Summertime.......

 

And Sister Visit......!

We are at the beginning of a Heat Wave, Dear Readers, with temperatures to soar into the high nineties today and even top 100 degrees tomorrow and the next day, which is not at all the normal pattern for this region. Yes, Summertime is here with a vengeance! So after taking an early morning visit to my RL garden (a daily ritual) I have retreated inside for the duration. The Roses, foxgloves and lilies are all blooming furiously outside, and as I pass the Folly Garden in all it's Green Glory.... I am reminded (and tempted) to leap into the next installment of 1000 days of making the ______ (you pick the plant) for I am just overwhelmed by the options! Yes the Rose is high on that list.... but the list is long, and because the garden was also full of tiny clover blossoms and mushrooms... the tiniest little Fairy Mushrooms... I thought to visit the Fairy Garden at the Folly on my way by. Do You remember that tiny spot tucked in under the Summer Lilac shrub?

 

A Tiny sliver of summer morning sunlight

 sneaks in through a gap in my shades, 

lighting that dark forgotten corner beside The Folly Porch...

 

Where Queen Mab and her Minions 

might have partied the night away when we were not looking... 

teasing the fireflies and flirting with the crickets, 

casting spells on the unwary spiders....

 

Who have no choice but to spin Fairy Blankets

 in the grass 'til dawn...

 

When the Fairies disappear..... 

leaving behind the evidence of their revels 

for any who care to notice... 

 

Did you happen to notice....?

 

Or were you too busy dashing on by as I was the other day

 on my way to pick up my Sister for a brief visit!

 She was in the area visiting her grandchildren 

and as always I borrowed her for an overnight at my house. 

And I am sure you can imagine that we took advantage 

of the opportunity to pull out the needles and thread

 and play with the tiny dolls...

 

 

You might recall that we had begun these little ones on her last visit... 

so they were already wearing their petticoats and shoes... 

and they finally got their names... 

This is "Grace"...

 

 

And this one is "Dolly"... she is a bit shy...!

We had decided we wanted their dresses to be all lace... 

like an Edwardian Summer Tea gown....

it was just a matter of choosing the right pieces of lace... 

 

My sister chose this piece to make their cuffs... 

so we attached those first.

And we were a little concerned that their 

underpants were too visible... 

requiring more layers of "Something"...

 underskirts...? Pleated overskirts...?

 

 

I guess they are showing off their new cuffs!

 

Can you believe that was all we accomplished on the first day...?

 Well, there had been the car trip to go get her... 

and we had to stop for dinner... 

(working here on the dining table!) 

 

Next morning we started in again.... 

aware of the too short visit and not enough time....

 

And just as I was getting going.... 

look who stopped by.....!?!

"Excuse me," said Lady Arabella Rat... 

"Could I have a moment of your time?" she added politely. 

"Who are you...?" asked Dolly, clearly fascinated. 

"I am Lady Arabella," said Lady Arabella, 

"but I was speaking to your human, if you don't mind."

 "Oh!" said Dolly. "Of course not..." she added self-consciously. 

 

"If you are going to be doing a little sewing..." 

said Lady Arabella, speaking directly to me,

 "Would you mind adding a little bit to my gown 

while you are at it? 

I am rather tired of waiting..." she added pointedly.

 

"I thought you would have at least 

embroidered the skirt by now..." she added chidingly. 

"Ahem..." I replied, a touch embarrassed, 

but truly intrigued at the possibilities...

 "I am so sorry to have been so lax... " I said. 

"And I suppose I could make a small contribution now... 

since we are in the process of making some tiny gowns.... 

it really would be no problem...!" I added,

 getting excited at the possibilities!

 

And really, in almost no time at all,

 Lady Arabella got her pink gauze crinoline petticoat!

 

"It will do for a start..." she declared huffily. 

But I know in secret she was vastly relieved 

to have even gotten this far! 

Sometimes it does pay to be presuming!

 

Of course, Dolly took one look at the lovely pink crinoline

 and said "Can I have one too....?" 

And I had to agree, it seemed the perfect solution 

to her lacy dress... a lovely pink underskirt!

 

And even though we wished we could just carry on

 and stitch through the night.... 

I had to take my Sister back to her family. 

The dresses were all still a long way from finished...

 

But Grace got a pleated lace overskirt, 

Dolly got a lovely pink underskirt.... 

and Lady Arabella got her crinoline..... 

and my Sister and I got to spend time together

 sewing tiny things!

 What, Dear Readers, could possibly 

be better than that? 

Summertime and A Sister visit!

 

 

 

Back To The Garden....

 

In Pursuit of Radiance....

