I am Edouard Black, welcome to my smithy and home. I’m pleased to have your custom. My Aunt Cecelia Alyce graciously gave her aid to build my forge and thus gave me my start in life once I achieved my mastery in smithing. It may be humble, but it serves my wife and I well. Aunt Cecelia planted a cutting from her own apple tree so that we might enjoy fresh fruit and with the village well close by we want for nearly nothing.  We suffered from mice for a time but a couple of kittens from my aunt’s wonderful mousers look to have that problem solved.  Thus all our winter stores of food ar ..read more

So over Thanksgiving I did a lot of work on the Blacksmith's shop and home.  I took a couple vacation days so I have almost an entire week off and it was a good thing I did. I hunted up all my 'wares' for my blacksmith and added them to the storage chest beneath the window. There was the issue of the landscaping for a Tudor period building set in a town rather than the countryside. So I needed to make cobblestones. I used cardboard, paint, chipboard, paint, tinted spackle and black sand. The tree which was looking so promising had to be set aside. Caspia Grass has a scent ..read more

 Well I've been organizing my workroom/dining room for a bit and working on my tree. I run into times when the glue has to dry so that's when I clean up and organize. I've also had a cat with some issues so he's had to have medicine and monitoring and strangely enough, chasing a one and a half year old cat around at my age is a little tiring. Though to be fair, age wouldn't have as much to do with it if I wasn't also out of shape. But he's better, done with his antibiotic and muscle relaxer so we'll see how this week goes. The tree is progressing slowly, I'm getting low on Candytuft so I ..read more

 I've been experimenting lately with things I can put in my Etsy shop and came up with a couple of listings that I think are worthwhile.  I love mini dishes but it seems like they're never modern designs. First I experimented and came up with a pretty set that I thought Jodi might like for Roz. But Roz's kitchen is already perfectly outfitted and Goldie loved them. So the china is Goldie's now. Roz is such a generous Beary Godmother.  Jodi took these pictures. Even her photography is better than mine! I came up with two other designs. One with Blue Flowers and another with C ..read more

 One of these things is not like the others...  Remember that game?  Well after I worked three (I think, I lose track of time) weekends in a row on the contest build I wanted to try something a little different this past Sunday.  But first...  The Forge needed a roof, which meant boards and stain and making sure everything fit into place. I used some basswood, scored and sanded to look like boards since when I use my tongue depressors I tend to encroach into my 'no wood' areas and then nothing fits squarely in place. This method looks good and is much more exact. T ..read more

 I'll start with the big thing that happened. I got both sides of the roof on!  The glue was still drying when I took the picture but I'm cautiously optimistic that it's going to stay where its supposed to. I have one super thick Vogue magazine that I use to hold things into place because its just flexible enough for this sort of thing.  A nice little preview of what the living quarters will look like when everything is finished. You know me, I can't resist a picture taken through a window. Even without the candles 'lit' I like how it looks. I also did some work on the c ..read more

 I've been working on different things for the dollhouse, adding more detail to the walls amongst other things.  I also added the brackets and support beams to the side of the house. And while the glue was drying on that I got started on the accessories for the forge. Two anvils, from Shapeways, needed bases to bring them up to a comfortable working height. I added some hoops to hold the tools. They're a little too shiny though. I need to dull them down with some matte poly or glue or something. I wanted to have beams supporting the roof on the upper level that reflected jus ..read more

 Oops...I skipped a weekend... sometimes I end up doing that when I don't feel like I've accomplished much.  But I did do some work. First, candles. I used my old tried and true drilled out dowel method, although this time I cut the tops of the 'candles' at an angle. That seems to help direct the light and also looks like the candles are burning unevenly. I painted them with Ceramcoat Antique White and once that was dry added my hot glue 'wax drips'. The smallest hot glue gun nozzle I had but it worked pretty well. And I added an extra step. A watered down black paint, 'Wrought Iro ..read more

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