Paint While The Glue Dries.....

And Glue While The Paint Dries....

You Will think it silly Dear Readers, that I had forgotten how Slow going it was to attach the leafy stems to the Lilac shrub! You might remember that I had to attach so many leaves to the twigs that were already part of the shrub and then paint them and then shape them before I could even begin to attach the "regular" leafy stems to the shrub, and I simply assumed it would be easier and faster with the already constructed "leafy stems"! I was forgetting about waiting for the glue to dry. In the above picture you can see the shrub with all the attached leaves "shaped" correctly. It lets you see how bare the branches really are.... how much room there is that needs to be filled with the leafy stems. I have already attached about fifteen more stems to this shrub... all on the right side... I am not sure it is enough. I have made about sixty leafy stems so far in my ten stems per week regimen..... (on top of the fifty stems already on the shrub)... I don't think it will be enough!

At least I can "shape" the leafy stems much faster this way....

The above stem has been "shaped" on the left half

but not on the right.

Here you can see some of the "leafy stems" being glued on.....

 Just look for the large blobs of white glue... 

that is what has to dry completely before it can be painted over.

And because the stems have to be inserted around all the other leafy stems... 

I can only attach so many at once or they get

 knocked around too much while they are drying...

And the glue dries slowly in humid weather!

 

So while the glue dries... I paint the next batch of ten leafy stems!

Which takes a couple of hours altogether...

By which time the glued spots will have dried.

Above you can see a branch with a newly dry glue join

 (the stem on the right side)

Which looks too glossy and too much like a glued wire... 

so it needs to be painted over...

And I need to be able to keep track of all the newly dried stems

 so I don't forget to paint over the join!

It's complicated!

Here is a closer shot of the joined stem after it has been painted over...

it looks less glossy and a little more like the branch (I hope!).

So you can see Dear Readers, it is Slow Going...

Painting while the glue is drying and gluing while the paint is drying!

But I did manage to add a few stitches

 to the Starry Night Stocking!

And It Too is slow going! 

(Even though it has Nothing to do with Glue or Paint!)