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Monday, March 23, 2015

Turfing!!!

Good day to everyone!!! I hope you are well and if you aren't then do look after yourself!!

This year went off with a bang!! and I have only just now managed to come up for some air!! Been a stinking hot summer to boot. I got cracking with some turfing! When I actually stopped and looked, you know really looked I realized I am just about done with Laurels. She's been sitting there in my work room for so long now and always always needing something done or that not done yet that I hadn't noticed that there really wasn't much else to do. Roof capping (oh isn't that fighting back with a vengeance!!) and the turfing. So once I found all my green stuff  I got into it. That took way more time than I would've liked. Joys of moving house and unpacking in a caffeine crazed frenzy. There's an hour of my life I'll never get back but I did eventually find it. Yes in the container marked garden stuff......... Moving on, I then had to sit and remember what I had planned and how I was going to do it......... So by the afternoon I was finally getting into it bah!! Rome wasn't built in a day they say well neither is miniature turfing. Not when I'm doing it anyways.

I paper clayed a stone area first and steps. I just glued scrap bulsa wood pieces together for the step till I got the right height. Covered that with the clay and added a brick insert. While that dried I moved onto turfing the back and sides.


I started with my chimney first. I would like to say it was my awesome skill at painting that got the lovely stone effect which isn't really picked up that well in the photos but take my word for it. But it's not. I used a cheaper paper clay DO NOT DO THAT EVER YOU WILL REGRET IT and when it cracked more than nuts on Christmas Day I used spak filla to fill the gaps. Well the two absorbed the dirty wash in two entirely different ways and left a great look. So huge fail paid off after all!! I then mossed it. I have my own mix of turf. I use Woodland Scenics as follows. Fine turf in Earth and Green Grass. Coarse Turf in Medium Green and Light Green. I also use bits of Bushes in Dark Green sometimes on its own for a bit of variety. I toss the first four I mentioned into a take away container and give it a good shake. The fine stuff will drift to the bottom but that is handy for when you are doing just moss in cracks etc. I have a fine glue applicator bottle. I use it to run thin lines in the cracks and bumps and then just push the moss mix into it. Let it dry before I gently brush it with a really soft brush. I lay a piece of paper underneath to catch the excess. 


I then moved onto painting my paper clay. A couple of coats of dirty wash. Equal dollops of black and raw umber in a jar with a cup of water. Extra painting along the edges where it would be dirtier. Painted the bricks. Lines of moss in the cracks and grooves.


I wanted to try some of these new meadow grasses products that are on the market. After doing some researching my head started to hurt with so much to choose from. I looked on Ebay and only one high quality one came up and I went with that. Summer Meadow from Model Scene. I didn't take any close up pics of it and I will remedy that. Turf sheets are like the paper clay incident. You get what you pay for. I bought a cheaper one as well to compare and it would look ok on mini golf course but not what I was after. I cut it up into pieces and glued it into corners etc as it would in real life. Then I filled the gaps with my turf mix. I laid tape around the timber frame first so that I wouldn't get glue onto it. I use a lot of glue and push the mix in. If glue comes through then I add more. I left it for an hour and then gently brushed of the excess. Any gaps I filled.





The standard rose is a kit I purchased from TheMiniatureGarden. It was soo easy! I had been putting it off like a complete chicken for months thinking it was going to be hard but it wasn't. The effect is so lovely. I have a climbing one to do next.






But the Old Laurels is coming along nicely. It shall be finished this year!! Wooty!! 
Roof capping next. Grrrr.


See you all next time!!!!! Don't behave too much!!
Carriexxxxx

16 comments:

  1. Hello Carrie,
    How nice to see a new post. I do hope you are all settled in now and enjoying your new home. I am completely in awe of the wonderful detail in your yard. It looks so realistic and beautiful...great job on the roses also. The old Laurels is truly a mini masterpiece.
    big hug,
    Giac

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    1. Giac!! Hello!! Always such lovely words to say, they are a blessing. Truly thank you. I haven't been by your blog in some time. Something I will remedy while I am having some of time off. Your work is proof that the word 'impossible' is just that, a word. Thank you and be well, Carriexx

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  2. At some points I thought you were showing your 1:1 garden. You weren't were you? lol Hope your new home is filled with joy. Your little house is coming along splendidly!

