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.

Painting....

14th - 28th May 2021

So waiting for the stupid ink pen to arrive I started working on the other panels sanding and cleaning the window panes and painting everything white.  I decided to stop painting the panes separately and just glue them and and paint them on the panel. I figured it was the same thing more or less and less of a struggle to get the panes into place since everything swells a little after painting. Easier this way. While doing this, your mind wanders so I listen to music or something else but mostly contemplate about these tiles and the structure etc.

Anyway, I got to thinking, there must be a better solution than the pens since a lot of times they dry out and I really do not need to write anything (these pens are great for calligraphy).  I just need to fill in the entire tile to look shiny like a tile but rough like they’re old. Then a few nites ago, I got an idea when checking the tracking on the pen I ordered (2 weeks later and hasn’t even left the USA yet) and noticed that Amazon sells ink refills for the slow drying ink/glue used in embossing. You buy this little bottle and spread it on your ink pad. So, I read the reviews on Amazon US and found out that they are sold like little droppers (about half an ounce) and are exactly the same ink glue stuff that would be in the pens. Eureka! I find comments that you can use a brush to cover larger areas too. So, over to Amazon.it to find out if they sell it.  They do, at twice the price. Ok, bummer, but even if the other pen arrives, this solution I think is better. So I bought the ink (like €11 with tax!) and received the package only to be pleasantly surprised. They put in two bottles instead of one (I double checked and the description said only half an ounce (15ml)) but yes, I got two. Jeez what a break! Of course in the afternoon I went straight upstairs to test it.  I mounted the test tile on the white foam type backing and painted an area over the tile, sprinkled the transparent powder and heated it.  The white backing bends with the heat but is easily bent back and the ink works perfectly.  I’ll probably have to emboss each tile before mounting them on the white backing but hey - we are a go for this process once I am ready to start embossing the tiles.Very cool!

You can see the pebble effect I like in the shiney area on the right.

But I can still make the embossing thick enough to be smooth.

While painting the panels (still another two to go) and doing some cleaning of my craft supplies, I came across a bottle of Crackle Medium. I bought this back when I was doing a lot of decoupage type projects. This medium gets painted on between two layers of contrasting paint (usually a darker one underneath) and causes the top layer of paint to crack showing dark areas underneath. Hence crackle medium. I had the idea that I wanted to age the paint on the bottom of the panels where maybe lots of moisture build up would cause cracking. I decided to test if I just dusted some of my chalk pastel color on the first layer then put the crackle on to see if the result looked oldish. It did actually! So we are a go for using this to make the bottom parts of the panel look weather worn. I did the first panel and I do like it. Saves on having to paint and weather by hand.

Making a test for the cracklé medium.

Applying the chalk on the painted surface.

Using a brush to spread the chalk.

Final effect. Looks fairly water damaged.

 

 

 

And various museums are re-opening this month - Boboli and its limonaia today. Restaurants are opening for indoor seating on 1st June - next week. Course reduced capacity and masks and distancing are still required but slowly we should return to normal after a year of lockdowns. I hope anyway. 

 

(oh, and the pens arrived today - so that's a good thing. I need some good things to be happening as there is way to much negativity going around that I can't control. So it's nice every now and then.)

Tile Experimenting (continued)

1st May - 9th May 2021

Tile trials - embossing tile lines.

I continued experimenting with the tiles that are going to fit the inside panels under the windows. I put one tile on a piece of corrugated cardboard for backing and painted some glossy varnish over it.  I think 3 or 4 layers. The ribbed corrugated cardboard shows thru (so that will not be an option for the backing) but luckily I was in a dollar store and found some white foam type material which should work better. I had to use a ball embossing tool to bring out the tile lines and press a little into the cardboard so I needed something that wasn’t too rigid to allow me to simulate that these are like single tiles and not just one big one. I think the white backing should work better than the cardboard.

Corrugated backing shows too much.

Anyway, it just took so long to make one tile I decided to try and find clear embossing powder. Easier said than done. There are no more stores dedicated to crafts around where I live.  Given that it’s still semi-lock down here, it’s not like I could wander around trying to find embossing products. No luck on line either. Amazon had one but it was like €16 euros which is amazing considering these things cost like under $10 in the USA. Talk about a rip off!  So, I had an idea - I had bought thru Amazon Germany in the past. Even with the cost of transport from Germany it would still cost less for a 25gr container of transparent powder.  So I ordered it off of them and it was delivered in under a week. Crazy! You would think during lockdown that stores that sell craft supplies would be stocking up. Weird.

Test fitting in the panel.

My idea was to use the clear embossing powder since it would be quicker than the varnish method and would look more interesting because it would not be a perfect surface. The idea is that these tiles are old and have been in place a while. So they cannot look new. I printed off all my tiles on a piece of photographic paper to get the colors as intense as possible.  I made a few tests on the crappy color prints just to see how the colors responded (the ink pen I have leaves a slight light blue tint so it’s not perfect for light colors) but I figured it would work.  

