Friday, December 13, 2013

Chapter 74 - The Shōji to the Second Floor Landing, The Dressing Table

 December 12th - 13th 2013

I have been so busy lately between hosting my usual Thanksgiving here in Italy and then decorating my house for Christmas I didn’t really have time to do any dollhouse building.  The next chapter was supposed to be the fire pit but since it requires a little ingenuity (something I’ve been using too much of lately!) I figured I’d take a break and skip that chapter and take on this one which is relatively simple.

Basically I had already put together a dressing table in a previous chapter and I really wanted to get the back shōji window in so that I could at least place the second floor rooms on top of the house and away from my work table.  So.. that was the plan.

The rear shōji window was pretty easy.  It just needed painting and glueing around the frame then attaching the paper to the back.  The sliding supports were also easy to install.  I did not install the overhang since that would have to be put on once the side panels are applied to the back (and I still need to hide wiring under those wooden panels) so I just put it aside inn my container of pieces to be applied later.  So the sliding back window went together super quickly.
The supports in and back side of the shōji window.

The shōji from inside the 2nd floor landing (next to the bathroom)
The dressing table was also a little easier this time.  Since I knew pretty much where the problem areas were from the last one, I was able to anticipate problems in the fitting.  The cutting to size and double checking the fitting of the drawers was a must to save time.  Once the pieces were glued together, I just needed to paint and varnish them and leave to dry (at least this time a little less drying time as I bought some quicker drying varnish for small work - not flooring). 

Lots of tiny pieces to be cut and sanded.
Ready for assembly
Then I attached the mirror.  Now last time, I really didn’t look into the mirror covering thing deeply so this time I decided to check it out.  My first hunch was correct.  Most mirrors are covered if they are found in a bedroom.  I guess there are some superstitions about spirits coming out at nite or some kind of feng shui thing that says mirrors in bedrooms should be covered.  I found only one small picture of a covered mirror and it has kimono fabric instead of just regular cotton.  So, since I had a few kimono patterned pieces left over, I decided to use that to cover my mirror.
I think the kimono covering makes the difference.  Quite nice!
Finished dressing table with kimono covering.

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