Giveaway Winners!

We Have Winners - Take Two!

Dear Readers, first I want to thank you all for participating in my Giveaway.... but even more, I want to thank you all for being followers of this Blog of Mine! I could not have guessed at the beginning, how much fun it was going to be! You all have enriched my life with your comments and your own blog worlds and I sincerely hope to continue on this adventure for many years to come! And to all those followers who did not win the prize.... I can only offer the hope that NEXT time you will be a winner..... for surely there will HAVE to be more giveaways!
And now for the Details of the drawings! Remember that there were to be two separate drawings... one for the Cherubs and one for the Icons.... and that you could choose to be in either or both drawings.....! I carefully listed all the names of the responders and cut the lists into equally sized slips of paper and folded them in half and placed them in a bowl... as you can see here below..... I decided to choose the Icons first as there were more names in that drawing....

And I decided to ask one of my small friends to come help me with the task of choosing the slip of paper! Henry, who is always up for a bit of Adventure, was happy to come help me! I explained that I wanted him to help me mix up the pieces of paper before choosing one of them......

"You want me to get in there?" he asked.
I explained that it might be easier that way.....

"Now what!" he said. "You want me to stomp on them all? Like Grapes? I'm good at stomping Wine grapes!"

"Stir, not stomp!" I replied. "We just need to get them good and mixed up!"

"Like this?" he said.
"Much more like it " I replied!

And before I knew how it happened, one of the slips of paper flew out of the bowl! Honest! It really did! So I gave it back to Henry so he could show you who he "Chose" as the winner......

Congratulations Helene of "Pubdolls"! You have won the Icons!

Send me your address! and the Icons will be on their way - direct from the Castle Chapel Altar!

My e-mail is betsyrogers6@gmail.com

But don't go away everybody.... there is the Cherub drawing too...... and I put the names for that one in the bowl just so......
There were fewer names ... so better odds of winning..... And I asked a different little friend to help me with this one. I think Henry had gone off to look for some wine........

So Annabelle helped me!

She thought it was a whole lot of fun to climb into the bowl and throw bits of paper around!

And before I could even explain to her what we were doing,

she picked up one of the pieces of paper and said

"Lookit this one!"

"Well," I replied, "I guess you've chosen our winner!"

Congratulations Patty of "Mini Babies"!
You are the winner of the cherub paintings!

Send me your address and I will send them on their way!

My e-mail is betsyrogers6@gmail.com

So there we have it....... Giveaway Winners!

A Little More In The Chapel

Stained Glass Window - Take Two

Just a quick reminder, Dear Readers, there are two days left until the drawing for my giveaway! Just leave a comment on the previous post and I will include you in the drawings!

Meanwhile, I have not been idle! But the project I have been working on is not an easy one! The windows for my Castle dollhouse must each be fitted individually to the openings I cut in the walls of the Castle. They are all arched openings.... as was the norm in early Castles because they represented the strongest way of spanning an opening in the stone walls. There are no kits for arched windows that I know of.... and if there were, they would not fit the individual window openings I made.... my skills with the saw being a little on the amateur side... the saw cuts are NOT precisely even! So I have compensated by developing a custom window frame method that requires a lot of patient sanding to fit the openings exactly. I use basswood boards about 1/8th inch thick and cut out the window frame from a carefully made tracing of the opening. I cut two of these, and keep track of which side faces in and which faces out.... because they will only fit exactly one way! Then I sand and carve and adjust until they do fit snugly in the opening. They are spaced about one eighth inch apart.... which is the dimension of the glass pane that will be sandwiched between them! It is getting easier with each window I make.... but it is a little daunting to think of all the windows I have to go.....

Here you can see the frame cut to fit the chapel window,

and with the carved "stone" pillar details added but not yet painted........

Here is a closer view, with the painted "stone" pillars that will be attached at each side when it is done. I apologize for the poor lighting of some of these pictures...... The weather has been VERY dark and gloomy and it makes it hard to light things properly!

This is a view from the outside, clearly showing the irregular nature of the arched opening I had to fit the frame to......
And another gloomy one of the interior showing the "faux stone" painting on the window frame.

