House Remodel -- small scale

Just so you know . . . I made a new blog and moved all of my posts from LemonFloss to StillwaterStrings.blogspot.com       Updates on this project (and new projects) may be found there!


The dollhouse.

I have always been fascinated by miniatures.  This Summer (2018) I learned about polymer clay for making miniatures (if you love tiny things, check out Sugar Charm Shop on Instagram and YouTube).

On our way back from a hike at Memorial Falls, we stopped at a wonderful antique and junk shop.  In his extra shed, the owner had a dollhouse kit.  The DuraCraft FH 505 Farmhouse.  He had built most of it to the point of gluing in the walls and floors.  He also said his wife had purchased it for him so he would have something to do after retirement.

All the pieces were still with the kit; however, he had purchased plastic windows in lieu of building the wooden windows which came with the kit.  I popped out the windows and then removed the floors and walls.  The inside had to be gutted and new pieces glued in for the floor bracing.  Plus, I didn't like losing two rooms to the stairs, right in the middle of the house.  I wanted a larger kitchen, and I wanted the stairs off to the side.

I read somewhere that people who get into miniature dollhouses, are actually living out their wish lists for their own homes.  I suspect this may be true!

The gutted house, ready for the floor braces to be glued in.

Some of his shingling!  

The "new" set-up.

In the photo above, I have everything ready to be re-glued.  I filled in the original stairwell holes and made new holes in the floors and moved the stairs to the side of the house.  I also changed the shape of the stairs by adding a turn and landing instead of leaving them straight.  I moved the bottom left wall over so that the kitchen could be a bit larger.  I moved the wall over to the left on the second floor above the kitchen to make it more of a hallway, and allow the center to become a bedroom or something else (I am thinking of adding a false wall there).

The stairs will both be removable to make wiring or changing wallpapers easier.  I have been making "stones" for the chimney (pictured in front of the house) out of drink cup holder trays and egg cartons.  I was using my jack plane for a straight edge to hold the walls in place as the glue set.

The house has since been relocated from our garage to our basement so that hubby and I can continue working on it as the weather turns cold.  I have glued all walls and floors in place and painted the inside with primer in preparation for wiring for lights.  I'm almost finished modge-podging the "stones" around the base of the house.  I need to finish the shingles next.  Then flooring and wall color or paper or texture . . .

Linen and Flax

Why not try growing and processing flax for linen?
This Summer (2018) I planted, nurtured, harvested, dried, rippled, water rhetted, and dried (again) line flax.  I am now breaking and scutching, and combing (hackling) in preparation for spinning and weaving linen.  I'm not surprised society has moved on from making linen this way.

As for myself, I seem to enjoy finicky projects and processing flax to linen fits into the more-finicky side of those projects.  I researched vlogs and blogs and a few books, and found a few videos online.  Trying this on my own, though, I decided to just go for it and if it flopped I really wouldn't be out anything.  I spent a few dollars to buy a pound of seed from a heritage seed project.  My hubby tilled a patch in our garden, and we scattered the seed and covered it.  I did a bit of weeding initially.  Then we simply enjoyed watching it grow and bloom.

Broadcasting seed

Flax is the grassy-looking patch in foreground of photo
and to the left of the garden plot.  The flax patch to the left near the trees
 did not do as well as the patch in full sun.

The blooms open in the morning and close by the afternoon, daily.

The bolls (seed pods) rattle in the wind.  I left the plants in the ground until the pods began to change from green to a golden brown.  I read conflicting information about the ideal time to harvest: one source said wait until two thirds of the stalk turned yellow, another source said wait until one third was yellow, another said to watch the bolls.











I pulled them up, bound them in bundles and stacked them in the garage to dry.

This is where I really began to deviate.  I waited until the seed pods had all turned brown--it took about three weeks.  I made an honest attempt to ripple the seeds (collect the seeds) in the way presented as traditional, using anything resembling a comb or pitchfork to draw the stalks through and knock off the seed pods.  This only sent seed pods flying everywhere and tore off the ends of the flax plants.

I decided the process didn't much resemble "rippling".  What I did instead was take a small bundle at a time and arrange the bundle so that the seed ends rested inside an open garbage bag.  Then, wearing gloves and leg protection, I rolled the stalks up and down my shins working up toward the tips of the plants rolling those in just my hands.  It worked perfectly!   And it looked more like grass "rippling" in the wind.  The seed pods/ bolls came of easily into the bag, and my plant stalks weren't damaged in the process (plus any leaves or dirt clods still on the stalks also came off).

Altogether, after sorting the seed from the chaff, my collected seed weighed in at four pounds!

