Glencroft - Day 4 through 6

I've been working sporadically on Glencroft while I was sick this last week, mostly because everything I need to finish off the Chantilly is still in a box, somewhere, probably wrapped in paper and dust.

I have the second floor installed and glued.  I put white cardstock up in the living room rather than try to plaster, and I was very sure I didn't want stucco on all the walls.  I then undertook the paperclay fireplace.

First off, Paperclay is vastly superior to the DAS modelling clay I used in the Chantilly.  It has virtually no odour, isn't sticky, and takes longer to dry so it is far easier to work with.  Also it goes through the pasta machine much slicker which is again because it isn't sticky.

I rolled out numerous strips of paper clay and glued them to the bare plywood, then with a moist paper towel I smoothed the pieces together and built up some texture.  Next the stones were shaped by pressing the lines in and pulling the clay towards the centre of the stone to add depth.

After the clay dried I added black watercolours to the cracks in the stone and blocked in stone colours with the left over paint on my watercolour palette.  A few dirty washes of grey with a bit of yellow or red and the tones were evened out quite nicely.

The wiring was a touch trickier than I thought, i dug out a channel for the right wall sconce with my dremel and built the clay up over top.  the left sconce and the candles on the second floor have individual holes for the wires to run through, at this point I know the power strip is either going in the chimney or in the foundation,either way the wires are traveling through the chimney to get to their destination.

When I built the baseboard in the living room I left them high enough to accomodate hardwood flooring, they will also accommodate the roundwire should I decide to add table or floor lamps.  The dining room / kitchen will have ceiling fixtures.The hardest part of the wiring so far has been the planning by a long shot.  It's hard to know where you will want lighting when all you have built is a portion of a large box!