Printed tiles ready for embossing.

Clear powder on blue looks great.

 

 

You can see the blue hue on the white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The transparent powder does a great job keeping the color but the blue hue in the glue pen was obvious. So, back to ordering another pen off Amazon.  This one is going to take a month to get here. Go figure. No problem - the time spent waiting will be filled with painting the panels white, something I am realizing is taking longer than I thought. 

I did finally receive the miniature cribbage boards I ordered though.  Pretty fun! So here is a pick of all the different board games I’ve managed to collect so far.  The baseball board game has been the most costly thus far.  It has all kinds of little game pieces inside.  And I have no idea yet how I am going to set up the Chinese Checker game - it comes with all the little colored rounds pieces! Maybe I will just have to fashion a miniature bag to hold them. Still missing checkers and backgammon board. Will keep my eye out for them.

Board games for the games cupboard

Cribbage !!

I’ve been making blueberry muffins lately and would like to try some different ones. Setting my sites on this lemon muffin recipe with buttercream frosting. Decadent.

 

Baked Goods and Experiments

 April 28th - 30th 2021

One of my recent purchases was a bread tower. Or that is how it was advertised anyway. I found it on a nice Etsy shop and the dimensions seemed ok for putting it somewhere in the Tea Room/Orangery/Limonaia.  It came with some small wooden trays that would slide in and out of the slots. The top is open, so I figure I will end up closing it off and making a top shelf for bags or something but for now, I only made a few changes.
Part of the tower’s exposed wood had been laminated and part of it not.  So I rectified that and added some of my own (of course from left over pieces of my other projects) and then stained the remaining exposed areas. Looks a lot better to me. I also aged the trays as they were too new looking. I imagine that in a setting with lots of bread and hands constantly pulling the trays out they’d be beat up a bit. (I soaked a bunch of wicker baskets while aging the trays making them darker and pulling out the useless handles. I’ll use them for bread and other sundries.) I then “made” some paper to line the trays and pulled out my stash of miniature breads that I have been buying over the last few years. 

The original state of the tower. You can see my piece of laminate to the right.

I just needed to add laminate to some sides.

Looks much better.

Shelves painted now too.

Staining the trays and darkening baskets.

Crimping paper so it will be soft and fit in the trays.

The same shop that sold the tower also had some baguette and a little shokupan type loaf. I bought both but when they arrived I wasn’t 100% pleased. The baguettes are bowed and much too light colored for my taste. So fixed them up a bit. The little loaf was not the best either - you could see the seam where the loaf was made in a mold. I have no issues with molds but at the very least they could clean up and trim off the seam lines.  So I made it into a little whole wheat loaf and sprinkled some “flour” on the top of it. Looks better. I also added a little flour (actually scraped chalk) on the large whole wheat loaf I bought (different shop and better quality). Once I fixed up all the bread products and added them into the trays I was pleased with the final result.  Now I just have to make a bunch more bread bags.

New and improved tower.

New and improved bread.

And better baguettes.

Template for making bread bags.

I also stained the cheese board. I scratched it up with knife marks too since I imagine it would have them being a cutting board and all. Looks much better.

Cheese board

I finished painting the two window panes for the door panel. They look fine and of course, since I didn’t put much paint on the sides they are not fitting snuggly.  I will probably have to glue these ones in - or just add more paint to the sides and refit them. More likely that.  So I started to look at the inside of the panels and thinking about how to decorate them. I already have an idea of the designs and “tiles” I want to use. But I thought that just printing them on photographic paper would be too flat and boring. So, I started screwing around with embossing powder.

The tile - powder and pastel chalk.

Mixed green chalk and resin.

The powder is sprinkled over wet ink and then “melted” with a heat gun creating a pseudo 3D effect. (Embossed effect.)  Thing is, the damn powders are expensive and I wasn’t even sure how to use them. So, after navigating the net for info I decided to mix the powder I have (white) with pastel chalk. I couldn’t find anywhere that suggested doing this but I figured it had to work. I experimented on the black & white pic to see if the powder would melt and stick.  The green was fine so I tried yellow.  But since I am not sure of the ratio, I was afraid to put too much chalk in and I ended up with a pale colors. No good. Still, I was able to use it on a color print out of the large lemon tile and I actually like it. I may want to make some areas in the designs in relief. Then I can varnish them thickly to simulate a tile like surface.  There is also the option of buying alcohol based inks and adding those into the white powder.  I may try and find some inks and see if that works too. Anyway, it’s fun finding a new process and experimenting.

Applying the powder to the brushed on ink.

After applying heat. You can see it's glossy.

Adding the yellow embossing to just part of the design.

And here is some more info on my favorite lemon the bizzaria. It is so damn ugly! I would like to taste it one day.