A Trio of Sorceresses and a Tonne of Books

Chrysta has been joined by new friends Amethyst and Gemma.  Amethyst (Amy for short) wears a purple gown while Gemma is in black.  Like Chrysta, they're all handmade from the same mould (hence they look like triplets).  While Chrysta was made from Cernit clay, Amy and Gemma are both made from Sculpey.  As you can see, the Cernit definately gives the better result, it has more of a 'glow' and a more translucent finish that make it more realistic.  It is however so much harder to work with than the Sculpey.

 

As you can see with the three ladies standing in the garden, Gemma just gets lost in her black dress, but both she and Amy fit in much better than Chrysta due to their narrower skirts.  Chrysta is still my favourite though and I think either she or Amy will get the job of tending the Crystal Garden permanently.  (I welcome all opinions on who it should be).  The two remaining sorceresses will find homes in later rooms of the ToM.

 The garden itself is practically finished now that water has been added to the fountain.  The pool is made of Solid Water while the fountain is done with Scenic Water trained up thin wires.  The fountain part is a bit messy but somehow looks more like crystal than water - perfect for the Crystal Garden!  Floating in the pool are lily pads (wire and faux leadlighting paint) and flowers (resin beads).

 Hopefully, the garden will be finished by next week and if I'm lucky and actually get to see some sunshine I may even manage to get some decent photos of it.

 Meanwhile, after their modelling job in the garden last week, Saskia and Artie have dropped by the Library on their way back to Castle Starcaster.  After weeks of neglect and being slept in by cats, there is finally some progress for them to see.  I've taken down the arches from the shelf tops and run some coving stained to match the rest of the shelves around the top instead.  I'm not sure about the fancy trim on the top.  I don't have enough to go all the way around, so I was going to just do the ends of the shelves as it is in the photo, but it doesn't look right does it?  And Artie reminded me that it's the same trim used in Castle Starcaster's library and it might look a bit 'samey' if I used it in another library.  So I guess it's time to think up plan B.

 I have installed the mirror in the back corner creating the illusion of continuing shelves.  Everything behind the red curtain is mirror.  I wasn't clever enough to postion the mirror so that it reflected only shelf from every angle so to compensate I hung the curtain to block the side of the mirror where you tend to see things beyond the library.  I'm very pleased with the overall effect, it works really well.  It will be impossible to fill the shelves down this aisle area after the centre shelf is permanently glued in place so I had a marathon book making session and managed to make enough books to fill this area and glued them in place.  Next time I decide to make a room filled with books, someone please hit me.  What I've found to be a good rule of thumb for making books is to make as many as you think you'll need, then make as many again and an extra dozen on top and you may have enough.  By the time I've filled the remaining three quaters of the library I will definately be swearing never to make a book again!