Feel free to download my PDF build file for tips!

Have fun!

Teri

If you love Harry Potter miniatures, you should give this one a try. It’s such fun and a great representation of Olivander’s Wand Shop! Feel free to download and print out my build PDF file for some tips!

Have FUN!

Teri

Welcome back! I’ve managed to find some time to get back to the Mill Pond Cottage. The ground floor inside has now been finished with numerous gears and other equipment. This is the working mechanical area of the structure. The upper floor will be the living quarters.

A light, that I tinted with alcohol ink, has been run behind the gears and up through the roof. The wires will be hidden later on. The mechanical parts were crafted from various wood scraps and household items. I always look at items before throwing them away with the thought that they might be used in a miniature one day. It’s a good practice to get into. You probably will notice a bendy straw or two in there as well.

Next, I’m going to exchange the roof parts from the kit with identical parts cut from the Cricut Corrugated Cardboard material. I want the roof to have a metal finish when complete. To give the roof more strength, I’ve glued the original roof pieces to the back of the cardboard.

Both sides of the roof pieces will be painted, then glued into place. I have used Folk Art Matte paint in the following order on both sides of all roofs: Medium Grey, then dry-brushed with Coffee Bean. and used a mix of Cardinal Red, Pure Orange, and a bit of Coffee Bean to create rust in various spots. A very light dry-brush of light grey was added on top. Here’s what the end results look like.

Below, you can see how I’ve added more rust using a Rust Texture from Green Stuff World. You only have to use a tiny bit, so the bottle will last a long time. I did, however, think it was too orange and came back over top of the entire roof with a dry-brush of pale grey, which toned it down.

Here is an additional piece of junk that I’ve made up to go on the second floor. It’s a good example of before and after. Also, a good example of how these bits can come in handy for steampunk building.

There is also a light inside the very top of the object.

At this point, I’m going to glue the house to the base. I’ll be working on the base, possibly going back and forth from the base to the inside furniture. For now, I need to take another break, but I will update this post as the build progresses!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a crafty day!

Teri

Not long ago you would have seen my Steampunk Clock Tower project using another kit from my favorite place: PetiteProperties. The Mill Pond kit is from the same company and will be a perfect addition to my Steampunk series! I’ll be using some new techniques and finishes so I hope you will find these of interest and give them a try for your next project.

Stone walls look so nice on these miniatures but can take a lot of time depending on how you execute them. Not being very patient, I’ve decided to try a new method using a mold for the walls. Think hot glue and silicone molds! This was a super easy and quick way to create the walls and I simply love the way they turned out.

• Mill Pond Cottage
• Mill Pond Cottage Base
• Green Stuff World Molds-Graveyard
• Hot Glue Clear
• Matte Mod Podge
• Glue Gun
• Acrylic Paint
• DuraClear Matte brush on sealer

The mold is a little pricy but when you consider that it is high quality, can be used with a variety of materials, and can be used over and over, it’s not bad. There is also the option to use the entire mold and build the graveyard shown on the package! To use the mold simply dust it lightly with flour then fill it with hot glue. Fill one mold at a time and quickly press a scrap of cardstock on top. Press the cardstock to help the glue fill the mold and leave it attached. The cardstock gives the molded glue a nice base for gluing to the wood structure.

Give the glue a few minutes to dry then gently remove it from the mold. Dust it off to remove any flour from the top. Tint a bit of matte mod podge with dark brown, grey, or black, based on your overall color scheme, and coat the piece on the front and sides. Set aside to dry. Repeat to make enough wall pieces to cover your project. Once all pieces are dry you can attach the pieces to your walls and paint as you like for your project. Here’s a close-up of my finished walls.

Up close you can see where the glue didn’t get all the way into the mold. For me, this was just an added bonus and makes the wall look even more realistic. So don’t be worried if it happens to you as well! For the corners, you can either miter cut them so the sides but up against each other or just line them up and add some extra blobs of hot glue as I’ve done. If you have to use multiple glue walls, put them together as close as possible. You can fill in the gaps with either more hot glue or regular glue as needed. Just do so sparingly!

You can also see where I’ve added the door frame and painted it. The door will be glued in place once the inside walls are finished.

Now it’s time to work on the inside walls. I’ll be using a grit paste and paint mixture on all of the walls.

• Ranger Grit Paste Opaque
• Folk Art acrylic paint

Mix a bit of acrylic paint and a bit of water together to get your desired color. The consistency should be like icing. Apply the mixture with a palette knife and let dry completely. I’ll add a light wash over this to age it when dry.

