Showing posts with label Salon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salon. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The Jewels In The Crown...




Or Dew On The Vines....

Can you Believe there is More that I have added to this ceiling, Dear Readers? One thing is a practical necessity, because as careful as I was during construction, with each layer added, the dome became less and less flexible and I must finally admit that it is Warped! This meant that the ends of the dividers between the coffers did not align correctly with the corners of the walls.... and there were noticeable Gaps between the ceiling and the tops of the walls.... on the ends more than on the sides. To Disguise this failing, I have added another layer to the gilded coving at the top of the walls.... really just a layer of cardboard Carefully cut to fit the opening and in effect extending the top of the coving further over the open area of the room.... 
If you look carefully you will see the detail below.....

See? there is an additional layer to the gilded coving at the base of the ceiling!
It hides a World of imperfections!
And the Other detail I have added to this impossibly ornate ceiling is some glittering jewels....
Did you notice them?

Here you can see the ceiling with the "final touches" added.....
I did not have the skills to add tendrils of vine or minute blossoms...
but I thought the vines should culminate with Something....
Perhaps just glittering dew drops...?
So I added the tiny "gems" ..... 
really just scrapbook rhinestones!

Oh, and a little more was added to the stitching on the bed curtain....

A flower and a half to be precise!
Other than that, nothing was accomplished  this past week in the Tree House..... 
Because I spent so much time on RL Gardening and House projects!
But rather than leave you there.... with a very short post....
I am reminded that I started this Tree House just a year ago,
So I thought it would be fun to have a Review!
I hope you will bear with me....
It began with a Dream I had....
I Dreamed there was a large Tree in the Garden of The Folly....
Moss covered and ancient....
And inside it were tiny Rooms....
The Dream was SO Compelling that I had to start right away...!

This was the start of the Kitchen.... 
carved into the foam base layers.....
with the door attached to the main support post 
and the walls just rough cardboard...

Here the hearth and the cupboard are begun.... and the stairs.....
(I spent HOURS going through all the old pictures trying to cull this down to a few....!)
It is not possible to show all the steps....

So here we have the Kitchen nearly done.....
Only the tea kettle and teapot are missing....
(Do you remember that wonderful chair...???!)

And here you see the door open with the beautiful window seat......
And the start of the exterior structure made of cardboard.....
And the next floor.....
Which would be The Salon....
It is now mid June.... the Kitchen took six weeks....
I Thought I would possibly be Done by Christmas....!
 
Here I have begun the paper mache structure of the roots....
and the walls of the Salon....


With the beginnings of the Fireplace and niches.....

And then the Painting added.....
And trim around the doors.....

And more Enchanting Tiny Furniture.....!

And a Tiny Chandelier....
And a ceiling Fit for Gods!!!
Here... you must come closer....
 
It is almost Impossible to see!
(Please note the glittering candle flames!)

And the entire room.... with the Lunette window....
By now it is the end of July.... 
six more weeks have passed....
And we are at the Beginning of the next room....
The Library!

With the Gothic cabinets and Doors that must open and close....!

A huge stone hearth....

The Chairs....

And Books! Gorgeous, Tiny Books!
But Time is passing.... 
it is the end of September and we are only just begun....!

There is still the Secretary.....

Ancestral Portraits and Tiffany Lamp.....

And a Brilliant Blue Ceiling.....

A Sparkling Candelabra.....

And an Insane amount of Collections...
In Bell-Jars...!
By now it is becoming clear that I will not be done by Christmas!
The Christmas Season is upon us....


Our Tiny Friends have arrived to supervise the Construction....

And Decorate for the Holidays!

But construction resumes in January....
Ready or Not, we have moved on to the Bedroom....

With it's Roccocco Fireplace and Juliet Balcony.....
In February I painted the Chinoiserie walls....

And made the Pagoda Bed...!

Dressed in the Finest Lace and Velvet.....

And the Dressing Room that was just an Afterthought...!
(Consumed a good part of March)
With Rose Arbors and Wardrobe.....

and that UnForgettable Recamier....

And the Ceiling.... the Domed Ceiling.....

 Bejeweled and Begilt....
Did it use up ALL of April....?
 And where do we go from here, Dear Readers...?

