Simulating stained glass....

 27th March - 3rd May 2022

After finishing up the grouting of the tiles, I began to tackle the windows. I read in the instructions that the inside windows would be installed last (the roof is all windows so that needed to be installed first) but since I was planning to add some stained glass panes to the windows, I decided to find some images to print out.

I found quite a few Googling under “window film”. There are many companies that produce these films that can be applied to your own windows to make them appear as if they have been painted or whatever. One company - Art Scape - had beautiful images. So I copied a few (yes, will tag them here)and made a trial printout on a page of acetate. Honestly, it came out better than I’d imaged! 

Trial inkjet print

But since acetate on an inkjet printer can be difficult, I decided to wait a day at least to be sure the ink was dry before trying to apply the acetate sheet onto the window. The building instructions indicated that although both sides of the window panes are protected by a sort of film, only one side is actually acrylic. I was very confused by this. But I had to trust their instruction and waited till the acetate film was dry to make a test run on inserting it between the acrylic pane and the wooden frame. Just like real stained glass, the printout has layers of color on it so I had to make sure the external image is the one giving a full color experience to the viewer. Which is opposite of what you usually find in a stain glass pane.  It should look its best from inside the structure - where the viewer gets the full benefit of sunlight filling the pane and reflecting it through to the inside. But since I plan on lighting the inside, I want the windows to look great from the outside as it'll be the first thing the viewer will see. So, a few days later I checked out the acetate sheet and sure enough the ink wasn't dry. That meant I had to spray it with the clear varnish spray I had used for the water decals. Course, it left large drops here and there. Not too stressed over it since I sort of like the look of pebble glass window. I placed the lemons at the top of the panes and glued them into place (kinda messy, I admit). I like the look honestly! Very subtle.

Cutting down to size with the Cricutter

Positioned....

...and glued in. Looks ok.

But I thought it could look better. So decided to give the decal option a go.

Total waste of time. I printed the stained glass images on the decal paper, sprayed the fixing spray with drying time over two days and cut the images to size. 

They are quite bigger than the plate decals obviously but since they were no problem getting them to slide off the backing paper I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal on these either. My idea was to slide them on to the sheet of acetate and then cut them to size for the windows. But they just wouldn’t slide after soaking. Even the smaller images of the lemons for the top were a throw away.

Soaking the page...

...failing to slide it off onto the acetate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I gave up with the decal idea and went directly to having the images printed on the acetate sheet but using a color laser jet printer. I went to the local copy center and had them print them off for me. Two sheets €6.00 but the result looked promising. 

Professionally printed on acetate.

I used new cutter to shave off millimeters at a time from the images so they would fit into the window areas. I ran into problems getting the window panes to fit in but that was more from my previous gluing attempt which forced me to do some clean up before I could actually install the windows. Best glue to use here was UHU rapid glue. Which worked great! Using a toothpick and a tiny drop in the corners was enough. I like them but they do look more like a curtain/film than actual stained glass.  I think I’ll just leave these for now and see if they grow on me before doing more. I do want to install the lemon tree window pane though.

Positioning the acetate film.

Outside view.

Inside view.

You can see the brick “wall” I am creating in these pics but more on that in my next posting.

And here’s another article on the Bizzarria story. I actually saw a “cedro” at our local flower show about two weeks ago - and I was tempted to buy the plant. It wasn’t a bizzaria but it was a very ugly lemon! I’d just end up killing the plant anyway.

Completing the panel tiles

16th March - 22nd March 2022

I started making some trials on the foam to see how I could finish up the external areas not covered by the larger center tiles. I used the paper folding tool and made tile indents then tried some gesso on it - and some gloss varnish on top. The gesso made no difference so I applied layers of gloss on the areas that I have “carved” out of the foam. I had to do that before actually glueing in the tile image. The foam tends to absorb the varnish so I had to carefully layer it till I got what could pass for a tile that’s been in place for a while. I had thought about using the embossing sand on the foam but since it would probably melt under the heat gun I rejected that idea. I think they look fairly realistic tho.

