The Smallest Things

Make the Biggest Difference.....

I am sure you will NOT be Surprised, Dear Readers, to see that I have managed to put together a pair of Grand Candelabras for the mantlepiece of this Bedroom. The only remaining question being "but is it Too Much?"  I am not normally plagued by the Demon of Symmetry.... but in this case I find I am wanting a Pair of whatever it is I put on that mantlepiece. So I decided to try to make some candelabra, hoping they would be less obstructive of the Painted Peacock wall than the sconces would have been...

I started with the smallest beads and wires I could find.....

And Some People might be surprised to see the Sources of some of the materials I used.....

A Long Time Ago and from Far Far Away... 

I received these glittering ribbons from Sans! of "My Maharaja's Palace" Blog...

And I promised her I would use them in all sorts of places in my dollhouses!

So I hope she will be happy to see that I have stolen some of the sequins 

to use as bobeches for my candelabras.....

Can you see them in the picture below.....

(Poke the pictures to enlarge them)

And you can see the beginnings of the wires with the beads....

And a better view below.... before the Bobeches were added.....

Even as hard as I try, I am not succeeding to keep these small enough to be truly in scale....

Here you can see them with the "candles" added... 

And can you see the Bobeches..? No???

I guess they are hidden in the blobs of glue that still aren't dry....

And when I have added my Favorite Iridescent glittering "Flames"....

Oooooh!... Can you see them Burn???

And then we HAVE to try them in the Room.....

Can you see the glowing flames?

(I have the hardest time photographing these.....)

Maybe a closer view.....

But shouldn't there be TWO Candelabra.....?

Like This....?

But wait.... we need the Recamier in place too....

Is it too much....? or do my eyes need to adjust...?

And if we look up at the ceiling.....

Is the Ambient light enough....?

And even though I think these Candelabra are a Tiny Bit too large....

(They are three quarters of an inch tall... which equals Three Feet tall....!!)

But that is Nothing compared to the Mammoth Candelabrum I made for the Library....

Do you remember that one?

You can see it is a good bit grander!

 

So, do I go with the Two large candelabra...

Or do I change my mind and try to make two smaller single candles.....

It may just be one of those things I Must Try before I can decide....!

I keep being reminded that the Smallest Things

Do make the Biggest Difference!

Light

Reflections.....

I hope you will not get too bored with this room Dear Readers, as I keep presenting it to you with such Tiny alterations as are almost impossible to notice the difference without me carefully pointing them out! This week all I have added are a pair of "candle" sconces on the wall by the window. You must believe me when I tell you how difficult they are to photograph! I have to confess that I am a little disappointed with the results.... I had very high hopes for them.... but they gave me no end of challenges in the making! I am struggling with the overall lighting of this room.... to begin with, the ornate brass "Light" I have been using so far is really Terribly out of scale and even more out of character historically speaking! And there really is no graceful way of hanging it from the beautiful gilded ceiling... and it interferes with the view of said ceiling... and so on. I have been doing a bit of research on the methods of lighting eighteenth century Bedrooms.... as opposed to Drawing rooms where a chandelier might be expected.... chandeliers were not the general method of lighting bedrooms! Picture yourself lighting the candles before bed.... (on a step ladder?) and trying to "turn them off" when one gets in bed!  Sconces were much more practical alternatives.... and the simple candlestick on a table was the basic light! So I decided that this room needed a pair of candle sconces...... and set about trying to make them......

I stole a couple of tiny reflective mirrors from a beautiful Indian scarf of mine..... 

and cut them down to tiny diamonds...

I glued them onto some cardboard and glued some of that gold thread around the edges....

And I cut apart some lacy filigree jewelry findings and painted them gold.... 

bending the center piece into a horizontal base for the candle holder... 

attaching a bead 

And I glued the mirrored pieces onto the filigree pieces.....

All the parts are so tiny and so hard to work with..... 

I kept forgetting to take pictures because I wasn't sure it would even work.....

If you look VERY closely at the above picture 

you can see tiny rows of miniscule beads glued together.....

I simply put a thin line of glue onto a plastic baggie... 

and lined up micro beads in the glue so they touched each other.....

and when they were dry I peeled them off the plastic... 

hoping the glue would hold them together enough to make "hanging Crystals"....

But first I needed to add the "Glittering Candles".....

I used my favorite pieces of Reflective Iridescent Glitter to simulate glowing flames.....

Can you see the glow?

Or Now? Can you see it?

And can you see how small they are, and how difficult to hold?

And here you can see the "Crystal Drops" added....

Or maybe you can see them better now.....

 

 I tried to position the glitter "flames" so they would reflect light at 

the right angle for when they were attached to the wall.... 

but I miscalculated. Originally I planned for the sconces to go over the fireplace.....

But I could NOT bear to attach them to the Peacock Painting!

Far better to make some free standing candelabras for the mantle.....

(yet to be completed....)

So when I finally attached the sconces to the wall on either side of the window....

It became clear that the angle of the "Glittery flames" was not right for optimum Reflection! 

The candle near the door can glow.... 

but the one further in is almost impossible to see with any reflection.

And it is also clear that they are a little large for sconces in this tiny scale....

