Refinements....

 

Forgotten Possibilities....

As we Swelter into the Dog Days of Summer, Dear Readers, I find myself seeking the relief of Arboreal Shade wherever it can be found. I am fortunate to have some big old trees casting blessed shade over parts of my property, and while I had to remove the biggest of them a few years back (it was a danger to the property being very tall and hollow inside) I am very grateful for the shade the others provide. It is hot again this week... (I am tired of this extreme heat!) and the Summer is just begun... and so I shelter inside and turn my attention to the Castle.... and the Chapel Murals. There go Adam and Eve.... cast from the blessed comfort of Arboreal Eden... sent out to the harsh unforgiving World... and that harsh blue sky and baking earth... and once again... I am toning down that blue sky. It is always tricky to judge the paint colors as they are painted... they will dry a slightly darker hue... so once again you can see the "lighter" shade starting next to the Archangel Gabriel where he is evicting the chastened sinners from Paradise. We don't want this World to appear too appealing after all... it needs to be barren and bleak and rough. I can sympathize with their discomfort. It is hot out there.

 

It is subtle, this lighter blue... 

but the right hand panel is done, the left is not.

 

And here they both have been

 "lightened" to a paler, faded sky. 

And because It takes me a while to be sure of this color, 

I cast my attention to my own Arboreal Wonder.... 

The Tree House... which stands to the side of The Folly.... 

(perhaps dreaming it's own Dreams of fulfillment....)

 and My eye lands on one of those tiny little irritants.... 

a place where the steps don't meet the floor just right....

 (can you imagine a world where they always landed just right?)...

 

Of course, it is hard to spot, back there

 where the next staircase winds upward... 

but trust me... there is a little tread-shaped

 wedge-like gap.... and the piece of "scrap"

(a cut-off from the castle window capitals construction) 

that seemed like it just might fill that gap!

 It would be a challenge to test...

 

With the Nursery back wall removed, you can see

 the little wedge inserted there at the base of the stairs. 

Ha! Look at that!

I could not have cut a better fitting piece if I had tried!

 The Scrap-genie is at it again! 

When the glue dries I will trim the steps level...

 

Here they have been trimmed... next I will stain them

 and then we can forget this ever happened!

 

But meanwhile, over in The Chapel... 

the worldly Adam and Eve get their eyes....

 

Ah, the eyes....! 

The eyes always say so much..... 

and Adam and Eve are seeing with new eyes...

 

And while I am trying to ferret out all those little missing bits

 that need to be finished before we can glue down the Nursery Walls...

I have had another look from the back side of The Nanny's Room....

 toward the "front" side of The Tree House.

 We are looking at the back side of those posts

 to which all the doors' hinges are attached. 

The first post was not tall enough and needed

 to have an extension spliced onto it. 

You can see the junction in the above picture. 

It has a very irregular shape due in part

 to a subtle change in the slant of the extended post

 (The Tree House itself does slant outward from it's base

... in a natural fashion as it leans over its brook...)

 this change was on purpose... the extension needed

 to slant less than the lower section.

Then there is another small extension

 just for attaching the Nursery Opening Wall door.... 

leaving a horizontal seam between the two pieces. 

 

 Here you can see it from the Nanny's Room opening wall doorway....

 there in the left corner by the sconce... 

I have always thought this would make a perfect spot for a set of shelves.

 Nanny would want to keep her supplies in a safe place, after all!

 

Here you can see the same wall from the opposite direction.... 

looking straight down from the Front side of The Tree House. 

You can see that the wall "posts" don't align exactly.... 

a nook is formed. 

And oh look....

 the ceiling trim is missing too!

 

 The last little remaining pieces of that trim

 were still waiting to be used.... 

it was just a matter of trying to get the swags 

to align once the miters were cut for the corner....

 the longer section is needed just to

 accommodate the miter cuts....

 

And here you can see the last piece has been

 fitted into the top of that forgotten hidden wall.

(Sorry about the too dark photo.... 

sometimes I forget the need for flash!) 

 

Here you can see it from the side opening wall.... 

with the sconce lit and the painted ceiling in place. 

It fits quite well! 

And reminds me that there should be wallpaper on that wall.... 

 

But first I get started on that bookshelf.... 

made of old coffee stirrers.....

 

It is really difficult to tell if it will fit

 in that nook until it is partly constructed. 

The Nursery Room wall is still not attached

 so it can be moved out of the way during 

the fiddling and fidgeting stages... 

but then we have to put it all together and try

 to see if all the walls meet in the right places... 

so far they do!

 

While I am waiting for the glue to dry 

on that tiny shelf, Dear Readers, 

I revisit the Chapel to add the rocky landscape

 and to refine the shape of the trees... 

(having decided that this is The Blue that will be right) 

now I can complete the rest of the landscape details.

