All Over The Map!

Father Alban Comes Home....

I Hope you can Forgive me, Dear Readers, if I jump you all over the place this week, because I just have So Much to show you, it is hard to know where to start! And if I have learned Anything from making minis... it is that Sometimes you just have to Start Somewhere... and see where it leads you! And maybe that lack of forethought is why I am so often asking myself "how did I get Here...?"....but it is also a vital part of my method, if it can be called that! So I will Jump in and show you the Start of that pesky Next Room Up in the Tree House! (The What House, I hear you ask...? It has been so long that I will forgive you if you have forgotten it by now!) As some of you will remember I have often used the Exterior Door to the Room as the Initial clue to get me started in the Room, but in This case, the Door did not succeed in getting me started. It told me nothing more than "Zero" ! Zero as in Round, circular shape as the over-all theme. Hmmm. In an oddly shaped space in a Tree House. Then I realized that I had to attach the foundation for the Spiral Stairs at the back of the room before I could go forward... and ran into snags about the Attaching the door-frame part. But I have finally attached the frame Half-way... just so I can move on with the planning and that made me realize I needed to place the door to the Spiral stairs in just the exact right spot in order to meet the stairs correctly! So I cut that door and attached those Hinges!!!

Progress at last! 

And from there it was time to decide Exactly where the Fireplace would go....

Because the door was now in the place all the other rooms had the fireplace.... 

and that meant also deciding Exactly what the fireplace would look like..... 

and that is when things finally started to come together!

I started with a small "picture frame"....

For some reason this frame always looked like the Surround to a fireplace to me.... 

and I just wasn't sure which room would be the right one... 

But I think it is Perfect for this room....

Framed by these Awesome blocks of iridescent shell-like material (I am not sure what it is!)

And can we test the wall in place...?

 

 

Or maybe we can see the iridescence better here....

Well, once again, we have the Difficulty of getting a good photo on this small scale..... 

in place and with shadows everywhere...!

And here is another shot with the addition of a Circular piece of shell for the floor...

The color of the Beautiful Blue Sea.....

And you can see the two other doors cut in the side wall..... 

leading to....

Well, forgive me if I don't reveal all just yet!

We are Jumping around.....!!!

Because I just Have to share with you a place I visited this weekend....

It is a Local Used Bookstore called "Federal Street Books"...

and I have not been there for a while because I really don't have room in my House for more Books.... 

but I went on Saturday....

And as I was browsing the stacks of old books... 

I spotted Someone calling to me.....!

I am Positive he was Not there when I last visited!

He was firmly attached to the shelf (I tested!)

And then I looked further.....

And spotted another Small Escapee from Lilliput.....

And Another!

And Then I Looked UP.....!!!

Whoa!!!

What World had I Fallen into...???!

Everywhere I looked....

Even Your Nightmare Types....!!!

Thank Heavens The Hero's were there too!!!

(Or I Never would have gotten out in one piece!)

The owner of the Shop was glad to let me share these pictures on my blog....

If you are ever in this area, be sure to stop by the store!

And as if THAT wasn't enough Adventure for us all... 

I have to introduce you to Father Alban....

Here he is just in the very beginning....

He is made from Sculpey.....

With a cloth over wire body so he is poseable....

 

Here he has more of his beard.....

And then I had to make his under-gown

I have not yet made his Robe....

But I made his Easel.....

And his Ink horn and paint dishes.....

(Shells he has carried with him on his travels from the Farthest East...)

And his mortar and pestle for grinding pigments.....

And set them all up in a corner of the Chapel.....

Ever since I began this Castle... over Three years ago... Dear Readers, I have been intending to make the "Monk" who resides in the cell and administers to the Spiritual needs of the Castle Folk! And I have been fairly certain that he would also be a Book Illuminator... and he would have a desk in the corner of the Chapel to sit and paint his illuminations.... But I have constantly delayed in even Starting this project! So Why have I Started it NOW....? you might well ask.... when I have so Many Projects already under way and Incomplete?

Well, it is Because I agreed to do a Swap with the Lovely Ewa of "The Sunny Hours" blog... 

where I will get her Gorgeous hand made Cradle.... 

and all she wanted from me is a painting.... 

an Icon like the one I did for my second blog Giveaway....! 

I decided I better call in the Master to do the Painting! 

I just didn't realize how far away he was.... 

He had been all the way to Jerusalem and back in his Long life.... 

with stops on the way in many a fine Monastery....

But perhaps we don't have Time to tell his story just now....

Perhaps it is enough to know that he has finally Returned to the Home of his birth....

Where Sometimes he rises in the middle of the night and answers the call of his Vision....

Or Maybe it was all just a Dream....

This Painting he knew he had painted before....

And would probably Paint again.....

And maybe one day he would even think he had got it Right......

So perhaps we should just leave him to it, Dear Readers, 

Because, while he Truly has been All Over The Map....

Father Alban has at last Come Home!

(It is Almost Finished, Ewa!!!)