Hinges.... Again....

Take Two....

It was a Gloriously Beautiful Day on Saturday, Dear Readers, with the promise of a three day weekend stretching before me and seemingly endless time to accomplish things Great and Small. And high on my list was finishing the window for the opening wall of The Lord's Council Chamber in the Castle. I had pretty much finished the frames and needed only to fit the glass panes (with the lead lines trimmed to a decent shape) and attach them. The upper fixed panes worked like a charm and were done in short order. So I started fitting the lower hinged window, confident that I knew what I was doing because it had worked on the previous window. Alas, there were a few small things that didn't go as planned.

Above, you can see the interior side of the window,

 hinges notched into the frame, pane fitted correctly.... 

but the window is not seating properly at all,

 and won't close fully.

Hmmm.... what is the problem here?

Upon closer inspection, from the outside of the opening panel,

 the entire frame is not screwed into the opening in the right position.

 The pivot of the hinges should be flush with the wall,

 not pushed out by a sliver.

How did that happen?

I did everything the same way I had on the other window!

Here you can see it from above.... 

it is never going to close correctly.

It was late, I was tired and annoyed. 

I went to bed and Dreamed of hinges.

 

The next morning I took the window apart again. 

And examined things a bit closer....

I found a couple of problems.

Firstly, I was wrong... 

the hinges do not form a Ninety Degree angle when fully opened...

They probably forma a Ninety-three degree angle

 (I don't have good enough measuring tools!)

So in order to have the face of the frame close flush with the wall, 

the hinge plate will have to have a slant inward

 to accommodate the extra degrees.

The simplest way to accomplish this was

 to add a "frame post" to the side of the window.

And to make sure the notches for the hinge plates had a good tilt to them.

The other small problem I found was that

 when I was drilling the holes for the screws

 (remember that I am drilling into the side of a small opening

 and could not get a perpendicular angle to the drill no matter what I tried)

 the screws happened to align with the glue layer of the plywood

 (which is much harder than the wood itself)

 and so the drill slid to the side just enough

 that the whole hinge was out of place.

Alas, I did not take a photo of this detail,

 so you will have to imagine it for yourself.

The good news is that this problem was

 also corrected by the addition of a "hinge post"

 because I could do all the drilling

 prior to inserting it into the wall!

Here you can see I am fitting the "hinge post" to the side of the window,

 ensuring that the resulting angle will equal the desired Ninety degrees.

This is the front facing view... 

yes, the hinges are large and sturdy!

Here you can see the hinges are attached to the new post

 (which will be trimmed along its side)

It is now ready to be fitted to the window opening.... 

or rather, the window opening needs to be fitted to it!

Which was another whole adventure... 

but was not the fault of the hinges 

that it did not go smoothly!

Some shims had to be employed 

when My carving techniques went awry.

This is the outer view... sorry for the blurry shot

(by now I was getting cranky!)

And the view of the interior side... with the window "ajar"...

But does it close properly...?

Yes! 

It closes perfectly!

And the open view.... 

showing the hinges correctly placed!

And getting the paint added to disguise the addition...

And the outside view..... this is the outer wall of the Castle... 

which is a long way from being "finished"....

 so we will excuse the rough finish!

Whew! (That was Rough!)

And pretty much used up those three days!

But before I leave you, Dear Readers,

 let me show you a little more of that 

Lovely Lilac in bloom...

It was such a Beautiful Day!

And maybe we can forget all about the frustrating hinges....

I can almost smell the blossoms...!

And I can Hope, Dear Readers,

 that my next attempt with the Hinges.....

 will not require so many "Takes"!

Lilacs And Love....

Late Bloomers....

You might be surprised to learn, Dear Readers, that our local lilacs are just Now coming into bloom! It is a very very late Spring in this part of the World, but not All of us mind! It is still just as Beautiful as can be with the sun shining and the birds singing. Will and Gabrielle are enjoying the early morning in the sunshine beneath the Blossoming Lilac. Yes, it was time at last to bring it out of the storage box for its brief reign of beauty! This also required a certain amount of shuffling the Houses around, even though it is still too early to move the house plants outdoors which signals the true start of Summer at my house and the rest of the dollhouse seasonal shuffle takes place.

I hope you don't mind if we revel in the lilacs for a minute or two!

 In case you did not remember that it took well over a year

 to construct the lilac shrub, I think it deserves

 a minute or two at least of admiration!

Will and Gabrielle are smitten...

and not just with the lilac!

It is difficult to get good pictures.... 

the sun is either too little or too much...

But, Oh we love it so!

It was one of those weekends when

 there was not much time for minis.

But I did make a Start on the next window

 for the Lord's Council Chamber.

The opening front has one window.

I started by making the paper pattern for the opening.

And cutting the outer framework from 1/8th inch thick plywood.

I must be getting practiced at this.... 

it fits better than the last one!

Yes, I am going to make the bottom section open with hinges again! 

This requires building two separate frames for each half of the window.

Here I am making sure the bottom half

 will fit right with the upper half. 

And you can see the inner side of the opening door

 has been painted to resemble the stone walls.

Both the frames have been fitted,

 now they will be painted while I make the glass panes....

Once again, I have stained the bottom opening section

 as it would not have been made of stone like the upper frame.

You might recall that I had found two panes of glass in my scrap pile

 that were Exactly the right size for the windows.... 

I decided to only use one on the first window

 since I needed to shape the top pane anyway.... 

which means I still had a ready made pane for this window!

What you see here is the top pane which I did have to cut to fit....

 prepped for the lead lines painting.

There are guide lines on the paper

 for the exact size of the window opening 

and the placing of the lead lines.  

Here you see both panes "leaded".

As usual, the lead paint is hard to control 

and my lines are too blobby and badly spaced.

I will be able to do some cleaning it up once it is dry.

And in case you were wondering if I had made up my mind

 about the grouted floor in the Lord's Council Chamber...

Even though it is impossible to get the perfect

 bright sunny morning pictures...

I Absolutely Love it!

 

 

And though the Lilacs are blooming so late, Dear Readers, 

They take my breath away with their beauty!

I Love them still!