IN OVER MY HEAD! & my mis-adventures with drainage

Last November my computer was failing to function.
Until I was able to get it repaired, I was at loose ends and so I decided to work on my doll's house again.  I still need to finish the 3rd side of the house, but that is the side with the chimney and the chimney would have to sit on the roof, so I decided to tackle the roof first.  This turned out to be a new adventure for me as I tried out a brand new technique.  I also had a go then at making "gullies",gutters and downspouts.  All of which involved measuring and cutting, none of which is very accurate either.
Ah, me... I tried.    

Initially, I had wanted to try out Janine and Bruces' slate tile tutorial, at MINWORKS but frankly, I am very lazy and so I decided to look for an even easier way, although their way IS really easy and their results are Awesome. But I am not very good with a knife or any other tools for that matter.   People think that I exaggerate, but I am serious.  I try, I really do, but I just can't cut a straight line.  I'm even lousy with scissors for that matter, but I have got to use something!!!

So here is what I ended up using for my slate roof tiles
craft foam sheets
more forgiving than matt board or wood, and a lot easier too, not to mention, a lot less weight.

I bought these sheets at Michael's craft store and they were $2 each.  I used 3 sheets for my roof.  One sheet did each side of the roof.  I bought black and grey sheets but since they have been painted you would never know what color they were originally.
I chose black initially because the edges of the tiles, once cut, would be dark, therefore less work. 

I used two shades of grey paint on the black foam sheets ;
Zinc and Slate Grey

The above photo shows the black foam sheet, then the grey foam sheet and on top, the color of the black once the paints were applied.

I brushed the color on and left it streaky so that it would have some depth and texture.  

I also painted the back side of the foam sheet with Mod Podge to seal it.  When the foam was dry, I made an effort to draw pencil lines of the width of the tiles I wanted and then cut them with a pair of scissors.  Then I chopped the lengths into tiles, eyeballing the measurements.  As stated before, I am not good at cutting so the tiles were hit or miss, as some were too long and others were not long enough.  Ah, me.....
Oh, WHATEVER!!!

I used my stick to measure off the lines on the roof

Then I began to glue on the tiles cutting the angles into the pitch as I went along.  I used Aileen's Super Tacky glue and the tiles stuck without shifting.  It took me 2 1/2 hours to get them on for both sides.  The results are as seen below

Hey,
Not too shabby! :D
But
 back to business,
 and onto
the "gullies"!
( sorry, I don't know what the correct term for them is)
In retrospect, I think I should have probably installed these first before I did the roof shingles, however I didn't think about it until afterwards.
I needed some cheap and easily cut metal to make them with, and lots of it because knowing me, I would mess it up and have to redo them.  My solution was some thin baking sheets from the
$1 store, which had a long run of smooth metal that I could cut and fit to the crease of the roof.  

I took the longest strip I could from the side portions of the cookie sheet, and ironed the strip with the butt end of my craft knife.

The  I folded the piece in half and cut it with my scissors to narrow the strip down, then I opened the fold and cut it to the right length for the roof, sliding the top end under the top of the roof shingles. 

I used DAZZLE TAC JEWELRY GLUE, to
adhere the metal to the foam.
 It's stinky, but it worked a treat.  

Whoooa,...WAY toooo shiny!

I painted it, then aged it to allow it to be unnoticeable.  

That's better!

This will give you a better look.
And now for the gutters....
These were a headache.
 It took me an entire day to make a pair for both sides of the house and after I did, I HATED THEM!
I ripped them off in despair.
I had to start all over again and ended up with these.  Okay!.. I   admit that they leave a lot to be desired, but by this time, I was past the point of caring.  
They will have to do.
I made them out of wood channel moulding that I already had on hand. They have a curved bottom so they give the appearance of being deeper than they are.  I glued some card onto either end of the gutters and painted them out with black acrylic paint and  I used some of the metal from the baking sheets to make the connectors.  

After they were firmly glued on, I saw that the gutter on the right, was sloping in towards the house. ><
Ah, me..... 
(sigh)
MOVING ON
Last but not least, the downspouts.
I tried several different shapes and in the end opted for the round ones because I saw some on an English how to examples at
 JSM Miniatures
that had the look I wanted.
I painted a wooden dowel with black acrylic paint.
Then I cut the length that I needed for the pipe.

 using a pencil sharpener, I made a point on one end.

I bought some Bendy Straws from the $1 store, and cut a section to fit over the point of the wooden dowel.
The top of the straw was shaped to the underside of the gutter.

I painted them with black acrylic paint.
I also fitted some more of the folded metal from the baking sheets over the joints and glued it in place with QUICK GRIP.

I made a flange to extend from either side of the metal connector. 

 I painted everything black and when dry I gave it a light spray of
Krylon satin finish spray sealer. 

I attached the downspout to the underside of the gutter with more
QUICK GRIP and glued the flanges at the top and the bottom of the pipes, to the stone wall.
When they were dry, I added some rust with Brown Iron Oxide acrylic paint. 

And that was that!

This was not that much fun,
but I got it done anyway.
however I want to leave you with a smile on my face, so let me show you what Fatima made for Janine and I for Christmas....

A garlic braid!
LOVIN' IT!!!
:D
thanks Fats!
Here's to a Happy 2015 to Everyone
and
God Bless you all!

elizabeth