Layering the floor

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments on my last posting.  I've continued on now with the floor of the castle room.  I should point out that wood flooring was not correct for the Tudor period, which the castle room was originally designed.  But since I am working on the philosophy that this is a modern day renovation of a old castle room, I elected to go with a wood flooring for my project.  I guess this is the point where personal taste takes over for authentic replication, and the interior designer in me steps forward and the historian is pushed in the closet!!

I used a wired brush to give the foam a wood grain appearance.  There's one large floor panel for the main room, a rectangular floor piece for the roof of the stairwell, and two square floor pieces for the floor of the turret and the roof of the turret.  The roof piece is actually grained on both sides to act as the ceiling of the turret and roof, all in one.  These are the finished pieces after I had carved and grained the pieces.  I should tell you these were carved back in 2010 at camp.  So nothing new in the first three pictures.

Close up to see the grain.

So this is my most recent changes.  Since I no longer needed the sand, I put on a first coat of raw umber that was diluted half and half with water.  This was the look after drying overnight.  I was really pleased with the look and even considered stopping at this point and leaving it.  The pink shows through, but it gives the floors a warm appearance.

 I waited another day and thought about it and then I realized that the turret piece that acts as floor and ceiling, which is not shown in the pictures here (and not stained at this point) had black lettering of the builder foam and would be visible if I only did this one coat.  You can see the number written on the old picture from camp.  

So I decided to add a brush of raw Sienna to give it a more golden appearance.  At this point it appeared too orange.

I had hoped to turn the floor around because I had accidentally dropped the floor and caused this gouge in the front edge.  But I've also marked the floor where the turret stairs are added and this showed up through the paint, so I am still debating this and may fill the gap.  You can see the grain still shows up clearly, despite too coats of paint wash.

So then I added a wash of Burnt Sienna to see if I could get some red from it, but it just looked more orange.

So I put on a fourth coat of the original raw umber again.  This I really liked, and once it's dried I think this will be the final finish, (plus a clear coat). 

This is about an hour later when it's dry.  The redness has diminished even more and it has an appearance of a gunstock finish.  I like it! 

Next step is to work on the one wrong cut turret wall and temporarily assemble the castle to see if I have overlooked areas to be painted.  I know some edges still need to be carved and painted, but I wanted to ensure I didn't paint any edges that will be glued.

For those who asked questions about the carving process if you look back at my posts from September 2010 you can see more detail on how this was accomplished.

I also still have to apply several more coats to the stone to get the lighter final finish.

Hope you like the progress.  I'm leaving for another business trip on Tuesday, and when I return I have to write my final exam for this semester's course, so there may not be any postings for a few weeks.  I'm off to Las Vegas for the semi annual furniture show (yes I buy furniture in real life, versus building the miniature pieces).  

I was so disappointed when Dansey's Hobbies closed in Las Vegas, it was always a stop during each trip.  If anyone knows of another miniature shop destination in Las Vegas, I would love to hear.  I've decided to leave three days earlier and have some me time in a warmer climate.  We've not had a great summer in Newfoundland and with work being so stressful, I just need a break. 

So,Viva Las Vegas, until the next time.....

Wanda