It is hard to believe, Dear Readers, but it is already a month since I left you with the "re-made" Adam and Eve panel in the Chapel in all it's Ocher glory, and with the new awareness that it was still not going to look right when I over-painted that beautiful rich ocher with the darker antique gold paint. I was as certain of that as I could be. Even using the lighter brighter gold that I had not used before was not going to lighten the ocher to make that "radiant glow" I was hoping to achieve. So I set it aside and worked on other things (as I always tend to do) while I pondered this dilemma. What to do? I still wanted to under-paint the gold paint. I just needed the right color. And as I was enjoying the beautiful midsummer morning light in my garden, it occurred to me to try the brilliant yellow of buttercups... it would be toned down by the over-painting of gold... but how much would it change the color? Time for another test swatch to find out!

 

Here you can see the test swatch held up to the painting for comparison. 

On the far left I tried the "traditional" under-painting

 for gold leaf... a cadmium red,

 then in the middle I applied the two layers of ocher paint

 that are currently the painting's background,

 and on the right I painted the brilliant cadmium yellow. 

The over-painting at the top is the "antique gold" that I usually use, 

and at the bottom is the brighter "thalo gold" I am not so familiar with. 

And Lo and Behold...! 

The two layers of thalo gold over the cadmium yellow

 combine to make a similar shade as that of the ocher by itself,

 but it is also iridescent! 

 

But to get there we need to start with a white background.... again!

 

I have stopped counting the times.... 

but it is painted white again 

(for now, I am only working on the Paradise panel....)

And then we begin to add the bright pure yellow! 

 

Yes, at first it is a shock to the senses... 

that brilliant yellow! 

 

Because we in the North have become so used to 

the drab browns and faded grays of the world.... 

this color seems outrageous! 

But perhaps that is part of the truth of the Fall... 

we cannot really imagine or understand 

the brilliant Perfection of Paradise....

 we can only strive toward that dream...

 

 

Here you can see the pigments..... 

the white, the yellow, the rich, light gold.....

 

 

Which I have begun to apply here.... 

at the top behind the branches and the apples... 

but it is nearly impossible to tell... 

the difference is so subtle.

 

 

Here it has been added to the upper portion

 of Adam's side of the panel....

it just creates a slightly more ocher tone...

and tames the brilliant yellow just a little bit...

 

Maybe at this angle you can see more of the iridescence....?...

 

 

Here the entire background has been over-painted with the gold... 

but only one coat!

 

 

Two layers will probably make the right difference... 

the bottom corner of the sample swatch 

has two layers of the gold.

 

 

 Here the whole panel has the two layers of the bright gold... 

I tried to get the angle of the light right to show the iridescence... 

but I think it has worked!

The "too brilliant" yellow has been toned down a notch... 

replaced by the "glowing gold" radiance I was hoping for!

But Alas, outside of Eden, it has once again made me aware

 that those scenes now need to be revised... 

the dark ocher as rich and lovely as it is, needs to go.

 

 

Surely, what we have lost the most is that rich, warm brilliance....

 

 

Outside of Eden, it is a hardscrabble life....

 

 

And because I don't know exactly 

where we are going.... 

it is a tentative path... Dear Readers, 

but step by step we will find a way 

 in the Search for this Radiance... 

or the nearest thing we can find

 outside of the Garden! 

 

The Chapel Floor.....

 

In The Beginning.....

I Hope you don't mind, Dear Readers, being given a glimpse of the Distant Past when the Chapel was just in the early stages of construction. This picture was taken in early 2011, about a year after I had begun building the Castle Dollhouse. I know it is a dim and moody picture, but it shows clearly how much of the Chapel design was already well defined and well under way. With the exception of the ceiling painting, the back altar section of the Chapel has seen almost no alteration since this was taken. The wall murals have been given their initial painting, the stained glass windows are done, the painted rock walls and floor are in place, the electric candles are shining and even the window and ceiling edge trim are already in place with the beginnings of the "ceiling angels" already painted. Over the next couple of months I had finished the other stained glass windows (The Peter and Paul window on the side wall) and the Noah's Ark and Nativity murals as well as begun the ceiling painting. But then my focus shifted to completing the Great Hall Floor tiles and beginning the Lord's Council Chamber. And soon after that I fell deeply into the Tree House Project and didn't return to working on the Chapel until two years ago. I am sure some of you long time readers might have wondered if it would ever happen! So when I did return to the Chapel my focus was quickly on completing the ceiling painting... the largest unfinished task. And in all this time there was no thought given to the floor.

 

I had originally thought I would use mosaic tiles for the floor 

(this was before I knew about sculpey)

 but they were glass and would be difficult to cut and shape. 

