Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Marching Forward...

 


 Pruning The Shrubs....

While I am Madly constructing the Rhododendron blossoms, Dear Readers, the progress on the Shrub skeletons is much slower and more deliberate. But if I am to reach my desired goal of a blooming shrub by the end of May (only about ten weeks away!) then I need to be making good progress every weekend at least! So as I was attaching yet another round of branches to the Shrub#1 skeleton, I thought I had better make sure the shrub was not going to overwhelm the path to the garden bench by the little brook that runs along the side of The Folly Garden (or will when we get it built)! So I asked Joanna (who is a small adult only 5" tall) to come over and help me test the shrub by walking the short path. She was happy to oblige, and Will was also willing to help (he is a tall 6" adult size). He is warning Joanna to be careful on the very narrow little path....

Which takes off from the steep front steps to The Folly porch.
The path past the lilacs where Will is standing
 is a bit wider and more traveled,
 and the lilacs naturally arch above the heads of anyone who passes.
While the path past the Rhododendron
 has always been wilder and a bit neglected.


As you can see, it would be very easy
 for this shrub to overwhelm the path entirely!


It made clear to me the need to "prune" the shrub
 just a little bit where it stands by the porch!


As you can see, Will is a good bit taller than Joanna,
 and he needs to be able to navigate this path too!
After all, the bench overlooking the brook is in such a sweet spot!


I know it is hard to see the difference, Dear Readers,
 but here is the Shrub#1 with a whole batch
 of new little short branches!
I will continue to shape the branches
 as I begin to add the blossoms to them,
 but first they need to be painted... 
a whole other adventure!


And lest you think I have been slacking... 
here is Shrub#2 getting the same little short branches added and glued...


And Shrub#3....!


And if I stand back far enough you can see all three in a row!
And last week ended with a count of seventy blossoms clusters!
Wowee!
I am Marching Forward, Dear Readers,
Even if I did have to Prune the bushes back a little bit!


Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Stitches And Stems....

 


Sewing And Shaping....

I Reassessed the frame pieces in my pile of different sized pieces, Dear Readers, and came up with a larger frame that almost fits the entire William Morris carpet. It was enough larger that I could make considerable progress with the main design area. This will keep me going for a while! The carpet is a square one, so there is an area of border all around which will need to be scrolled a bit to stitch all of it. I will deal with that when I need to. The design is really coming along and is fun and easy to stitch. I just love to stitch these wool carpets! As for the other carpet I am working on, the Chinese Dragon Carpet, I have also made some good progress. 

Sorry the picture is a bit dark... 
(yes, it is dreary and gloomy here!)
But I was able to get the outline for the second dragon completed.
They are not identical and I wanted to make sure
 their heads feet and tails did not intrude too far on each other!
So far so good! 
But this scale of stitching requires good light to stitch...
 so I must work on it only on the sunny bright mornings!
 
And As for those Stems, Dear Readers,
I am slowly making progress on shaping the shrubs!
 

The next step was to shorten those long downward curved stems.
I used the cut ends to twist around the stem to make branched side stems.
Because this wire is very stiff, I needed to go slowly 
(to keep my arm from getting sore again!)
This shrub is Shrub#1, and you can see how it sits in the Folly Garden.


The next day I repeated those cuts on the other two shrubs.
And glued the branched stems and let them dry thoroughly.

And because branches Branch...(!) 
I then added more stems to each of the added branches...


Here is Shrub#1 again, having the stems added to some of those branches...
And because they are also very very stiff wire.... it was slow going.


This one is Shrub#3...
Once the glue is thoroughly dry
 the stems can be shaped to a more natural curve.


And Shrub#2 getting the same treatment!


And of course, Shrub#1 also getting the glue on those stems.
The wire is so stiff that I can only do a few at a time.

But I'm making progress!
And yes, Dear Readers,
 the Blossom Factory is keeping to the challenge!
I made 10 bunches last week, 
and am well launched on this week...
Stitches and Stems and Blossoms...
Oh My!


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Shrub Construction....

 


 Continued...