The Tree House as it now stands.... 
Next to the Folly....
Not even Half finished!!!
DARE we say it Might be done by Next Christmas?
And could I even Imagine where the next rooms will take us...?
THAT remains to be seen! 


But Meanwhile, we will Dream of the next rooms... 
Perhaps while lying in the Chinoiserie Room....
gazing up at the Ceiling... 
wondering whether those glittering drops are Jewels in the Crown.....
or just Dewdrops in the Ivy....

Monday, June 25, 2012

Fitting Pieces

The Salon Taking Shape

Why is Progress always Slower than I think it will be? Well, I will tell you ONE of the Reasons, Dear Readers, is because I can't imagine how many times I will need to Assemble the pieces temporarily, just to check how it is fitting , or how it will look, only to disassemble it all in order to Work on the pieces! I thought it was going to be easier on the "above ground" rooms because the room could take on normal rectangular proportions with four solid walls (or three and an opening side;) and the walls could all be "decorated " while flat and slid easily into place! Well, maybe that would be the case if I didn't insist on having alcoves and vestibules and stairways inside the walls...... all the parts I love the Most because they make the space so interesting...! And then you must realize that I am building it inside a tree.... which means the shape is NOT square... and I am trying to maximize floor space because there is so little.... and then you will see that NOTHING is just neat and square! EVERYTHING needs to be tested and adjusted in place, and None of the pieces are attached so they keep falling over and getting out of place! But in spite of all that I have made some Wonderful progress on the Salon!
To begin with, I painted all the walls in a smoky antique blue that I am very fond of.....

And I also made a niche out of Sculpey for one of the corners of the room....
(This required quite a bit of Fidgety fitting!!!)

And then I began the long process of cutting the trim out of cardboard in the pattern I wanted for each wall...

For now I am just making the around the door framing.... 
the baseboards and chair rails will be added later when all the walls are assembled....
Here below you can see them all propped in place to see how they will look.... 
(after painting them all in a soft Dove Gray....)
(Can you guess how many times all the pieces fell over...?)

I had decided to make a "Roundel " over each door.... 
so I could paint a tiny scene in each!
Here below you can see the paintings begun.....
 
And here is more detail....
It is supposed to be a bucolic countryside... 
but it is only about one-half an inch in diameter so my technique is a bit rough.....

And here you see it with the framework overlaid....

And here below is another one...
This one has sheep... Can you see them... there on the left...?
No? ...
Well, never mind...... 
I will know they are there and even if no-one ever sees them and says "oh look, sheep!"....
I will not mind!

Here is another one... over the main door... 
I Hope you can all see the Cow and her calf?
(do be sure to poke the pictures to enlarge them... or even better... use the right click and choose open in new tab... then you can zoom in Really close... Scary close!)

And here you can see it with the door trim also temporarily in place...

And here is the fourth little painting....
I hope I don't need to tell you it is the shepherd with his sheep (on the left!) meeting the milkmaid on her way home with the milk.... the cow is not in this picture.....!

And here below you can see the same picture with the delicate gold rope border added.....

Here you can see the Cow painting with it's gold border added too....
The trims have been glued on , but all the walls are still unattached....

Here you can see them all propped together.... 
and I have started to paint the fireplace Mantelpiece...

And here is a closer view..... the better to see all the flaws.....
And you can see the Niche with it's sculpey shaped backing....

 The door needs a "crystal" doorknob......

 I have finished the "marbled" pillars in the mantelpiece....

 And here the niche has been made to fit snugly... 
it required a whole lot of very careful carving away of the excess material on the back side.
I will probably put a statue on a pillar in there.... depending on what I can find that is one inch tall!

 The stairs are not finished... 
but you can see where they lead up to the next floor.....
And here below you can see the whole room framework.....
still not attached but in place for fitting.....

Here below is a view looking down from the top.... 
I have attached the floor and the opening side door!

And here is the view from the side looking down..... 
with the stairs taped in place.... 
none of the walls are attached yet.... 
but we are getting closer!
On the right you can get a glimpse of the vestibule and front door... 
right behind the wire frame support....

And on the left in the alcove you can see there is a problem with the floor which will have to be disguised somehow.... 
I will still need to make all the baseboards and chair rails.... 
for the tiny bits of wall that require them
not to mention the ceiling trim and the ceiling itself....!

But maybe it is almost time to attach the walls?
Could it be that I'm almost done with fitting these pieces?