 

And while I am working on the trees of this World, 

I glance up to glowing Eden and realize 

I have not yet repainted any of those leaves 

since redoing the golden background! 

Yes, I was forgetting that step! 

But since I had the green paints all mixed

 I got right on it!

 

Here the tree's leaves have been done....

 but work is still needed on the roses and the vines. 

And the Earthly Adam and Eve 

still need their clothes painted... 

and Gabriel needs details on his wings 

and more gold on his halo. 

Still so much to finish...

 

But back in the Tree House, we are testing the

 bookshelf in the corner to see  how it fits. 

I will be trimming the sides and adding a top shelf.

 

Some of the thickness of the door trim 

needed to be carved away to fit the shelves. 

 

 And somewhere along the way, Dear Readers, 

I realized If I pivot The Folly property on my worktable

 so it is "kittycorner" (diagonal) 

I would have much easier viewing 

of this difficult hidden forgotten wall!

 

 Here you can see that much of that 

little window seat is actually visible at the right angle! 

And I have cut down one side of the shelf... 

testing to see if it is the right height now...

 

Here I have cut the wallpaper panel and added the

 wainscot top trim at the right height. 

The shelf just fits under it.... but it leaves a small gap..... 

which looks awful!

 I am just realizing that this wall needs the 

same wainscot paneling as on all the other walls!

 

See what I mean? 

Here the wainscot top rail has been stained.... 

but looks out of place without the paneling below it.

 

Here you can see that wall from the back side view.... 

(we won't be able to see it from this angle when the Tree House is done)... 

but you can see how the forgotten wall really needed to be completed! 

As for the "protruding" section of the hinging post.... 

that is going to become a part of 

the external tree trunk intruding into the room..... 

it just needs to be made more "tree-like"....

 

Starting with a cardboard bump-out....

 

Covered by some paper bark shape....

 don't worry, this is just the foundation layers! 

There will be much more added before it is done.

 

 I had to add the ceiling into the mix to test for placement

 and coverage and general shape and view-ability.

 

And another shot.... this is the "treeness"

 that has been missing from these rooms!

 We are nearing the top of the pollarded trunk of this grand tree.....

 and thus the walls of the trunk are narrowing in

 and intruding into the living spaces.

 I need to get the methods nailed down.... 

Ha ha, remember the lilac stems Odyssey...? 

Let's hope it doesn't take that long!

 

 Meanwhile I cut a bunch of matchsticks 

down to size and glued them in place.

 

And stained the paneling.

 This is the view from the back side with the

 Nursery wall (to the right) removed... 

but this way you can really see the 

entirety of that forgotten wall!

 

And with the shelf in place! 

It really makes that wainscot disappear.... 

but it really didn't look right without it!

 

And there's that little cushioned window seat too!

 

I didn't get a whole lot done that was new, Dear Readers,

 but I found many tiny improvements

 and refined many tiny details... 

and started to recapture the "Treeness" 

of this amazing Arboreal World!

 

Bits And Pieces....

 

 Step By Step....

Sometimes, Dear Readers, It feels like we are Wandering in the Wilderness with no guides to speak of, and every step matters because it takes us along a path to Somewhere... that great aimless "forward" that Time insist on, but doesn't always yield the expected results. We have Dreams, dangling out there in the distance, the carrot on the stick so to say.... tempting us onward... "if I could only get this done..." we think... "it will make such a difference....!" ..... but then the next beacon is pulling us onward... Do we simply Stop and Ponder, as Buddha did... until we have it all figured out.... or do we just keep on taking the next step....? The Castle.... that Great Enticing Behemoth in my Room.... makes me think these thoughts. It is like a confounding Maze, there is always another twist or turn to try! You can see above the next small steps for the Adam and Eve painting. It would seem such a simple thing.... just paint the background.... then complete the smaller details... the paintings are only about one and a half inches square... what could possibly take so long? As you know, I had previously painted the background a rich earthy ocher only to decide it was too rich a color for the Fallen World of Adam and Eve. Better to stick with the blue sky we all know so well. But to get there I had to once again paint the background the bare bones white which you can see on the left hand panel. This is necessary for the over painted color to appear as itself.... as un-muddied by what has come before as is possible. 

 

And here you can see both panels have been given

 their brilliant azure background.... 

but already I am uncertain if it is the right tone.. 

it is perhaps too dark a blue. 

I was aiming for the blue I used on the 

backgrounds for the Creation scenes.... 

(when the ceiling is in place they are 

directly overhead above this painting....) 

but once again... I feel they are too rich 

for the earthly realm to which 

Adam and Eve have been demoted. 

It is too close to that fresh clear Heavenly color.... 

it needs to be a paler more faded hue.

 

And while I ponder this issue, I am reminded

 that so many of The Castle's outer opening doors

 need those "overlap panel" strips added

 to the already "finished" doors. 

No time like the present to make those little changes, 

think I, and quickly cut the needed strips of wood. 