Shaped fake tiles - using varnish for shine.

Positioning the larger image.

Finished image application

I then applied the other square tiles in their spaces and used my paper tool to emboss indentations to simulate the tiles’ junctures there too. I was careful not to press too hard otherwise the paper might rip (which it did a little on one tile). 

Simulating grout indents between the tiles.

I didn’t really like one of the larger tile designs but I had printed out a very large one that could be cut down to size. But, I had to emboss that one image and size it to the space. Of course being such a large design it took me a few passes with the embossing powder and heat gun to get it covered and even then I missed a spot. I mounted it onto the base and pressed in the grooves between the tiles and touched up the missed spots with my varnish. I think it looks ok. 

Covering the image withe embossing powder.

After heat gun application

Cut to size and positioned.

While doing that, I figured there had to be a way to make the tile indentations look grouted. So I ordered off Amazon some white ink ball point pens. Only after reading lots of reviews did I decide on the Uni-ball point instead of a gel pen or brush pens. I didn't care if I had to pass over the tiles more than once - I just wanted to simulate grout. These pens worked perfectly! The only down side is obviously you can see where the tiles were not spot on straight in some of their positions. But that’s ok. I like them anyway! 

Testing the grout lines on my test tile

You can see the "grout" lines penned in.

And onwards to "grouting" the rest!

Here is another blurb about the Bizzarria - and it also mentions the villa at Castello where they managed to bring it back.

Placing the Tiles

January 4th - 14th March 2022

I have been gone a while. Too much going on in real life between my annual preparations for Halloween, then our small Thanksgiving feast in November, then of course Christmas. I had been distracted a little doing other hobbies (like crochet) and then work issues. I finally got let go from my job (the Italian state wouldn’t let them fire me till 3rd January - after a year!) and promptly found another job less than a week later. That’s good. Then my husband caught COVID - that’s bad - and I managed to avoid it for a while but had to quarantine at home. Which would have been good but I had to cook and constantly sanitize everything because my 84 yr old MIL decided to do something which caused her to fall and break a vertebra - very bad - and I was helping out with her. A week or so later, I ended up with the virus along with my son and MIL (so now at least my husband could take over for MIL - that’s good). Consequently I ended up on sick leave for another week. Bad.
Anyway, brand new job and I lost a full two weeks of training in my first month. Didn’t matter anyway. I got interviewed (Zoom- I was still in quarantine) and offered another job more suitable to my skill set so I quit the job I had for this new one and should be starting it soon. Turned out I have not had a lot of free time to screw around with my mini project. Oh well, I’m back now.

I had promised myself that until I finished painting all the panels of the green house I wouldn’t embark on any other things for the project so, I can say at least, that I finished painting the panels. I made them white and decided I will age them up a bit on the outside. But I’ll do that once they have been screwed onto their bases.

Finised painting the panels both sides.

I began by cutting out the embossed square tile sheets I had made some months ago (I bought a brand new cutter - a Cricut one - that works really well and better than the circular blade type cutters) that would fit in the square spaces of each panel - 12 total. I also cut out the foam core material that I had bought ages ago (stumbled across really) to fill the spaces and give the idea of actual tiles inside the the panels. I preferred the flush kind of look instead of just the thin piece of paper against the wood - didn’t look very tile like to me. Gluing them in place I found it better to apply the glue to the foam core and then position the tile on top of it. That way the paper wouldn’t curl during application. Worked out fine.

New Cricut cutter - so far a valid purchase.

Cutting tiles down to size.

I had made a template to cut the foam core.

I used my paper craft tool to fit the tiles flush to the edges.

Next was working out the center panels. I had some larger tile images that I would use there but they really didn’t fill up the entire space. So for now, I’ve positioned them and will think about how I’d like to finish the space around them. Maybe with the foam core and simulate a plaster or tile like surface? Will mull it over.

Working out the center panel placement.

Here is another site with info about the Bizzarria lemon. The more I read about it the more I am sure I want to call my tea house/limonaia Bizzarria.