Westlake Publishing Forums

Hello Volker,
it's a pity that your house has so few floors, otherwise we could certainly see many more great ideas from you here!

Russ, Bill and Frithjof, thank you.

Let's turn to something else: bedtime stories!

First, the hardware: in this case, it was made from four-ply cross-glued veneer and 1 and 2 mm thick pearwood boards. As always, I had very precise ideas about which models would be suitable for the desired degree of period atmosphere  .




A particular challenge was creating the curved front edges of the bed. To do this, I soaked the veneer and wrapped it around a 3 mm thick brass plate with a tube of the same diameter attached to the side. I placed a layer of 2 mm thick wet offset cardboard on top, and finished it with another layer of veneer. After drying, it looked like this:




Now the component had to be weakened by a few tenths at the bottom. A clamped brass angle served as a guide for the file, and the curve was then created freehand:






The feet were made from small pieces of pear wood, which were glued and filed accordingly:






The four-layer glued veneer is clearly visible on the rear bed wall:




For coloring I used a translucent mixture of Vallejo Still Water and Mahogany Brown in several layers.




And with software, sorry, bed linen, it looks like this - oh God, I could write about that too, but who cares.






Best regards and good night
Volker

Seeing this, I immediately recall my childhood. Our living room sideboard was made in that manner – the same curved edges, the same color hues...
That was the state-of-the-art in those days!

I am amazed at the breadth of your skills. Okay, enough compliments. Now build the same thing in HO scale. -- Russ

Very cozy and comfy looking, so, now waiting for the 'bedtime stories'   

Quote from: Peter_T1958 on April 09, 2025, 09:08:28 AMSeeing this, I immediately recall my childhood. Our living room sideboard was made in that manner – the same curved edges, the same color hues...
That was the state-of-the-art in those days!

Peter, same with me. I remember this kind of furniture mostly as already worn out parts, then used for guest bedrooms or bedsits in the 1970-80ies.

Quote from: finescalerr on April 09, 2025, 11:22:33 AMI am amazed at the breadth of your skills. Okay, enough compliments. Now build the same thing in HO scale. -- Russ

I wouldn't be able to get to reasonable results. Please ask Bill or Darryl. Or simply downsize the pictures.

Quote from: Bill Gill on April 09, 2025, 01:52:37 PMVery cozy and comfy looking, so, now waiting for the 'bedtime stories' 

Bill,
I really do appreciate your invaterateness, but I'm afraid you have to read between the lines for adult content. Maybe Russ can help out with this thong bikini thingie.


The next bed, intended for the children's room, is made entirely from 1 mm thick offset cardboard and 1.5 mm thick MDF, while the crumpled bedspread is made from an unused tissue and a few other ingredients. And this is where we finally get to the software: I really liked the texture of the pillow and bedspread, but they weren't available in pure white—the difference to the mattress is clearly visible now. However, the paper used there doesn't crumple as effectively.






I find that apparent mistakes or inadequacies can lead to unexpectedly good results, so I made a virtue of necessity and placed a set of fresh bed linens on top – the pillows and duvet, in their slightly yellowed shade, look very much like unupholstered items. This gives the essentially static object a narrative layer it didn't have before.




The next two beds will find their place in the attic rooms. It was obviously laundry day, and the beds need to be remade there as well.




Representing fabrics and linens is rather difficult in my opinion, although the mattresses were among the easier parts. The basic shape is cut from 3 to 8 mm thick soft Forex, depending on the bed frame.




Once the corners are rounded, a layer of wet paper is wrapped around the core. I use a paper with almost no grain.




The pillows are more difficult to make, so I've tried various things, starting with pre-made covers filled with cotton, from real silk to wet paper to dry-filled paper.




Even the finest silk is too coarse. It's more likely to pass for a terry cloth towel.




A handkerchief filled with cotton and then secured with a matte acrylic binder works well, but results in the slightly yellowed appearance of uncovered blankets and pillows.




And here's another dry-filled handkerchief pillow. This stays significantly whiter, but I don't know how white the white stays this way, you know?




For the bed linens, I wanted the same shade of white and texture as the mattresses, but with a bit of color. I found a good example, although it's purple. I implemented and printed it that way, but I couldn't control the inkjet bleed, and the paper has to be wet to shape it, otherwise it just looks like what it is: folded paper. Solvents (e.g., turpentine) don't have the same effect on the cell structure of the paper as water. However, I noticed that the blue toner is quite penetrating and unruly. For the final version, the purple printout was simply submerged in the sink for a few minutes until no more color came out. The remaining blue matches perfectly - problem solved. Since handkerchiefs can't be printed with an inkjet printer and I wanted pure white as the base color, I first made handkerchief blankets and pillows filled with cotton wool. I then glued the printed and bathed paper onto them, wet-on-wet, and shaped them to create realistic drapes – here it is still soaking wet:




Best wishes, sweet dreams, and sleep well
Volker

It is clever, beautiful, and perfect. In other words, most satisfactory. Next (since you mentioned it) model some beautiful girls in thong bikinis, each eager to cater to our every whim. -- Russ