I Hope you won't mind, Dear Readers, if this is a boring post about the Rhododendron Shrub construction... again! There is not a whole lot to show you because it is slow going on three different skeletons which are all supposed to look the same. That is the trick... it is nearly impossible to make them look exactly the same... so I have to constantly try to adjust a little one way or another. And as I mentioned on an earlier post, I have to make each step on all three of the shrub skeletons at the same time so I don't lose track of which branches I have done what to.... and even then I occasionally notice that I skipped a piece on one of them. The skeleton in the picture above is Shrub#2 (yes, I have numbered them to help me keep my sanity...!) which will eventually be the green leafy shrub for summer, fall and winter (when it is not snowing). You can see (if you enlarge the photos) I have added glue to the places where Green wire wraps around the brown paper stems! Alas, even with the dry winter air, I have to leave them alone for quite a while after making this step. The glue joins need to be very sturdy.

And this skeleton, is Shrub#3, 
getting the same glue treatment on its branches.
When it is finished it will be the leafy shrub in Winter
 with snow on its leaves,
 for those few times I need to set a
 "winter story" at The Folly!


And this one is Shrub#1, which is the "prototype"
 and will be the one with the blossoms when it is finished.


Here they are all together in a row...
 I know, you can't easily tell where one ends and the next begins...
But I have to have them all together while I am working on them!
(Sorry, my table is a mess... I was also sneaking in an extra small project
 sort of visible in the background.... more on that another time!)


And here you can see Shrub#1 in The Folly Garden where it will live,
 showing the added stems on the part that leans toward The Tree House...


Here you can see it a little closer,
 from an angle that shows more of The Tree House trunk...
 and shows how the Rhododendron Shrub will be a big part
 of what keeps the Tree House doorway concealed from passing humans!
(Ah, yes... when Will I get back to building The Tree House???)
The long downward branches will be trimmed and added to next.... 
as I figure out just which branch needs to go where!

And Meanwhile, Dear Readers, you can rest assured that
 the collection of "blossom clusters" is growing at a great rate!


I have added 18 clusters in the past two weeks,
 and am up to a total of Fifty clusters!
I have been diligently adding leaves
 to the clusters that didn't have them.... 
but am still behind on that task.
I have not yet gotten a good leaf making schedule
 worked into the blossom making one...
But it's only a matter of Time, Dear Readers,
As the Shrub Construction continues...
And Continues..... !


Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Stitching Updates...

 


Slow But Steady...

Because, Dear Readers, I cannot spend All my time making rhododendron blossoms and leaves, only Most of my time, I have managed to make a little progress on the petit-point stitching as well. In the above picture, you can see my first cushion in progress. I had neglected to design it so the shape would end up square, and needed to adjust the outer border in tiny ways so it mostly repeated in a pleasing pattern. But I learned a lot, so the next cushion will perhaps be a better product. I was surprised at how quickly one small section of the carpet could be stitched! It was only the work of a couple days of casual stitching to get this far.

And here you can see it is nearly done!


And because that went so quickly, I started another one right away.
This time I am making the pattern a couple stitches wider on both sides.
 
And because, I know I have mentioned that
 it is hard to stitch the tiny stitches (40 to the inch!)
 of the Baktiari cushions at night, 
I have also been making progress on the William Morris carpet 
which is a much larger stitch size (only 18 to the inch.)


No, I have not found a bigger frame yet,
 but am making do with stitching the area that is available.
The blue background is very easy to stitch
 and really makes the pattern start to stand out.


And as for the Dragon Carpet, Dear Readers, 
it requires that I have both good light for the
 tiny stitches (40 to the inch again)
and a clear mind for the careful design-as-I-go process
so I can judge how it is looking before I get too far off track!


So it has seen even less of my attention,
 but even so, some good progress has been made!
I am keeping the blue scale pattern design
 only a small way ahead of the gold filling part
 so I can be sure it is making the scales look enough like scales!
 This means keeping both needles threaded
 and in play at the same time. 
You just have to be sure to not tangle
 the threads on the underside.
I am feeling quite encouraged by the way they are looking..... 
and only wonder if I am going to need
 to make some "design adjustments" 
to the rest of the body of the carpet as well.... 
hmmm...
we will have to see when we get there!

