and hopefully finish the inside first floor. It has been a year getting to this point-planning, designing, and getting ideas. I can not tell you how often I have changed something. Once it has been exicuted, that will be it-I do not ever change any thing once it has been done.

Well, see you tomorrow.

Kate

Finished the Stair Wall Mural Wall

Well, after 18 hours the mural is finished.
There is one problem-the gold oxydated
and turned aqua in places. I am going to wait till the morning to see how bad it is. If it does not get any worse, I think I will keep it. It is an interesting finish. I just wonder if I can duplicate it. To the left of the tree branch is where the door will be. There is a diaginal line going up the middle-it is where the stairs are going to be. On the right, there is a big open space-that is where a side board and mirror is going to be. On the far left, I am going to put small Chinese letters-I have to find them first.
Now, I am going to start wiring the Big house and start putting it together. It has been a year and I am ready to start. My living room is full of boxes full of furniture for the house. It will be great to get it electrified and ready to finish.
Kate
www.katescats.com

Time To Begin

Well, the new year has begun and it is back to the Big House. I have decided to paint a mural on material to put on the walls in the living room-oriental. I want to try using the Cir-kit on/off switch. I am going to do a practice run to see if I can get it to work. The flooring for the living room buckled in places-that does not make me very happy. I will have to fix it before I put it down. Everything has a catch and has to be fixed. I hope to paint the first wall this weekend and I will post it when it is finished.
Kate>^..^<

What a Find

As posted before, I am working on a BIG miniature dollhouse. What with the holidays coming, I have not been able to work on it. Also, I could not make some decisions about decorating the first room. It is a slow and thoughtful process-you want to do right the first time. Well, my son is coming from Ohio and my husband and I went into the guest bedroom to start cleaning off the bed so my son will have a place to sleep. What to my surprise, I found a box of Bespaq bedroom furniture. Well, I jumped right on that. I had planned to put some other furniture in a bedroom, but when I found this I changed my mind. I think the design is called bird and mountain and I LOVE it. I am so excited to be able to use it. The other furniture that I decided not to use is oriental and beatiful and I am going to make an elaborate room box That will be a sister box to the Black Room.

Merry Christmas to all,

Kate >^..^<

Molding Porcelain

Well, I am so excited. I have been making molds. I just made two of the same molds for a tea set. This weekend I am going to make another tea set mold for a tiny tiny set. Today I poured porcelain tiles-when they are dry I am going to glaze them-which will eliminate one step and I can get them finished faster.

As for the BIG house-I laid out the placement of the downstairs wall. I am going to paint an oriental scene on faux yellow-gold silk and put it on all the walls in the downstairs living room. I am going to put a gathered faux yellow-gold silk ceiling. I am going to buy a cheap ceiling light and glue long clear crystals on it to put in the middle of the ceiling material. I don't want a light fixture that hangs down and blocks the view of the room. The next thing to do is stain the floor and install it in the living room. I need to put the two hinged fronts and the hinged roof on. That will take alot of time and my next three weeks are booked-boo hoo. So I guess I will just be painting the fabric walls.

It is so hard for me to go to sleep at night because I am thinking of everything-and now I am following throught and doing those things. I feel really great about myself.

We bought two 3' x 5' windows to put in the front of our house-that is what one week is devoted too. It will take one week to put one window in because we are taking out a door. Maybe God will shine on us and we will be able to get both windows done. Let me tell you-those windows are heavy. I will have some muscles when this is over.

Well, it is off to bed. I will let everyone know when I post my new porcelain stuff to my web site (www.katescats.com) and to Ebay.

Kate