Afterthoughts.....

 

The Chapel Door Panels....

I Might have mentioned a time or two, Dear Readers, that The Castle project was undertaken many years ago with a great deal of enthusiasm and a quite minimal "plan" of action. The structure was going to be built from plywood in three basic "blocks" which would allow for moving and constructing in stages. The general idea was that I would finish the lowest room in each "block" before attaching its ceiling, which would be the floor of the next room up. The higher room would not be built until the lower one was substantially completed. I immediately built the three "rough" blocks that comprise the basic structure, with floors cut and loosely "shelved" in place but not attached. With three sections to work among, I still had plenty of flexibility about which room to be working on at any time. I had not yet decided whether there would be "opening front walls" or whether the entire structure would remain open on one side (as most American designed dollhouses are). I was pretty sure I would want those opening front walls eventually... but that was years down the road. And of course, you know I did add those opening front walls, already many years ago, but had not thought out the entirety of their construction. They were added as a single panel split in the middle and hinged at both sides for each room. Meanwhile, many other parts of The Castle had seen "upgrades" to the original structure... window and door trims... corner "strengthening" structural pieces and ceiling "trim rocks" galore. But the opening door panels were pretty much still just the plywood panel hinged to open. But over time and use I have come to realize some structural upgrades are needed for these opening door panels! Specifically, they need to overlap where they meet in the center (they don't always meet exactly evenly!) and they need "backstops" to keep them from being pushed too far inward. And since I am currently embarking on The Chapel front opening panel windows and trims and paintings.... what better time than now to tackle this large topic? The above picture shows you The Chapel and the room above it with their opening front walls removed... with flash so you can really see the structure in its bare bones.

 

Here you can see The Chapel opening front wall

 with the doors attached, lying aside for repairs. 

This is the view you will not be able to see

 once The Chapel is completed, 

the interior side of the opening wall in its entirety. 

I had already "roughed in" the paint and basic outline

 for the two remaining murals (The Annunciation 

on the left and The Tower of Babel on the right) 

two years ago when I last worked on  The Chapel. 

You can also see the newly added stained 

glass windows are in place. 

And yes, the painting for the Annunciation 

will have to be split on one side.

This is unfortunate, but unavoidable, 

and at least the picture will be largely intact. 

You can also see I have cut away a section

 of the "rock" edging that runs along below the windows. 

This is to make room for the "door overlap panel"

 that needs to be added.

 

Here you can see I am gluing the door overlap panel 

to the right side panel (as seen from the interior), 

and weighted it with my measure tape and a lovely block of agate.

 I have left the door panels hinged to the outer wall

 to be sure the alignments stay accurate. 

 

I gave the opening door panel a test in place. 

You can see from the outside it is the left hand door

 that has the now added overlap panel, 

which will not show on the outside. 

It covers the crack between the doors

 on the inside when they are closed.

 

Here you can also see I have added a "door stop" 

at the very top on the inside of the arched opening. 

It hangs just low enough to stop the doors from pushing inward.

 And here I have started painting the overlap panel

 to resemble the rest of the wall structure....

 rocks below, mural above.

 

And because part of the Annunciation mural 

will land on this overlap panel... 

I needed to transfer the design to the panel 

and align it carefully with the other portion.

 

And adding the basic colors to the mural section... 

starting with the glorious blue background.

 

And adding the golden canopy and red framework.

 

Here you can see the entire wall with the overlap panel.

 

And with the interior window trims for the Chapel windows in place!

 I had constructed these two years ago when I last worked on this room.

 I can't tell you how glad I am that I added the opening panel overlap 

before I finished the wall murals!

 

And here you can see the opening wall propped up vertically

 to show light coming through the windows. 

Its not a great picture, but it gives you an idea

 of the effect from inside The Chapel.

 

Well, it might be an Afterthought, Dear Readers, 

but these little additions make a huge difference

 in the structural soundness of 

The Chapel opening door panels.

 

The Chapel....

 

 Windows....

It Has Been Quite a while, Dear Readers, since I last made windows for the Chapel! As with many parts of this Huge Castle building project, I sallied forth many years ago with little knowledge and much enthusiasm and have followed many many detours along the way. The two windows on the rear wall above the altar are actually the first of the glass windows I built for The Castle, and began my quest for the best method to use. They were constructed in September of 2010. And the windows on the side wall were built in May of 2011, almost exactly fifteen years ago! And I must also remind you that it took me a while to even decide to construct the exterior front opening walls of the castle... that came about in July of 2018 if you need to pursue the chronology... it is all there in the archives by date. But it was only two years ago, when I finally returned my attention to working on The Chapel that I gave any consideration to the subject matter for the opening wall side of The Chapel. The window openings had been cut years before, the two tall narrow windows were to be opposite the two on the back behind the altar. Because the paining on the wall between the windows will eventually have a version of The Annunciation (when Mary is told she will bear the Christ Child) I decided to have the windows show St. Anne (Mother of Mary) with Mary as a child, and The Visitation (when Mary, now pregnant, greets her cousin St. Elizabeth who is at an advanced age, pregnant with S. John the Baptist). As for the construction of the windows, that was just a matter of following my now well established method of building the "glass sandwich" window frames. It is time consuming and finicky work, but it makes the glass panes securely fitted to the openings, however oddly shaped they are. You can see above the shaped panels are getting the "quatrefoil" motif cut into the top of the arched openings.

 

And because each window needs two panels for the inner and outer frame, 

the quatrefoils need to align with each other as exactly as possible. 

This is a tedious process requiring much careful drilling and sanding

 but the effort is worth it in the end!

 

And testing the panels in the window openings...

 

And then each panel gets cut to make the window opening. 

I started by making the opening an arch... the easiest way to cut it,

 but was pretty sure I would square up the lower pane opening

 because the original windows were shaped that way.

