The Chapel....

 

 Windows....

It Has Been Quite a while, Dear Readers, since I last made windows for the Chapel! As with many parts of this Huge Castle building project, I sallied forth many years ago with little knowledge and much enthusiasm and have followed many many detours along the way. The two windows on the rear wall above the altar are actually the first of the glass windows I built for The Castle, and began my quest for the best method to use. They were constructed in September of 2010. And the windows on the side wall were built in May of 2011, almost exactly fifteen years ago! And I must also remind you that it took me a while to even decide to construct the exterior front opening walls of the castle... that came about in July of 2018 if you need to pursue the chronology... it is all there in the archives by date. But it was only two years ago, when I finally returned my attention to working on The Chapel that I gave any consideration to the subject matter for the opening wall side of The Chapel. The window openings had been cut years before, the two tall narrow windows were to be opposite the two on the back behind the altar. Because the paining on the wall between the windows will eventually have a version of The Annunciation (when Mary is told she will bear the Christ Child) I decided to have the windows show St. Anne (Mother of Mary) with Mary as a child, and The Visitation (when Mary, now pregnant, greets her cousin St. Elizabeth who is at an advanced age, pregnant with S. John the Baptist). As for the construction of the windows, that was just a matter of following my now well established method of building the "glass sandwich" window frames. It is time consuming and finicky work, but it makes the glass panes securely fitted to the openings, however oddly shaped they are. You can see above the shaped panels are getting the "quatrefoil" motif cut into the top of the arched openings.

 

And because each window needs two panels for the inner and outer frame, 

the quatrefoils need to align with each other as exactly as possible. 

This is a tedious process requiring much careful drilling and sanding

 but the effort is worth it in the end!

 

And testing the panels in the window openings...

 

And then each panel gets cut to make the window opening. 

I started by making the opening an arch... the easiest way to cut it,

 but was pretty sure I would square up the lower pane opening

 because the original windows were shaped that way.

 

Here both the windows have been cut

 with the arched lower panel. 

But I will square them up.

Like so!

 

 

And the bottom rail of the window frames is added.

 

 

And if you look at the right angle... 

you can see through to the windows on the rear wall!

(The Chapel door blocks part of the view...) 

 

Then the primer...

 

And the first coat of gray paint and the "rocks" getting painted...

 

Before we finally get to the design of the glass panes themselves!

I spent a few days going through my Medieval Manuscript books

 looking for the best representations of the images I wanted to portray. 

In the Middle Ages, these "tropes" had become very standardized. 

The symbolism and even the images themself were carefully copied

 from book to book, place to place and year to year and with very little variation. 

But in the Early Middle Ages, the era I am claiming for my Castle,

 there was still a "primitive" originality to many of these designs. 

Even so, I had a hard time finding images to use directly

 and forgot to take pictures as I went. 

St. Anne is usually known for her raising of the Virgin Mary to be... 

and teaching her to read.... so I have chosen to show her 

holding a young Mary's hand and holding the book.

 

 The glass pane gets taped over the drawing, 

carefully aligning it with the outer window frame edge

 to be sure it will fit right! 

Then I draw with the "liquid lead" (a Gallery Glass product). 

This is a lot to fit into one narrow 1 inch wide pane of glass!

And the "liquid lead" goes on a bit lumpy. 

I have learned that it can be cleaned up a bit later

 once it has cured for a day. 

For the Visitation pane, I had to stick to only one figure, 

it is too narrow to show the greeting of both 

which is the main theme of this event.

 

Here is an example from the 1300's... 

showing at least the style of clothing contemporary to the painting

 (as was usual in the miniatures... the artists did not know

 ancient fashion so they portrayed what they knew). 

St. Elizabeth is supposed to be "elderly" (past childbearing years)

 but miraculously pregnant with St. John the Baptist.

 

 I drew a solitary figure, but obviously pregnant

 and touching her swollen belly as if she felt the baby move. 

She is looking toward the place on The Chapel wall

 that will have the Annunciation painting. 

I could not achieve an "elderly" appearance to her...

 but tried to make her solemn in wonderment.

 

The following day I began to "clean up" the blobby lead lines.

 Here St. Anne is partly done.

 

And here she is finished with the trimming.
 

And St. Elizabeth trimmed.

 

 

And both panes with the original designs.

I decided I needed to add a couple more lines

 for clarity of design, things that were too hard to fit 

with the blobby leading at the first go-round. 

In particular, features for the young Virgin Mary,

 and more details for the cloak of St. Elizabeth. 

If you look closely you can see a couple of yet untrimmed blobby lines! 

I will trim them before adding the glass paint.

 

 

Starting with the Quatrefoil windows at the top. 

 

And continuing with both at the same time 

so I could try to be sure the colors are balancing 

between the two windows. 

 

Nearly done. 

I wanted one more defining line for St. Elizabeth's cloak

 so I added another blobby line and will paint

 the rest when it has dried and been trimmed.

 

There! 