(I was thinking of the famous abalone tile floor of the 

bathroom in Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle... 

I wanted an iridescent effect).

But when I returned to the Chapel two years ago, 

I was thinking I could make sculpey tiles the way 

I did for the Great Hall and The Lord's Chambers. 

So I started baking a bunch of sculpey in

 various shades of gray and silver

 (I had decided by then to keep the color on the floor to a minimum....

 it shouldn't compete with the ceiling.)

 

Sorry for the darkish picture.... it was taken in February two years ago! 

But it shows the glittery gray sculpey I had come across 

and wanted to test in the Chapel.

 

Here you can see the tiles being tested in the Chapel... 

shown with the flash,

 which gives an unrealistic picture of the actual look...

 

Which would look more like this. 

Yeah, I know it is really hard to tell with just a partial covering...

 

Here is a closer view showing the sparkle in some of the tiles.

 

 Perhaps with more tiles...? 

Unfortunately, the lighter gray color 

which I liked best had been a limited supply... 

and when I bought more of the "same color" 

it wasn't the same color but gave

 that marbled effect you see to the front. 

Clearly, the pieces were not coming together as I had imagined. 

And the more I looked at it the less I liked

 the whole grid effect of a tiled floor. 

What I really wanted was the ancient 

bare rock surface of an Old Chapel Floor. 

Nothing fancy. Just big solid pieces of rock. 

More like what the walls were made of.

 Like the lowest floors in the Castle... 

the Kitchen floor and the Stables and the Dungeons...

 

Well, here is a picture of the Entire Castle 

opened and with the flash on.... 

taken a couple years ago while I was debating the floor issue.... 

see the lovely floor in the kitchen with Belle and Old Meg? 

(You might have to poke the picture to see it at all!) 

That was the effect I was wanting. 

 And the only real problem was that to make it 

required using the plastic "bondo" material,

 a two part polymer you have to mix and use very rapidly 

because it hardens quickly, and it is mandatory to use 

with good ventilation because it is toxic and it stinks! 

So the project went on the back burner (this was in October!) 

until the temperatures could warm up enough to

 leave all the windows open for several days and nights.... 

a tricky season to find around here! 

But three weeks ago I saw my opportunity coming... 

we had just suffered excessive heat for three days and nights, 

and it was going to cool down and stay cool for three days and nights..... 

So I got started! 

And there was no ability, Dear Readers,

 to mix, smear and shape the stuff fast enough

 to also have time for taking pictures!

 

I had all the doors and windows open, 

but the stuff stinks and you have to work very fast. 

The smearing to shape the floor was very

 rudimentary and uneven, and I also had to

 try to score a pattern of the rocks also very fast! 

No time to ponder anything just apply it and let it go. 

Then after twenty minutes you can start 

to rough sand the material to smooth the worst of the ridges. 

 

Suffice it to say, at this stage I thought I had ruined everything. 

It looks awful, it stinks, and the rock pattern if there was one 

was an unrealistic mish-mash... 

I had to walk away and leave it overnight.

 

The following day I decided I needed to give it a chance.... 

work on it and see what I could manage to achieve. 

So I made sure the rock outlines were clearly defined 

(it is chisel-able and sand-able when hardened) 

then I applied the first coat of primer.

 This only made me more aware of the

 "unrealistic" nature of the textured surface... 

(a sweeping valley that crosses over several rocks...

 not realistic at all!) 

But I carved down the worst of the ridge and

 figured I would camouflage it with paint in the end. 

 

The first layer of "stone gray" paint... 

the same color used everywhere on this castle.

 

Then the darkest gray in all the grout lines.

 

And some "texturing" with the dark gray

 just to add "depth" to the eventual coloring.

 

And the light gray again.... "dry-brushed" over the surface,

 trying not to cover the dark grout lines.

 

And a couple of days later deciding it all needed some "dirtying up".... 

it is supposed to be old... and worn....

 

Showing the whole Chapel.... 

to see how it is "shaping up".....

 

And adding many more paint layers.... 

all those colors I used on the Folly Rocks last summer.... 

coming in very handy!

 

Sometimes it is difficult to know when to stop.... 

when in doubt I give it a couple of days to rest 

and come back with fresh eyes.

 

And deciding that yes, I did need to add 

the white grout lines between the rocks. 

If I didn't like it, I could always paint it over again!

 

And this does help "unify" these rocks with the 

purely painted version in the Altar area. 

 

And suddenly, Dear Readers, I am reassured... 

I have Not ruined the whole thing! 

These rocks are pretty nearly what I had been hoping they would be.... 

They may get a little more paint at some point... 

but for now I am holding steady. 

For the Chapel Floor it's a good beginning!