May 2015: I started the Arthur as part of a Greenleaf community build in 2005, and at the time we blogged our progress on the Greenleaf forum. After a few site upgrades the old community blog has become hard to link to and I’m redoing my website anyway, so I decided to move those posts over here and backdate them. Sorry for any weirdness that results!
I just did an impetuous thing.
I spent about an hour tonight applying a few strips of siding, waiting for them to dry a bit, and then applying a few more. As I was waiting for the glue to dry I got to thinking how much time applying this siding was adding to the building process, and how I’m sort of on a deadline because we’re all supposed to be building this Arthur at the same time, and how many hours this was going to add to my project — hours that could be spent in other ways. The more I thought about this, the more annoyed I got… at myself, for deciding to put on siding, at the siding itself for coming in separate strips, at the Arthur for being so damn cute it just NEEDED siding. And then, looking down at the siding I’d just spent an hour (today, plus two or more hours this weekend) applying… I started ripping it off.
Moments before my outburst — the house never saw it coming:
The stuff I’d glued on tonight came up easily. The rest was much harder to pry off. Wood glue is strong! I almost took my eye out with the utility knife. There are still a few strips clinging to the front of the house, that I haven’t managed to get off. I figured I should step away from the house. I can work on prying those last strips loose tomorrow.
Rampage in progress:
The wood is a bit worse for the wear, of course, and will need some sanding and possibly some wood filler to fix spots where I pried off the top layer of plywood along with the glue. But I will not spend umpteen hours putting siding on strip by strip, and I’ve learned a valuable lesson.
A few lessons, actually. One is that I am not a good person to apply siding strip by strip. I have used Houseworks siding before, the kind that comes in sheets, and even that annoyed me… but far less than gluing it on one strip at a time. I should have known, knowing myself as well as I do, that this was not something I’d enjoy… in fact, that it was something I would despise. It’s never good to force yourself to do something on a dollhouse… for it to turn into a chore. Remember: This is supposed to be FUN!
The second lesson, for which we’re all extremely lucky, is that you can do practically anything to a die-cut house and it’ll still come out okay. Glue pieces on, tear them off, shove too-big tabs into too-small slots, rip out stairs and windows and towers — die-cut houses are made for this type of abuse. My Arthur will be fine, without siding, and if it has a few scars it’ll wear them proudly.
Or maybe that’s just the adrenaline talking.
Emily is a freelance writer, miniaturist, and adventure game enthusiast.
I’ve only ever used the siding that comes in sheets, but you’ve convinced me that that is the way to go – I don’t think I’d have the patience to add it strip by strip!