Yet Another Detail....

You Might Not Have Noticed....

Believe it or Not, Dear Readers, I have added another detail to the Winter Lilac Shrub, but I would understand if you have not spotted it right away. I was not sure I would be able to successfully make this detail, but I decided I needed to try.... just in case observant folks were to later accuse me of leaving something out! If you know where to look you can spot it in the above picture.... just to the right of the front door... can you see it? Yes, I have added a few of last year's lilac blossom seed pods to the shrub! Most people do not even notice them in RL, but I assure you this past year produced an abundance of them in our local shrubs., so I had plenty of models to follow.

Here you can see one of the shrubs where I work...

And a couple more examples silhouetted against the sky.

Even my own little shrub had a few still clinging to the stems...

I harvested one so I could see how it was shaped.....

And then I just had to see if I could make something like it.

 

 

Working on the same principle as the blossoms, 

but starting with a tiny punched star

 (because we didn't need petals)

I cut them in half...

Glue them to a thread.....

And when that is dry, add a dab of glue

 and twist the paper around the thread...

leaving it a little open as though the seeds have fallen.

The white pieces above are the seed pods drying.

(Meanwhile the lilac blossom production is under way for Forty-nine!)

And then we paint them a dried brown color.

And start the assembly process.... 

still just testing here!

And making the clusters of pods.... 

the blossom is actually a bunch of little stems...

And attaching them to the brown painted stem.

At this point, Dear Readers, I believe I am getting

 a good enough result that I started in on a whole batch of them!

Unlike the blossoms, they can be made with fewer pieces...

 

 

 so one week's batch made six more seed pods.

 

Meanwhile, Blossom number Forty-nine is completed!

And here it is in the box!

Soon... very soon, it will be time

 to start attaching them to the spring shrub!

And here is this week's batch of ten leafy stems all done too...

(Spring is right on schedule....!)

So did you spot the dried seed pod on the shrub?

On the branch by the door....

Believe me, I'll understand if you couldn't see them at all!

All seven of the seed pods are attached in the shrub.

And even though it is such a tiny detail

 it might not be noticed at all, Dear Readers, 

I am glad I made them,

 because I will know they are there!

Almost Spring....

Not Much To Show....

It was a Hectic weekend full on Non-mini projects, Dear Readers, but I had set myself the challenge of seeing whether I could produce the weekly blossom plus ten leafy stems. I am happy to report I was successful! Above you can see blossom number Forty-eight mid assembly while the ten leafy stems were also being painted. It turned out that the two tasks worked well side by side, because I could paint while the glue was drying and glue while the paint was drying!

Here is blossom number Forty-eight completed!

And here it is in the box!

What a sight!

Here I am painting the leaves.

 I paint the paler underside of the leaves first, 

as well as a wide stripe down the middle of the top side of the leaves.

 Then I add the darker leaf green on the top side, 

carefully leaving a narrow stripe of the paler green in the middle.

 It is much easier to paint up to the narrow stripe from each side

 than it is to paint a narrow pale stripe down the middle of the leaf.

Above you can see just the top two leaves

 have not yet been painted with the dark green, 

showing you the wide center stripe I painted initially.

 It will be almost completely covered by the darker green.

 

And here are the ten leafy stems all painted!

And I even started the painting 

on all the rest of the stems I had partly finished...

They just need the darker green paint added!

So there you have it Dear Readers, 

I don't have much to show,

 but I am making good progress

 and it is Almost Spring!

Oh, and if any of you know why my blog ID photo

 has suddenly stopped showing on my blog... 

and on some of my comments... 

I would love to know why...

and if there is something I can do to fix it!

Spring Forward.....!

Ready or Not.....

