Branches....

Branching Out......

I hope it will not Bore you, Dear Readers, to return again to the project of making the Lilac bushes for the Folly Garden, because as I have mentioned, I am determined to make these bushes in all their glory... several times over! As with many things, it gets easier with the second and third versions... but the first one can prove to be very challenging, especially when it is something you have not done before, and you are not sure of the methods to use, or even whether the ones you want to use will be good enough. I am sure you have all experienced this in your own projects.... there is always a "learning curve"! I will confess that I have been unsure of the "proper" method for making and attaching all the smaller branches and twigs for my Lilac bushes.... and aware that each bush would need many many branches. Above you can see the main stems and the secondary smaller "branches" which established the basic skeleton of the bush. Clearly this was just the beginning!

I know it is difficult to see in these pictures....

 but the joins where the smaller branches attach

 to the larger ones needed to be "strengthened" 

by wrapping an extra layer of the paper around them.....

This picture is the "before" picture......

Here I am testing making the smaller branches with "twigs" ......

 by wrapping the thinnest wire around the slightly larger wire.... 

and covering the join with glue.

 

Here you can see some of the "joins" have been wrapped with extra paper....

 and I have added some twigs... 

(I have to prop the bush against my paint box while the stems are gluing...)

 Then I decided that "twigging" both ends of the branch first

and then wrapping the branch around the stems...

was twice as fast.....!

 

And I also decided that if I started with the "front row" of stems..... 

the ones that would be the most visible in the end.... 

it would be easier to tell where and how many branches

 were needed in the "back rows" of the bush!

So I started making "batches" of branches.... 

and kept count so I would know how many

 were needed on the next bush(es)...

Here you can see only a few of the small branches

 have been added at the front.... 

but I needed to test how they fit.....

And I needed to let the glue dry on the branches as I added them....

 to avoid knocking them askew as I added more...

And as the stems gradually filled with branches and twigs....

I could shape them more realistically... 

with bends and angles as though the branches are reaching for the light...

And I had to keep testing the bush in place

 to make sure the branches fit under and around the porch eaves,

 and could still be lifted in and out with out damage...!

And then More Branches.......

(thirty-six twigged branches... and counting...)

The smaller branches and twigs are very bendable.... 

the thicker stems are quite strong and stay as positioned.

It is starting to look more like I thought it should!

And I am sure you will not be surprised, 

Dear Readers, that while all that glue was drying, 

I was also working on a small stitching project....

This is another of the kits by Janet Granger 

that I bought a while ago.....

(quite a while ago!)

It is stitched on 40 count silk gauze

 and is meant to be a miniature "stitching project" 

for the mini people.... it comes with 

a lovely miniature needlework frame

 to attach it to when you are nearly done with the stitching...! 

Bit by bit I have been adding the details of the blossoms and stems.....

(yes, I use a magnifier for this!)

And as if that weren't enough of Branches, Dear Readers, 

I have also been making a few small adjustments

 to the Hardwick Hall Attic Spiral Stairs....!

 

The original plan for the cupola above the Attic

 relied on a framework of "joists" to support the floor of the cupola

 at the height of what would be the "ceiling" eight inches from the floor,

 but several inches below the peak of the roof.

(See the original structure in the above picture)

I had assumed I would just use the right number of steps

 on the spiral stair kit to reach that height. 

 But while I was actually assembling the stairs

 it became clear that I would need to use all the steps...

 because the railings came in "three-step" sections.

I would need to use all 12 steps.... which rose to nine and 1/4 inches 

instead of the eight I had planned on.

 

 

And another issue that had troubled me was the method

 of securing the stairs to the floor.... 

it would need to have a hole drilled to receive the "post"....

 and the floors on this kit are waaay too thin for that!

So I decided to add the "stone" base for the stairs...

 being the height of one step.

And maybe because I was thinking so much about branches and stems... 

and because trees are such a theme in this house... 

It occurred to me that maybe I could make a tree that would spiral up the stairs.... 

and the branches would support the floor above...

 and form a part of the cupola frame.....?

And with a tiny amount cut off the ceiling panels.....

 making the opening a tiny bit larger and lower.....

The top of the stairs now reach to the level of the roof!

Which just means the cupola will need to be a little bit wider and taller....

About like this.....

I think it will suit the proportions of the house

 much better than the first design.... 

 and I'm really glad I had not got very far in building it yet!

I have only just begun to build this tree, 

and I have no idea how I will make the branches or the trunk....

But I think I have to try....!

 

 

And then I remembered that I wanted to make "buds"

 on the ends of all the twigs for the Lilac bushes... 

using the "glue trick".....

 and maybe I should have added the glue to all those twigs

 before I attached all those branches......?