And yet, many of those doors have window trim 

that will need to be cut away along the side

 to make room for attaching those overlap panel strips...

 

Here you can see the Stables door.... 

the simplest example to alter. 

The protruding stone trim on the left needs to be 

cut back by about one eighth of an inch 

to allow for enough width for the overlap panel 

to be glued securely. 

I have started to make the saw cut in the above picture...

 

And here the offending "stone" piece has been abbreviated!

 

Here you can see the strip being glued in place... 

it needs to have enough overlap to cover the gap in the doors

 while still having a good amount of glue attachment to the door itself..

 

This is the interior view showing the needed

 abbreviation of the window trim "stone".

 

And this needed to be done for all the doors 

that have already been "completed".... 

most of which are in the Lord's Tower. 

I will not bore you with showing every trim being trimmed... 

suffice it to say the Lord's Tower panels have been attached! 

 

And while I am waiting for the Glue to dry, Dear Readers, 

I turn my attention to the ever annoyingly unfinished 

sections of the Tree House which stands at my shoulder,

 and ponder the possible "next steps" to take

 in the quest for "stability" if not completion. 

 

The Nursery and Nanny's room have been 

"under construction" for a dozen years now 

(utterly ignored for the first ten of those) 

but I was chasing other Dreams and had lost my path. 

 

 

The partially completed walls would fall down

 every time the house was shifted or moved, 

or decorated with snow for winter..... you get the picture. 

I used tape to hold the doors closed and the walls in place.... 

But what would it take to attach some of those walls? 

Were they ready to be glued in place? 

What exactly was the "next step" for this 

complex puzzle of partly finished pieces?

 The most rickety corner was the little side wall to the

 Nanny's Room where it extends past the original hinging post.

 Was there any reason not to make it 

a little less likely to fall down...? 

Some little "support braces" perhaps? 

I scrounged in the worktable scrap pile and

 came up with two little cutoffs... bits of matchstick... 

to glue alongside the wall... you can see them there

 abutting the little wall and they keep it from tilting outward!  

So simple.... not a problem, not in the way.... 

not even preventing the wall from being removed

 (not yet glued down!) but backstops to all accidental movement!

 So emboldened by this success was I,

 I needed to see if I could determine what was keeping

 the walls themselves from being finally glued down...!

 

This required the "overhead view.... 

(and results in a too dark photo.... sorry about that!)

 Several of the walls have been removed 

(otherwise called fallen down). 

The Nanny's room (the most complete section) 

is to the right, the back wall spans 

both rooms and abuts on the stair tower..... 

and the stair tower is needing completion

 before the back wall can be attached. 

 

Which necessitates removing nearly all the walls 

(excepting the Nanny's room end wall and short wall). 

Here they are loaded into the "safe-keeping box" 

along with the furnishings.

 

So we can access and complete the stair tower walls! 

This picture shows the stair tower from the top....

(with the help of the flash!) 

I had already added the glittery wallpaper to the inside wall 

(the same as used on the lower stairs walls...)

 

Here is the side view of the stair tower door....  

again using flash so you can see the wallpaper...! 

Why is this necessary?

 Because the stairs are visible through the door to the Nursery... 

and it hinges open... so it will be visible in the end.

 It was a bit tricky getting the glue on the outside edges of the

 stairtreads and then wrapping the cardboard tube snugly enough

 to grip the stairs but not get too squeezed out of shape.

 Yes, I stood and held it for a while.... 

quite a while in fact! 

But it worked!

 

Here is the back hallway view.... 

the glue is still drying and I am testing the wall in place

 to make sure the parts all align properly.

 

By now I had decided there was no reason not to glue

 the Nanny's Room opening door wall frame 

and the small side wall in place.

 Because the walls slant a bit (on purpose) 

the attaching join is very irregular. 

I added an extra "matchstick brace" to the slanted junction. 

There will eventually be an extra layer of

 cardboard holding it in place as well.

 

The Tower Stairs doorway also needed some trim... 

being glued bit by bit!

 

The top of the arch abuts the back hallway wall... 

so it needed to be ended at the right spot.

 

And while the Tower Stairs trim is gluing, 

we can take a look from the back side of the 

Nanny's Room opening wall and short wall 

seeing the room from the inside point of view.

 

Which made me realize

 the window seat needed a tiny cushion. 

I pulled out my velveteen scraps...

 and whipped up the perfect little cushion...

 

Just right for that tiny little alcove! 

Alas, this is one of those spots that will be

 impossible to see in the finished room... 

but I will know it is there... 

and I will Dream of sitting on that little seat

 while the moon rises overhead

 and the fireflies dance in the garden below..... 

well, I can Dream, can't I?

 

Well, Dear Readers, I don't know about you,

 but sometimes those bits and pieces

 and little steps lead to the most

 wonderfully surprising places!