Details, Details, Details......

 

The Things We Almost Forget.....

As I Was Eagerly rushing to begin gluing most of the loose Castle parts, Dear Readers, I had one of those "But Wait..." moments that stopped me from getting too far ahead of myself and taking steps I would regret later. I was looking up at the bare ceiling, starting to think about what would be the best way to attach the many beams I was planning to have spanning the gap between the arches, and I realized that trying to cut and fit all those beams to the exactly correct length to keep them from falling off the ceiling while in construction would be a challenge I did not want to attempt! (I have had this problem when making the first room of the Dollmaker's Studio!) My cutting skills are not that good! The beams would instead, need to be notched into the arched ceiling supports, and those notches needed to be cut before I glued the arches in place!

I was relieved to discover that it was easier

 than I had thought to cut all the notches. 

The grain on this wood is lovely and even!

Here you can see the notches have been cut and I am testing it in place.

The stair wall and ceiling have been removed.

Here I am aligning the beams between the arches

 to make sure the spacing is right.

Here you can see all the beams are cut

 and the notches in the arches too.

The beams will each need to be "notched" on the ends 

to fit into the corresponding notch in the arches.

But this will be done after the arches are glued in place.

In the meantime, they sit too "high"

 to have the ceiling board in place.

Now, at last, I could glue some of those "rock" pieces in place!

Starting with the final section of "rock" ceiling above the hearth.

This makes all the area behind the arch part of the stone vaulting.

The wooden section of the ceiling will be over the middle of the Tower.

And the Arched section is glued!

And as I was about to rush ahead and glue the Stair Wall in place,

I remembered that the back corner 

had a small Niche built into the wall....

Back in the far corner where it is impossible to see!

There is an ornate Cross,

 for the Lord to make his private Devotions...

It is a bare corner except for this Treasured symbol.

And as I was pondering the Darkness of this corner,

 and wondering where the Lord would set his candle....

(indeed, I have been pondering that question

 for this Chamber for some time...!)

I thought I had better test some lighting

 before I got too far ahead of myself!

There really are only a few options for this Chamber!

One of them is near where the bed will sit...

(Here you can see me trying to hold a light

 and take a picture at the same time!)

 But I am concerned about the (future) bed hangings 

and candle flames being too near each other!

The other option is on the opposite wall... 

but I hope to hang a Tapestry there!

So how will I light this chamber?

In the Middle Ages, people were

 accustomed to the darkness of night.

The Lord most likely came to his chamber at bed-time

 with a single candle in hand and set it on one of the rock "corbels"

 which were placed to be useful that way.

He would have had enough light to see himself to bed!

No chandeliers! No great branched candelabras! No reading in bed!

Candles were expensive and not wasted.

But if he were going to say his prayers before sleeping... 

would he not set the candle near the niche? 

How far around the corner and how high should it sit....?

This would be unnaturally high... 

it is about 7 inches from the floor...

He would be annoyed to have to reach so high for his candle!

Here we can see what it illuminates... 

(getting my camera way back in the corner!)

but it is too high.

And if we lower it a little bit... 

build in a corbel  for it to sit on....

(figure out how to run the wires out the back...!)

Well, Dear Readers, I don't know about you, 

but I am liking the way this looks!

And I did get the Stair Wall glued in place!

But it is Remembering those last minute little details

 that make all the difference!