Next came the water rhetting-- causing the plants to rot to the point of releasing the bast fibers from the stalky pith.  My father-in-law brought an old garden tub (used to make a fish pond, I think) to our house.  I plugged up the holes and put enough water in it to submerge two batches of flax.  I had it in full-sun and covered with a plastic painting tarp.  I have no idea what the temperature was.  Both batches began to bubble within 24 hours and the first batch finished in about four days, the second took a bit longer because the weather cooled a bit.  Again, I had no idea what I was doing or looking for.  The information I read gave, again, conflicting experiences/ opinions.  I simply checked it daily by picking up a few pieces and rubbing the root-end with my thumb to see if the green skin came away from the inner stalk.  Then took it out to lay in the sun to dry.

I don't have a flax break, so I have been breaking it by hand a little at a time.  This will work for now, since there isn't an overwhelming amount this year; however, if I plant all four pounds of seed next year . . .

Breaking it by hand is a little like pinching the edge on a pie crust.

Then I take a little at a time and scutch it--that is, I knock the pith/ stalk out of it.  Again, I don't have a scutching board or sword.  Perhaps it is the wrong thing to do, but I found a butter knife worked well against my thigh.  Using the non-cutting edge of the butter knife, held against my thigh, I hold the broken flax in one hand lying on my thigh (wearing tough jeans), lay the knife over it and then pull the flax up until all the pith is out.

I had the good fortune of finding two flower frogs (antique metal pin things for flower arrangements) with very fine teeth/pins, which work perfectly for combing the flax.  Then I twist the fibers into stricks.  I was surprised to find the fibers measuring about 30 inches long after combing.  I also am saving the tow (the fibers which come out as I comb).

As I scutched the flax, it did curl (like the ribbon on a gift when curled with scissors) counter-clockwise, and then straightened when I combed it.  I had read that it should be spun counter-clockwise.  Can't wait to try spinning!

Finding Balance in the Swing of Things

After how many years?  The bray harp finally has brays.  My tools finally have a toolbox.  I am processing and spinning wool.  I grew line flax this year and am surprised to claim success through the whole process of retting (water rotting), breaking and scutching (knocking the pith/ stalk out of the bast fibers), hackling/ combing the fibers into silky ponytails ready for spinning, and also collecting the seeds--one pound yielded four pounds . . . it's no wonder peasants starved and froze, or that linens became heirloom objects . . . I'll just do a separate post about the linen flax.

In addition to fiber processing I seem to find no end of interesting projects to distract me from dishes and laundry and the medical routine of our kids.  The first half of the woodworking bench top is complete.  I will need to return to the lumber store for more wood as some of my pieces went missing in the course of other projects (hubby and I built a fence around the yard).

We were given apples so I canned 13 pints of apple butter.  I also made dandelion jelly first thing in the Spring.  I finally found a recipe and tried almond croissants.  I confess that I'm so out of shape, I was sore the next day from working the dough . . . but they were worth it!

I am crossing an item off my bucket list:  a dollhouse.  I never played with dolls but have always been fascinated by miniatures and longed to experience the process of making a dollhouse.  We found a "Dura-Craft FH 505 Farmhouse" this Summer.  The elderly gentleman I bought it from said his wife bought it for him when he retired because "she thought he needed something to do."  It was mostly built, but needed to be gutted so it could be wired--expect a separate post about this project.

I have another project I will post about as soon as things are finalized; but, at the risk of being mysterious, I can't post yet.

My most recent project is tied to my fiber art.  I have discovered the rabbit hole of the Circular Sock Machine (CSM).  If your husband is kind enough to buy you wool, and you want more wool, you need to find a way to use said wool.  To be fair, I have made (am still making) an honest attempt at knitting with needles--double point, two-at-a-time, magic loop--a pair of socks.  They may never be finished, or by the time they are my daughter's granddaughter will have to wear them.  Oh, the CSM!  Someday, I hope I will own one, shiny and new from Earlbacher Gearheart.  In the meantime, of course, I am trying to build my own to see if it's possible to make a functioning machine with inexpensive materials I can manipulate with the tools I have on-hand.  Expect this to become a separate post, also.  If anyone actually reads my blog, and has a CSM hanging about the house/basement/ attic/ barn/ shed and you want it to go to a loving home where it will be used, please send it to me!

Our little ones have their own projects going.  Ashlynn is three years old now and loves to paint.  Andrew is almost two and his thing is music.  He has discovered the harmonica, and last night after my failed attempt at playing it he said, simply, "nope," and ran off with it honking out notes as he went.