And that Brass lamp just HAS to go!

There! Isn't that better?

And if you are looking up.... 

you can see a Much better view of the ceiling.....

Even though it is so difficult to light it......

And to decide what sort of "Lights" this room should have....

Because the sconces aren't real lights....

So should I try for a hidden "Ambient Light" .....?

And would it provide enough light to produce any glow at all from the sconces?

Which are so hard to see....

Without a Glaring light shining into the room......

Do we really need the overhead light too...?

So you can see, Dear Readers......

I am struggling with the Light in this room....

Just trying to get a little Reflection.....!

The Jewels In The Crown...

Or Dew On The Vines....

Can you Believe there is More that I have added to this ceiling, Dear Readers? One thing is a practical necessity, because as careful as I was during construction, with each layer added, the dome became less and less flexible and I must finally admit that it is Warped! This meant that the ends of the dividers between the coffers did not align correctly with the corners of the walls.... and there were noticeable Gaps between the ceiling and the tops of the walls.... on the ends more than on the sides. To Disguise this failing, I have added another layer to the gilded coving at the top of the walls.... really just a layer of cardboard Carefully cut to fit the opening and in effect extending the top of the coving further over the open area of the room.... 

If you look carefully you will see the detail below.....

See? there is an additional layer to the gilded coving at the base of the ceiling!

It hides a World of imperfections!

And the Other detail I have added to this impossibly ornate ceiling is some glittering jewels....

Did you notice them?

Here you can see the ceiling with the "final touches" added.....

I did not have the skills to add tendrils of vine or minute blossoms...

but I thought the vines should culminate with Something....

Perhaps just glittering dew drops...?

So I added the tiny "gems" ..... 

really just scrapbook rhinestones!

Oh, and a little more was added to the stitching on the bed curtain....

A flower and a half to be precise!

Other than that, nothing was accomplished  this past week in the Tree House..... 

Because I spent so much time on RL Gardening and House projects!

But rather than leave you there.... with a very short post....

I am reminded that I started this Tree House just a year ago,

So I thought it would be fun to have a Review!

I hope you will bear with me....

It began with a Dream I had....

I Dreamed there was a large Tree in the Garden of The Folly....

Moss covered and ancient....

And inside it were tiny Rooms....

The Dream was SO Compelling that I had to start right away...!

This was the start of the Kitchen.... 

carved into the foam base layers.....

with the door attached to the main support post 

and the walls just rough cardboard...

Here the hearth and the cupboard are begun.... and the stairs.....

(I spent HOURS going through all the old pictures trying to cull this down to a few....!)

It is not possible to show all the steps....

So here we have the Kitchen nearly done.....

Only the tea kettle and teapot are missing....

(Do you remember that wonderful chair...???!)

And here you see the door open with the beautiful window seat......

And the start of the exterior structure made of cardboard.....

And the next floor.....

Which would be The Salon....

It is now mid June.... the Kitchen took six weeks....

I Thought I would possibly be Done by Christmas....!

 

Here I have begun the paper mache structure of the roots....

and the walls of the Salon....

With the beginnings of the Fireplace and niches.....

And then the Painting added.....

And trim around the doors.....

And more Enchanting Tiny Furniture.....!

And a Tiny Chandelier....

And a ceiling Fit for Gods!!!

Here... you must come closer....

 

It is almost Impossible to see!

(Please note the glittering candle flames!)

And the entire room.... with the Lunette window....

By now it is the end of July.... 

six more weeks have passed....

And we are at the Beginning of the next room....

The Library!

With the Gothic cabinets and Doors that must open and close....!

A huge stone hearth....

The Chairs....

And Books! Gorgeous, Tiny Books!

But Time is passing.... 

it is the end of September and we are only just begun....!

There is still the Secretary.....

Ancestral Portraits and Tiffany Lamp.....

And a Brilliant Blue Ceiling.....

A Sparkling Candelabra.....

And an Insane amount of Collections...

In Bell-Jars...!

By now it is becoming clear that I will not be done by Christmas!

The Christmas Season is upon us....

Our Tiny Friends have arrived to supervise the Construction....

And Decorate for the Holidays!

But construction resumes in January....

Ready or Not, we have moved on to the Bedroom....

With it's Roccocco Fireplace and Juliet Balcony.....

In February I painted the Chinoiserie walls....

And made the Pagoda Bed...!

Dressed in the Finest Lace and Velvet.....

And the Dressing Room that was just an Afterthought...!

(Consumed a good part of March)

With Rose Arbors and Wardrobe.....

and that UnForgettable Recamier....

And the Ceiling.... the Domed Ceiling.....

 Bejeweled and Begilt....

Did it use up ALL of April....?

 And where do we go from here, Dear Readers...?

The Tree House as it now stands.... 

Next to the Folly....

Not even Half finished!!!

DARE we say it Might be done by Next Christmas?

And could I even Imagine where the next rooms will take us...?

THAT remains to be seen! 

But Meanwhile, we will Dream of the next rooms... 

Perhaps while lying in the Chinoiserie Room....

gazing up at the Ceiling... 

wondering whether those glittering drops are Jewels in the Crown.....

or just Dewdrops in the Ivy....