Down Below and Up Above

 For the first time in a couple of years, Tasmania is experiencing a continuously hot summer.  Why does the rest of the world seem to like hot weather?  I hate it!  Not only did my brains melt about a week and a half ago rendering me incapable of thinking clearly but trying to actually do anything is a little like trying to swim through molases.  No doubt you'll see more typing and spelling errors than usual in this post for which I appologise in advance.  And if I come off sounding wackier than normal, it's because at the moment I am.

Dreaming of cool, damp caverns at least inspired me to get a few more layers of paint on the walls of the Magicians Cave.  They are now looking much more like natural rock although there are still places, especially in the grotto, where there is no paint.  Anyone else who's planing to make a cave; stop and consider how you'll get a paint brush into tall the nooks and crannies first!  The door which was made from impressions in the clay at the same time as the stone walls has been painted a woody brown but needs more work.  A wooden railing of prebought balusters prevents anyone from falling down off the raised platform.  Wires for the lights have been threaded through the back wall but the lights are also not yet finished.

On the top floor, I've done some work in the bedroom and wardrobe.  Strips of balsa wood in a grid pattern make a panelling effect on the walls.  The plaster coving that had been intended for the solar tops the panelling in the bedroom end.  It was painted a creamy white to match the panelling, then the detail of the coving was picked out in red, green, blue and gold.  As expected, I made a mess of the corner, but hopefully once filled and patched it will be less noticable.  Because the original plan was to use the coving in another room, I don't have enough to do the wardrobe as well.  I haven't decided whether to buy more or leave the top of the wardrobe walls plain.  What do you think?

 The bed is made of balsa wood, wooden beads and some fancy panels.  It reaches from floor to ceiling as it holds the ceiling up.  Unfortuantely it is a trifle too tall and actually makes the ceiling arch up a little.  If I decide that I can get it out again with out pulling it to peices, I'll cut it down just a little.  The bedspread is a printed lawn fabric and evtually there will be matching bedcurtains too.  The green behind the fancy panels in the bedhead needs changing to something else.

Finally, I played a little with the lighting in the crypt.  I used part of the clear plastic pack the lights came in, covered it with swirls of blue and green glass paint and put a light bulb inside to create a creepy sort of glow that eminates from behind the stairs.  It looks quite good in real life, but in a photo it looks like this:

Not so good.  Are light effects always hard to capture or am I just a lousy photographer?  I'll use the same method to light the grotto in the Magicians Cave.  Perhaps I'll manage to get a better photo of that.