Hardwick Hall Hallway.....

Silver of the Moon... or Sliver of the Moon....

Some of you Might recall, Dear Readers, the Hallway in Hardwick Hall, that region that is tucked into an impossible to access corner of the House, which required that it be "completed" long before the rest of the structure was even constructed. And you might remember that I painted the Moon Maidens carrying the Moon up the stairs, each maiden carrying a different phase of the moon.... and that I added trees to the murals and stars to the Heavens above.... all of which is barely if at all visible now that the walls are in place! It is such a Dark and Hidden Hallway, and I thought I had "completed" it a long while ago. But in the back of my mind was the idea that I should have added a "Hall table" in the entrance area.... because surely every hallway needs a place to drop ones hat and keys! And recently I had bought a few pieces of unfinished wood furniture, amongst which was an "old fashioned" Queen Anne style side table..... which looked like it might just fit in the corner under the stairs...

Which you can just barely see if you look

 from an angle over the kitchen stove.... 

Imagine my surprise when it fit the spot exactly!

All I would need to do is add a mirror over the table,

 a little paint and it would be done!

Here you can see I am testing the small piece

 of mirror glass I cut, to see if it looked right.

It required quite some contortions to measure 

the height from the table to the underside of the stairs...!

Truly, this is the only view you get of this tiny space!

But it was just begging for a little Hall Table!

But then I decided that the "frame" for the Mirror needed to be

 a bit more elaborate than the normal frames..... 

I wanted it to be like the one over the Living Room fireplace,

 with the branching trees.....

 if any of you can remember That frame... 

which is also really hard to see in this House 

because it is angled away from the open side of the house...!

(Who designed this property anyway...???)

So I got out my wire to make an Armature.....

And added sculpey to the wire armature... 

being sure it would lie flat and cover the mirror edges properly.

I baked it with the mirror in place to ensure a good close fit with the glass.

And added paint to the hardened sculpey.... 

because the dark gray would just disappear in that dark Hallway....

I decided to paint the frame Silver.....

And the table as well.... 

in case you hadn't noticed Dear Readers,

there is a "silver" theme in this house!

Here the frame has its coat of silver paint.... 

which made it too shiny!

I decided I would need to "tone it down" a bit....

Here you can see the parts placed next to each other.....

 the frame is much shinier than the table itself....

But I needed to test it first in the hallway..... 

with the lights on.... 

to be sure it fit, and to be sure I needed to

 adjust the brilliance of the silver paint.....

I added a "marbling" effect... 

to resemble the texture of tree bark.....

Here you can see it in the Hallway again....

And I decided it is good enough to attach the frame to the table.... 

which required building a support framework.....

Which you can see here with the silver paint added .... 

to blend in wherever the frame support ends up being visible....

And finally the framework is glued to the table!

Only, now I am deciding I might need

 to "marbleize" the table top as well.....!

But first we need to test it in the Hallway again.....

 

Here, I have even moved the kitchen stove 

out of the way so you can see the entire table....!

Perhaps we will put a vase with flowers there....

A tray for keys and letters....

 

And when the Front Door is open.....

And you look in through the door.....

 

You can just catch a glimpse of the Moon Maiden 

carrying the Sliver of a New Moon.....

Which maybe you can spot here.... 

in the branches over the roof...... 

The New Moon.....

I tried to zoom in....

(but it makes it blurry.....)

 

 

 

So the Silver of the Moon... 

spills onto the branches below....

Bringing a Glow to the dark corner 

that is the Hardwick Hall Hallway!

And if you want to see more of the Moon Maidens,

 Dear Readers, you will have to go Here...

Yes, they are invisible....  

But I know they are there!

Of Plans and Pillows....

Kits and Kit Bashing.....

The Other Needlework I have been doing recently, Dear Readers, is the Petit-point Pillows made from Janet Granger's Lovely kits. I showed you the first pillow all finished, and the beginnings of stitching a second one, using the same design, but changing the color of the background. I also only had a 28 count fabric instead of the 22 count that comes with the kit. Here you can now see the two cushions together, and the difference that a higher count cloth makes in the size of the finished pillow! Of course I also started stitching yet another one of Janet's kits, this time in the Tree Of Life pattern.

Here you can see I have completed the stitching,

 but have not yet made up the pillow.

I love the design for the Tree of Life, 

but I found it harder to follow the pattern, 

and made a mistake in counting the stitches in at least one place!

I also found it quite challenging to stitch the white, or cream colored,

 background because it was harder to tell where you had stitched!

But nevertheless, I really am enjoying these little kits!

