Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Decorating windows - concept.

Hi everyone!

      Sorry for my long absence - I was finishing  my yearly essay. Though this weekend I came back to working on the house. This time I have to finish decorating windows. This will be the most difficult part, I think, because Russian houses have the most beautiful windows in the whole world!:) Just kidding.
It is still difficult. Just check this great site:
http://shushara.ru/windows/tree.php?TreeID=218 .
For the preview:
     On this page you can see house decorating details, they are grouped by the type. All these beautiful decorations are used in traditional village houses. Unfortunately, in the big cities you won't see much of these. Sadly, the tradition is slowly dying.
     But in my house you'll see all of these details, as I'm absolutely in love with them.  Besides, it's village house after all :).
     As I said before, I'm lazy. So cutting all the details with scroll saw sounded like very bad idea. First of all, I tried cutting veneer - bad choice. It's very friable and you have to choose the easy patterns. Oh, btw, I used these patterns:
     Then I thought it would be easy to cut the details on cardboard. Bad choice again, at least for me. The result was horrible, maybe, well, definitely I don't have enough skills to cut out the whole thing neatly. I even tried pyrography! :) It was fun though.
    In the end, I looked at the scroll saw and realized I had no choice. Some pics of the first window:

      The left part isn't finished, but I decided to show it so that you could understand the whole idea of it.  It isn't glued, painted, sanded, besides, I need to fix the edges too.
About the technical part - I used 4mm plywood ( I was too stingy to use mahogany for this, and oak is too hard to work with, especially with such small details). Usually I use paper pattern and glue it to the wood with spray glue. But here I had to use transfer paper - check the left part:


 
One part is taking about 10 minutes or less, so the whole window would take about 40 minutes if you are not as lazy as me.  So, I need to make thousands 20 parts for 5 windows. The first window is not perfect, but I'm learning and trying to improve my skills, so I hope the last fifth window will be the best, hehe.



21 comments:

Carolyn said...

I thought the balcony was great but your windows are even better !
I think your house will have the most beautiful windows of all ^_^

Victoria said...

@Carolyn: Thank you!:) Making windows will take some time, but I hope I'll show them all very soon!

Birgitta said...

It looks wounderful!

Caseymini said...

Victoria, thanks so much for the link to the Russian architectural details. It is wonderful! I can't wait to see what you do with them.

ANA ROSA said...

Unas ventanas preciosas!!!! Felicidades por tu trabajo.
Un saludo.
Ana.

Texas Belle said...

Hi Victoria, I'm so glad to have found your blog! I love reading about people building their houses from scratch.

Your windows are going to look amazing. I'm very impressed with your scroll saw work. I got one from my husband last Christmas, and I'm still a little intimidated by it. I find it somewhat difficult to control, although I admittedly haven't practiced with it a lot. It looks from your blog as though you got your scroll saw recently. Is it a Proxxon like your lathe? Did you have any previous experience using a scroll saw? Your work here is beautiful!

Victoria said...

@Texas Belle: Hi there!:) Yes, I'm using Proxxon scroll saw, they have two models, I have the one which is smaller. Well, to be honest, I've never worked with scroll saw before I started this house. So my first move was to try different saws (or is it right to say fretsaws?), I use #0 for the windows, and also I was watching several videos, like from scroll saw workshop on blogger. The main lesson I've learned is that you shouldn't push the wood, move it slowly and gently. Then I use different saws for different kinds of wood. When I cut veneer I use the smallest - #0, and for hard wood like oak - #3 or 4. The numbers can be different for you.

Victoria said...

@Texas Belle: I forgot about the speed. I read a lot about it on different forums - the thicker the wood the lower speed you choose. Ugh, I hope my explanations were clear enough to understand:) If you have any questions - drop me a line!:)

Eva said...

All the russian houses have this BEAUTIFUL framed windows????
Just wonderful

Ana Anselmo said...

Thank you very much for follow my blog, I am very happy! Your miniature house will be fantastic, and I am sure that the windows will be perfect.
love from Portugal
Ana

Sans! said...

May I congratulate you on the fantastic job with the scroll saw? The window frames are amazing ! Maybe this weekend I will go out and buy myself a scrollsaw and maybe it will end up sitting in my cupboard like my Dremel tool kit. :)

Victoria said...

@Eva: Yes, they have even better windows, though only village houses now. I read that this is unique type of decorating, you won't find the same in other countries.

Victoria said...

@Sans: I'd highly recommend buying scroll saw!;) It's so much fun, though I'm a newbie at it. Scroll saw is on the second place after mini lathe, IMO:)

Victoria said...

@Ana Rosa, Ana Anselmo, Casey, Birgitta: Thank you so much for your kind words, girls!:)

kathi said...

Oh my goodness! Your windows are so beautiful! Such detail and precision! I could NEVER do this!

Victoria said...

Thank you, Kathi! I'm still not that satisfied with result, one wrong movement and it's already not perfect.:( But I'm trying hard to make it look good.

Unknown said...

Victoria I have been impressed with the windows, I would have no patience or skill to do well Great job. Carmen

RootsAndWingsCo said...

Absolutely beautiful! Your work is amazing!

Rebecca of the R&W Gals

Minibydesign said...

Wow, great detail on the window treatments. Very impressive, you must have tremendous patience!

Well done!

Les Miniatures de Béatrice said...

Wonderful work with a scroll saw!!!!
Congratulations!
How many windows to make ?

Victoria said...

@Beatrice: Thanks! I need to make 5 or six, I have one window on the side - and I haven't decided if I need to decorate it. So I'm still in progress, 2 are finished, 3 to go:) I'll post the finished work tomorrow!