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Various details of the miniatures made for the Vampyre Room Boxes.

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The miniatures to be placed in the Vampyre Room Boxes.
Interior of the dungeon beneath the stairs and upper platform.
Black and white photo with cobwebs added.
Two versions of antiquing white porcelain busts.
The busts are “antiqued” with gouache then fixed with a matte fixative/varnish from Japan.
Cramming everything in just for fun.
The candles are real miniature candles made by me. The photo was snapped VERY quickly.
The vampyre collection on display on the library table in the living room.
The collection as I add new pieces to it in the studio.
A few of the miniatures being made for the display.
Miniature prints made by me.
Egyptian scrolls 1
Egyptian Scrolls 2
Egyptian Scrolls 3
Egyptian Scrolls 4
Sepia version of scene.
Overall view of the items collected or made for the Vampyre Room Boxes.
Faux bat in display box.
Photo taken by John with his professional big camera.
Each of the silver lockets is filled with paper ephemera that I made.
Finding the tiny metal keys took a lot of searching and scouring the internet for sources.
There are dozens of chests and trunks stuffed with miniature books, scrolls, rolled maps, brass items, miniature glass bottles, rats, bones, etc.
Pile of miniature maps made by me.
I’ve been collecting and working on the miniatures for the Vampyre Room Boxes for about a year.
This was the first inexpensive vampyre that I had bought that started the entire collection a couple years ago.
And this was the beginning of the Vampyre collection!

Making the stone fireplace.

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Before adding the final details and painting the stonework.
Final stonework details finished and painted.
Added the soot to show that the fireplace was a working fireplace.
Crane, andirons, and pots added.
Close-up of finished fireplace.
Fireplace in place in the Red Vampyre Room Box. The entire unit can be taken out.

THE RED LIBRARY VAMPYRE ROOM BOX

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Love this photo showing all the books (that open and are printed), scrolls, lights, and bookcase made from an old typesetting drawer (cut into 3 sections).
This photo shows the overall view of the Red Library Vampyre Room Box.

Nosferatu searching for a book.
Close-up of Nosferatu searching for a book.
Good photo of all the items on the book shelves.
Detail of a few of the items in the library.
The book shelves on workbench in the studio.
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Vampyre Room Boxes Update

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this writing blog! Here we are about to celebrate Thanksgiving and I haven’t updated the Vampyre Room Boxes. So…before we get to Thanksgiving here are a few Vampyre Room Box updates.

Nosferatu showing off the empty Red Vampyre Room Box.

Another view of the empty Vampyre Red Room Box.
Red Vampyre Room Box with more transparent curtains.

Being Productive during Lockdown

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Life for us really hasn’t changed all the much since we went into lockdown back in March.   We work here in the studios and in our offices and are used to NOT seeing other living souls for weeks or months at a time when we’re working on deadlines.   The pups keep us entertained and hopping.

I have been working in the studio on Pearl and Pearl’s Lost Pearls but also writing more chapters in The Dark Secret of Wythe’s End.   I have designed a few sample front covers just for fun as well as making antiqued documents and diary pages.  I was thrilled to have discovered http://www.oldfonts.com where I was able to purchase a bundle of fonts that look very 17th, 18th, and 19th century in design and print!

Here are a few of the front cover ideas.   As well as photos of some aged documents I made.

FirstSecondThirdFourthFifthSixthIMG_8828IMG_8829IMG_8827Old PapersIFEG97106141_10221729027592257_7228464048323428352_oil_1588xN.1468463230_fsm0I found a fantastic leather smith down in NYC that makes these rugged distressed leather journals.  She is making one for me without the regular journal pages and I will insert the replica 17th century diary pages that Phin discovers in the secret library.

Chapter by chapter the novel is coming together beautifully.

The Living Room

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The living room is where we keep a cheery, cozy fire burning in the fireplace throughout the long, dark winter months.   We snuggle up on the large leather sofa with warm fleecy blankets for the pups and watch old movies.   A few of our favorite movies are:  Christmas in Connecticut, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, A Christmas Carol, The Man Who Invented Christmas, The Homecoming, The Man Who Came to Dinner,  and many other old classics.

This year we did NOT struggle with strings of electrical lights on the tree.   Instead, we bought clip-on remote controlled LED candles and they are FANTASTIC!  No fuss, no muss and they give the Christmas tree an old-fashioned Victorian look to it.

IMG_8385-1IMG_8376-1IMG_8380-1Scout IntriguedSofa Table 1Candy Table 1Dutch ShoesChristmas Tree Bookcase 2MaddyMaddy SleepingChristmas Tree Bookcase 1Christmas Tree 4Christmas Tree 7Stairs

Henwoodie is ready for the holidays!

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It takes about a week to get Henwoodie completely ready for the holidays.  We put the last finishing touches on the decorations last night, got all the candles in the windows, and settled down with the pups and nice cheery fire in the fireplace and watched The Holly and the Ivy (1952 black and white Christmas movie).   Now that the house is decorated I can concentrate on drawing and painting in the studio.

The dining room is always finished first.   The Christmas china and silver will be brought out for the meals eaten in this room.

DR Finished 1DR Finished 2DR Finished 4DR 6bDR Finished 7DR Finished 3DR 7DR 3DR Finished 5