The Chapel Floor.....

 

In The Beginning.....

I Hope you don't mind, Dear Readers, being given a glimpse of the Distant Past when the Chapel was just in the early stages of construction. This picture was taken in early 2011, about a year after I had begun building the Castle Dollhouse. I know it is a dim and moody picture, but it shows clearly how much of the Chapel design was already well defined and well under way. With the exception of the ceiling painting, the back altar section of the Chapel has seen almost no alteration since this was taken. The wall murals have been given their initial painting, the stained glass windows are done, the painted rock walls and floor are in place, the electric candles are shining and even the window and ceiling edge trim are already in place with the beginnings of the "ceiling angels" already painted. Over the next couple of months I had finished the other stained glass windows (The Peter and Paul window on the side wall) and the Noah's Ark and Nativity murals as well as begun the ceiling painting. But then my focus shifted to completing the Great Hall Floor tiles and beginning the Lord's Council Chamber. And soon after that I fell deeply into the Tree House Project and didn't return to working on the Chapel until two years ago. I am sure some of you long time readers might have wondered if it would ever happen! So when I did return to the Chapel my focus was quickly on completing the ceiling painting... the largest unfinished task. And in all this time there was no thought given to the floor.

 

I had originally thought I would use mosaic tiles for the floor 

(this was before I knew about sculpey)

 but they were glass and would be difficult to cut and shape. 

(I was thinking of the famous abalone tile floor of the 

bathroom in Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle... 

I wanted an iridescent effect).

But when I returned to the Chapel two years ago, 

I was thinking I could make sculpey tiles the way 

I did for the Great Hall and The Lord's Chambers. 

So I started baking a bunch of sculpey in

 various shades of gray and silver

 (I had decided by then to keep the color on the floor to a minimum....

 it shouldn't compete with the ceiling.)

 

Sorry for the darkish picture.... it was taken in February two years ago! 

But it shows the glittery gray sculpey I had come across 

and wanted to test in the Chapel.

 

Here you can see the tiles being tested in the Chapel... 

shown with the flash,

 which gives an unrealistic picture of the actual look...

 

Which would look more like this. 

Yeah, I know it is really hard to tell with just a partial covering...

 

Here is a closer view showing the sparkle in some of the tiles.

 

 Perhaps with more tiles...? 

Unfortunately, the lighter gray color 

which I liked best had been a limited supply... 

and when I bought more of the "same color" 

it wasn't the same color but gave

 that marbled effect you see to the front. 

Clearly, the pieces were not coming together as I had imagined. 

And the more I looked at it the less I liked

 the whole grid effect of a tiled floor. 

What I really wanted was the ancient 

bare rock surface of an Old Chapel Floor. 

Nothing fancy. Just big solid pieces of rock. 

More like what the walls were made of.

 Like the lowest floors in the Castle... 

the Kitchen floor and the Stables and the Dungeons...

 

Well, here is a picture of the Entire Castle 

opened and with the flash on.... 

taken a couple years ago while I was debating the floor issue.... 

see the lovely floor in the kitchen with Belle and Old Meg? 

(You might have to poke the picture to see it at all!) 

That was the effect I was wanting. 

 And the only real problem was that to make it 

required using the plastic "bondo" material,

 a two part polymer you have to mix and use very rapidly 

because it hardens quickly, and it is mandatory to use 

with good ventilation because it is toxic and it stinks! 

So the project went on the back burner (this was in October!) 

until the temperatures could warm up enough to

 leave all the windows open for several days and nights.... 

a tricky season to find around here! 

But three weeks ago I saw my opportunity coming... 

we had just suffered excessive heat for three days and nights, 

and it was going to cool down and stay cool for three days and nights..... 

So I got started! 

And there was no ability, Dear Readers,

 to mix, smear and shape the stuff fast enough

 to also have time for taking pictures!

 

I had all the doors and windows open, 

but the stuff stinks and you have to work very fast. 

The smearing to shape the floor was very

 rudimentary and uneven, and I also had to

 try to score a pattern of the rocks also very fast! 

No time to ponder anything just apply it and let it go. 

Then after twenty minutes you can start 

to rough sand the material to smooth the worst of the ridges. 

 

Suffice it to say, at this stage I thought I had ruined everything. 

It looks awful, it stinks, and the rock pattern if there was one 

was an unrealistic mish-mash... 

I had to walk away and leave it overnight.

 

The following day I decided I needed to give it a chance.... 

work on it and see what I could manage to achieve. 

So I made sure the rock outlines were clearly defined 

(it is chisel-able and sand-able when hardened) 

then I applied the first coat of primer.

 This only made me more aware of the

 "unrealistic" nature of the textured surface... 

(a sweeping valley that crosses over several rocks...

 not realistic at all!) 

But I carved down the worst of the ridge and

 figured I would camouflage it with paint in the end. 

 

The first layer of "stone gray" paint... 

the same color used everywhere on this castle.

 

Then the darkest gray in all the grout lines.

 

And some "texturing" with the dark gray

 just to add "depth" to the eventual coloring.

 

And the light gray again.... "dry-brushed" over the surface,

 trying not to cover the dark grout lines.

 

And a couple of days later deciding it all needed some "dirtying up".... 

it is supposed to be old... and worn....

 

Showing the whole Chapel.... 

to see how it is "shaping up".....

 

And adding many more paint layers.... 

all those colors I used on the Folly Rocks last summer.... 

coming in very handy!

 

Sometimes it is difficult to know when to stop.... 

when in doubt I give it a couple of days to rest 

and come back with fresh eyes.

 

And deciding that yes, I did need to add 

the white grout lines between the rocks. 

If I didn't like it, I could always paint it over again!

 

And this does help "unify" these rocks with the 

purely painted version in the Altar area. 

 

And suddenly, Dear Readers, I am reassured... 

I have Not ruined the whole thing! 

These rocks are pretty nearly what I had been hoping they would be.... 

They may get a little more paint at some point... 

but for now I am holding steady. 

For the Chapel Floor it's a good beginning!