As for the Big Kit I am currently working on, 

the Willowcrest, which I have named "Hardwick Hall", 

construction is finally at a point where I have decided I need to make 

some serious changes in the design of the structure!

 

The attic level is meant to be just that... an attic. 

Here you can see the space is one main open area 

with the stairway to one side of center.

The problem arrives with the placement of the chimney...

Here you can see where the kit wants you to place it.... 

right in the center of the room.... 

right in the way of Everything! 

They have it attached as a piece of one of the main roof supports... 

and even if I take that support and "flip" it

 so the chimney is on the other side of the room, nearer to the stairs.....

I still think it is in an awkward position over the stairs. 

It would still have to be re-built to fit around the stairs!

 So I decided that this chimney is just not usable! 

I must cut this chimney off and build my own to fit.

 

And besides that, I don't like these "roof supports"!

They are utterly unrealistic and block the view of the upper part of the ceiling!

So they will have to be changed too!

 

Here you can see the upper portion of the roof from the top, 

with the chimney in the "flipped" position..... 

and I have no problem with the basic roof shape.

But the "new" chimney is going to have to exit the roof 

in a slightly different spot... so I will be making changes here too!

But the Truth of the matter is that I have always envisioned this Room at the top of the House as the Witch's "studio" or "Library" or "Spell-room".....

And because Madame Artemis is the Lady of the Moon... 

I want there to be a Skylight in the roof 

to let the Moon-light into this Space!

After all, those Moon Maidens are marching up those stairs to this Room....

We simply Must let the moon-light in!

And rather than a skylight in the modern sense, 

I have been thinking of a Cupola.... or a Belvedere....

So I made a cardboard mock-up 

just to see how it would look from the exterior.....

But really, Dear Readers, I had decided I would build this even if it looked awful!

So I was really just deciding on proportions and dimensions.....

Here you can see the rear view....

(The paint cans are weighing down the floor while a support is being glued!)

And before you could blink,

  I had cut the roof panels to make an opening at the top....

And I have lopped off the chimney support too.....

but I still need to completely redesign the roof supports!

They will need to be more like real rafters and allow the view up into the cupola.

But for now they hold the roof panels properly in place.

And I am using a block of pink styrofoam 

to play with the placement of the new chimney and fireplace... 

because there will have to be a hearth to go with it!

And I must confess, that I am scheming 

on how to make a spiral stair up to a landing 

that would allow the little people 

to look out the belvedere windows! 

I think it will work if I make the floor a metal mesh 

that still allows the light to come through to the main room below!

And I have to confess that I also started another one of the

 little pillows in the Tree Of Life pattern...

on the smaller cloth, and with a slightly different color green for the leaves.... 

I think the light green supplied with the kit 

is a little pale against the cream background!

So I guess you could say that I have been Kit Bashing, Dear Readers,

Whether it's Hardwick Hall or the Petitpoint Pillows....

I have been changing the plans!

Lost In Time.....

Where Does It Go....?

I Hope you will Understand, Dear Readers, when I tell you that I am Lost in Time! It has Completely Escaped my grasp lately, and the more I try to pin it Down... the more Elusive it becomes! So I hope you will remember That when I tell you that The Wizard has been Wrestling with the same Problem.... only magnified by Many Many Years! And at a certain point he says... the Only thing I can do is stand and watch it spin.... and when the right moment comes, I will know where to leap in! Ah he is so Wise! So I take his advice.... and on a Sunny Sunday Morning I survey the Little World that is mine to jump into.... Little moments suspended in Time....

Someday there will be a Garden .... with growing plants.....

but for now there is still just the promise of seeds....

waiting......

And Breakfast on a Sunny Morning.....

And Tea and cupcakes....

With Hamish Harry still wooing Lady Lavender...

And Marmalade still struck speechless with Wonder...!

Have Any of the Travelers found their path....?

 

Not to mention Daphne who has spent Ages 

trying to compose a very difficult letter 

to the Grandparents of her child! 

Has she made Any progress at all?

And will we Ever hear the rest of her Story?

These are the questions that Torment me, Dear Readers, 

as I survey my Small and very Crowded little world!

And in the midst of all the Chaos.... I spot the Moon Maidens.....

 

 

And think wouldn't it be Wonderful to Finish those windows....

so I could attach those walls....

and free up all the chairs that currently hold all the parts....

And Maybe Then there would be Room for Time to shift just a little....

So I jump in....

I will not bore you here with a list of the difficulties with 

assembling the frames for these windows!

Suffice it to say that each frame is made of multiple layers....

Pieces punched from splintering and fragile wood.

