Beacon BEAST Interior Design Tips

Beacon Hill Blood Bath part 1

First blood! So I fineally got myE-Z cutter. I was so excited. Cutting pieces as I went. Making pieces that fit way better then the ones in the kit. It is so sharp and smooth. WAY better then the x-acto knife. Then I knocked it off the table.

Clunk... hear it hit the floor, finished taping my railing on to glue straight and went to pick up my precious new cutters..... BLOOD? Where did that come from? Well.... the trail seemed to come from my leg. How odd... I didn't feel a thing! Super deep, lots of blood .....but it cut like butter! The edges of the wound where so sharp and straight!!!! This is a tool that no miniature should be with out!

So the cut was clean .... but deep. Luckily for my birtday my mom had given me a gift no miniaturist should be without... a first aid kit with lots of butterfly bandages. So I had to bleed all over while unwrapping the gift (2 days early). A few butterfly and presto... ready to go... if only I wasn't so woozy.

My mother said I did it just to get my present early ;)

2nd Week - Friends and slow progress

Friends.... we all need them. Meet the Big Island Hawaii's Miniature Club. We meet in my garage almost nightly for short 1 hour meetings. Overseeing our club is the black raven... don't quote me on that! Better yet quote the raven ... nevermore. Yep he's stuffed but he's our oversight committee. By the way he reports that things are going slowly.








In charge or our club loyalty is Riley. A "pugland" with means either 1/2 pug and 1/2 West Highland terrier or............. 1/2 flying monkey and 1/2 Ewok. He's never missed a meeting










Our newest member is Itty Bitty Violet Penelope Bones. Itty Bitty for short. She's in charge or MayHem and other curiosities. She just got spayed this weekend and hasn't fullfilled her weekly MaYhEm quota... watch out when she feels better.








The beginning of a very run down and antiqued tile ceiling.











Same tile ceiling ... different perspective... a bird's eye view hee hee hee

















1st floor staircase finally in. The picture does not do it justice. The colors show up WAY wrong. The Beacon BEAST may be the "Mystery Spot" for dollhouse pictures. Will try to get better pics later.









It's all about perspective and here's a different perspective of the first floor staircase.













Shellac/Alcohol Station #1
Shellac and alcohol are in the rolling cart and pieces hang to dry like a butcher shop ;) It's a gruesome dollhouse horror scene.

Beacon BEAST - Week 1

The beginning of the end... or was that the end of the beginning? Here she comes my current obsession... Beacon BEAST. I'm sure she'll come along her other names as her story grows but for now she's my Beast. A monstrosity of a project... a hell of a haunted house... an animal that can't be tamed.

The table is one of my 4.... yes 4, current work stations. This is only week one and she has taken over a two car garage.

STATION #1 - SHELLAC
I have a huge station for shellac and drying the pieces. I use a huge under the bed rolling cart so most pieces can be dunked right into the smelly mess. Then I hand the pieces from the garage door rails or smaller pieces from a ladder using caliper hooks, chain, and binder clips. I know most people skip the shellac step ... but I would NEVER. Here in Hawaii humidity is high 85-100% daily and termites are everywhere. So soaking in tinted shellac/denatured alcohol gives me a nearly impenetrable seal. In addition the soak also hardens the wood. I really like this feature... i throw around my pieces without worry and use a Dremel tool to sand away. Plus I like the uniform color ... makes it more finished and eases my naturally impatient personality some. Dreary grey for the Beacon Beast... she's not so cheerful.... more to come...