And Then.....

 

There Is The Castle... 

Always The Castle, Dear Readers, that Huge half-finished Behemoth that looms over my Little Worlds, still incomplete thirteen or is it fourteen years into the project. And it is never far from my mind even as I assiduously apply my attention to other demanding projects... for how else will They get finished? And somehow, over the years, I have come to think of Summer as "Castle Building Time", and I eagerly begin to plan this year's tasks... always with the awareness that I will not get anywhere near as far as I hope I will. But did you ever know of a Castle that did not take a long time to build? Even "mini" Castles apparently hold to this requirement. So here we are, on the Threshold of Summer, and I cannot wait to get going on building, starting up where I left off last Fall.... the Lord's Tower windows all need the frames built for the exterior. And this will Finally begin to define the Front Facade of the entire Castle! How I have pondered this! 

As usual, I am torn between the accurate

 Historical portrayal of a Castle,

 and my well known love of intricate details....

This is designed to be a thirteenth century Castle,

 well before the gothic excesses of the later designs.

It is supposed to be a very old, Norman style

 with simple arched windows.

And yet, even in those times

 the arches over the doorways

 were quite elaborately carved, 

and so were the window frames

 especially on the upper windows.

And as always with this Castle, the place to start is at the bottom...

The Stables window, the only one in the Stables, is small and simple.

I copied on the exterior the same treatment

 I had given it on the interior when

 I was "rocking the trim" several summers ago!

And the same process was used for the Guard Room... 

Copy what was done on the interior.

And while I was doing the basic simple windows

 I started on the Kitchen ones too. 

All the windows on the lowest level are alike.

The Dungeon window too.

Alas, I have already neglected to complete

 the arch stones for this before racing ahead

 with the more interesting upper windows!

 

I apologize for the dark photo.... lots of dreary days lately...

This is the beginning of the trim for The Lord's Council Chamber window.

And again, I copied the trim I already had used last Fall on the side of the Tower.

Here you can see the Stables and Guard Room windows finished.

They are your basic simple Norman window design.

When the Tower front is painted (which I eagerly anticipate!)

 they will just look like tiny window openings.

Here the Kitchen windows are getting their arch stones.

And here I have completed the Lord's Council Chamber window.

And it opens to let the Summer breezes flow!

Here you can see I have made good progress

 on the Lord's Bedchamber windows too!

But I confess, Dear Readers, what really has my attention

 is the Windows for The Great Hall!

That row of Clerestory windows has been calling to me!

They need the frames built and the glass cut and leaded....

how hard would that be?

It will be the same process as all the glass windows before it...

You make a paper pattern to fit the opening as closely as possible...

(because all the openings were cut by hand with my saber saw years ago,

 they are all hopelessly irregular in shape...)

Then you cut it in 1/8 inch plywood... 

fitting it as closely as you can.

And another one for the interior side of the same window.

(The wall is 3/8 inch plywood so the glass pane

 will sit neatly between the two frame sections.)

Here you see I have cut the window openings in the frames...

except for the very top part  in the arch... 

that will be a small quatrefoil window which I will drill out later.

 

Then they get a coat of primer...

Here I have drilled the quatrefoil window....

And you can see that both the inner and

 outer frame have the quatrefoil window cut.

And the first frame has the gray base paint...

Time to start the second one!

And the third window under way....

And the fourth window as well!

Drilling the quatrefoil windows is quite tricky.

In order to prevent splitting the wood, 

I start with a small drill bit and drill each of four holes.

I gradually increase the bit size up to 1/4 inch.

At that point the holes almost intersect

 and I cut away the last pieces of wood with the exacto knife.

It is important that the two layers have the holes in the same place

so I have to adjust the shape if a hole is a little off. 

This I do with my small round wood file.

I start to compare the layers as soon as

 the holes are big enough to see through.

And the fourth one cut too!

I was about to start fitting the glass panes, Dear Readers, 

when I remembered the windows all need

 the bottom frame piece added!

