More Of The Same....

 

Castle Lord's Bed Chamber Construction...

I Hope you will Not be surprised, Dear Readers, to find that I spent my entire vacation week working on the Lord's Bed Chamber construction! I was so eager to find out if my ideas could be made to work, in particular, fitting the stairs into the back corner and still having a window (with shutters) beside the fireplace. You can see from the above picture (thanks to the flash it is very bright!) the basic layout of the elements I want to include. The stairs will have a door at the bottom and the windows beside the hearth will have seats beneath them. The seats are positioned with a gap for your legs so you sit sideways to the window, allowing for the best use of light for reading. The bed will be against the right wall, and the wall enclosing the stairs going down to the Council Chamber (on the left and not in place in this picture) will have a door too. This way the Lord can have his privacy if he desires! The back left corner will be a nook  with the window seat and possibly room for a servant to sleep. The task that had to be completed before anything else was making the windows and shutters. It would be far too difficult to work on them once the stairs or side walls were installed.

If you have been following this blog,

 you will know I have been making my own windows 

using real glass and faux lead glass paint.

I started using this method way back in the beginning of this build

 before I knew anything about other possible methods.

Because the window openings are all irregularly shaped,

 there are no ready-made windows to use anyway.

Above you can see the basic elements I use.

A window frame made from 1/8 inch plywood,

 shaped to fit the window opening as closely as possible,

(you need two for each window, inner and outer frames)

and the glass cut to fit in the opening

 which is "painted" in the design you want.

The lead glass paint goes on in a very uneven blobby way.

But I discovered that once it has cured for 24 hours, 

it can be shaped to a more delicate design using an exacto knife. 

The one on the right has been "cleaned up"

 while the one on the left is still curing.

Here it is being tested in place to see if it looks okay.

This is the window that had been partially filled in from the original design,

 which is why the shape is so irregular on the right side. 

 

Here is the other window also being tested.

 It needs some adjusting in the frame.

(Sorry about the dark pictures... 

I get busy and forget to get good shots!)

Oh what a difference a sunny morning makes!

The windows are just being tested for fit here.

 They will need to be held in place in the openings

 before gluing the frames to the Castle.

With the flash on, you can see the "sticks"

 on either side of the glass pane, 

which keep it from sliding sideways 

once the inner and outer frames are glued in.

Here you can see both glass panes are in place!

Now for the shutters....

 which requires that we add the "rock "trim first...

 

(with the stairs out of the way...)

 

And starting to fit the shutters!

(Just look at all those hinges!)

 

Because they will be split in half.

And we need to test them under the stairs...

The added thickness of the shutter

 makes the top one not open all the way.

But it is the best I can manage, so I am going with it!

This way you can have only half the shutter

 open on really cold and stormy days...

Here I am using the flash...

it is night and I have not even begun the other shutter!

And I haven't yet added the shutter "hinge straps" either.

But morning light gives it a wonderful feeling!

I am adding more stones around the windows,

 fitting them to the shutters and the stairs.

And here you can see the shutters mostly completed... 

with hinge straps made from sculpey.

And the stones are carefully fitted under the stairs.

And a closer view of the back corner with the seats beside the hearth

(not as they will be exactly, but to show the idea)

And in the morning light with the side wall in place,

 separating the room from the stairs below.

It makes a nook in the back corner beneath the second window.

And a little closer.

There is still so much to accomplish, Dear Readers,

but the windows and shutters are now finished!

It might look and feel like I hardly accomplished

 anything at all on my Vacation...

and even though it is just More of the same old Castle Building... 

I am loving this Lord's Bed Chamber construction!