Light My Fire!

I am currently hard at work on the Bedroom of 'the Arthur' dollhouse and if you are thinking "What about the Kitchen?", well I am working on that IN MY MIND, right now.  I am seriously avoiding having to work on that staircase in the kitchen which has to be done first, before anything else in that room is started.   For Whatever Reason, work on the stairs is scaring the pants off me!  I decided to refocus on something Not so intimidating; a distraction until I can work up the nerve to do the stairs.  So I decided to work on not only the second floor bedroom, but also the bathroom too.  I have been pleasantly surprised that they are both now, very 'Close to Completion', and will be ready to show very soon.  As a little teaser, I am going to show only part of the bedroom because it is the one with the new Victorian  Fireplace that I made.  After searching the net for a number of different images, I decided to use a composite of a couple, and made up my own design as I went along.  The picture below is the main source of my INSPIRATION.  I needed something very narrow and quite tall for the space.  So starting from the photo below,  here is what I did......

Fireplace Inspiration

This is one of the mini hole punches that you can get at the dollar store and  other craft outlets

I am going to use the blister packaging

I wanted to make a shallow hood for the opening of the firebox and the shape of the casing was the right width.  If you chose to do this step, cut your mat board to fit the hood.  I had cut the board first, and then had to re-cut the front of the fireplace to the size of the hood insert.

I sketched a line of where I wanted to cut and used a pair of scissors to cut on the line

This is the shape that I wanted and it fit inside the body of the fireplace 

I didn't show the photo, but THIS ENTIRE SECTION OF ACETATE WAS GLUED UP INTO THE  CURVED TOP OF THE FIREPLACE OPENING.  It is a very Shallow Hood that is very discreet and with a Low Profile.  It can just be seen in some of the photos further below.

I also am using some old zip ties that had a good amount of length and some texture on  one side of it

I built the fireplace from mat board and balsa wood.  I used some scrap wood trim on the top of the box on three sides and now I am testing out the zip ties before I glue them on too.
Right after I applied the zip ties, I installed the plastic hood inside the rounded top.  ( I forgot to take a photo of it and I apologize)  I used the Fast Grab Tacky glue to secure everything except for the zip ties, for that I used the Quick Grip!

I was at my favorite thrift store and they were selling these mismatched paris of earrings which I bought after a little negotiation, for a better deal.  I wanted them for the inside of the  fireplace. 

In this photo you can see how I wanted to use the gold embossed earring and also the zip tie as part of the fender.  Everything then began to gel and I went BALLISTIC and added embellishments of every
 kind.  I used Wood, Plastic, Metal, Acrylic, Beads, Findings, Mesh, Headpins, Spacers, Toothpicks, Filigree, Ball chain, Flat chain, and Mat board.  Anything that had carving or texture was what I was looking for.    I used several photos as reference and made the fireplace as gaudy and ornate as I possibly could.

This is what it ended up as
It is very busy looking, isn't it?

Side View
You can just see the rounded hood in profile

I did a test fit in the bedroom

FITS!

Then, acting on Sans advise, I spray painted this piece with a flat white enamel and left to dry.  It received 2 more coats of flat white and this is what it looked like when it was all dry.

What a difference!

Next was to paint the interior of the firebox with a black acrylic paint called "Wrought Iron"

Following that, I painted the outside of the fireplace in "Sky Blue"

The "Sky Blue" was toned down with a wash of a thin transparent black and a thin transparent brown to age it and make the look more old painted metal.

While the paint was drying, went to work on the hearth.  I used the Spackle that you see below, to butter the surface of the mat board and applied a not too thick layer of it on the surface with a pallet knife.  IMMEDIATELY,  I over-laid an thin coat of the Sand Gel Texture Medium that is very grainy. I scooped it out with the pallet knife and buttered it right over top of the Spackle and then left it to dry.   It just 'floats' over the Spackle when it is applied, but it dries really hard!  Right after I had applied the products, I realized that I hadn't sealed the card first so it would warp.  To counter-act that , I lightly wet the backside of the mat board with water.  Apparently, this 'confuses' the card so that it stretches in Both directions and therefore stays flat!?
anyway,
it worked

I LOVE THIS STUFF!

I painted it with the Black acrylic paint after it was dry
I think that this looks just like a stone slab! 

Then I used a tiny bit of the Sky Blue to soften the black and tie the hearth  in with the fireplace

The finished hearth

The finished fireplace!

I had to see if I still liked it in the bedroom.....

YES I  DO!

I hope You do, too!

elizabeth