There has got to be an easier way to do shingles

I dyed the shingles for the cottage today. The good news is that they
are turning out to be a lovely shade of reddish brown, reminicent of
cedar.

However, it was a horrible job! They only soaked in the dye for a
minute or so, but they stuck together, and I didn't think they'd turn
out well if they were allowed to dry that way. So I separated each
and every one and laid it flat on a sheet of newspaper. Then I laid
another sheet over them, and then did another layer. In an hour I'll
pull them out and expose them all to air.

The instructions did't say to lay them flat without letting them
touch. Is it necessary? I could have had them all dyed in about 20
minutes. Instead it took an hour and a half, crouched in horrible
positions. (A picinic table would have been nice).

Do they need to be separated? Is there a quicker way?

Cathy Weeks

Apparently lots of people stain their shingles before installation. I just
never learned that method.

I can tell you what I've been doing for over 20 years. It's not necessarily
the best method. But it seems easy to me.

I glue the (unstained) cedar shingles down to the roof. After the glue is
completely dry, I mask off the parts of the house that are already finished
and spray the installed shingles with oil-base stain (usually Minwax) using
an airbrush. I use several light coats. The shingles don't get very wet,
so they dry quickly and don't warp. The time to mask off, fill the
airbrush, spray the stain, then clean up is usually less than 20 minutes.

I have used stain in spray cans. This eliminates the time required to clean
the airbrush.
The local Woodcraft store sells these for about $8 a can. One can will do
several houses. I don't see them on the website, www.woodcraft.com , so
they may not be available at all locations.

Also, Deft makes spray cans of stain in several colors. Their website that
lists the colors is www.deftfinishes.com/wood/spray.htm .


"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
om...
I dyed the shingles for the cottage today. The good news is that they
are turning out to be a lovely shade of reddish brown, reminicent of
cedar.

However, it was a horrible job! They only soaked in the dye for a
minute or so, but they stuck together, and I didn't think they'd turn
out well if they were allowed to dry that way. So I separated each
and every one and laid it flat on a sheet of newspaper. Then I laid
another sheet over them, and then did another layer. In an hour I'll
pull them out and expose them all to air.

The instructions did't say to lay them flat without letting them
touch. Is it necessary? I could have had them all dyed in about 20
minutes. Instead it took an hour and a half, crouched in horrible
positions. (A picinic table would have been nice).

Do they need to be separated? Is there a quicker way?

Cathy Weeks

"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
om...
I dyed the shingles for the cottage today. The good news is that they
are turning out to be a lovely shade of reddish brown, reminicent of
cedar.

However, it was a horrible job! They only soaked in the dye for a
minute or so, but they stuck together, and I didn't think they'd turn
out well if they were allowed to dry that way. So I separated each
and every one and laid it flat on a sheet of newspaper. Then I laid
another sheet over them, and then did another layer. In an hour I'll
pull them out and expose them all to air.

The instructions did't say to lay them flat without letting them
touch. Is it necessary? I could have had them all dyed in about 20
minutes. Instead it took an hour and a half, crouched in horrible
positions. (A picinic table would have been nice).

Do they need to be separated? Is there a quicker way?

Cathy Weeks

You do it the way I did it but I waited for a nice day and did it outside in
the sun where they dried very quickly.

I soaked about 20 shingles at a time in a paper cup with the dye. I poured
the dye into another cup, removed the shingles and spread them out to dry on
paper towels. I didn't leave them stuck together. I put more shingles in
the cup and kept going.

Carol
S P Miniatures
http://www.spminiatures.com

HI all,

I am a wanna be dollhouse maker as well as a wanna be a million other things ..
like a quilter, potter, (you get the picture), and I have the stashes to prove
it ! -- I was reading the post about the shingles and it reminded me of what
my Dad did years ago. He made me a dollhouse as a child making all the shingle
on a strip. Kinda like the dentil molding? He took the lumber he was going to
use for it and made strips about one inch wide and a bit longer than the
longest length of the roof. He then cut notches somewhat evenly spaced. When he
nailed them to the roof he had strips to nail, not individual shingles. The
next row he overlapped so they looked like shingles should.

hope this makes sense,,,,, I love reading about your cottage Cathy, and can't
imagine electricity !! I'm jealous..my dollhouse had left over tree lights
(one in each room at the ceiling) btw, that was in the 60's !!

thanks
Barbara

ojunk (Barbara G) wrote in message ...
I was reading the post about the shingles and it reminded me of what
my Dad did years ago. He made me a dollhouse as a child making all the shingle
on a strip. Kinda like the dentil molding? He took the lumber he was going to
use for it and made strips about one inch wide and a bit longer than the
longest length of the roof. He then cut notches somewhat evenly spaced. When he
nailed them to the roof he had strips to nail, not individual shingles. The
next row he overlapped so they looked like shingles should.

hope this makes sense,,,,,

It makes perfect sense. This is what I did (sort of) with my first
dollhouse (sadly no longer in existance). It had shingles made from
strips of heavy-weight paper, with the scalloping already cut into it.
I painted one side, and glued the other down.

It's a toss-up I suppose. I LOVE how the individual shingles look, but
boy were they a pain to stain (hey, that rhymed!).

I love reading about your cottage Cathy, and can't
imagine electricity !! I'm jealous..my dollhouse had left over tree lights
(one in each room at the ceiling) btw, that was in the 60's !!

I'm glad you're enjoying the saga. I've certainly enjoyed building
it! (I've got a long way to go).

We just found a new web-hosting service (our previous one went
belly-up), and I'll create a page with some photos before too long.

Cathy

On 15 Mar 2004 15:32:31 GMT, ojunk (Barbara G)
wrote:

HI all,

I am a wanna be dollhouse maker as well as a wanna be a million other things ..
like a quilter, potter, (you get the picture), and I have the stashes to prove
it ! -- I was reading the post about the shingles and it reminded me of what
my Dad did years ago. He made me a dollhouse as a child making all the shingle
on a strip. Kinda like the dentil molding? He took the lumber he was going to
use for it and made strips about one inch wide and a bit longer than the
longest length of the roof. He then cut notches somewhat evenly spaced. When he
nailed them to the roof he had strips to nail, not individual shingles. The
next row he overlapped so they looked like shingles should.

hope this makes sense,,,,, I love reading about your cottage Cathy, and can't
imagine electricity !! I'm jealous..my dollhouse had left over tree lights
(one in each room at the ceiling) btw, that was in the 60's !!

thanks
Barbara
Problem is, the grain runs the wrong direction.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Gerald Miller wrote:


He took the lumber he was going to
use for it and made strips about one inch wide and a bit longer than the
longest length of the roof. He then cut notches somewhat evenly spaced. When he
nailed them to the roof he had strips to nail, not individual shingles. The
next row he overlapped so they looked like shingles should.

Problem is, the grain runs the wrong direction.


How do you know? You can make strips that run both ways on the grain.
Granted, one is more stable in thinner pieces of wood, but you can't
tell from someone's email post which way it was done.

And so what if the grain goes one way or the other.



Dawn