Endings and Beginings

Whoa.  Such a lot has been going on this week it's hard to know where to start!  I guess the best place is at the end of the Dig Site.  As you can see, the columns have been given another repaint.  They look a lot less crazy now.  Instead of multi coloured stripes, they now have blocks of colour.  These pilars are (very loosely) modelled on "lotus flower" style pilars, which are meant to resmble an open lotus flower.  In keeping with this idea the main body of the pilar (i.e. the "stem" of the flower) is now green while the upper part (the "flower") is blue.  The pilars are accented with gold faux leadlighting outliner.

 This is not only an improvement on last week's look, but a vast improvement on the orgininal "lotus bud" style pilars.

 The Site is now finished.  At least for now.

 You may notice in some images Kiki (the mummy) has developed a distinct lean.  I think he must have been hitting the jars of wine that were entombed with him for the afterlife.  It's because one of his legs is shorter than the other.  I'll find a wedge I can slip under his foot and hopefully steady him up.

 I told you about the logs in the fire last week, but failed to take a decent photo of them.  Here they are at last.

Moving on to other things, Friday and Saturday saw the annual Doll, Bear and Miniature fair return to the Country Club Casino.  This is my haul:

Those of you out there who are DHE fans will recognise almost everything in the photo.  Of the dwindling number of dedicated miniature stalls (down to four this year) each of them had about 90% Dollshouse Emporium items.  It was overall very disappointing, absolutely no wallpaper or any kind of DIY items including scenic water, nothing in 24th scale (though there were some 48th scale items) and almost no cats!  Every year I go there to stock up on Scenic Water and cats, but alas! all I could get was the little tabby on the chaise who is a pretty low quality polyresin job.  Still, I did manage to spend lots of money.  Almost all of this is destined to go into the Georgian house.  The desk, though lovely, strikes me as being more suited to a later period in history, so I might save if for something else.

And speaking of the Georgian house  . . . . . I have at long last started to work on it!

This is the shell of the house with all the old decoration stripped out of it.  You can see the remanants of the last two decorations schemes in this shot.  Let's hope it's third time lucky for this house.  Below is a diagram of the new layout I have in mind for the house:

I'm not sure whether it will stay like this or if I'll move the Hall/staircase over to one end.  If I do it means putting fake doors in the back walls to connect the rooms.  If I leave the Hall in the middle, the rooms can connect though doors in the side walls.  I am also going to add a basement area for a kitchen and other "domestic" rooms such as a larder, scullery, dairy, etc.  I'm still doing a lot of thinking about how the layout will (or won't) work.

And finally, some more photos of the Dig Site just because: