My French Shop Project, Part Four

Mom and I did get the chance to go to the dollhouse shop over last weekend. Unfortunately, they were all sold out of the iron railing I  needed. Luckily, the shop assistant remembered that they'd recently used the same railings on a customer's dollhouse. She scrounged around in the scrap bin, and managed to find quite a few good-sized lengths of railing for me. After patching the pieces together, I had more than enough for my shop.

I only used the top half of the fencing for the shop roof. I first sprayed the railings with flat black paint, to prime them. Then, I used the special iron  paint, which comes with a rusting solution to create a realistic iron finish. Unfortunately, I think the paint is getting old, since I couldn't get much rust to form. After reapplying the solution several times with little effect, I finally resorted to my watercolor pencils.

 

The iron fencing to the side of the door still needs to be painted. This was one of the trickiest parts of the whole project. Since the shop is front-opening, I needed to make the railing removable. I forgot to take a photo of it, but the fence is held in place with straight pins inserted into holes in the base.

I also managed to find a piece of plastic large enough to cover the window.  The "lead" munions are made of thin strips of plastic, which I painted black, then drybrushed with silver paint. Now that the window is in place, I'll probably adjust the shelf spacing.

I glued one of the pigeons over the door. Normally, I prefer to use sticky wax rather than glue to hold this type of thing in place, but I didn't want to chance it falling off.  

 

 

I'm still adding leaves to the rose bush. It's starting to look nice and full, but it still has a way to go.  Since adding the fencing to the roof, I'm rethinking my plans to cover it with climbing roses. I was worried that the plain iron would be too stark, but seeing it together I don't think it needs the vines. I'd still love to add some rose vines eventually, but I'm in no hurry.

 

 

 

 

The shop is getting close to being finished, but I'm really milking the finishing details.  The big elements are pretty much all in place, but I still have lots of ideas for little details, from buttercups to butterflies.

You can see the shop's progress in parts one, two, and three.