Very Little Progress!

The Littlest Things Take the Longest

There has not been much time lately in my life for making minis. And while I would like to blame that for my lack of progress on any of my projects, I think it would be more truthful to admit that I have too many projects going at once and so I dither over what to work on first.... and WASTE a good deal of Time! Having said that, I would like to share a couple of the Small bits of progress I HAVE made.... because it will surely make me feel better to show even the smallest amounts of progress! The Castle Dollhouse is the only one I have worked on so I will show you the beginnings of the Lord's Council Chamber or Counting House if you will.... where he records the history of the Castle finances and keeps the Books. It is a Library only in the sense that the few books he owns will be kept here... but in the Early Middle Ages.... the vast majority of the population could not read and books were very scarce and precious. This room is above the Guard Room, and below the Lord's Bedchamber. There is a fireplace.... that Modern Invention!

The stairs go up in the wall to the left of the Hearth, while there is a small seat in the window to the right where light for reading would be plentiful.. I still have several layers of painting to do on the "stone" walls... including the grout lines....... but the general layout is taking shape.

Another SMALL improvement is the beams on the underside of the Minstrels Gallery in the Great Hall. I've added them! And I decided I wanted there to be decorative heads carved where the ends of the beams would protrude over the Hall..... so I made a couple out of Sculpey..... and glued them into place.......

There will be six along this Gallery and three on the opposite smaller Maidens Gallery. So far I have only sculpted three.... because they take a long time to make each one.......
At the far end there is a Gargoyle-like creature, then in the middle there is a Lion's head, and close to the outer edge there is a Monk praying........ there will be more fanciful images, but I'm not sure what.....

Here is the Lion.... except he doesn't look much like one.......

And the Praying Monk came out fairly well.... except that he is too big.....

but I used him anyway.....

As for the floor tiles.... well, I'm still making them.... a WHOLE YEAR after beginning them!!! I think I have made about two thirds of what I will need..... and you will think I am crazy, but I am probably also going to make tiles for the Lords Council Chamber........ just a different color.......

And in the Chapel there has been NO Progress AT ALL on the Noah paintings.........

And No Excuse At ALL!!
But just the other morning when I came downstairs on a morning that Happened to be SUNNY.... This is what I saw........

The Summer Solstice Light was pouring into the Monk's Cell.......

surely he would be woken before Dawn to say the Prayers!

And the brilliant Light of Summer was shining through the Peter-Paul Window.....

Casting colored fragments of sun on the Endless Rain of the Noah's Ark Paintings......

Even if only for a BRIEF moment.... making the window Glow!

I know Henry was momentarily struck SPEECHLESS by the Beauty of it all!

So, he didn't even NOTICE how little progress had been made on the Painting....!

Very Little Progress!