Here I have started the process of painting the "stained" glass window itself. I place the glass over a detailed drawing of the images, spaced exactly as the window openings are spaced, being sure the glass pane is centered so it will fit correctly in the opening. Then I draw the outlines with the stained glass paint "leading" outliner. It is difficult to make the stuff flow in a smooth and precise way.... but I think it would be harder to try to make the outlines with the real lead strips some people have used on their windows. Anyway, having started with one method, I will continue to use it for the duration of this project... afraid that too many different methods would look very odd! I have chosen to portray Saint Peter in the left window, and Saint Paul in the right window..... I'm calling it the Peter Paul window........

Then I begin the coloring process...... it is always hard to know when to STOP adding color!!

I wanted the sense that some of the glass was not colored.... perhaps there was not enough money to buy colored glass to make the whole window with colors... and having some clear panes lets in a little more light..... so I have left their robes mostly clear glass......

Ahhhh! Here we see the window in place and lit from outside......

This is the view from inside the Great Hall looking into the Chapel................

Come a little closer! (Yes, the moody dark shots are deliberate...!)

And closer still....... can you imagine you are walking into the Chapel....?

And you can walk right up to look closely at the Peter Paul window..............!

And because the completion of the Peter Paul window made it so OBVIOUS that the next wall panel to paint MUST be the one over the door to the Monk's Cell... I have made progress on that too! The story I am portraying is the Noah and the Flood.... a decision I had made at the beginning when I laid out which story would be on which wall. And so it has seemed a little EERIE that I am painting it at a time that we are experiencing RAIN ..... Day after Day after DAY, with no end in sight! And large areas of our country have been experiencing Historic Flooding! Fortunately, my part of the world has just been WET and GLOOMY but NOT flooded! And as I write this we have actually had two days in a row with NO RAIN and only scattered showers in the area! So I am not building an ARK.... but I am painting one....... !
I find it interesting to note that while this story is commonly portrayed in recent times.... it is very hard to find versions painted in the Medieval Manuscripts I own! I found only three versions in all of my books..... So I have taken two of them to paint on my Castle Chapel walls. One shows the animals being loaded into the Ark, and the other shows them returning to dry land. The styles of the two originals are vastly different... but I am copying them both together anyway.

Here you can see the beginning of the painting process.......

And here you can see the mostly completed paintings.......

There is still a HUGE amount of detail work to go before they are done... particularly on the bottom painting where they return to land........ When I am done, then I will show them with the originals I have copied from so you can see how different they end up.....
Here is another view of the nearly done painting in place... I apologize for the poor photo......

This is a slightly better view showing BOTH the new window and the newly painted wall.....

And a view of the whole chapel as it is now........ I wish the lighting were better.....

But, that's what I've been doing lately.......

Just A Little More In The Chapel

Anniversary Giveaway!

It's About Time!

One YEAR, one Month, and one Day after I started this Blog, I am finally ready (sort of) for my Anniversary GIVEAWAY! I had a hard time deciding just WHAT to offer for my gift! So many of you fellow miniature lovers are so adept at making so many little items... books, pillows, needlepoint carpets, mini cupcakes.... and the list goes on and on.... and most of those things I have yet to ATTEMPT to make myself.... and so I feel very unsure of offering them as gifts. So I thought and fretted until I realized that there was one thing that I DO know how to do and that is PAINT! But then I had to decide WHAT to paint..... and How MANY to paint...... and so I fretted some more! But at last I have completed a couple of tiny painted Offerings. The first subject that came to my mind was Cherubs.... so you can see below the beginnings of the paintings.

And here is a closer look at one of them after I added the gold frame. I am not entirely sure I like the gold frames.... but they are the best I can do for now.......

And here is the other cherub....... these paintings are about one inch by one and a quarter inches.

But, of course, I wasn't content to have only a couple of Cherubs to offer.... so I made a couple of tiny painted Medieval Icons too. Here is the first and smallest one I did...... it is about three quarters of an inch tall.....

Here is another view of the two Cherub paintings.......