So that's the stitching update Dear Readers,
Lots of tiny stitches from time to time
  Slowly but steadily adds up to quite a bit of progress!


Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Rhododendron Shrub Structure....

 


The Skeleton...

I am working away, Dear Readers, on the Rhododendron Blossom making process and can report that I am making good progress. I have challenged myself to see if I can make two batches of florets per day, totaling ten batches per week (with the weekends for other project pieces). The truth of the matter is, it gets easier when you apply yourself consistently to a task! But I still need to be making progress on the leaves.... and the shrub structures themselves. In the above photo you can see the "skeleton" of the Rhododendron on the right side of The Folly porch, looking the same as it has since last summer. The main stem is a gnarled ancient "trunk" (made from the same heavy gauge paper covered florist wire that I used for the Lilacs)  with one long "side branch" that stretches along the ground to the right and then makes a secondary trunk nearer to The Tree House. Why did I make it this way? Well, partly because the landscape "asks" for it.... and partly because that is what the huge old RL Rhododendron by my house has done! 

I don't know if you have ever climbed "into" a big old bush, 
but I will show you what it looks like from the inside!
The ground is quite bare.... and here
 the root can be seen snaking across the ground to the left.
Sorry about the dark picture... it was dark in under those leaves.


Here is a side view of the main trunk...
 the branching started fairly low,
 but as the shrub aged, the taller branches 
began to bend downward....


So the area under the shrub is like a huge umbrella...
and the tops of the branches sweep down to the ground.


I surmise that over time, the weight of the winter snows
 must have caused some of this sag....
 but the branches became quite twisted and contorted!


You can see how knobby and twisted the structure actually is!


And those branches keep growing outward and downward.
I was rather surprised when I first realized this!
And that is what I am trying to duplicate
 in my shrub skeleton for The Folly Rhododendron.

But before we go there, Dear Readers,
 I wanted to remind you
 of the essential feature of these shrubs....
The Seasonal Landscape Pods...


Here you can see (sorry it is so dark!) 
The Folly Garden on the right side of the porch.


And here you can see that nail is so that
 I can lift the "Pod" out of the garden...


Leaving a "hole" that will accept interchangeable "pods".


And here are the three (nearly) identical pods
 which will hold the Rhododendron Shrubs in their seasonal variations.
I plan to make a blossoming shrub, 
a plain leafy shrub (for all the rest of the year)
 and a snowy winter shrub... for those special snowy occasions!

And for that I need three identical shrub "skeletons"!


Here are two of the three.... with the basic
 root structure and trunk structure begun.


Here is the basic "prototype" skeleton
 beginning to have the branches "shaped".
Because the shape gets complicated fast....
 I have to make the same step on each shrub in sequence,
so I can be sure they will look essentially the same.


And I have to constantly fit it to The Folly garden spot
 to be sure it doesn't bump the roof or not stand straight.


Here you can see it better with the flash on... 
I have begun to trim the tops of the long branches, 
and twist them into branches lower on the stem...


And then I add glue to the joined wires.....


Here are two of them with the stems being glued.
The wire is quite stiff and hard to bend.... so I take it slowly.


Here I am just starting to add the thinner "branches"... 
the green wire.... also really stiff and hard to bend!
This is going to take a while!


And here it is in The Folly Garden again.... 
with the flash...
There is still a long way to go, Dear Readers,
 but I think I am making progress 
with the Rhododendron Shrub Skeletons!


Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Rhododendrons...

 


Take Two...

I will Understand, Dear Readers, if you can't remember the Rhododendron Shrub project I began with great enthusiasm last May. It has been a very long time since I posted about it, and I can't even remember where I left off showing this project in the blog! But never mind, I have not forgotten the project at all! It has been nagging at my conscience for months now, as I slogged through  the Holidays and completed the Christmas Card. If you recall it at all, you might remember that I had stopped trying to make the blossoms last July when the humidity made glue never dry and paper too soggy to punch.... (it was a very very wet July) but I had also not been satisfied with my methods of attaching the blossom florets and the leaves to the stems. The shapes and structures involved with a Rhododendron shrub are quite different than those of the Lilac shrubs. And the blobby mess that was created with the first couple of "completed" blossom clusters was not to my liking. This kept me awake at night! My problem was that I was not trusting that glue alone would be a strong enough attachment if the floret or leaf stem was only 3/16 inch long where it "joined" the main stem. But I had not tested this assumption! Truly, I needed to give it a try!

