Green, Green The leaves.....

 

 But Is It Enough....???

I Hope You will understand, Dear Readers, that as I approach the completion of The Summer Rhododendron Shrub, I have been anxiously counting leaves and trying to figure out if the amount of batches I assumed I would need will end up being enough! Above you can see the Summer Shrub nearly finished... or at least I hoped so. I stopped making batches of leaves after 40 batches of 40 leaves each.... making 1600 leaves!

Here the last group of stems are having their leaves attached...

a Very slow process when the humidity level

 is hovering around 85% every day!

And done!

Look at that empty storage dish!

And this morning I added the last nine leafy stems to the shrub....

a Very slow process of waiting for the glue to dry

 so I could add a couple more....

But is it enough?

Surely I could fit in another batch or three of leafy branches!

We must have a look at it in The Folly Garden...

I see an awful lot of gaps....

And of course, it is so dismal and gloomy out 

(threatening to storm.... again.....) that you can barely see it...

But is it enough?

Don't get me wrong.... I Love the way it looks!

But is it dense enough....?

I think it needs more leaves.....

*sigh*

Is it just a matter of the angle of viewing...?

From above it looks a bit fuller....

But from bench level.... it's a bit "airy".

And maybe it will look a lot better in sunshine....

Perhaps if I give it time it will "grow" on me...!

Maybe one or two more batches of leaves.....

We are close, Dear Readers....

Ah, yes, I will be making more batches of leaves

 no matter what....

There is a whole 'nother shrub waiting in the wings!

So Green leaves, here we come!

A Tricky Hinge Saga...

 

 Fixing A Mistake...

I Left You a couple of weeks ago, Dear Readers, with the comment that "All" I had to do was repeat the just described window process for the final large window with the opening lower panes. I had it all figured out! I charged ahead with confidence of easy success. The frames were already cut and just needed the glass panes prepared.

The glass panes were quickly cut and the leading added.

The window opening was cut to receive the hinges and holes drilled.

The hinges went on with no trouble at all!

 

 

I had decided to begin with the left hand window pane

 as it would be more challenging to hold it in place

 while screwing the hinges into it...

 with nothing behind it to push against... 

and my hand awkwardly in the way...

 

The frame was prepared for the glass...

The holes were drilled...

But when I tried to screw it into place, 

I could not get the screws to grip the wood well enough 

to tighten down on the hinges!

 

I realized I must have used the wrong drill bit

 and the holes would need to be filled and re-drilled!

I tried using "wood putty" hole filler...

(see the frame on the left above)

But it was not strong enough for the screws to grab it either.

 

Here you can see the puttied holes re-drilled....

Alas, they were still too loose.

 

 

So then I tried filling the holes with toothpicks....

 But they were still not "tough enough" to grab the screws.

 

 I needed small dowels.... 

and discovered that the tip ends of spindles 

were the right size if I whittled them a little bit!

This all took days and days... 

waiting for the glue to dry before re-drilling....

And I discovered that the screws in the

 newer packages of hinges were a tiny bit

 smaller in width than the older kind.....???!!!

No wonder it was too loose with the drill bit I used!

With the smaller bit it needed a lot of "torque" 

to get it all the way screwed in.

The only way to get enough pressure applied 

was to remove the Great Hall Door panel...

Lay it flat on the work table with support for the window pane....

And put my weight into the screws!

One by one I got them tightened all the way !

The hinges no longer wiggle on the screws!

I reattached the Great Hall Door panel....

And proceeded to complete the rest of the window...

 

First attaching the interior frame in the wall opening...

 

Then gluing the outer frame with the upper glass panel in place.

 

And "All" this took, Dear Readers, 

was about ten days of trying and trying again...!

But I got it done!

And it wasn't the hinges fault....

The tricky part was in the screws!

 

Summer Rhododendron Shrub....

 

Green Grow the Leaves.....Oh!

I assume, Dear Readers, that some of you might be wondering whether I was keeping up with making the Summer Rhododendron Shrub. Well, I can assure you that I am on it! No slacking at all! I had calculated after assembling the Blossoming Shrub, that I would need somewhere in the Vicinity of 40 batches of leaves for the Summer Shrub. The Blossoming Shrub had 125 blossoming stems (with leaves) and about another 80 or 90 stems with only leaves. Each stem has about 7 leaves on it (a few have more or less). There are 40 leaves to a batch, so 40 batches makes 1600 individual leaves. At a certain point I decided that I needed to assemble the leafy stems as I made the leaf batches.... one batch of leaves per day for forty days! Yesterday was the completion of the 40th batch! (I took weekends off for the most part.)

Here is the fortieth batch under way....

And here it is completed!

This is the assembly area....

