i’ve been working on this afghan for a couple of years, including a stop when i ran out of yarn and had to order more! i really wanted to do at least one blanket in a really fine scale, so this is done in cobweb weight yarn using a 1mm hook.
now i’m just trying to decide whether it is done and can be blocked as is, or do i need a border to really make it look finished.
what do you think?
grate painted black looks like a well used cast iron grate.
thread fire led lights through logs btw i ended up painted the lags with my ultra matte varnish because the ash kept getting all over my hands at this step Lol
put crumpled cellophane over the lights. this was included in the kit and just needed to be cut. i’d have preferred something more orange but couldn’t find any.
punch holes for wires in back wall. i couldn’t find my awl so i used a large yarn needle and put in three small holes instead of one larger one. it really didn’t matter in the end.
back view of wires threaded through
attach wires red to red, black to black
tape everything down. the little white thing is an on off switch so the lights don’t go continuously.
finished!
i took a video of the fireplace with the lights flickering and it looks awesome. but apparently i can’t upload video to flickr, so i’ll have to figure out another place to upload it and then add it in.
i want i light saber! we just saw star wars last night and they made cutting wood look so easy. this took far too long, i broke my pull saw and froze my fingers cutting these tiny things :(. then of course i forgot to take out a tape measure and had to guess on the size.. i like the look of the bigger logs better, but they ended up being too big. the smaller logs are just perfect. so i’ll be using them. i’ll save the bigger logs for another fireplace that i plan to do later.
i want my logs to look like they have really burnt so i am charring them in the flame of a candle. notice that i hold them with metal tongs and burn them in my kitchen sink just in case they decide to burn more than i planned! not likely since this wood is green and fairly wet from all the snow, but you never know…
here’s what one of the logs look like done.
and the pile of finished logs. i wet them down thoroughly to make sure there were no sparks since the glue i’m using is flammable. so now i have to wait for them to dry before i can proceed.
my dh is building me a grate for my fireplace out of 2-1/2″ finishing nails. he still has to add the top rack. he designed it and did all the bending and cutting with his much stronger hands :o)
and with the cross pieces added.
just waiting for the glue to harden so i can paint it black
the front and mantel are now attached. but it is just resting on the hearth until i get the fire installed.
i’m really happy with how it is turning out, though i realized as i looked at it that i ended up making a fireplace that looks more well suited for a beach cottage, than the ancient english style manor that my crew is supposed to inhabit. lol oh well, i guess i’ll just have to make another one later on..
and a better view of the distressed finish of the wood on the mantel and the side. i really like how that turned out, especially considering the side is just the painted cardboard box!
the mantel is a flat piece of wood with a square dowel glued to the front to form the overhang.
i have been varnishing the fireplace and gluing the sides flat whenever i got a moment this week, not really something that showed up in pictures. now i finally got to apply the grout and find out if all those coats of varnish sealed my tiles/bricks well enough. in a couple of hours the grout will be dry enough to try and wash the haze off. if not i guess my tiles just got more subdued, which isn’t a bad look really… and i just added grouting to my list of new things i’ve tried!
i like how much more finished the brick look now. i think if i was doing this again i would try to leave a bit more spacing between all the bricks to allow for the grouting. my bottom ones fit together a bit too closely.
edit: i went back to wipe off the haze and found i actually liked it better with some of the haze there. so ended up reapply a bit of the grout and wiping it off again to get the white back in the hollows. it has to dry overnight and then i’ll revarnish with my blend of matte and satin varnish to give a very subtle sheen.
while i’m waiting its time to start painting the hearth and mantel. for the hearth i wanted a stone look that coordinated with but didn’t match the stone in the fireplace, so i gathered up most of the same colors and added them to a paint palette made of a saran covered paper plate. i’ll be applying them with a cheap kitchen sponge to a piece of white painted mdf board.
and.. the painted hearth and mantel.
i kept dipping the sponge in the paint and applying till i got the look i wanted. i’ve done marbling on full sized walls before so this time i had an idea of what i wanted to do :)) when it dries i’ll paint it with a blend of matte and satin varnish to get a really subtle sheen since the satin is too shiny and the matte too dull.
it’s hard to see on the mantel but i painted it with white chalk paint and then when it was dry sanded it smooth and it matches the wood front almost perfectly :yay! i’ll be coating that with my ulta matte varnish to keep the worn look.