Carpets....

 

 Updates....

It Has been a while, Dear Readers, since I showed you any progress on my carpet stitching. This is something I work on in little bits and pieces here and there, and I often forget to take any pictures of progress. This might be because it always feels like I haven't made any progress, the stitches added are so small and few! But over time it adds up to a lot, and now I am nearing the finish of the central portion of the carpet. It is an elaborate pattern, but once you have stitched a few of the sections, you recognize the pattern which mostly just repeats with a different combination of colors. So you do have to pay attention! I know all those "extra" threads look like a tangle, but they will each be continued in stitching when I get to that part of the pattern. This is just a method of not constantly ending and starting the threads again and again.

 

And you might be forgiven for thinking you might never again see

 the carpet I was working on last spring! 

I did get the fringe added as you can see above.

I was only part way through stitching this carpet,

when I began to wonder if it would fit in the 

Dollmaker's Studio upstairs room. 

Of course, while it is on the needlework frame,

 I could not give it a "test" and had to wait until 

the stitching was completed before I could try it out.

I think it is so perfect I could not have planned a better fit!

And the little "bits" of blue I had added into the centers of some of those ovals

 is a perfect "reflection" of the ceiling above! 

(I had wondered if this would work!)

It is just impossible to simultaneously show you 

the details of the floor and the ceiling above!.

That will have to wait for it's own post!

And my newest carpet, Dear Readers,

 which you have not seen anything of at all, 

surprised even me!

But let me show you....

It has to do with the Ravenwood...

One of the features of this kit that enchanted me right from the start

 is the three floor grand staircase in the Tower section!

It even has cut outs for the stairs in the floors! 

The little people will be able to climb those stairs!

But first you have to add all the interior decorative papers... 

ceilings, floors and walls.

The color palette is a sophisticated selection of 

gray and black and ecru designs in tiny tiny prints. 

(It is very well designed!)

 

 

And here I must apologize for forgetting to take pictures... 

as I rushed ahead with my rash additions...

there are no pictures of the "before" staircase!

But suffice it to say that it was spray painted entirely black

 like the exterior framework... 

and when inserted into the grand hallway... 

it just lost too much of it's striking detail. 

(In my humble opinion) 

I thought it needed a brilliant contrast....

Like a crimson stair runner..... 

winding up that elegant stairway....

Could I manage to make something like that....?

That small....?

Well.... I had to try!

I found a luscious piece of thin raw silk... 

and cut it into a very thin strip....

And one step at a time, glued the carpet to the stair...

waiting for it to dry completely before doing the next step....

And the different stair "blocks" had to be done separately

 because they were not all to be assembled outside the Tower....

The side rail piece is added to the lower block

 and these sections are glued together.

Here are all three sections of the first floor stairs. 

 

 

And both sets of stairs are now "carpeted"!

But you might have noticed the rail sections

 have some etched design in their surface... 

and I thought they needed augmentation!

 

 

 Those newel posts needed to be a little more robust... 

and perhaps even have a three dimensional quality  

to the rounded tops!

Out came the glue...

 

 Those white blobs are the "glue trick"... 

I add a dot of glue and let it dry

 and then layer a few more layers on.. 

creating a three dimensional surface...

When all dry it is painted to match the rest of the surface.

Then came the really hard part, Dear Readers, 

correctly lining up and gluing the stairs into the Tower!

You had to start with the section at the top....

 glue it in place ... 

hoping the top of the next section

 would meet it in the right place...!

Once there was glue involved...

 there was no changing anything!

The bottom section was the most challenging.

The three sections had been assembled outside of the Tower... 

 

And when inserted carefully into the stair opening.... 

you had to hope they would meet the walls and floors just right!

(Mine didn't...!)

 

 

Were the walls a little off? The floor?

There was a sliver of space underneath the stairs

 that didn't touch the floor.... hmmmm...!

I will have to insert a piece to disguise this... 

fortunately, it is so small you don't notice it at first!

And once the glue is in place....

Nothing can be changed!

 

 

But I do think, Dear Readers, 

that the crimson stair carpet adds a

 Brilliant touch to this Grand Staircase!

And if you look very carefully...

You can even see it through the doorway!

I do Love my Carpets....!