Baby Steps....

Learning As We Go.....

Where To Begin this week is the problem, Dear Readers, because I have so many tiny little things I could show you.... and I am only afraid Some of them might seem a little Boring to look at! To begin with, I have Finally made a little more progress on the Tree House! Do you even Remember where we left that project? Well, I had mostly completed the bathroom (that does seem to be a theme lately!) and had partly finished the Dressing Room ..... but it was not done enough to attach the floor for the next level up! What you see in the above picture is the Beginnings of the Door for the next Room level.... and the floor temporarily in place. And if you look Closely at the door to the bathroom below, you will spot a wire loop on the side of the door... and a magnet on the door frame! It took me Months to decide how to attach the magnets and the door "latches" for the upper doors to the Tree House. Left to their own devices they tended to swing open and I had used masking tape for ages.... but that didn't work very well and could not be the permanent solution. The wire loops are very attracted to the magnets, and they are bendable, so they can be formed to the correct shape when I put the "outer skin" on the whole tree.... a Long time from now!

I have added one of these wire loops (made from a bent paperclip) to each of the upper doors along with a magnet... which I sometimes had to carefully cut away the walls in order to make it fit! (This was because I had not decided on the latching mechanism at the beginning of the project!) So we are learning as we go!

And another little detail that has been waiting for me to accomplish 

is the inner layer to the door on the Spiral staircase.......

This will not seem like much, 

and you might not even be able to see what I am talking about in the picture, 

but it was really very necessary! 

The door fits more closely to the stairs now when it is closed.....

And we wouldn't want any little Baby Ratlings 

to fall through cracks in the walls!

And Another small thing that has been holding up progress on the Tree House 

has been the Lighting for the Dressing Room beside the Bath.

I was originally hoping to make one LED light work for 

Both the toilet room and the Dressing Room...

(This was because the batteries support 10 lights each 

and I had reached that number for this battery 

and I wanted the next battery to light the rooms above, not this level!)

But I finally decided that I had to make a separate light for the Dressing Room....

I used a gelatin capsule for the "glass dome" and a sequin for the base....

And glued the LED inside....

And then I had to paint a piece of ceiling to match the room.....

It is not very big......

And attached the lantern to the ceiling.....

With the wires run through to the upper side.....

And then we see how it looks.....

Do you even remember this room???

With the wild Sea Horses in the waves.....

Well now you can actually see them!

And you can see the ceiling.... 

if you get down on your knees and look up..!

Here you can see it with the other light lit as well.....

I think the battery is running low on that one....

But now we are one tiny baby step closer to starting the next level up, 

because once the wiring is in place I can attach the floor above!

And what is that level going to be, I hear you ask?

Well, it is going to be the Nursery and the Nanny's Room.....

Here you can see the view looking down from above......

I had to extend the floor in several places.....

The Nursery is on the left and 

the Nanny's Room will be on the right of the dividing wall.

When we get there....

One Little Step at a time!

But That is not All, Dear Readers! 

I find that I Must tell you the next installment of Daphne's Story....

And this time we Begin with Guillaume...

Some of you Might recall that he had suffered a terrible Stroke shortly after the Baby was delivered into their care....

And Yvonne found it necessary that she learn to take over the 

management of the Family business and all their Estates.

As Guillaume slowly gained strength she would sit by his bed and tell him all she was doing and learning....

But in spite of the best medical care, his healing was slow.

And Yvonne needed to be away from his side to see to the Business.

They hired a Nurse to tend to him.

 Jean Paul was large and strong and kind.

But Guillaume did not always think so, 

especially when he was being told to try to walk...

They did not seem to understand that his body did not listen to his mind any more....

He was not at all sure that "practice" was going to make it better.

As the weeks turned into months and he could not manage to do the stairs in the Townhouse, 

they made the first Floor parlor into his own room, adding a bed....

And his meals were wheeled in on the tea trolly....

Guillaume was happier to eat alone, 

he felt so ashamed that he needed help even to eat!

And even worse, his words did not return at all!

When he thought "dog" it  came out "pig" or sometimes even "cabbage"....

There did not seem to be a connection any more in his brain and his voice....

so he said nothing at all.

He could not understand why his life had dwindled to this one room....

He thought it would have been better if he had died.

But sometimes in the distance he would hear the baby crying...

and then he would remember that there was one thing to look forward to.

Sometimes Raymond would come to see him and would bring the child.

At first he had no interest. 

He really felt that it did not matter what became of him.