Once each batch of leaves is dry

 I fold the stems and cut them apart 

and collect them in this dish.

Here is the collection of assembled leafy stems

 waiting to be attached to the Shrub...

Here is the daily batch while the glue is drying....

You have to keep them from bumping anything....!

So while I have been busily making

 the leafy stems, Dear Readers,

 I have also been planning the "storage box"

 for the Blossoming Shrub.

And today was the day to get it built!

You might recall that I did the same for the Lilac Shrubs 

so they are protected during their "off seasons"!

Of course, it needed to be labeled!

It was trickier than the lilac boxes because 

the Rhododendron Shrub leans around the corner

 of The Folly Dollhouse and hangs down over the embankment.

I had to construct a support structure

 of a similar shape inside the box 

so the branches that go around the corner

 are not permanently squished!

I used builders foam... 

the same as the base for The Folly Garden itself.

And now the Blossoming Spring Rhododendron Shrub

 is safely tucked away in its own protective box

 until next Spring!

And I am madly assembling the leafy stems onto the Summer Shrub....

I got about twenty more leafy stems glued on today!

That on top of the thirty I had glued on since the beginning of July...

So give or take a week or three and

 the Summer Leafy Rhododendron Shrub

 should be completed!

And then, Dear Readers, 

All I will need to do is make another 40 batches of Leaves

 for the Winter Snowy Rhododendron Shrub.....

'Cause the Rhododendron Shrubs

 are Evergreens... Oh!

Great Hall Windows....

 

The Hard Part...

I Have Been pondering for Ages, Dear Readers, the process necessary to create the larger, lower windows in the Great Hall. They differ from the other windows in that they have the stationary upper section of glass panes as well as opening panes on the lower section. The upper part would be made just like the previous upper windows of the Great Hall, but would need to include the lower window structure as part of one single window frame for structural strength. This makes a kind of hybrid frame because the upper section will be all one pane of glass behind the divider, while the two lower windows will need to function separately in their openings on either side of the central divider. The key is that the central divider needs to go from the top to the bottom in one piece, at least as far as the outer frames are concerned. I know, I have you all confused already. But in the above picture you can see the starting of the window frames on the left and the already cut out inner and outer frames just visible to the right.

They do make an oddly shaped frame to start with.

Here you can see I have begun the process of creating the "cross pieces" 

that form the support for the upper window glass pane.

This is the inner frame with the added cross-piece

 to hold the window glass...

Here you can see the beginning of making the smaller lower window frame.

  It is the same method as used on the Tower windows that open...

 an inner and an outer frame with the glass sandwiched between...

And here you can see both lower windows inner and outer frames.

The inner ones have the glass support pieces glued on... 

they will be trimmed once the window frame is assembled.

Meanwhile I have cut the glass panes

 and drawn on the "leading" with the faux glass lead paint.

Here the outer frames have been stained a grayish color...

 (weathered wood in my imagination) 

and the leading has been trimmed to clean up the blobs.

Also the main window pane has been "leaded" and trimmed.

And here I am gluing together the inner and outer frames

(one window at a time so as not to get confused).

But the really hard part, Dear Readers, 

is carving the rabbet to inset the hinge plates

 into the side of the window frame!

If you have been following me for a while,

 you will know I started building this Castle Dollhouse

 a Long time ago. In 2010 to be precise.

The plywood has grown old and tough! 

I did not know this would happen...

and could not have foreseen how long it would be

 before I was finishing these windows,

 let alone know how I would accomplish it.

I used my saws, my exacto knives (several blade shapes)

 and eventually pulled out some chisels

 and finally succeeded in carving away

 the space for the hinges to attach.

Next challenge was drilling the holes for the screws... 

used my hand drill with tiny bits....

Sorry the picture is a bit blurry... dark weather again....

but I got the hinges attached!

On both the lower window frames!

And the window glass fits into the frame.... "like a glove"...

And here it is in the window opening.... 

but the frame will need to be trimmed

 before it will swing open

 past the central post of the window.

And here you can see the other lower window is in place... 

it will also need trimming.

So far none of the main frame pieces are glued in place.

This is so adjustments can still be made easily if needed.

And one more strengthening piece needed to be added to the central divider.... 

the inner piece that fills the gap that the glass fills in the upper portion.

I have glued it and the inner frame piece into the window opening. 

It makes a sturdier window frame between the opening window sections.

And the window frames have been trimmed... 

(I needed to screw and unscrew them 

countless times to get the fit just right)

I just need to paint those grout lines before I glue the outer frame in place!

And then I need to do the same all over again for the Other big window....

Oh My, Dear Readers, 

Just look at all those windows!

The Hard part of the Great Hall windows

 Is nearly done!