And here is the tiny Icon on the Altar of the Castle Chapel. It is shown with the Miniature Icon I bought on a trip to France. I was fortunate enough to visit the Pilgrimage Site at Rocamadour and this Icon is my memento of that Amazing place!

And here is a picture also showing the Larger Icon I painted. I was inspired by the Image of the Rocamadour Icon..... but obviously have not copied it exactly! Here you can see them both to compare......

This is the Rocamadour Icon, closed. It is carved wood with the printed images attached inside the open panels. The whole Icon is maybe two and a quarter inches tall.

Here you can see the Icon open.........

And a closer view of my two versions of a Medieval Icon......
They are painted on a wooden panel with the ornamental framework made from cardboard...

So here is the CHOICE I am offering you if you are interested....... you may choose to be in a drawing for the Cherubs or a drawing for the Icons...... or if you are like me and can't make up your minds.... you can be in BOTH drawings!!! Just leave a comment on THIS post with your preference. I will do the drawing on May 31 which is Memorial Day and a Holiday here!

And just one more view of the Icons on the Altar of the Castle Chapel.........

So It's about TIME I got ready for my Blog Anniversary Giveaway!

Mother's Day

The Matriarch

Dear Readers, I hope you will forgive me for extending Mother's Day a little beyond the date itself! After all, in Dolland there is no need for time to pass as quickly as it does in the Land of Bigs! One can freeze time at any point and revisit it every day! So it is that I am bringing you the celebration of Mother's Day in my mini world at least a day or even two days late! My only excuse is that the weather was SO Fine here (at LAST!), that I spent much of the weekend outdoors and tending to my 1:1 garden! So I enjoyed my Mother's Day digging in my garden, one of my other favorite pastimes. But I believe the little people celebrated Mother's Day on time, and just had to re-play some of it for the Camera when I showed up late!

Charles gave Helen the Biggest most lavish bouquet he could find!

Helen had to pretend to be a little "surprised"..... because it has been so many years now and he has never forgotten to bring her the flowers.... just the same every year... She loves him so much for his faithfulness.....

And he has prepared her favorite breakfast.... he is such a good breakfast chef by now.... he knows JUST how she likes her eggs fried.... sunny side up and very soft......

And he has set the table with the china and made the tea.... and there is even a traditional New England style Apple Pie for breakfast!

Is it any wonder that Helen still loves him so?

And THIS year, their daughter Joanna is here to celebrate with them! What could be better? Joanna is SUCH a world traveler and gad-about that it is a rare thing to have her home for this holiday! Joanna knows that it is one of her failings that she didn't stick close to home..... but she just has places to go and things to do..... even though she Loves her Mother dearly!

And of course, Pollyanna is here to wish BOTH her Mother Joanna AND her Grandma Helen a Happy Mother's Day! After all, where would she be without them?

Victor has not forgotten either.... he has Roses for Joanna, but doesn't want to intrude on the Mother-Daughter moment....... such a Gentleman he is!

It is at times like this that Helen cannot quite believe that her Granddaughters are all grown up! Where has the Time gone?Pollyanna is just enjoying seeing so many generations all together at once..... they are going to have to take some family photos as soon as Sally May and Chip and Annabelle arrive!

Victor catches Joanna to give her the roses......

She is touched.......

Charles is gathering everyone in the Living Room to take the formal portraits. He has an old fashioned camera... he used to be quite a photographer in the Old Days..... and he still prefers the skill required with the old fashioned film and lighting...... none of that new digital stuff for him!

So they must all stand perfectly still..... while he counts to three.....

But wait, ......everybody is distracted! They are not paying attention!

Oh, that's just the BIG Person out there with the Digital Camera!

No need to worry about what they are up to!

"Everybody look this way, please!" says Charles...... "There, that's better!"

"I think that's what I'm looking for.....

all FOUR generations of my Beautiful Ladies in one spot!"

Whether Time is passing or Time is standing still....

it is Mother's Day in the Dolland, and whether she likes it or not, Helen is the Matriarch.

How can she NOT like it on Mother's Day!

So I hope you can forgive me for being late.... and for decreeing that it is ...

Still Mother's Day!