I am sure you will Think I have already shown you this, Dear Readers, because in a way, I have, but actually this is the Other Winter Lilac Shrub finally getting the buds painted! I am struggling to get caught up with all the steps I had completed on the Snowy Lilac shrub.... and of course, I thought it would be a quick little job to paint all those buds. It's not. Hours of carefully painting all those glue blobs .... it is so much easier to add them than to paint them! And believe it or not, they have two sides...! You think you have covered the whole bud blob... but if you turn the shrub, the back side is still just dried glue! And you have to reach into all the branches and only get the paint on the glue blob bud! And you have to be methodical and resist the temptation to just paint the next nearest one... that path is chaos. It is important to proceed one entire stem at a time so you don't overlook a single dried blob of glue! As I said, this is not a quick little step! And this weekend we even had one hour less Time because the Clocks had to change. But it is done! And it is the last shrub that will have painted buds!

Then I also needed to add the nest.... 

which still needed to be "aged".... 

here you can see it with the other two remaining nests,

 also getting their wash of brown paint.

Here I have added it to the shrub.... I know, 

it is hard to get a good picture.

I think the twigs confuse the camera.... 

it doesn't know where to focus.

I also started a serious study, Dear Readers, 

of the Time needed to produce

 the leafy stems for the Spring and Summer Shrubs.

 Above you can see the stems with twigs prior to adding the leaves.

 I estimate I will need four leafy stems per branch.... 

times roughly  thirty branches.....

 (the number of main branches on the shrubs)

 which totals about 120 leafy stems per shrub.

I have about thirty already made but not painted...

 which leaves about 90 left to produce.... 

and only nine weeks left till blossom time!

And my study determined that it takes roughly

 one half hour per leafy branch from beginning to end.

 

 

At ten branches per week, that takes five hours... 

 

 

in addition to the four or five hours needed for the blossom plan....

 Will there be enough time....?

                

 And speaking of Blossoms... here is blossom number Forty-seven!!!

 

 And in the Box!

(Even I am becoming impressed!)

But really I wanted to show you

 the Other Winter Lilac Shrub in The Folly Garden....

 I did not add any more snow to the shrub... 

(even though it snowed again on Sunday...)

Because at this time of year the snow is melting .....

And the minute the sun comes out .... 

all the snow is gone from the branches... 

even if it is still thick on the ground!

Those bare branches give us hope!

 

 I still have to add the suckers to this shrub.... 

and the fungus to the stumps.... 

and the lichen to the stems......

But I think I am making progress, Dear Readers,

Springing Forward....

Ready or Not!

 

And More Snow.....

Marching On....

I spent a good bit of Time, Dear Readers, adding more snow to the branches of the Lilac shrub. Above you can see it in the glaring light with all the branches at least "dusted" with snow. It is very slow and persnickety work! Those twigs are very skinny and flexible and the "snow" just doesn't want to stick to them! It is important that the snow only stick in places where gravity would naturally collect it.... and the slanted stems are difficult to coat in the right places. I thought I had made pretty good progress, and maybe even had added enough snow... until I tested it in The Folly Garden again.

It hardly looks like I added any at all!

This is probably because most of what I added was on the twigs...

and when seen from the under side, you don't see the snow.

I tried to take a picture looking down from above... 

but the camera wouldn't focus well...

The snow just doesn't show up very well.

I tried taking a picture in the Morning light...

it is a little more visible here...

Daylight does seem to make a difference!

And looking down form above...

(I know, it is hard to focus!)

But is it enough, Dear Readers?

Especially in light of the example set by Mother Nature last night.....

A March snowstorm..... 

begun after bedtime, done by dawn......

Wet enough to stick to everything.....

No wind to speak of....

Look at the "hat" on that little garden light!

And the "pile" on the delicate rail of the gate!

I think Mother Nature was trying to show me how it's done!

 

And meanwhile, 

the only other thing I got done was the blossom...

Number Forty-six completed!

I will be making them all as individuals from now on,

 not adding them to the already finished stems,

 because not every blossom on a shrub is a "double" one.

Here it is in the box...

 (with the other singles in the left hand corner.)

 

Well, Dear Readers, It will probably have to keep on "snowing"

 for a while until I get the desired effect on the shrub.

But Time is moving quickly on.... 

and Spring is right around the corner!

I had better get a March on!