Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Slow Going....

 


 It's a Rocky Road....

You Might not notice much difference, Dear Readers, but to me it looks like progress, albeit small and slow progress, is being made on the Castle. To begin with, I have added primer to the front doors of the Great Hall. This was time consuming because we are in a very wet and humid time right now (we have had ten or more inches of rain in the past three weeks!) which makes paint very slow to dry. Add to that the need to not let the doors with their beautiful hinges and recent careful buttressing get out of alignment by disassembling them entirely. I wanted to keep the hinges clean of paint, but keep the same hinges at the same position on the same door section, so I only removed half of the screws at each section in order to paint or primer the wood before reattaching it and then doing the other half. I know this sounds ridiculously complicated.... and it was very time consuming.

Here you can sort of see what I mean... 
the hinges are only removed at one side at a time
 so they essentially keep their exact location on the doors.
And both sides of every panel needed to be primered, then painted.
The interior has been given the first coat of gray paint...
 

It is amazing to me how much difference the paint makes
 in the "illusion" that this is a rocky castle wall!
I am not yet painting the rock details on the exterior, 
because I am not sure what the final surface treatment will be!
But for now, watching the Castle gradually turning Gray
 from the golden wood color is a sure sign of progress!
But the really "Rocky" road I am traveling right now
 is the work on the junction of the Great Hall ceiling with the walls.
I showed you the beginning of my "adjustments" last week.
But to really make progress the ceiling needed to be removed
 and the walls needed to be prepared
 for gluing the new "rock beams" in place.
 

Of course, while I was working on this I took some pictures,
 but they are not very well lit... (All those rainy days....!)
I had to scrape away the textured wall "rock" surface
 I had added originally to the great hall.


Here I am testing the new support beam in place.
As I mentioned last week,
 it covers part of that lovely window detailing...
But there is no way around that! 
When I first made these windows, back in 2011,
I had not planned how the ceiling would connect
 and how deep the arch would need to be.
And now my retrofitting is fiddly at best and really rough in the end.
 

Here is the other side over the Ladies' Gallery.
Of course, the two sides are different .... 
but the windows themselves are close to identical.
I decided to add another "stone support" on the other side of each window.
The first one holds the ceiling arches, 
but this second one will just be to make
 the window appear to be set into the wall more deeply.
 

 Of course, it is nearly impossible to see what I mean 
with out better lighting...

 

Here I have used the flash,
 but it really erases the  sense of depth
 that shadows produce...


Here is a closer view. It is still far from finished... 
I have a lot more "Rocks" to add....
But the upper edge of the wall is starting to look
 like it is able to support that ceiling...


And if the window surround is not
 as delicate and pretty as before....
 it is probably more authentic... 
crude and roughly cut rocks 
are just holding up a massive ceiling!

So you can see, Dear Readers,
 it is a long and Rocky Road.... 
but Rock by rock, 
I am making good Progress!


6 comments:

  1. I think the way you are working out the retrofit challenges is very ingenious! While the supports do change the original character, they are truly improved by gaining more three dimensional detail! I am excited by imagining what you have dreamed up as a treatment for the outside of the castle!!! I just know its going to be spectacular! If it becomes too tedious, just think of me and all your followers cheering you on each time you remove another set of hinges to apply the primer!

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  2. I'm amazed at how you're retrofitting the supports. They're working out wonderfully and I love how they look so far.

    Now the ceiling is in less danger of caving in!

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  3. I can only say: ROCK ON!!! You really rock this! ;O)

    It's always fascinating to see how rock by rock and step by step the castle is developing. The grey facade is for sure very big progress and all your retrofitting in the Great Hall will not only pay off in supporting the ceiling (btw - did I ever tell you before how awesome, gorgeous and extremely beautiful the paintings of the Saints at this ceiling are??? *LOL*) but look also good and realistic. So, keep on rocking! ;O)

    Hugs
    Birgit

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  4. I tried to write a comment - I was the first one, and I couldn't get to "publish." So it didn't publish. Right now I'm very angry with the whole electronic world! Your castle is progressing beautifully, though, without the aid of gmail or anything else! Love you, Mom

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  5. Estoy deseando ver esa fachada terminada, será magestuosa.
    De momento me conformo con todo el interior que también esta quedando maravilloso.
    Un saludo.

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  6. Hi Betsy,

    pace is maybe slow but steady, and that is more important than speed. Just think of the turtle and the hare. :-)

    And I agree, the doors turning gray already makes a great difference in the look and feel of the great hall. I look forward to see the hewn stones painted onto them. On the far left and right of the door/fourth wall there is quite some wallspace. Perhaps good spots for long medieval banners?

    The rock beams look good, and so does the solution for around the windows in the back wall.

    Huibrecht

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