 

Here both the windows have been cut

 with the arched lower panel. 

But I will square them up.

Like so!

 

 

And the bottom rail of the window frames is added.

 

 

And if you look at the right angle... 

you can see through to the windows on the rear wall!

(The Chapel door blocks part of the view...) 

 

Then the primer...

 

And the first coat of gray paint and the "rocks" getting painted...

 

Before we finally get to the design of the glass panes themselves!

I spent a few days going through my Medieval Manuscript books

 looking for the best representations of the images I wanted to portray. 

In the Middle Ages, these "tropes" had become very standardized. 

The symbolism and even the images themself were carefully copied

 from book to book, place to place and year to year and with very little variation. 

But in the Early Middle Ages, the era I am claiming for my Castle,

 there was still a "primitive" originality to many of these designs. 

Even so, I had a hard time finding images to use directly

 and forgot to take pictures as I went. 

St. Anne is usually known for her raising of the Virgin Mary to be... 

and teaching her to read.... so I have chosen to show her 

holding a young Mary's hand and holding the book.

 

 The glass pane gets taped over the drawing, 

carefully aligning it with the outer window frame edge

 to be sure it will fit right! 

Then I draw with the "liquid lead" (a Gallery Glass product). 

This is a lot to fit into one narrow 1 inch wide pane of glass!

And the "liquid lead" goes on a bit lumpy. 

I have learned that it can be cleaned up a bit later

 once it has cured for a day. 

For the Visitation pane, I had to stick to only one figure, 

it is too narrow to show the greeting of both 

which is the main theme of this event.

 

Here is an example from the 1300's... 

showing at least the style of clothing contemporary to the painting

 (as was usual in the miniatures... the artists did not know

 ancient fashion so they portrayed what they knew). 

St. Elizabeth is supposed to be "elderly" (past childbearing years)

 but miraculously pregnant with St. John the Baptist.

 

 I drew a solitary figure, but obviously pregnant

 and touching her swollen belly as if she felt the baby move. 

She is looking toward the place on The Chapel wall

 that will have the Annunciation painting. 

I could not achieve an "elderly" appearance to her...

 but tried to make her solemn in wonderment.

 

The following day I began to "clean up" the blobby lead lines.

 Here St. Anne is partly done.

 

And here she is finished with the trimming.
 

And St. Elizabeth trimmed.

 

 

And both panes with the original designs.

I decided I needed to add a couple more lines

 for clarity of design, things that were too hard to fit 

with the blobby leading at the first go-round. 

In particular, features for the young Virgin Mary,

 and more details for the cloak of St. Elizabeth. 

If you look closely you can see a couple of yet untrimmed blobby lines! 

I will trim them before adding the glass paint.

 

 

Starting with the Quatrefoil windows at the top. 

 

And continuing with both at the same time 

so I could try to be sure the colors are balancing 

between the two windows. 

 

Nearly done. 

I wanted one more defining line for St. Elizabeth's cloak

 so I added another blobby line and will paint

 the rest when it has dried and been trimmed.

 

There! 

The glass painting is finished!

Now we just want to see them in place... right?

 

Ah, well, this is really not so easy! 

This is with the Chapel lights turned on.... 

and dreary dark evening light in the room....

 

And this is with the Chapel door open.... gosh, 

I am going to have to figure out how to get good pictures of this!

 I can't get the camera into The Chapel when the front is closed....! 

And it only shows in the light from The Chapel...

 

Well, even if we can't see it

 from outside, Dear Readers, 

I will know it is there!

But there we are at Last... 

The Chapel windows are done! 

Back to the Walls...

 

The Chapel Backside Continued....

By now you know the drill, Dear Readers, the long step by step process for making the illusion of rocks on the Castle walls, so you might find this post redundant. But I need to document the way the walls have been "finished" because it might be a long time before anybody sees them again! The next step required making the arched tops for the Chapel windows. This time I am leaving them very simple with no carved teeth. It is unlikely that such small windows would have been given such an ornamental detail (or maybe I am just in a hurry and will regret this one day!) And yet I have used a "carved stone" motif for the sides of the windows. My only excuse is that I have already attached this same trim to the sides of the other Chapel window which is on the outside wall and readily visible. I thought they should match and I really just wanted to get the back wall done!

Once the walls had been primed

 the next step was the lighter gray paint.

And then the outlining of the "rock" courses.

It went faster than I expected... 

I had already worked out many of the details

 on the more complicated back wall of The Great Hall.

I just needed to make the courses relatively consistent

 with those of The Great Hall... 

because they will stand side by side 

and those courses will be continued

 around to the front eventually!

 They needed to match!

(Another reason to get all the back walls done at once.)

The tower is quite tall... 

I needed to use a step ladder!

And then the "rocks" get painted...

Here you can see the window arches have been attached.

And the "rocks are all painted...

And it is dark and late....

And you can hardly see it back there!

In the morning light it is time to paint the grout.

Again, this went faster than I thought it would!

And again, it transforms the structure in a magical way!

I can't fit the entire Tower into one picture!

Here's the top with the crenelations.

This is the back wall that will hardly ever be seen!

I wanted to see the Chapel windows with the lights on...

Now you can really see them!

I have to confess, I just love the way it looks!

And because the back wall will not be visible.... 

but the side wall will be, where it rises above The Great Hall,

I needed to get the "rock" courses continued around to the side.

(Sorry for the blurry photo!)

Here the rocks have been painted....

And grouted. 

Again, it is getting late and dark.

And even though I really didn't want to...

I turned those painted sides back to the wall.

And you can see how little The Castle looks changed.

But now, Dear Readers, 

I know what it can look like... 

and will look like...

Someday...

 When I get the rest of those walls finished!

I will Dream of it...