The glass painting is finished!

Now we just want to see them in place... right?

 

Ah, well, this is really not so easy! 

This is with the Chapel lights turned on.... 

and dreary dark evening light in the room....

 

And this is with the Chapel door open.... gosh, 

I am going to have to figure out how to get good pictures of this!

 I can't get the camera into The Chapel when the front is closed....! 

And it only shows in the light from The Chapel...

 

Well, even if we can't see it

 from outside, Dear Readers, 

I will know it is there!

But there we are at Last... 

The Chapel windows are done! 

Flowers.... Flowers......

 

And Still More Flowers.... 

Well, Dear Readers, It is that time of year when we are swept into Flower Season in a great heady rush of blossoms! The Trees, the Shrubs, the Gardens, the very lawns at our feet are bursting abloom and transforming the world from a bleak landscape to a colorful wonderland seemingly overnight! Ahhhh, I do Love springtime! And, of course, here in Blogland it is the season to bring forth the Lilac Shrub in all its Spring flowering glory! It is such a brief season, lasting barely a week or ten days in RL, but I allow it a slightly longer run here in Etherland. There she stands! The ancient lilac beside The Folly porch, scenting the air with that wonderful aroma.... (well, in my imagination, at least!) and filling the hearts of all passersby with Joy! If you wonder why it takes me so long to finish my Dream Landscapes... this is the reason! It is so beautiful, but agonizingly slow to materialize! And now, every year I get to revel once more in the awe of this miniature shrub!

 

We have been experiencing a lot of cloudy days recently,

 but I was able to get pictures of the Lilac in sunlight 

yesterday morning before the clouds moved back in.

 

If you Really need to know about the making of these blossoms.... 

you can read about it in the archived posts for 2018

  (beginning in March) and (ending in October 7) 2019. 

It took a year and a half to make the shrub in four seasonal variations! 

Yes, sometimes it just takes a huge amount of time!

 

 

But, oh, it is so satisfying when it is done!

 

But that is not all the flowers I have to share with you this morning. 

I also have been stitching up a "milles fleures" 

 background for the Medieval Lord Tapestry!

 

Some of you might recall the previous Tapestries

 I have stitched in this series, showing the background

 liberally strewn with blossoming greenery. 

 

Here is the original kit picture for reference. 

Because I moved and changed so much of this design, 

I found almost no spot that I could stitch as the kit had specified,

 except for the part to the left of the Lord's head. 

I also had widened the area being stitched from 3 and 3/4 inches 

to 4 and 3/4 inches, so there was really no comparison.

 But I decided that it would be best to use the "flower forms"

 as designed, and just fit them in wherever

 I could in the new design! 

I also tried to keep a similar overall balance 

of pale and darker blossoms and to "sprinkle" 

them in a natural seeming arrangement.

 

Here you can see the "finished" addition

 of the kit designed flowers. 

But some of you might also recall that I had

 added a few more flowers to the 

other pieces of this Medieval series.... 

Lots more in fact!

 

In case you needed a reminder.... 

Here you can see all three of the Tapestry "fragments" 

lined up next to each other for reference.

 The one on the left is the first I stitched

 and I only changed a few details of the headdress

 of the lady to the left and added more flowers, of course. 

The middle one I designed the Lady to the right

 as well as all the background to her right, 

plus the added flowers. 

So you can see why I have to continue

 with this altered background for the Lord's Tapestry!

 

You might have noticed there are no blue's in the Lord's Tapestry 

(other than the midnight blue background) 

and I had added tiny blue flowers to the others. 

I dug around in my archived kits and 

found the threads for the Lady's Tapestry...

 

I keep the remaining threads, needle and charts 

in clear plastic pockets in a binder for just this reason!

 The blue threads and some of the green threads

 I used were all right there!

 

It was just a matter of fitting more flowers

 into the background wherever I could... 

keeping an eye to the color balance too. 

There are also tiny "white" blossoms being added... 

but they are nearly impossible to see until the background is stitched.

 

 Here all the flowers have been added... 

before the background midnight blue is added.

 

Which is quick to follow... 

because we need to see how it will look...!

 

And Oh, how I love what it does to the colors!

 

But not to distract you, Dear Readers, 

I have also been stitching a few "flowers" 

on the Chinese Dragon Carpet too!

 

Now that the daylight is lengthening and the light is stronger, 

I have been working on the Dragon Carpet again. 

It needed the corner motif's redesigned

 from what the original kit specified. 

But first I had needed to add all the little "golden blossoms"

 to the chart in the appropriate places. 

Because I had changed this design too,

 I had to alter the position of these blossoms.

 

And I had redesigned the corner motif entirely! 

I wanted to carry the central motif of the sun

 out to the corners, and balanced it with 

additional golden flowers just inside the corner.

 

Here you can see I have added the golden flowers

 to all the corners and the "sunburst" to the outer borders as well. 

Now all I need to do is design the remainder of the borders.... 

and stitch the white background... 

that will take a while!

