Making The New Door

I started out with popsicle sticks and make a door by gluing them over heavyweight card.

Then I put hinges on the door and frame inside the stone archway I'm going to make. Everything is done on cereal box cardboard.

I made sure the door opened good. I'm going to cover the outside of the archway with my "stones" which are lightweight because they are made of paper clay. Then I'm going to paint them light tan and then grout them with lightweight spackle.

But first I made sure everything fit into place and looked just right. I really downsized that door for my mice.

I will have to go over the old doorway seam and make it look like it fits in with the old bark of the tree. That shouldn't be too hard to do while I'm adding more paper clay over the paper mache to make it sturdier especially around the roots which I've discovered are kind of weak.

Next - I' finish the doorway.

Stump Cottage Tear Down

WHEW! Let the fun begin!

So it took me a while to make room for my stumpy remodel. I didn't forget it. It's been in the back of my mind most of the year. I've been pretty busy.


DECONSTRUCTION

The first step is to remove all the old stuff, stripping it down to basic stump. Then I decided to make it mouse sized, I needed to make a smaller door and two stories in it. I cut the back off and set it aside. Then I cleaned out all the old paper and gunk inside.

I had to fill in the door hole to bring it down to the size I wanted the new door to be. I want to make a stone tilt out for the entry and door frame so I needed to make it out of card and glue it all together.

It took a couple of days for everything to dry. I had to bake my paper clay stones. My paper clay was so dry even after wetting it. I need a fresh batch of that stuff.

I had to make some stones out of paper clay so I could put them on the door entry way.

Next - working on the door.