While I had been making the florets at a great pace last spring,
 I had not kept up with making leaves 
or assembling the florets into the blossom clusters.
 The glue just wouldn't dry fast enough!
So all winter I have been staring at 12 or 15 bunches of florets
 lined up and awaiting the assembly process.
And last week as I waited most of the day
 for an "appointment" to arrive (who never arrived)
I began to test the shorter stem method with the glue!
(I might as well glue a couple things while I was
 checking the door every few minutes!)
And I actually got several of the floret bunches
 glued together into blossom clusters!
(I was so glad for this that I forgave the person who forgot us!)
And to my surprise and Great satisfaction,
 the glue is plenty strong enough to hold tenaciously
 with even such a short space of contact!


Here you can see a closeup of how short those stems are!


And here are a few of the floret bunches in waiting....
Since I had so many bunches lined up and waiting,
 I spent the following day gluing them together!
And started on a new batch of leaves....
Which required that I revise my previous method.


Initially I had thought the leaves should be made of the stiffer card stock,
 but decided plain copier paper once it was painted
 on both sides was plenty sturdy enough.
And the original attachment method was going to be
 wrapping the leaf stem around the blossom stem as with the lilac shrubs, 
which was much too bulky when the leaves needed to be
 so close to the blossom and to each other.
This time, I would assemble the leaves in pairs,
 but cut them apart to apply individually when gluing.


But first I had to get the paint colors right....
I had misplaced my previous paint samples....


I raided my Rhododendron for a small leaf to compare color...


I had not gotten close with the color for the underside! 
I had to repaint the first batch!


Here I am painting the top sides of the leaf. 
The line down the middle is the result of not over-painting
 the lighter stripe with the darker color,
 but just painting each edge of the leaf,
 carefully leaving the middle the pale green.


I neglected to take pictures of the leaf gluing process.... 
but it is exactly the same as for the florets.
I bend the stem about 3/16 inch long
 and glue that along the blossom stem
 starting right below the blossom cluster.
In the low humidity winter air, 
the glue dries quite quickly!
And since I was on a Roll, Dear Readers, 
I decided it was Time to do the Math.....
How many blossoms could I make in how much time... 
and was there enough time to make enough blossoms
 to complete the flowering shrub for this spring?
Good questions!
But first, I needed to upgrade may assembly line space... 
make it more efficient and accessible, 
instead of shoved into the dark corners....


I had to re-learn the process for making the florets!
(I will not bore you with every step here....)
 The above picture shows the process about half way through!
( The first batch of stamens I had forgotten
 to add the pistils to the stamen clusters)


The florets painted and ready for assembly.
 (I kept forgetting to paint the black dots in the throat of the blossoms!)


Florets for one blossom cluster assembled and drying.

But the Big Change was rearranging
 the location of The Folly Dollhouse....
from the favorite location at the end of my worktable... 
to the less visible side of the table.
Leaving the end of the table available for assembly line work....


And The Folly much harder to photograph...


I was able to catch the morning sun slanting in and lighting the front porch....
On the right you can see the beginnings of the Rhododendron Shrub structure...
not very far along in the development process!


Floret bunches waiting for gluing in the "safe holding" box!
(Yes, the same one used for the Lilacs... 
but the length of stay is way shorter!)


And the blossom clusters waiting for leaves in one jar, 
and with the leaves added in another jar. 
I had made about 19 floret bunches last summer,
 assembled only about three of them into clusters....
And I made three more floret bunches last week
 and three more this week (so far!)
That totals twenty five blossom clusters to date.
(Take note! I am counting!)
 
But the fact remains, Dear Readers, 
I have no idea if there is enough Time!
Roughly sixteen weeks until bloom time....
and I can make one, maybe two blossom clusters per day...
But I have no idea how many Blossom Clusters will be needed!
But I'm off and running now with the
 Rhododendron Shrub project... Take two!