Creating Lutetian Limestone
This room-box comes flat packed with a base, three walls that adjoin by pegs, a top with inset for included plexiglass to see inside, and a pre-build facade that attaches to the structure via magnets. I found it best to make the wall exteriors before constructing the box and to plan ahead where faux doors and trim are going. The pâtisserie needed Parisian limestone walls—actually Lutetian warm creamy-grey limestone quarried from the Paris Basin to be exact.
Fun fact: the Lutetian limestone reflects sunlight with a warm glow and is partially responsible for Paris being nicknamed “City of Light.”
A “stone” stencil along with a grey colored “brick” compound is used to mold the stonework. If one messes up, it can be carefully scraped off and redone with additional effort of cleaning off the stencil and making sure the compound is the right consistency. One does mess up, thus it can be a process of patience.
Zinc Sloped Roof
Next up was making a roof on this room-box where there is none. It required a Haussmann zinc sloped one to hide the plexiglass top and create the illusion of a roof.
Baron Haussmann used the now-famous zinc roofing during the 19th century renovation of Paris because it was easy to clad the Mansard slopes with this light, cheap material with capabilities to funnel rainwater.
My roof made of matte board with coffee stirrer ribs and layers of Paynes grey, white and black paint was also easy, light and cheap. I’ll get into the rainwater funneling with the finishing details. Those same coffee stirrers found their way onto the doors to make deeper moldings and trim.
Architectural Plasterwork
I was after an ornate-jewel box look and planned on incorporating several architecturally correct plaster pieces from an artist in England. An Adam frieze with swags and garlands, swag pilasters and corinthian column cornices were selected—all typically 18th century Neoclassical to evoke Belle Époque luxury. Luxury, however comes with a price and in this case it was the difficulty in using the wrong tools in hand. The jeweler’s saw I used could not be narrowed; the blade bowed and the cut was cattywompus. Nothing a little modeling paste couldn’t resolve!
Aging the Exterior
Miniatures look better with “age”, as it adds realism and imperfections that occur in normal life. Antiquing wax followed by a tinted glaze is my usual method. The wax allows for some flexibility in wiping it off or adding more without being stuck with permanent decisions. Paint highlights on the basic grey limestone bring out the texture. Sepia-green is used and topped it off with my favorite moss embellishment. Space was allowed for a slightly projecting outward ledge around the bottom perimeter of the building—called the water table—to keep rainwater off of the foundation. Still thinking how to construct the corner stones.
In architecture, the transition between an ornate facade and plain or less decorated wall is called the return. It is typically at a 90-degree angle. Sometimes large dressed corner stones—or quoins—visually anchor the edge.