Above you can see them all assembled, 

glued together and with the primer coat painted. 

(Hours and Hours Consumed!)

And while the paint is drying, I added the "leading" 

to the exterior of the remaining windows.

And glued them in place!

(More Hours... Evaporating....!)

I only have the last few windows for the 

Parlor bay window that have not been leaded!

Hours and hours and

Three coats of paint later.....

All the trim is going to be the silver color.

The house facade with only the door trim in place....

The window frame propped in place..... 

just testing....

But I Think I am figuring it out Dear Readers!

If you look Carefully....

The Hours can be transformed ....!

Minutes congeal into pieces we can see!

Time doesn't Disappear.....

It Becomes!

But What has Become of all those Other Times?

Where are those Stories Going?

That, Dear Readers,

Only Time will Tell!

Planting Seeds....

By The Light of The New Moon.....

I am Starting my Garden at the Very Beginning, Dear Readers, by Planting the seeds! And I could not have been happier than I was to see the recent post by Pepper of MitchyMooMiniatures blog, who not only Created a Beautiful selection of miniature seed packets, but she also Shared the file for others to use! Thank you Pepper! It is Generous Creative bloggers like you who make so many of us less Computer Savvy bloggers very Happy! I had been Longing to make a selection of tiny seed packets.... and so I jumped on her offer to share, and spent Saturday assembling the tiny little gems!

I am still sort of new to printing out files and have no idea how 

to re-size things unless I am following very careful instructions.... 

but I was able to make my printer do a respectable job with these seed packets!

And as you can see if you look closely, 

I wanted my packets to have "seeds" in them!

And what did I use for this, you might ask?

Why "Pepper", of course!!!

I think it gives that extra layer of realism 

to have something inside the tiny packets!

I made them all up... starting with the flowers....

and the tomatoes too, 

because they would be the ones 

that needed to be started indoors....

For which you would need to tear the corners when opening them....

So you could plant them in seed trays......

Indoors in the warmth on a cold Winter's day!

I have not yet made myself a "Vacuum Forming " tool, 

such as the one Pepper showed on an earlier post.... 

where she demonstrates making perfect little seedling "planters".

So I opted instead for the older fashioned single tray model....

made from the plastic packaging that came 

with a recent purchase of miniature doorknobs...

I saw their potential right away, and saved the packaging!

I cut the sections apart, leaving one side 

with a larger lip than the other side....

Then I added a small bead of white craft glue 

around the edge of the one with the larger lip...

Which you can see if you look closely!

And when it dried completely I painted this section black...

It needed several coats, on both sides....

The glue bead made a little edge 

to catch the cover and keep it snug!

Ready to fill with the "dirt" of your choice....

and plant with the tiny seeds.

And what better time for Planting than the New of the Moon....

When the Old Wisdom says the seeds are ready to sprout... 

and the strength of the Growing Moon will aid the new seedlings!

And to that End, I also painted more on the Moon Maidens...

 

The last three Maidens that march up the narrow stairs to the third floor 

were the most difficult of them all!

Above you can see the beginnings of the ones on the stairs.....

but I was not happy with the proportions of the one half way up!

And I realized at this point that I was going to need 

to incorporate the top floor railing into the painted portion of the wall!

I had already stained the other sections of railing, and punched out their "holes"

but now I realized I had overlooked the section on this side of the stairs!

Which was a good thing as I wanted to leave the "gaps" 

filled in order to paint the Maiden at the top!

Once I had located that section of railing 

on the sheets of punch outs for the kit, 

and primed and painted it, 

I could continue with the last two Maidens.

I painted over the middle one in order to fix her proportions 

now that I could see where she would reach onto the railing section.

And started the final Maiden that would represent 

the Dark of the Moon at the top of the stairs.

And before I went too far with the painting, 

I thought to test the fit with the attic floor in place

to see if I had the alignment correct....

And realized it was off by about an eighth of an inch!

(Which you can see if you look closely at the above picture!)

So I painted over the upper sections AGAIN, Dear Readers,

and made sure the alignment was adjusted properly!

And painted the final New Moon Maiden!

Which was just as well, because the latest version is by far the best...

Here she is partly done.....

And here they are completed...

Marching up the attic stairs... 

where they will be almost impossible to see....

Barely glimpsed at the top of the stairs.

But, like the New Moon itself.....

Or the seeds in the packets.....

Or the seeds in the Ground....

We will know they are there!

Isn't it Fitting then, Dear Readers, 

that I am planting the seeds

and Painting the New Moon Maiden....

Right at the Time of the New Moon!