For the flooring, I’ve created a stencil with an SVG file from Etsy, and cut it on the Cricut Maker. Grit paste was used with the stencil and left till it was dry. Dry brush the stones with various colors, let dry then use a black wash over top and leave to dry. You can also see the wash used on the walls in the photo on the left.

Lastly, the floor was installed, the door and frames were installed and the entire piece is coated with one layer of the brush on matte sealer. The door handles were created with a jump ring and brad.

Next, I’ll be working on the upper floor.

Glue the second-floor main pieces together. Use the other two pieces shown in the pic to mark where they will be attached. This way you won’t add texture or flooring in these areas.

Don’t forget to mark off any window frames as well.

Here you can see the walls and a ceiling textured with the same Grit-Paste that I used earlier. Notice that I’ve left some areas untextured so the remaining pieces can be glued into place.

NOTE: If you are adding lights, you will want to drill holes as needed at this time. For this build, because of the theme, I’m going to mount lights and let the wires show.

Here’s a look at the flooring and other walls finished. The flooring was created by scoring lines on some Cricut kraft board. Paint the flooring with several colors as you like then seal them with a single coat of brush on matte sealer. You can also sand the floors a bit if you prefer a rougher look to them.

At this point, I needed to stop and figure out what trim pieces go with all of the other parts. There are still two additional sections to be added to the main structure and these will be finished using the same techniques and materials that I have used previously. So these two sections need to be built and finished before they are attached to the house.

Here is a look at the two additional sections. Both now have textured walls and wood flooring installed. These will be added to the main structure after the outside areas have been completed.

The outside was covered with the same grit paste that was tinted with a bit of golden brown and grey. I’ve painted the outside trim with various colors from brown to grey then attached it to the outside walls. Finally, I’ve attached the section that protrudes from the end wall. Below you can see what the two floors look like just sitting on the base.

If you are also working on this project and wish to put furniture on the inside, I suggest that you do not attach the bottom section to the top until you have finished decorating the inside.

I’m now at the point where I will start adding the steampunk elements to the inside and outside of the structure. Unfortunately, we have just purchased a house so building minis will have to be put on hold for a couple of months!!! I know …… but life happens doesn’t it. I promise to get back to the project as quickly as possible so just hang tight till then. In the meantime, if you want some ideas for steampunk minis, take a look at my Steampunk Clock Tower build or the Steampunk Clock.

Happy building . . .

Teri

Scrolling through my favorite miniature kit site, Petite Properties, I ran across The Watchtower and just knew it would make a great clock tower. This was a project I had been thinking about for a while but it would be several years later before I purchased the kit and started on a very fun and unknown adventure.

With any 1:48 scale kit, you have a small working area for rooms, so it’s best to start with a single floor, complete it, then move on to the next floor. Generally, I will sort of pre-build a structure to get an idea of where parts go and then mark where floors align with other walls. Below, you can see how I’ve connected the floor and two sides and added the texture for the walls. Once that has been done, I can work on the lowest room.

I’m using a new set of lights on this build so that they can be worked into sconces and are easier to hide. These are Chip Nano 3 volt DC LED’s from Evan Designs. Sconces were created with a metal bead and small plastic tubes. It’s always best to add the lights as you go from floor to floor.

The wall texture was created using Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste. This was the first time I’ve used this, and I absolutely love it! It’s very easy to apply with a palette knife, has just the right amount of texture, dries pretty quickly, and is easy to paint. A tad more expensive than other products, but worth the extra cost.

Sometimes, when you have no clear vision of what you want to create or how to create it, the best thing to do is to simply dive in and start playing with what you have. I think the more we create and immerse ourselves in a project, the more creative we are, and ideas seem to float into our heads. So that’s exactly what I did. I began with the inside floors of the main base section and just started gluing bits and pieces together.

Basically, I knew that a lot of machine-looking things would be needed, so using Gorilla Super Glue I just started gluing random items together to create these. I’ll be making many of these machines, as well as control panels for all three rooms. On the right, you can see how I’ve made a little chair with an earring back, cardstock, and a small gear. The clear grids are made from plastic needlepoint canvas.

After making up a few things and needing a break from super glue (grin), I decided to start a base for the project using the cardboard, tin foil, and masking tape method mentioned in a few earlier projects. As with most projects, the base did increase a LOT along the way!