 

Well, Dear Readers, I have been

 Wallowing in fields of blossoms lately,

 stitching Flowers, flowers and still More flowers.... 

and Loving every minute of it!

 

 

Details.....

 

And More Details....

Sometimes, Dear Readers, I am struck by what a Magnificent Structure this Castle is becoming! And in those infrequent moments, my resolve to just Keep on Keeping on is fortified and the missing inspiration is awakened anew! What has taken me so long...? This is the ever present nagging voice in my life... but I know these things take Time, and lots of it, for those pesky details to emerge from the confusing mists of "what if I tried this...?" and "maybe this would be best..." or "What was I thinking..." or "How could I have forgotten that..."?. Clarity is sometimes a rare treat. And thus I will tell you that the Grand Lower Windows of the Castle Great Hall have always been as clear as a bell in my mind! The story is that they were "added" to the original Ancient fortress along with the fireplaces sometime long after the original structure was built. They are large and have opening glass sections at the bottoms. But true to typical castle construction, they are "plainer" then the higher up windows. The arch at the top is just plain without the saw toothed decoration and the central pillar is plain with out the barley twist carving. The only extra decorative element is the capitals on those pillars. And of course, they ware not so easy to make!

 

But first, we have to build the arches. 

Again I am using that scrap of luan plywood. 

It has a smoother grain and denser filler than

 modern plywoods of similar thickness.

 Then they need the required painting...

 

Primer, the base coat of gray and the "stone" texturing.

 

 And here they are propped in position, awaiting the glue. 

But we are still missing one important detail!

 

Did you notice there is no "Capital" on that central pillar?

 

Like this! 

(The one on the left)

Can you see the difference it makes?

 

I neglected to take pictures of the making of the capital. 

By itself the stock wood was not thick enough at the base, 

so I needed to pad it to make it thicker. 

And it needed to taper in from top to bottom.

I know it is impossible to tell from this picture!

 

 Here you can see both with the capitals. 

It makes the windows grand, elegant, but not fussy. 

 

It always amazes me how much difference

 the glazed windows make in a building!

And eventually the entire facade will

 have the "rocks" painted too. 

 

 But that is not all I worked at this week, Dear Readers. 

The Medieval Lord Tapestry had it's share 

of pesky details to sort out as well!

I left you last week with the Horse just getting his legs....

 

I was trying to get the main outlines of 

the horse's body stitched, so I could be sure

 of his placement and angle of stance. 

This was so that I could design the saddle. 

My original sketch was inadequate in several ways.

 It omitted the stirrup, and didn't allow for the

 "roundness" of the horse's girth around the belly. 

There was really not quite enough space 

for everything to look right and be distinct 

when stitched at this thread count. 

 

And there was the question of what colors

 the saddle should be.... most leather saddles

 are brown of one shade or another. 

And while the tapestries proved that saddles 

also came in brilliant shades of red or reddish-brown, 

that was way too similar to the horse's color.

 

While pondering these issues I decided

 to get the horse as finished as possible, 

the better to judge colors and positions.

 

I had chosen a dark maroon red for the horse's reins... 

the ones that steer the horse, not the decorative

 flashy ones of the "caparison" ...

 they are the ones the Lord is holding.

 I decided to make the stirrup leathers the same color

 and stitched the metal stirrup and the leather first,

 since they will be "in front of" the rest of the saddle. 

Fitting the saddle girth behind them was really tricky.

 But this also needed to be done before

stitching the rest of the saddle. 

I made a start on the saddle, in back next to the horse's head,

 but the color was too similar to the rest of the brown horse. 

I ended up unstitching that bit and starting again 

with the grays I used for the hooves.

This shows the saddle "removed" (ie unstitched)....

 

 

And the re-drawn chart... 

also the "extra bit" of the horse's hind end

 that would not fit on the Tapestry...

 

 

Here the new saddle color is started... 

way up there at the horse's withers (beside his head)... 

but it was getting late and dark... 

I needed to be stitching in the daylight to judge the colors.

 

 

Here I have decided that I need the clarity 

of the Tapestry edges to work within 

so I ran a line of sewing thread around the stitching area.

 

 

I have begun the saddle stitching... 

I decided the gray colors worked well enough... 

but I am not happy with the shape of the saddle. 

 

 

 Having unstitched and re-stitched the saddle a couple of times... 

I realized I was not going to be able to make it look "right",

 but this was probably good enough.

 The saddle is not supposed to be the focal point at all.

 It needs to just be there in the background, 

recognizable as a saddle whether or not it is accurate in details!

 Once the background is finished, the Lord 

and the Horse himself should be the focus.

 

 So I concentrated on finishing the horse himself.... 

including the complicated decision of whether or not

 to include his left back hoof.... 

the one that sticks back into the tapestry fragment at the bottom right..

 I decided he would be happier with the hoof than without! 

It gives him balance.

 

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

but for Me, all those little details

 make such a difference.

 Details matter a lot!