Ah yes, Dear Readers,

I am a long way from Done with all these branches...

somewhere on the Spiraling Learning Curve.....

Branching out....!

Hardwick Hall Hallway.....

Silver of the Moon... or Sliver of the Moon....

Some of you Might recall, Dear Readers, the Hallway in Hardwick Hall, that region that is tucked into an impossible to access corner of the House, which required that it be "completed" long before the rest of the structure was even constructed. And you might remember that I painted the Moon Maidens carrying the Moon up the stairs, each maiden carrying a different phase of the moon.... and that I added trees to the murals and stars to the Heavens above.... all of which is barely if at all visible now that the walls are in place! It is such a Dark and Hidden Hallway, and I thought I had "completed" it a long while ago. But in the back of my mind was the idea that I should have added a "Hall table" in the entrance area.... because surely every hallway needs a place to drop ones hat and keys! And recently I had bought a few pieces of unfinished wood furniture, amongst which was an "old fashioned" Queen Anne style side table..... which looked like it might just fit in the corner under the stairs...

Which you can just barely see if you look

 from an angle over the kitchen stove.... 

Imagine my surprise when it fit the spot exactly!

All I would need to do is add a mirror over the table,

 a little paint and it would be done!

Here you can see I am testing the small piece

 of mirror glass I cut, to see if it looked right.

It required quite some contortions to measure 

the height from the table to the underside of the stairs...!

Truly, this is the only view you get of this tiny space!

But it was just begging for a little Hall Table!

But then I decided that the "frame" for the Mirror needed to be

 a bit more elaborate than the normal frames..... 

I wanted it to be like the one over the Living Room fireplace,

 with the branching trees.....

 if any of you can remember That frame... 

which is also really hard to see in this House 

because it is angled away from the open side of the house...!

(Who designed this property anyway...???)

So I got out my wire to make an Armature.....

And added sculpey to the wire armature... 

being sure it would lie flat and cover the mirror edges properly.

I baked it with the mirror in place to ensure a good close fit with the glass.

And added paint to the hardened sculpey.... 

because the dark gray would just disappear in that dark Hallway....

I decided to paint the frame Silver.....

And the table as well.... 

in case you hadn't noticed Dear Readers,

there is a "silver" theme in this house!

Here the frame has its coat of silver paint.... 

which made it too shiny!

I decided I would need to "tone it down" a bit....

Here you can see the parts placed next to each other.....

 the frame is much shinier than the table itself....

But I needed to test it first in the hallway..... 

with the lights on.... 

to be sure it fit, and to be sure I needed to

 adjust the brilliance of the silver paint.....

I added a "marbling" effect... 

to resemble the texture of tree bark.....

Here you can see it in the Hallway again....

And I decided it is good enough to attach the frame to the table.... 

which required building a support framework.....

Which you can see here with the silver paint added .... 

to blend in wherever the frame support ends up being visible....

And finally the framework is glued to the table!

Only, now I am deciding I might need

 to "marbleize" the table top as well.....!

But first we need to test it in the Hallway again.....

 

Here, I have even moved the kitchen stove 

out of the way so you can see the entire table....!

Perhaps we will put a vase with flowers there....

A tray for keys and letters....

 

And when the Front Door is open.....

And you look in through the door.....

 

You can just catch a glimpse of the Moon Maiden 

carrying the Sliver of a New Moon.....

Which maybe you can spot here.... 

in the branches over the roof...... 

The New Moon.....

I tried to zoom in....

(but it makes it blurry.....)

 

 

 

So the Silver of the Moon... 

spills onto the branches below....

Bringing a Glow to the dark corner 

that is the Hardwick Hall Hallway!

And if you want to see more of the Moon Maidens,

 Dear Readers, you will have to go Here...

Yes, they are invisible....  

But I know they are there!

Making Books......

Now And Then......

I Know I am not alone, Dear Readers in my Love of Books, both RL sized and Miniature. It has been one of the constants in my miniature buildings that there would need to be books, shelves of books, reading nooks, whole Libraries of books. I bought the Secret Christmas House kit because it had a Library.... I just had to have it! I have collected mini books made by miniaturists from around the Globe whose workmanship I admire immensely. I have been sent gifts of mini books from readers of this blog on more than one occasion! And I have dabbled in making my own mini books... trying out various methods offered by other bloggers.... using printed pages shared by other miniaturists. Sometimes the books are "readable".... sometimes they are covered blocks of wood never meant to be opened. I do not remember just how young I was when I made my first dollhouse book... but I still have it and I was probably about ten years old when I made it. I was thirteen when I took an art class that taught us how to properly bind a book... stitching together the quires and making the spine and covers in the traditional methods. In the above picture you can see a mini book I made a couple of years ago, just to test the traditional methods in mini scale. The pages I used were "antiqued" (ie tea stained) and don't lie flat.... and the cover material is a "faux leather" I wanted to try out....

