Mrs Puddifoot's Tea Shop...painting and ageing.

I've started on painting the bricks for the teashop! I was going to leave them and start on the distressing of the woodwork, but for some unknown reason it didn't happen in that order! ;o) I've used the same colour blue as I used on Flourish & Blotts book shop.

I've added photo's showing with the flash on and without, the colour and look is more what you see in real life (without the flash), however, with the flash you can see more! ;o)        

I rarely use paint straight from the pot, I normally remove some and add a little water to loosen it. 

This shop is destined to be part of my Diagon Alley so it has to be aged! So after I painted the blue on and it dried completely, I lightly sanded some areas of the brickwork to distress it. I then started to add the dirt and general ageing. I normally have a dish or bowl of the main colours, black, brown, olive green and grey. The brown and black and a touch of grey is the main wash, I have another pot of plain water and another with a light dirty wash and I switch between them all to achieve the desired look I want.  

Having a kitchen-roll is handy as are wet-wipes! 

All the areas completed! The pristine paintwork sticks out like a sore thumb at this point..but it's just the order I did things! :oP 

I also added the clay to all the pertinent areas, including the fiddly bit on the edge!  I have painted it blue too. Today I did the otherside.  

Today, I started on distressing the paintwork. I used 3 or 4 different grades of sandpaper to first rub down all the wood pieces and areas. I didn't use crackle glaze like I did with Flourish & Blotts, because although I wanted an aged and distressed look I didn't want it to look that distressed. :o)  

This side is more distressed overall, but I'm not sure it's finished just yet. I have used some green for damp, but nothing really noticeable. I will take another look at this is when I resume work on it.  

 Parts of the brick work and painted areas need attention I think. ;o)

 It's getting there! ;o)

 Slowly, but surely! lol :o)

  This lower brickwork has had some damp patches added, but very subtle!

 The upper rows of bricks I really hate and want to rip them off and start again! Grrrr! 

The bricks get wider as the row goes along, which is really, really weird because I have felt along the edge and the clay is flush (I checked it as I was making them), so it has to be the wood that's not quite straight?! I have options! Well firstly as I hated them soooo much I divided them again, but now they don't match the upper row on the other side! So, I can either make them narrower where they get wider or remove them and start again?! Hmmmm!   

 Here it is as I left it today! 

I also sculpted my chimney bricks on, and although I did this on Friday they still aren't dry which is why they aren't painted yet! I may have two different chimney pots on the stack and different sizes too...not decided as yet!

You can tell when the clay is dry, it feels neutral, neither cold or damp...and it shouldn't have any excess weight and this still has all those things! 

Do you remember last time I said the door looked wonky? Well it is! It wasn't attached straight! 

The actual fitting is really clumsy and not realistic at all. If it wasn't a vintage kit I may be tempted to replace the door altogether. However, it isn't as big as ones you buy now so it would throw the whole door panel out of sync.  So, I will remove the door and either put it back on straight, or remove the door and make the opening wider so the door fits flat and within the gap. If I don't make the opening wider, I may opt to add wood all the way around the door frame to make it look like architrave, but I'm not sure about that one!

I hope you don’t mind my ramblings and madness! :o))

Michelle xxxx