Christmas In July.....

Are You Kidding Me...?

Imagine my Surprise, Dear Readers, when a little over a week ago as I was returning from work on a hot July evening, I spied a package at my door that had a mysteriously familiar look about it... it was just like the packages that often arrive at Christmas Time from Birgit. (I am sure some of you are familiar with these wonderful packages!) What? thought I..... a package sent so soon...?... perhaps to guarantee it's arrival in time for Christmas this year... ?! (Because last year's took an unusually long time to get here!) Well, I had to open it in as short a time as I could manage... which actually took quite a while because each wonderful treasure had to be carefully unwrapped and examined! And there were lots of them!

The first to emerge from the bubble-wrap was this adorable baby goat... 

with a message saying he was in search of a Gypsy Wagon to call home!

And very soon after was this wonderful cat...

Flocked and whiskered by Birgit!

His message says his name is "Mephisto" 

and he's looking for a new home 

and will work for mice and milk.... 

any magical or gypsy home would be welcome!

I reassured him there were several options...

 but first I needed to see what else was in the box....!

A Beautiful magical mirror was next....

Followed by a whole assortment of magical potions 

and a family of charmed pumpkins!

And a couple of ghoulish skulls and a flying black horse....

And that was not all... not by a long shot!

More magical potions...

And parchments and wands and even a frog!

Here, you must have a closer look... 

I am sure the frog is enchanted!!!

And look... a Magic Lamp too!

(I begin to suspect that Birgit wanted to be sure they would be here

 in Time for Halloween rather than Christmas!)

And there were even more treasures... materials for making things...

 green moss for aging gardens... a whole bunch of odd jewelry findings....

Not to forget the beautiful card with Rosey smiling

 from her pink hydrangea blossom!

Well, you can see Dear Readers, how I might be excused 

for thinking Christmas had already arrived!!!

Thank you Birgit for this wonderful package!

It has been a few weeks since I showed you the Gypsy Wagons,

and I have only added a few tiny details

 in all that time.

 I'm trying to get the decorative trim pattern worked out... 

which is complicated because most of the wagon exterior is still not done...!

But I am sure you can imagine how quick

 our little Kid was to find her new home...

See how perfectly she fits?

And of course, if there is a Kid... there must be a Nanny...

 (I better hurry up and finish this "barn"!)

Meanwhile, Dear Readers,  I continued to work

 on the large castle doors project....

I painted and attached the doors to the Castle Guard Room.

Believe me, it is going to take some getting used to

 the new look of the front of the Castle!

And I continued with the doors for the upper rooms...

Some of which as I mentioned,

 hadn't even had their "prosceniums" cut yet!

I decided where the windows needed to go....

and pulled out my big saw....

And cut the windows!

I am trying to be true to the designs of the older Castles....

 they were designed to be fortresses... 

and they had very few windows.

 Windows were a weakness in the walls

 so they tended to be high up... 

just to let in some light and have a view of the exterior.

Here you can see the Great Hall doors... it is a two story tall hall... 

and at one point the gallery might have gone all around the hall.

There are windows at the gallery level and on the main level.... 

but I am wondering whether I should make

 the ones on the gallery level be four across.

Often there were more windows on the interior walls 

that overlooked a courtyard or the inner bailey.

I will have to ponder this some more.

But I did decide that the Great Hall doors needed to be double panel doors...

 otherwise they would be too large and awkward when open.

Here I have cut them into the panels.... 

but they are not painted or hinged yet.

Here you can see just the two side panels in place (held with tape!)

showing that once they are attached, 

I will be able to have a partly closed position, 

with the middle panels folded back to allow a narrow opening.

And with all the doors closed....

Gosh, it's almost starting to look like a Castle!

And oh, heavens, it got late

 and I almost didn't finish blossom number nineteen!

But there it is!

Proof in the box!

and as for Mephisto, Dear Readers, 

he is inspecting the Castle....

I think he likes what he sees!

Something tells me he will be taking over the Castle!

So you can see, Dear Readers, I wasn't kidding!

