Rocks And Rugs...

 

 And Elephants Too....!

I Know you will be getting tired, Dear Readers, of seeing more Castle Rock construction pictures! it is a long and tedious process and the Castle is a Large structure! To do it justice, I mustn't skimp on the building just because I am tired of it! You might have noticed that The Lord's Bed Chamber had another window on the side wall right at the front (and two more on the opening wall doors, but they will be much later) that it could be assumed would also have seats in the embrasure. As I said before, this Castle is Large, and the window openings start at 4 inches (4 feet in mini scale) off the floor. The ceiling of the chamber is 12 inches high (12 feet in scale) and it all must be kept in proportion. I needed a model to show the scale, and Charles was willing to come by and test the window seats. The seats themselves are a step up from floor level, making the view out the window a practical height for an adult. I needed to make sure I was leaving enough room between the seats for a "person" to stand comfortably.

Here, you can see it in better light.

(There have been a lot of cloudy days lately!)

Here you can see it in reference to the rest of the room.

This window is larger because

 I had to reduce the size of the ones

 on the back wall to fit below the stairs.

The seats are basically the same size,

 even though they look so much larger!

Here is a view from above with the top ceiling removed.

You can see the structure of the spiral stairs

 as well as the stairs from below on the left.

The bed will fit in the section between

 the front window and the spiral stairs.

 

Just this many "rocks" took an amazing amount

 of fiddling and adjusting to fit right!

But I got them glued in place and a coat of primer on them.

As for the Rugs, Dear Readers, I imagine you have guessed

 that it didn't take long for me to start stitching another one!

(No, I have not quite finished the fringe stitch on the last one!)

Exciting, Right?

I know this is a tease... but from Humble beginnings....

And yes, some patterns are a bit tedious to work.

They have you start in the center.... 

so I wanted to get some of all the colors in the design

at least to see how they relate to each other.

This is another of Janet Granger's designs.

This is the picture on the kit package.

 I know the colors must be a little off in the photograph,

 because the central area has the rose pink for the background.

 I am eager to see how it looks as it comes together.

This is as far as I have gotten. 

Yes, I am turbo stitching!

And what about the Elephants, you are wondering?

Well, the Elephant Tea Cozy had to

 audition a spot in the Doll Maker's Studio...

(It was a gloomy morning...)

The Elephant looks wonderful with the colors of this room!

But that was definitely not the correct teapot!

I had to hunt through all my boxes...

And I found her!

(I need to get better pictures!)

The Elephant Cozy does fit over

 the Elephant Teapot, just barely!

But I can't bear to cover it up!

So that's all I accomplished on my Week-end, Dear Readers,

A Couple more Rocks, Another Rug begun,

And the Elephants!

The Window Seat Alcove...

 

A Twisting Tale...

Unlike the Dollmaker's Studio Vignette, Dear Readers, which went together flawlessly from laser cut pieces of the well made kit, the Window Seat alcove is cobbled together from scrap wood pieces found in my "bits and pieces" boxes. What seemed like an ideal piece of plywood, exactly the needed dimensions for the base, had a subtle flaw that only became apparent after the structure was glued together. It had a slight warp to the plywood! The result is that the base of the window seat doesn't sit square to the walls on both sides. On one end it leans away from the wall, leaving a sliver of a wedge shaped gap at the top. You can see in the above picture that I have added a sliver of plywood to fill the gap. And on the other side of the window, it is the window frame which doesn't meet the side of the wall!

  This is because the opposite wall leans out a little bit because the base is a little bit twisted. The piece of plywood is too sturdy to "untwist" by applying pressure and a lot of glue; it is 3/8 th inch thick and only 2 inches wide by 7 inches long. It is sturdy so the window seat will not be vulnerable to accidental breakage over the years, sticking out the way it does!

It is screwed to the supports that it sits on 

(I will glue it permanently when it is all finished)

and the supports themselves might not be entirely level or even.

 I am allowing that over the many hundred years of its life, 

it has probably sagged somewhat!

The structure from the interior will not show

 the patched pieces once the trim is all in place. 

And all the trim needs to be added to

 the window seat before I attach it...

starting with the narrow scrap of ceiling 

which is another serendipitous scrap!

 It is meant to be the roof (with overhanging eaves)

of the window alcove for the Sugar-plum Cottage kit,

 and fits just perfectly into the

 expanded size of the Window Seat alcove! 

Not a sliver of altering needed!

 But it also must first be painted...

 

With a sleeping cherub among the billowing clouds.

 

As always, it takes many layers to make it look right.

 

 This one will be difficult to see...

This is as close as we will ever get!

Because the ceiling of the window seat is 

tucked behind the supporting wall beam...

And there will be the gilded ceiling trim blocking the view...

And we will have to crane our necks to even get a glimpse...

But we will know he is there...

 asleep on his cloud pillow!

The gilded trim needs to be fit... 

but not attached until the wallpaper is attached.

Which requires that we get the whole end wall glued in place

 so the wallpaper pattern can match as well as is possible!

No, the pattern does not match perfectly!

I am using up scraps in this build...

 and argue that the discrepancies will be attributed 

to renovations made later.... or something like that!

And... Oh look! The baseboards have even been added!

And wallpaper on the sides of the window seat...

 so we can glue the gilded ceiling trim in place!

The window seat will have trim around

 all the edges once it is glued in place.

And I am using a very fine scrap of wood veneer 

(that came with the Willowcrest kit

 for making the mansard roof curved sides...)

to cover the back and surface of the window seat itself,

 because I don't want to add any thickness to the seat. 

It is already high enough!

Here you can see my trusty high tech clamps in action 

holding the side panel in place while the glue dries.

The seat surface cannot be added until the window seat

alcove is firmly attached to the supports and those screws filled in!

Here I am testing it in place... not firmly attached yet! 

First I must figure out how the ceiling of the room will "tab" into place

 if all four walls are glued and have no "flex" 

because of all the firmly glued alcoves....!

For the moment I have left one side of the end wall

 not yet glued to the support post... 

so it can be flexed as needed for the ceiling tab. 

So you can see, Dear Readers,

 it is a bit of a Twisty Tale...

 Figuring out how all the parts fit together...

 but I am making good progress!