Tree House Electrical...

 

Just A Tiny Light In The Darkness.... 

I Hope You will be patient, Dear Readers, as there is really not much to show, and nothing at all about those new branches so recently lauded in this blog. But these things take time and the leaves for the Willow branches are still a distant hope on the horizon. More immediately needed are some lights for the Nanny's Room and the Nursery, because until they are addressed, no walls can be attached and no real structural security achieved. I have always assumed the Nanny's Room was the "ultimate cozy security" spot for the little Ratlings... nightmares and boo-boos all disappeared once the baby was ensconced in Nanny's Room! The huge bed frequently held many little ones and there is a small window seat too for sitting and having a quiet moment of "emotional repair" before rejoining the wild siblings in the other room. There needed to be a spot of light but there is hardly any wall space to affix a lantern or sconce because the bed and all those doors take up all the space. The one spot available seems to be the post beside the tiny window across from the bed... could I put a sconce on a bracket there? Above you can see the initial test of the spot with an LED taped to the post. But the biggest concern was going to be how to bury the wires as they traveled to the back of the Tree House structure?

 

There was really only one option... 

to run them through a crack in the floor at the base of the post

 and along the underside of the floor above the

 Little Toilet Cubby and the Dressing Room... 

and through another small crack on the other side at the back....

 could the wires be made to do that? 

Whew!

 Yes they could! 

 

 

Anna Maria came by to help me test the

 exact positioning for the sconce....

 clearly the initial spot is much to high!

 (The ceilings in the Tree House are all rather tall!)

 

So I set about making the sconce and the bracket.

 The sconce needed to be mirrored to reflect extra light... 

above you can see the frame for the mirror being painted with gold paint.

 

I found a scrap of the mirror paper often used in dollhouse kits,

 (this is left over from the Secret Christmas House project...)

 I cut the "outside" of the scrap into four

 (I didn't take a before picture) 

and glued them together in reverse

 so they make a solid shape in the middle.

 Then I cut out the frame to fit it and glued it on top...

 

And there you have the framed mirror for the candle sconce!

 

 And here it is all assembled on the wall 

with the bracket below it which really

 is more like wainscoting than just a ledge. 

Of course, I don't have any photos of it working yet... 

the wires are too short to reach the battery pack

 which dangles six floors off the ground

 and is difficult to safely use...

 I really don't want to create any failed circuits

 by crossing the wires!

 

And while I was wrestling with the electrical parts, Dear Readers,

 I decided to test the little "Ceramic Stove" I had made all those years ago

 with its little door open so you could see the glowing fire within. 

I had not attached the LED, but the opening was there in the back of the stove. 

Just how would those wires exit through the wall when the stove was in place...

 and how much light would "bleed out" in disastrous ways if I did not test first?

 

 The answer to that last question was "lots"

 if I did not encase it completely

  and so I added a cardboard layer

 to the back of the stove with the

 wires protruding through two tiny holes at the back.

 

And here you can see the stove being tested

 with the wires going through the walls at the back... 

yes it gives off a lovely warm glow!

 

And while I have not decided on the location 

or types of lights for the Nursery itself, Dear Readers,

 I hope you are as happy as I am

 to see even a tiny bit of Light in the Darkness! 

 

 

Dreams, Doubts and Decisions

The Beads and Other Gifts.....

It was a little over a year ago, Dear Readers, that Andy of Dollshouses and Miniatures blog, sent me a gift of some lovely blue and white Chinese porcelain beads, with the hopes that I would be able to use them somehow in the Tree House! He was afraid they were too large to be useful because the Tree House is 1:48 or "Quarter scale" and the beads are about an inch tall. As you can see in the above picture, they instantly found a "Home" on the mantle in The Folly! And at the time I posted about this gift, you could see that Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria were caught "borrowing" one of the beads!

They told me they had the "perfect" use for such a beautiful item!

But at the time I was working on the Bath Room of the Tree House,

and even I had no idea it would be a whole Year 

before we were ready to test their idea!

But Finally I have started working on the nursery of the Tree House....

And I had to agree with them, the Beads make a Lovely....

Scandinavian Style Porcelain stove!

(Well, I think so at any rate!)

But first I had to build the base with the firebox...

And test the LED "fire".....

Of course the stove is not complete 

without the beads both stacked on the base...

and the base needed painting too.....

Oh, Goodness, Pardon us, Madam Arabella,

We don't mean to intrude!

(She is inspecting the Nursery construction!)

Which Is continuing in Small sections.....

(in between the seemingly endless Photo Shoots 

with my current Cast of Characters and their constant costume changes...

not to mention waiting for the sunlight to cooperate!)

But we are slowly making progress!

But I'll bet you never Dreamed that

the beads would make such a great stove!

And while we are mentioning Dreams....

I must take you back for another installment of Daphne's Story....

(That story that is still so Far from finished...!)

It was already some time ago that Daphne had discovered 

(to her eternal surprise!)

That her Mother was a Witch, and her Father was a Gypsy....

And that he had "stolen" her twin sister shortly after they were born!

This had shaken Daphne's confidence more than she had realized!

Was Everything in her Life a Lie?

Did she have a Father and a Sister alive somewhere...?

Living the Gypsy Life...?

Her Mother had wanted to Put down roots and raise her family in one place...

But she had ended up running in fear almost constantly....

And moving at least as often as the Gypsies would!

Daphne had never known she had a twin sister!

She had always felt so alone...

And she really had been alone!

She now realized she had always wanted to be a part of a larger family!

Somewhere out there she had a Father and a Sister.... and a child....!

But she had no idea what to do about any of it!

Then One Night she had that Dream again......

That Dream where she is standing at a Fountain..... 

and there is a beautiful little girl there too...

And she watches as the child throws her doll into the fountain....

Only This time the child is not standing there....

but is lying deep in the water of the Fountain itself!

The image is so terrifying that Daphne awakes in a sweat...

 Her Heart pounding.....

But suddenly she knew with a certainty what she needed to do!

She had to return to France!

She might not know where to find her Father or her Sister...

But she knew Exactly where she could find her Child!

She was done with running away from her problems!

She knew that she had to go see her daughter....

And Somehow, she would find a way to be a part of her life.

She had been given a gift....

Now she needed to follow her Dreams!

No doubt, Dear Readers, you are weary of being 

left "hanging on the cliff edge..."

and are hoping I will Decide not to leave you here again...

Yet, what can I say but "Dream on...." 

And "Thank you"!

For the gifts... and for Friendship.....

(And comments... I do love comments!)