I think it was Christmas in July!

Thanks to the generosity of Birgit!

Painting .....

Castle Doors Continued....

The Castle, Dear Readers, is my first Scratch built Dollhouse, and as such it has the advantages that come with being designed by an optimistic Dreamer, and also the disadvantages of being designed by an optimistic Dreamer! To begin with, it is large.... because Castles Are large by definition... and because I didn't want to be disappointed later if I "pared down" my real estate! And it is built by hand with only the barest minimum of "real" tools, and using the most readily available materials. Because my original childhood experience of dollhouses is based on The Lovely Old Dollhouse, which was built by my grandfather from plywood.... it seemed only natural that my first real attempt would also be made of plywood. The business of making raw plywood appear to be ancient stone did not seem an obstacle at all! Miracles could be accomplished with paint! This was before I had any experience of egg-carton rock or paperclay surfaces... let alone any idea at all about sculpey and other modern mediums. This was the Dark Ages! I forged forward with gusto, and you can read about my early construction in the early posts of this blog.... because the Castle was begun only two months before I started this blog. As many of you long time readers know.... I have not stuck to only one project... and have jumped again and again to newer ones, all the while learning many new techniques and materials. And here I am now, back at the Castle attempting to bring its construction forward at least a little bit! Which brings me back to the topic of this post...paint!

The castle doors that I am adding (at long last) to the fronts

 of the mostly completed lower rooms needed to be painted. 

And as most of you know, this always takes longer than you think it will...

 sanding.... primer coat... both sides! .... drying between coats... 

sanding again.... first coat of color.... both sides .... 

and then finally me recalling that the interior side of each door needed 

to be made to look like rocks.... like the rest of the interior of the castle!

Believe me, Dear Readers, I have often debated with myself 

as to whether I should apply some sort of "three dimensional" faux  rock 

to the interior surfaces of the Castle..... (like egg-cartons) 

and I have abandoned the idea as impractical at his point, 

given the size of the project and that 

half the Castle rooms are already "done"

 with only the painted illusion of rock.

So I am once again painting the "rock" walls ...

 in this case the inside of the front opening walls... 

hoping that the "illusion" holds up well enough on close inspection.

Above you can see the beginnings of the process on the stable doors.

 

 

The minimum number of tones needed to create the illusion of depth is three...

 one for the ground color, one for the shadows and one for the highlights.

It also relies on a "direction" for the source of the light.... 

which in this case is not really applicable as 

the "light" will come from different directions at different times.

So I compromised and assume a "direct front" light source. 

This diminishes shadows, so I resorted to two basic shades of gray 

and the white of the grout for the highlight color.

 Of course, the gray paint needed to dry before I could add any highlights.

And the kitchen doors too... with just the "rock" shapes roughed in....

trying to be realistic about structure.... 

although I have identified several places where my rocks

 are not placed right and in RL the Castle would fall down!

(This comes from planning window openings

 without taking into consideration rock courses....)

These are just the first layers of paint.... 

there will be more details of "rock texture" added at a later date....!

And then I add the "grout" lines.....

Just a line of white paint down the middle of the dark lines... 

creating the illusion of grout in a crevice... (I hope!)

Boring and tedious ... but not difficult.

 Here are the two halves of the door side by side to show the difference...

And both with the grout added..... 

it defines the rocks in a way that only two shades doesn't accomplish!

(Even when the "rocks" lack texture or variety.)

And the kitchen doors with the grout.....

And the dungeon doors too....!

 

And then Finally, Dear Readers, are we ready for the Hinges?

 

The stable doors are attached....!

 

And the first of the Kitchen doors....

And with the door open....

And the other door too!

And both open......

 

And the bigger picture.... 

all the lower rooms have their doors attached!

Shall we turn the lights on...?

And open the doors....?

Yes, the inside of the Pantry doors have not yet been made "rock"....!

And the unfinished Great Hall Ceiling still beckons......

And maybe I am getting a little closer to being ready to finish it too!

Painting of a different sort altogether!