But while the baby slept in his arms, Raymond would talk to him.... 

about the household, about his work, 

and about the baby and the progress she was making.

As the weeks went on, Raymond and the Baby's visits 

became treasured moments in his empty life.

The time passed very slowly for Guillaume.....

They moved in a large TV to give him some entertainment...

But he could never remember how to run the controls....

and he didn't understand what was on the screen anymore.

Travel was impossible for him, so they never went to the Country House.

Yvonne spent every evening with him, reviewing the work of the day....

But he had lost interest and had nothing to say. He was afraid to try to speak to her...

He was sure his words would make no sense.

It was the Baby, little Renee, who gave meaning to his days.

She was growing so quickly!

One day she was just an infant, and the next it seemed she would talk any day!

Or Walk!

Can it be she will take her first steps....?

Just for Grandpa?

He had not realized it before...

His heart had been stolen....

But suddenly he knew This child meant Everything to him!

He wanted to live many more years... to watch her grow!

Yes, Dear Readers,

It all might be just Baby Steps...

But we're all learning as we go!

Light

Reflections.....

I hope you will not get too bored with this room Dear Readers, as I keep presenting it to you with such Tiny alterations as are almost impossible to notice the difference without me carefully pointing them out! This week all I have added are a pair of "candle" sconces on the wall by the window. You must believe me when I tell you how difficult they are to photograph! I have to confess that I am a little disappointed with the results.... I had very high hopes for them.... but they gave me no end of challenges in the making! I am struggling with the overall lighting of this room.... to begin with, the ornate brass "Light" I have been using so far is really Terribly out of scale and even more out of character historically speaking! And there really is no graceful way of hanging it from the beautiful gilded ceiling... and it interferes with the view of said ceiling... and so on. I have been doing a bit of research on the methods of lighting eighteenth century Bedrooms.... as opposed to Drawing rooms where a chandelier might be expected.... chandeliers were not the general method of lighting bedrooms! Picture yourself lighting the candles before bed.... (on a step ladder?) and trying to "turn them off" when one gets in bed!  Sconces were much more practical alternatives.... and the simple candlestick on a table was the basic light! So I decided that this room needed a pair of candle sconces...... and set about trying to make them......

I stole a couple of tiny reflective mirrors from a beautiful Indian scarf of mine..... 

and cut them down to tiny diamonds...

I glued them onto some cardboard and glued some of that gold thread around the edges....

And I cut apart some lacy filigree jewelry findings and painted them gold.... 

bending the center piece into a horizontal base for the candle holder... 

attaching a bead 

And I glued the mirrored pieces onto the filigree pieces.....

All the parts are so tiny and so hard to work with..... 

I kept forgetting to take pictures because I wasn't sure it would even work.....

If you look VERY closely at the above picture 

you can see tiny rows of miniscule beads glued together.....

I simply put a thin line of glue onto a plastic baggie... 

and lined up micro beads in the glue so they touched each other.....

and when they were dry I peeled them off the plastic... 

hoping the glue would hold them together enough to make "hanging Crystals"....

But first I needed to add the "Glittering Candles".....

I used my favorite pieces of Reflective Iridescent Glitter to simulate glowing flames.....

Can you see the glow?

Or Now? Can you see it?

And can you see how small they are, and how difficult to hold?

And here you can see the "Crystal Drops" added....

Or maybe you can see them better now.....

 

 I tried to position the glitter "flames" so they would reflect light at 

the right angle for when they were attached to the wall.... 

but I miscalculated. Originally I planned for the sconces to go over the fireplace.....

But I could NOT bear to attach them to the Peacock Painting!

Far better to make some free standing candelabras for the mantle.....

(yet to be completed....)

So when I finally attached the sconces to the wall on either side of the window....

It became clear that the angle of the "Glittery flames" was not right for optimum Reflection! 

The candle near the door can glow.... 

but the one further in is almost impossible to see with any reflection.

And it is also clear that they are a little large for sconces in this tiny scale....

And that Brass lamp just HAS to go!

There! Isn't that better?

And if you are looking up.... 

you can see a Much better view of the ceiling.....

Even though it is so difficult to light it......

And to decide what sort of "Lights" this room should have....

Because the sconces aren't real lights....

So should I try for a hidden "Ambient Light" .....?

And would it provide enough light to produce any glow at all from the sconces?

Which are so hard to see....

Without a Glaring light shining into the room......

Do we really need the overhead light too...?

So you can see, Dear Readers......

I am struggling with the Light in this room....

Just trying to get a little Reflection.....!