The Artist's Studio | Dry Fit & Initial Alterations

***NOTICE*** My blogger blog has moved to theminiaturebazaar.blogspot.com - if you want to keep getting my posts, make sure you add the new link to your feed! For now I will post to both links, but I will soon stop posting to abohemianbazaar.blogspot.com!

So this week I finally had some more time to work on the Creatin' Contest 2016 build. I've already decided I want this to be an art studio, but I am not set on any specific details just yet. The kit is super cute right out of the box, but my gut was telling me to make some changes. One of those changes was the front porch.

I don't want to worry with electricity with this build... I actually have never put lighting in a house- to be honest it seems SUPER intimidating. The front porch gets a bit dark depending on where in our apartment I sit the building- so I decided to cut it off. First thing to go was the beam at the peak of the house. Then I cut the roof.

To cut the roof without an electric saw I just used my x-acto knife and a ruler and made LOTS of firm cuts. Firm, but not too hard because I didn't want to risk the blade breaking. Or worse.

Once I got a decent groove made I used it as a guide for my hand saw. Then I used this side of the roof to trace onto the other side so that they are the same length.

This is what I was left with, but the porch is a bit awkward. Plus- it it too big for the base I will be making. Luckily my dad had a jig-saw that I didn't even know about! (Thanks, dad!)

MUCH. EASIER. I think I'll keep this for a while.

After the major changes to the front of the structure were done it was time to move on to the back. Do you remember that triangle piece that was at the top of the front porch? Well, I decided to use it on the back of my building, like in the picture below.

I'm also making a removable piece for the back wall. If you guys haven't noticed I like having full access to the inside of my builds. You never know what you'll want to photograph, you know! After I did all the major alterations to the building that I wanted, it was time to make my base.

My base was actually SUPER easy to make. All I did was take an old canvas apart and cut a piece of pegboard to fit it!

 I used glue and nails to hold it all together and that's it!

I bought a huge pack of these canvases a few years ago on sale and I'm glad to finally use some of them. I've also had the pegboard for years and its just been taking up space in my closet. Now I have more storage AND a nifty base for my build!

Remember that beam at the peak of the house? Well I took the part I cut off and cut it into 4 equal pieces. These pieces are now the supports beneath the house! This added almost two inches beneath the house so I will have plenty of height for the foundation.

I nailed/glued the supports to the base and then nailed/glued the floor of the house to the supports!

The final change I want to make for now is to the porch. Since I am having to work with a small base I had to set the stairs into the porch a little over an inch. You'll see what I mean in a minute...

As for the stairs- I got SUPER lucky. These steps were leftover from another kit. They were EXACTLY twice at tall as I needed and half as wide as I needed. Sound confusing? It did for me, too. To be honest I just went with my gut and it worked out in the end.

Cut 'em in half.

Glue the halves together.

Hold with tape.

And that's it! The stairs fit into the space I cut out earlier and I have a tiny bit of the base shown so I can do something with the landscaping! I'll be back in a few days to share more! I am working on the walls next, followed by the foundation!

X - Blake

P.S. If these pictures look a bit weird its because they are actually stills from the video I am taking of the process. I will eventually post everything to my YouTube channel as well, but I don't have time to edit it all right now. I will have more time in May, once this semester is over!

P.P.S. If you want to join my Mini Mail list, hop on over to theminiaturebazaar.com - there I will be sending out updates at LEAST every other week. These updates include progress on my builds, new lines of miniatures, shop sales, and more!

P.P.P.S. I love you guys and every time I scroll through my blog feed I drool over all the wonderful little worlds you guys are making!