Like this....

And this.....

Only two more to go... 

before I can start to make the leaded glass panes.

Is it any wonder, Dear Readers,

 that even in Miniature 

it take years to build a Castle?

 

Musical Automaton.....

 

 Almost Done....

I have Finally managed to make progress, Dear Readers, on the Musical Automaton Kit that I had to put aside when I hurt my arm a few weeks ago. I had managed to assemble the box and the tiny piano, but the battery pack and speaker which needed to be carefully fitted and firmly attached to the inside of the box required a minimal amount of arm strength. At last I have succeeded in gluing the speaker into the box in the right spot along with the battery pack and made the switch button fit too!

I know, it doesn't look like it should be so difficult....

but the wires are stiff and the button for the switch

 had to reach the hole that was prepared for it....

And it all had to allow the battery box to fit behind it.

The back wall of the box pulls off 

(held with tension by fitting tightly)

so you can access all the works and change the batteries.

It is a neat design and I can tell you, I smile with delight

 when I push the button and a piano tune plays on the speaker!

So all that was left to do was dress the little doll!

Yes, another one of Sandra Morris's little dolls!

By now you know the drill....

 

 She has a "routine" to follow....

And she's really great at standing by herself!

And with her shoes on too!

But these shoes need an extra feature....

The shoes will have tiny magnets to help her stand at the piano.

These tiny things were fidgety to attach!

And then we had to glue the leather soles on too.

Success!

 

And the lace petticoat....

Then things started to get tricky!

I had to sew a pleated silk band to the lace petticoat....

Then a lace ruffle on top of that...

And another pleated layer, this time a pink one...

and believe me, it was not easy to stitch all these

 onto a ruffled lace petticoat!

And that was just the skirt!

And in case you didn't know, Dear Readers,

 this little doll is a Performer... 

and she has to dress for the role! 

She gets sparkly jewelry!

I had to assemble the necklace...

 thread the tiny beads, glue on the crystal....

and I left the earrings for later.

(I didn't want to run the risk of 

knocking them off while fitting the jacket!)

Next came the bodice... just glued in place,

 with some lace trim at the top.

And then it was time to sew the jacket...

 

Here you can see the seams are all stitched and pressed open!

(Yes this did take a long time...)

And here you can see the right side with the trim glued on the edges.

By now it is late again (this is the third day of working on this little one!)

And the next day... 

testing the fit of the jacket...

 and gluing it to the bodice.

And starting the sleeves!

 

 Many careful steps go into the sleeves!

Here you see one is turned right side out,

 and one is just stitched and hemmed

 before turning it right side out.

Here the sleeves have the lace trim added.

There wasn't enough trim left for this, 

so I had to improvise.

I found some lace in my stash

 with a very fine picot edge

 and used that instead.

And here the sleeves are finished and attached!

And the next day... (yes this is now day five!)

The enormous bow gets added to the front of her skirt.

It nearly hides all the pink pleats...

 but just barely shows a flirty edge...

(Those Victorian costumes were elaborate!)

And then I glued the earrings to her ears prior to making the wig.

All the materials for the wig are also part of the kit.

Curls for the brow and then the main head covering are glued on.

Long ringlet curls adorn the back...

As you can see above, 

I have not used up all the ringlet material...

I might add more curls....

But there is also a very fancy bonnet

 to go with this ensemble...

(See the picture on the instruction book in the background!) 

Which I have not yet assembled!

But I hope you will understand, Dear Readers,

 that I am having a enormous amount of fun

 with this little automaton!

(If you can call her that!)

Here she is on the magnetic stand on the box...

 

 (Her name is "Chere Elise")....

 

 

I have placed the box in the Castle Great Hall....

And every time I walk by,

 I have to reach in and push the little button... 

and the piano music pours out into the Great Hall!

And I sit entranced to hear

 such wondrous music filling the Castle!

It is truly quite Enchanting!

 

But the Musical Automaton

 is still not quite Done!