Before adding any built items to the rooms, the floor must first be added. I find using a thin chipboard/cardboard works well without adding too much thickness, which can cause issues with doors and such along the way. In the right image, you can see a finished floor.

I painted the entire floor with watered-down brown acrylic paint and then dry-brushed the floor with a medium grey and finally an off-white paint. Sometimes a little light sanding can help to weather the flooring, then finish it off with a clear matte brush or spray sealer.

Last but not least, don’t forget the ceiling for each room, as that needs to be done before you move upward to the next floor! Each ceiling in this build is a bit different. The first two have the grit paste texture added; the final ceiling was simply painted. The first-floor ceiling has gears and a pipe from a metal wire attached to it.

And here’s a look at the completed first floor . . .

From here on out, I worked in the same way till all three rooms in the main tower were completed. The final room is located in the house section that sits on top of the tower. You can see below that it has been completed as well.

Next, it was time to work on the windows and extra parts that extend beyond the walls in some areas. These were painted with a base coat of medium grey, then stipple-painted with off-white to create a stone look.

Testing the structures on the base was the point where I decided the main tower needed a way to get water from what will eventually be added to the base, into the tower rooms. I’ve used the kit shown below to create the addition that will eventually be glued to the side of the tower.

This pretty much concludes the fiddly parts of the build. I’m almost at the point where it’s time to paint, where I’ll add a “part 2” post. So keep watch for that post coming soon!

Till then, here’s a little look at how I’ve decided to arrange everything and how much the bottom base has increased!

Update: Jan 19 . . .

Unfortunately, I managed to delete all the pics and post for part 2!!! Here’s a recap and some pictures of the finished project. So sorry about that! Please feel free to use the comment section below should you have questions about any part of this build.

Details . . .

Base: Earlier, you saw the base built with cardboard, aluminum foil, and masking tape. Here, it has been covered with a layer of paper towel dipped in glue and acrylic paint mix. Once that was dry, I used a dry-brush method to paint the entire base.

The bricks were created with foam, glued in place, and painted in a dry-brush technique.

Steps and stones were created from torn egg carton pieces and painted.

Various tiny rocks, sand, and vines were added once the base was dry.

The clock section was created with a breadcrumbs container, a wooden clock kit, cardboard, metal gear bits, and a clock image found online. The clock is not a working clock, but you could easily make it one using something like this one I used on my steampunk clock project.

You will notice that I’ve used metal bits, cardboard, mesh tape, plastic tube, paper, plastic straws, and flat-back gems all over the entire project to create various textures and industrial elements. It’s so much fun to create something with all these little bits we miniaturists tend to collect.

Lastly, here’s another look at the base where I’ve used ground scatter, rocks, and more vines. There is also a bit of black plastic fencing added to the bottom right side near some additional brick wall sections.

If you ever go out walking, take time to look at the ground and keep an eye out for bits of rock and sticks. These are always great to have in your stash for future projects.

Once again, I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to show more detail on the remaining part of the build. That said, what is here should give you a good idea of its creation and some how-to techniques. In the future, I plan to start uploading some quick videos showing these techniques, so keep watch on my YouTube channel for these!

Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

Have a crafty day, and thanks for stopping by!

Teri

Yule Tide Christmas Shop is part of Petite Properties ‘Enchanted Cottages’ range of 1:48th scale dolls house kits. I had such a fun time creating this little house, and it certainly put me in the holiday mood. Hopefully, you will order one soon and give it a try!

I’m trying something new on posts . . . there is a Recipe card at the end of the post with “How” “Materials” & “Tools” list with links! Leave a comment and let me know if you like this and if I should keep using them!!

Christmas Vibes . . .

Each kit within this range comes with a set of full colour, step-by-step instructions that teach how to construct the property.  You can then bring the property to life as you choose

Includes:

• Precision laser-cut house carcass
• Pre-printed coloured windows
• Pre-cut door
• Pre-cut external detailing
• Pre-cut roof (excluding tiling)
• Pre-cut acetate backing

The house itself is open at the rear. It has 2 internal rooms.

Approx constructed dimensions

• Height = 14.7 cm
• Width = 11.2 cm
• Depth =  8.5  cm

Recipe for building

thank you!

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Teri Hanson is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products at Amazon.com

*This service is provided at no additional cost to you, but I do earn a small commission when you make purchases using my Amazon links. These commissions help me to purchase supplies and continue to offer new content for you.

I very much appreciate your support!

Happy mini holidays . . .

Teri