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    1. Ha thank you!! Greatest complete you could give a miniaturist ever!! Only wish my RL yard was so easy to tend to!! All is coming along very well. Thank you and be well!! Carriexx

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  3. It's looking fantastic Carrie. And it's amazing what can be acheived with a little paint, even if you look at it initially thinking it's a lost cause.

    We didn't have much of a summer down south, so we're really dreading the onset of winter. It's already so dark in the mornings.

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    1. Hi Shannon!! I grew in Tasmania and I remember very well how early it would get dark. It doesn't happen up here though. We didn't have much of a winter last year and too much summer this year! Funny country! Yes to mistakes or boo boos that work for and not against. Although I do like the challenge a mistake can present but not when it becomes the norm!! Thank you and be well. Hoping for a brief winter for you, Carrie

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  4. Aaagh, tis gorgeous! My eyes want to see the Laurels for real. Yep, summer Downunder stinks, even more so at your latitude, I can't wait for jeans weather. Looking forward to seeing you soon good buddy. Heheh, we met Jackie briefly the other day, Dennis was not amused ;)

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    1. Hey Sue!! Yes I shall be down your way shortly!! Ah for cooler weather and I would've mind if it rained either!! I've been told that Jackie has quite made herself at home. I think she is being spoiled which might have something to do with it. But the Laurels is about mostly just some tweaking to do finished!!! Yay happy dance!! Still working out details on getting it down there but your eyes will indeed be able to see it. Lots of fiddly pieces that will drive mum nuts putting away hahaha! See you soon!!! CAxx

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  5. Dear Carrie,
    Darn, you make it all look so easy. Very encouraging actually. I have been resisting making my climbing roses even though the Miniteers had a rose-making day to urge me on,,,, sometimes I can be very stubborn.
    Temperatures should be dropping for you soon. I think your winter temperatures are similiar to our summer ones here near Vancouver BC .... wonderful.
    So happy to see you working on your house once again.
    regards Janine

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    1. Hi Janine!! Thank you!! I hope I have left enough advice to help anyone out should they need it. I don't always think of everything so if there is something else please ask. The weather is cooling off but oh so very little. Still hot during the day. Yes our winter is very similar to others summer!! It's quite crazy sometimes when I think people I know in the southern states here in Oz are freezing and I'm swimming! Winter here is significantly better than summer. Thank you and be well!! Carriexx

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  6. Te ha quedado muy realista,me gusta mucho!!!!
    Besos.

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    1. Hello!! Thank you for your kind words and compliments!! Be well! Carriexx

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  7. I LOVE your turfing Carrie! The grass was the part that I have struggled with the most, so I am grateful to see the fine results of yours; I'm taking notes! :))
    The orchid colored exterior trims around the windows and your front door, look Marvelous with the red rose shrub, and the stone path and the finish on the chimney are both aged to perfection! Good tip about the cracks that can result with a cheap paper clay, but oh my goodness, your repair work looks Simply Sensational! You have certainly inspired me to get back to work on my cottage, Carrie and I Thank you for sharing yours.
    I LOVE your "Old Laurels"! :D

    elizabeth

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    1. Hi Elizabeth!! Lovely to see you!! I haven't been past your blog for some time. I have missed it. Anything else you would like to know you know you can ask. My brain is for the picking. I wasn't sure how that colour would work but I know I wanted something to lift the dark timber. It worked out well and the camera picks it up beautifully. Some ginger bread trim and other finial like treatments to go. I have some more flower kits to make, clematis, amaryllis and a pink climbing rose. It does feel soooo good to come to an end of a project. A deep sense of satisfaction with the excitement of starting a new one. Well for me it will be finishing one of three I've already started!! Ha!!! I am having a couple weeks break so when I'm done flying and traveling I will sit down with a cuppa and a bikkie and finally get to your blog. Thank you and be well!!! Carriexx

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  9. I love the turfing, this is so well done!

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