And lest you think I have forgotten Dear Readers,

 

 

I also completed the eighteenth lilac blossom!

 

Count them if you like!

But I have to confess, Dear Readers,

 the more I make... the more I think I will need to make...!

This is a Loooong way from done.... like the Castle....

Painting on the doors and walls will take a long time...

But I will continue!

 

Castle Doors....

.....And Hinges!!!

I left you last weekend, Dear Readers, with the "caves" in the Castle Base all painted and the doors ready to attach. I don't know why it took me so long to get the "courage" to add the door hinges! Perhaps it was just that the "caves" had been open for so long that I was having a hard time envisioning them as closed "cupboards" instead. But nevertheless, I decided that the only way to discover whether I liked them with doors attached, was going to be by attaching the doors! So I dug through the pile of hinges I had purchased Years ago... to locate the proper sized ones... and then attached the doors! Above you can see the first cave with the hinges on the doors... the other doors needed to be trimmed a little so it took longer to get them hinged.

Here you can see it closer.... I think they look lovely!

And with all three caves with the doors attached.

(It is really challenging to get a good shot of the entire castle and base...

 I can't stand far enough away to get it all in the picture...!)

I will need to add some sort of "door knobs"... 

but I think they will end up looking like chunks of rock... 

just something to grab to open the doors.

But then I decided they also needed to have "backstops" added

 to keep the doors from pushing too far inward and damaging the hinges.

This was Not easy to do!

I had to use a mirror and spotlight and work upside down

 to see what I was doing while screwing them to the frame on the inside....

Can you see it there.... sticking down from the top...?

Here you can see it with one of the doors closed.... 

it catches the door and keeps it from opening inward.

And once those were added...

(I am going to need to add these to all the Castle doors...!)

I decided to add the hinges to the only two doors

 to the Castle that were already prepared...

The doors to the Pantries on either side of the Kitchen....

And..... Ta Da!!! The doors are open! 

(I LOVE hinges!!!)

And then I cast my eye on all the Castle Rooms which needed to have doors added....

I was ready to add hinges right and left.....

The Stables and the Guard Room to the right.....

The Chapel and the Dungeons to the left....

And I located and identified all the door panels.....

which had been cut when I made the "prosceniums" 

for the rooms that had been started.... all those years ago!

(I began the Castle in 2010.... and have not done

 much to the basic structure since 2011).

Well, Dear Readers, I hope you have spotted

 the problem I encountered.

These "doors" are the fourth wall of each room

and they span a wide opening. 

None of them had the windows cut in them yet... 

and each one would need to be cut in half to open in the middle...

And I hadn't even started the panels for the upper rooms yet!

(Why did I think it would be a Quick and easy task?)

I had to get out my big saws...

And decide exactly where all the windows would go...

 

And hours later I had my door panels roughed out.

The kitchen ones are the ones on the right.... 

the Dungeon to the left....

The Guard Room and the Stables to the right....

 (But the Guard Room panels need trimming to fit...)

The Chapel doors to the upper left...

(the proscenium here is still not even attached 

because the ceiling is still being painted....!)

This is as much of the Castle as I can fit into one shot.

(It is 66 inches wide Tower to Tower... the base is longer).

I still haven't cut the Great Hall doors.

I need to design the window placement and

 decide whether I will have the doors double-hinged.....

And the "prosceniums" still have not 

even been cut for the upper rooms..... 

The Lord's Council Chamber and 

The Lord's Bed Chamber to the right....

And the Lady's Solar and the 

Lady's Bed Chamber to the left above the Chapel...

(which have not even been cleared of their "storage"!)

So No, I did not get to play with any more hinges.

But I did complete lilac blossom number seventeen....

Here in the box with its buddies!

 

And I spent an hour on the petit-point embroidery too....

stitching by an open window on a beautiful Summer Morning.

But my Favorite part, Dear Readers, 

is being able to open and close those Castle Pantry doors!

And now I can't wait to add hinges

 to all the rest of those doors!

Did you know how much I love hinges??