Saturday, January 12, 2019

Parlor ceiling center piece

With the Plaster of Paris pieces poured it was time to start to assemble the centerpiece for the ceiling. A bit about the construction, the center is constructed with plywood and hardboard is layered and centered on the plywood. A medallion was attached where the light/fan would be located. The layers of wood are painted two different colors. The trim and detail work on the hardboard is made of Plaster of Paris. The trim on the outer edge of the plywood is wood. There are four places where the wood trim needed to be curved. The trim around the edge of the wallpaper is also wood. Everything except the trim around the wallpaper was glued together while laying on the floor.  After the glue dried Chris and I lifted and nail it in place on the ceiling. (It can be heavy so make sure you nail it into ceiling joists and not just sheetrock.)

*A hint on how to curve the wood. I placed the small pieces of wood in a glass pie plate with water and covered the plate with plastic wrap. The pie plate was then placed in the microwave for several minutes, thus allowing the steam and water to penetrate the wood. After the wood became flexible it was removed immediately from the dish, towel dried, and attached to the plywood edge. As it cooled and air dried it took on the shape of the curve on the plywood. (A word of caution: the wood has to be handled while hot so be careful to not get burned.)




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