But I don't think it looks very good in close-up shots..... 

it is supposed to look worn... but it actually looks too threadbare

 and you can see the cloth texture in places.

But I really wanted to see how the binding methods would work

 in projects this small...

Because if you stitch the pages together right 

and attach the "spline" correctly...

 to the cover and not to the back edges of the pages....

 then when the book is opened, 

the pages fan out without damaging the binding.....!

I did it incorrectly on a book I made in my teen years....

I had stitched the pages together correctly... 

but I had forgotten that you don't want to glue

 the spine to the back of the pages.... 

I think I was impatient and wanted to get the cover on....

so I could do the illuminating.....

This was made in 1974.... 

well before the era of color copiers... 

or black and white copiers for that matter!

 Hand painted and lettered.

 

Still incomplete... I admit!

I never found the "right" cloth for the cover....

So why am I showing you this, you might ask?

Well, a recent Reader's comment asked 

whether I planned to fill the shelves in 

the Hardwick Hall Library with individual books

 or "dummy rows" with a few real books?

And I have to confess, Dear Readers,

 that I had not decided the answer to that question!

My Bookbinder self wants to make all real illuminated books.....

 but my saner self knows that this is not the Library

 that should hold those books!

The main problem being access.... 

way back in the corner of this Dark attic... 

behind the spiral stairs and the Hearth...

And a lesser problem being the lifetime(s) it would take

 to make all those books!

But Millicent's question led me to think that 

I should at least test out some of the book-making techniques 

that might be appropriate for this project....

 to see if I could manage to get it done in a reasonable amount of time!

The simplest of these methods seemed to be the printed covers

 glued around a block of wood method...

 and I even had the materials on hand..... 

having intended for years to try this method!

I had printed out some copies of book covers

 that were shared by someone a long time ago... 

I have forgotten who!

But I had printed them on paper not card stock...

 before realizing my error! 

So that meant I would need to glue the paper to card stock

 before cutting the covers out....

And it was a bit tricky to match the thickness of the printed books

 to the balsa wood I had bought long ago.... 

lots of extra cutting involved to get the shapes right!

And the balsa wood needed to be painted gold on the edges that would be the "pages"....

And the edges and inside border of the covers needed to be painted as well.... 

Because if you don't paint them,

 the white edges will show and ruin the effect!

And eventually I had a whole row of books

 in "sets" that would maybe fill a single shelf!

But how to get them into the shelves.... 

way back in the dark corner of the Attic Library...

That was the Question!

I am always reluctant to glue things down.... 

I like to Play with them....

 the Room isn't ready yet... 

what if I need to change my mind about something....?

But what good will all these books be if they don't get into the shelves....

And what good will all these shelves be if they don't get filled with books...?

Then I remembered a technique 

that somebody showed on their blog a long time ago... 

so sorry that I don't remember who.....

Which was to attach the items to a strip of clear plastic....

Cut from a clear package cover.....

Using a tiny dot of Museum Wax on the bottom......

The row of books will hide the plastic strip.....

Like so!

Here you can see the bottom side.....

But they are easily movable... 

and even removable... 

without damaging the books!

So we have to test them on the shelves.....

I think it will work! 

This way I can re-arrange them as I see fit 

once more of them are made...

Which I started right away in a slightly larger size

 after realizing that the first batch end up being quite small.... 

only 1/2 inch tall!

I had printed out sheets of the larger size all those years ago... 

and even though the print quality was not very good... 

the pixels are too large at this size... 

I think they will work well enough 

for the dark back corners of the Library...

And I had printed them on card stock which was slightly easier to use...

but still needed the edges painted....

You can see the two sizes here for comparison.....

The thickness of the wood matters!

Another row attached to the plastic strip.....

And testing the fit in the shelves.....

Gosh it's dark in there.....!

What if we turn on the spotlights.......

Or try them on different shelves.....

Here you can see them on the other back corner shelves.

 

Well, Dear Readers, I am sure by now you have realized, 

that I have realized that I will be making a lot of books... 

and most of them will not be "real" books....

And they may or may not be firmly attached to the shelves.

But every Now and Then, 

there will Possibly be a book or two

 that are made from the Pages to the Spline

 in Complete mini bound book fashion....

Because I just Love making Bound Books!