Eureka!!!

Let There Be Light!!!

Thank YOU Josje!!! It Works, Dear Readers, it WORKS!!! Thanks to Josje, of A Beautiful World Blog! (If you haven't seen her wonderful blog you Must go right on over!) She had commented that she had experienced a new bulb not working when the fixture was in fact fine. Which made me think I should try again! So I took the bulb from the working light and screwed it into the non-working fixture... and Lo and Behold it Worked!!! I can't tell you how relieved I am!!!
So then I found another new bulb for the socket I knew was working and here you can see.....

BOTH lights are lit!!!

Now I am sure I am not imagining it....!!!

Hooray!!!

***Happy Dance***

Yippeee Yay Hooray!!!

I am sure I would never have imagined that a "new" bulb 

would be a "dud" straight out of the package.....!

And I hate to think how much destruction I would have wrought.... 

before discovering it was all for nothing!

Thank you So Much Josje!!!

Your wisdom and your timely comment has saved the Day!!!

 

Here you can see it with the sconce "shades" added....

And with the fire lit too.....

NOW it looks the way I have imagined it would!!!

And since I have so Easily overcome that snag, Dear Readers, 

I would like to show you the other small thing 

I accomplished this past weekend!

You might recall that I mentioned 

needing to make the extra wall panel 

that would hide all those wires 

before I could add the rest of the crown moulding 

to the kitchen ceiling.

Above, you can see I cut a panel from a piece of 1/8 inch plywood 

just the size of the wall it will cover.

And since this is the wall where the kitchen stove will sit, 

I wanted to make it another grand old fireplace 

that has been converted for modern use.....

So I cut some pieces of moulding strips 

of various styles and glued them on....

I know it is rather large for this kitchen....

But this is a Witchy house....

Their Hearths are extremely important...!

And because the whole kitchen is so small....

I really don't want to make the hearth too skimpy....

I am settling for a shallow depth and a high mantle...

And a very European style hood...

Here you can see the plain cardboard I used...

And here it has the first coat of paint...

And testing to make sure the stove will still fit!

And all the wires for the upstairs lights as well as the parlor sconces

will be hidden behind this wall

 as they pass down to the foundation and the plug strip!

I think it is shaping up nicely!

But Right now, Dear Readers,

I don't think Anything can beat that "Eureka" moment....

Discovering that Yes, Both the Lights do Work!!!

Let there be Light!!!

(Thanks to Josje!)

Aaaaarrrgggghhh.... The Agony!!!

Two Steps Forward.... Ten Steps Back......

I am Sure you have All had those moments, Dear Readers, when you just Can't believe that all that work you just completed with Such Satisfaction will probably have to be re-done! After weeks, no, Months of dithering, I had finally decided that I did need to paint those "Trees" that are such a large feature of the parlor in Hardwick Hall. Last week I showed them to you in their partly painted condition. All that was still needed was the "marbleing" to make them match the rest of the fireplace. It was something I could easily fit in around all the work of the RL redecorating, so I started right in!

Above you can see me testing the frame piece for the right hand side of the mirror.

Of course, I need to shine a bright light into the room 

for you to be able to see the painted effect! 

I thought it looked just right and started in on the remaining pieces.

Here you can see the left hand side painted too....

Still just being tested for color and uniformity of "marbling"....

Was it good enough? 

Was it ready for the Final step... gluing in place????

Yes!

It was Finally time 

to attach it all permanently in place... 

so we could go forward with the rest of the construction!

So I carefully threaded the wires through the holes in the wall 

where they would run down to the foundation and connect to the plug strip.

And piece by piece I glued the whole structure in place!

Including the extra branches on the outer side....

 

Doesn't it look Magnificent?

Of course, in order to thread the wires through the walls, 

I had to cut the plugs off and will re-splice them later. 

It was too late last night to do that step!

But tonight I wanted to take a picture for you 

of the completed hearth with lights lit, 

so I temporarily spliced the plugs back onto the wires....

But only One of them would light.......

It must be the bulb, I thought.... 

after all, it had fallen to the floor more than once...

So I dug out a replacement bulb.... 

but still no light....!

This cannot be happening I am thinking.... 

maybe it is just the plug....

so I hooked that plug to the coals in the grate....

The plug worked just fine.... 

the hearth glows Beautifully!

But only one of those intricately embedded lights works....!

AAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

I don't know about You, Dear Readers, 

but I cannot believe I am going to have to dismantle 

that carefully constructed and firmly glued framework.....!

I can't imagine that the sculpey will all come off in one piece....

and even if it does, the light fixture is baked into the clay.....

and if the wiring of the fixture itself is compromised,

 I will have to start over from scratch.....!

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

Yes, two lovely steps forward....

Ten Painful steps back!!!

The Agony!!!!

Ashes, Birds, Branches.....

It's The Little Things.....


