Hommage to Lars Sjöberg

Just before xmas I decided that instead of photographing my work on my bench amidst tools and offcuts it would be better to make a roombox in keeping with the themes I work on. As an admirer of Lars Sjöberg who saves and restores old Swedish houses and venacular buildings I thought that a Swedish room was a good idea. I began with lots of drawings, I even started to make a ceramic stove, cast some plaster medalions to insert above doors and researched painted walls. I realised that at this rate it would never be done and would ultimately distract me from starting my own dollhouse. So one day I began a quicker version without even really thinking it through but simply winging it. Having decided it was a quick job with no real 'value' I made a pile of wood and cardboard and egg boxes and began just 'doing it'. 

 Here above was the starting point, some cardboard that didn't work for anything else as it 'separated' when worked in detail.

 Here you can see what was going to be a doorway into a smaller backroom and the opening for the fireplace hearth. I later deceided that making the back room would mean the finished roombox would be too deep and not practical. I lined the hearth with 'bricks' cut from an egg box.

 Fast forward ( forgot to take more photos! ) the trim is again some card, the fireplace also card with finer card trim and thicker card hearth stone. The wooden floor is simply strips of Kraft Card in different widths glued down with a slight gap between 'boards'. The doorway is now a bookcase.

 Another closer view. You can see a plaster cast taken from a brass finding above the mirror space and another rectangular plaster cast inserted into the fireplace head. The lozange theme is one I have used in real scale in a country house I owned years ago.

 A closer view of the fireplace, cobbled together with anything that came to hand.

 Here I decided to strengthen the base with wood as it was going to be carried around a lot and needed stability. My trusty old iron weights are invaluable here. 

 After consolidating the base I stopped working on it and made some tea, as you do. It was almost midnight on the same day. Although I made it all in one day it wasn't flat out, I took my time and on closer inspection you could see that it is not perfect but I wasn't striving for that. After tea and a movie I got up and began painting the whole thing in New White from F&B. It unifies the cobbling and makes it look bigger and much more 'Swedish'. The floor will have a lozange pattern painted on in two similar tones.

 This is day two, I decided to make a ceiling but instead of just glueing it in place I hinged it using a biais cut strip of sheeting as the 'hinge'. this would allow me easy access to do any finishing inside. I still had the idea of muraling the walls in a swedish style. I covered the coton hinge on each side with kraft gum tape used in picture framing. This tape is very useful when crafting as it gives a good neat and smooth finish to paint on. I used it on all the exterieur assembly. It comes in many widths, the kind you wet is much better than the sticky version.

 This is the back of the box showing the hearth and bookcase boxing in. I also decided to hinge it like the ceiling in case I wished to electrify it later as I could hide the batteries and cables here. 

In all it took two days more or less and although it serves a purpose it has above all taught me a lot about building that will be useful for the larger house. I still have to paint it and install the mirror which I will show in a second post.