Farmhouse Project WIP - Update 11 - Painting and Mortar

Lots of photos for this update.  Painting is pretty much complete.  As with the car port, I mixed the Slate and Titanium White Earth Pigments (2-3 parts slate to 1 part white) to be used as the mortar.  A little variation in the mortar color probably isn't a bad thing so I didn't used a measuring spoon to get an exact measure.  Given the inexact method of mixing mortar on the ground and measuring things 'by the wheelbarrow full' as we did in Zambia, my approximations here are on par.  I did, however, mix a big enough batch to at least finish the house so the color will be consistent on this project.  It turns out this mix was a little too white so I ended up giving the house a dusting of Natural Umber (not pictured) to tone down the white a bit. 

Here are a few shots of the house pre-mortar:

Here things are post-mortar:

The 'glass' for the windows was installed as well.  I did end up just using transparency sheet (which can be purchased from the FedEx Office shops by the sheet) and cutting it to the right size to cover the entire window frame.  Cutting individual panes would be a pain so I opted for this shortcut to save what is left of my sanity.

Here is a series of photos with the windows and doors sitting in the holes.  They aren't glued yet because the house still needs a final coat of Liquitex Matte Varnish.

 

The doors still need handles, but otherwise are ready for installation.

By the way, there is a such thing as too much gloss varnish when applying it to make the removal of excess weathering powder.  I got carried away with it on the house even after practicing which made it difficult in places to get any mortar at all to stick.  Overall I think it turned out, but it took way too long to get it to this stage (compared to the car port which was fairly quick & easy).

Looking back at the photos above, I can hardly tell there is 'glass' in the panes.  That is probably due to the abysmal lighting in the basement where the workshop is.  In better lighting there should be some glare and/or reflection.  This should be especially the case when the roof is put on making it dark inside the building.

The covers that go above some of the windows still need to be worked on and the windows/doors need to be glued in place - some of which may need a little filler to take care of some small gaps.  The base needs a little flock and I'd really like to add the Rhodesian Boiler, but it will have to go in the 'details if there is time' list.  There are still several fence boards, a board of three storage buildings, and hopefully a driveway board to work on.  Bits of all of them have been started, but there is still a lot left to do on them in the next three weeks...