Another Busy weekend, Dear Readers, working on the RL project, kept me from doing much with the minis. But I have become really determined to accomplish at least Something in spite of the demands on my time and energy! And this weekend I was able to get three small things done! I realized that I had forgotten to add the ashes to the bedroom fireplace! And because I had also decided that it would Have to have a lit fire, there absolutely needed to be a pile of ashes below the fire grate! So I cut a piece of egg carton that had a humped shape and glued it in the hearth. Then I painted it ash colored and gave it a try with the "regency" fire grate.

Yes, I know, my pictures are terribly dark, it is almost impossible to see the details!

There will need to be a fire screen or a fender at the very least 

to prevent run away coals, but I think it is looking good!

Such a small detail, but I would have been 

very annoyed if there were no ashes!

The second thing I accomplished, Dear Readers, 

was that I remembered I had not yet painted

 All the birds on the walls of the bedroom!

This was something that would be very very difficult to do

if I had already glued the walls in place!

I managed to add four birds to the front wall, which is already attached, 

but without the side wall in the way, I can reach in from the side 

to paint on the front wall with at least a little less trouble!

(The above picture shows the side wall in place, but it is still removable!)

There still need to be quite a few more birds added to all the walls. 

The idea is that it is a New England version of the

 Chinoiserie wall decor, so fashionable in the eighteenth century,

and so it needs to be filled with our native birds!

So far the fireplace wall has American Bluebirds and Robins, 

and the front wall has the Red-winged Blackbirds and the Cardinals.

But that is just a start! There are many more that I plan to add.

It is such a little thing, but I think it makes a huge difference!

And the third thing I managed to do was to start the painting 

of the sculpey tree branches for the Parlor Fireplace.

Here you can see them all removed from the parlor but not yet painted.

The color of the sculpey is just a little darker than the paint I used for the Fireplace.

It is a slow process to paint all the branches, 

so I started with the ones surrounding the mirror on the mantel.

This is just with the first coat of paint. 

There will need to be some shadowing and texturing and marbling 

to make them match the fireplace.

But, of course, I have to test them in place even though they are not nearly done.....

(And once again, I am sorry it is so difficult to get good pictures at this time of year!)

Above, you can see them in place with the sconces turned off.

And here you can see the sconces turned on, and the sconce "shades" added.

This view is taken while the side wall is removed... 

once it is attached you will not be able to see this view

 except through the side windows!

I do think I am going to like the effect when they are all painted!

The color difference is very small, 

but I think it is such an improvement 

to have them unified in color!

So Dear Readers, I might have only done three little things,

But we all know those Little Things 

make a Huge difference!

Not Much At All....

What We Can See....

Once Again, Dear Readers, the RL Renovation project consumed almost all of my Time and even more of my energy this past weekend, leaving me with very little to show you! But I did manage to accomplish two very small things in my mini worlds, so here I will show you a great many pictures about not much at all! The first thing I did was to test a "lampshade" of sorts for the candle light sconces in the parlor of Hardwick Hall. I cut the end off of a metal filigree jewelry part and placed it over the bulb to see if it would mute the glaring light from the bare bulbs, but still cast enough light. You can see it above in the branches of the tree by the windows. I think it succeeds in muting the light, and casts more wonderful shadows on the ceiling, but the question remains about whether it leaves us with enough light in this room! This is a Dark room, and all the trees are supposed to be spooky and minimally lit... and I have always felt that the bare bulbs need a shade of some kind.

In this picture you can see the sconces over the mantel are also on, but without any shades, they are a bit more glaring and make it hard to see the other features of the room. (One of the difficult features of this room is that the fireplace wall is angled away from the open side of the room, making a direct view of the fireplace impossible except through the windows on the side wall.)

And here is that view from outside, at night, with the sconces on.... 

the light is dim but at the same time too bright to see past the glaring light bulbs!

And another view of the mantel from the open side of the house....

this is as much of it as can be seen from this side!

I think I am going to try the "lampshades" on all the sconces and see how it looks....

but I only had the time to make the one shade so far!

I do like the effect of the one "lampshade" 

and I guess I will just have to wait and see 

whether we can still see enough when they all have "shades"!

The other thing I accomplished last weekend, Dear Readers,

was to glue a couple of additional boards onto the bed frames 

for the Cloud Palace Bear-Racks!

This is how it looked at the start of the weekend.....

And this is how it looked by the end of the weekend!

I think it makes the beds look much cozier!

This is a close-up of the lower bunk..... 

there is a shelf for bearsonal items....

And here is the upper bunk.... there is a shelf here too,

but the picture is a bit too dark....!

Hamish Harry has come to inspect the bunks!

He has even found a temporary pad to give it a try!

(There will, of course, be proper mattresses and bedding soon...!)

I think Hamish Harry looks Happy with the accommodations!

But I still need to build the bed for the loft ....

Where Brother Beorn will have his own Bearsonal Working space...

He is very patient!

 

So, Dear Readers, between the Bear Racks and the sconces,

I think you can see 

That there is not much to see at all!