funny little monk made in England and right at home in my Abbey Corner

 my little Garden Cottage with Doris by The Giddy Kipper, possums by FanniMiniatures in Hungary, the interior by me, and landscape by Larrianne

decided the entry platform on the Castle Keep needed a railing......

you can also see the Coat of Arms above the door

a sip of champagne

Mary at home & having a sip of champagne (doll created by Mary Williams)

Still adding things to my Castle Keep.......it now has 2 guardsmen, both by Tish Tierney:

The last piece finally arrived from In Some Small Way on Etsy.  The whole cottage is furnished almost completely with her pieces.

The mirror was the second one sent.....the coronavirus has played heck with the mails.  Delighted to have it!

the only piece not Judith Dowden's is the desk behind the sofa

adding a few pieces I painted myself to match (sort of) the shabby chic minis I purchased on Etsy....;
I added a bit of lace to the front of the sofa seat cushion

My latest mini cottage (purchased, not made by me)

After a couple of abortive attempts to bash a Primrose Cottage kit to make a shabby chic cottage, I gave up.  I just didn't have the proper tools to cut new windows and door in the "wood".
So, after admiring Caroline Dupuis (Cinderella Moments) cottage creations, I commissioned her to
make one for me.  It will house the shabby chic minis I've been collecting in anticipation for the cottage I ended up not making.

Here is what she made for me, and dubbed "a la Francaise" and it's even prettier than I expected:

And, here are a few of my mini furnishings added:

The Lord of the Keep has returned -

Had a castle guardsman made by Tish Tierney of Versailles Fashion Dolls.  He's warming his hands at the charcoal brazier.

Found a wonderful doll by Tish Tierney (Versailles Fashion Dolls) that should be perfect in my Castle Keep.  She's actually part of Tish's series of Henry VII and his 6 wives.  This was Tish's Catherine Howard who has been demoted by me to a Knight's wife living in the Castle Keep.

I also tried her in a couple of other interior settings, but prefer her in the Solar because she can be seen much better there.

I hope I'm finished at last.  After creating a landscaping mess, I've redone it and it seems OK.  The last thing I did was to build a platform bed with a straw pallet for the kitchen serf.  It's in a corner under the ladder stairs.  And the top floor pictures show the trap door closed and then opened. Of course, I'll probably still do some more tinkering.  That's the fun of miniatures.

Struggled with Magic Block doing a messy job, i.e. color, block shape & thickness...….just generally a struggle.  Fussed around over and over.  Made the entry platform and glued it in place.  Then began to apply the mossy growth.  I'll need to work with that a little more, but here it is:

a mess putting Magic Block on my Tower

I'm having a heck of time mixing consistent color in the Magic Block batches I'm applying to the Tower.
It's a tedious and tricky procedure especially when having to cover 3 walls that are 14" x 32" each.

I don't know what I'm going to do to try to fix the mess I've made.

KEEP trial decore

The 'Magic Block' has yet to be applied to the exterior walls, then I can decorate in earnest.
BUT, I've been so anxious to get to that point that I keep trying out possible decore - - here
is the latest trial interior:

Of course, this means I have to keep taking the stuff out and put it aside while I do the serious finishing work.  The crenallations need to be painted and applied, the Magic Block applied, then the final exterior finish - -  wood strips glued to the rough edges of the floors and tower.

Oh, and I think I need to make a trap door for the opening on the top floor.

finished the top floor, now the lower 3 floors need the wall finished and then it's applying the 'Magic Block' to the outside walls.

My window solution worked.  Just hope that it holds up.  I cut the window film to show the pattern I wanted, then fit the pieces between the backing I'd made and the window carved into the wall. 
Here's how it looks on the interior - -

the first picture shows the template I made with the film behind it and the second picture shows the way it looks on the exterior.

Not bad.

Set up the Castle Keep project on the patio table because there's just no work space in my craft room.  The kit is heavy and awkward.

The ladders, ceiling beams & braces are all stained.  Made & stained 2 railings for stair openings.

I think I solved the problem of disguising the application of the Gothic window film.  

This is how the finished window is supposed to look. 

I made a template of the back out of a very thin ply and painted it with the stone-paint.  I'll put the film between the window and the template and hope it works out.

   

Castle Keep temporarily put together.  Trying out some of the furnishings to see how they fit.  Still lots of painting, gluing, and detailing to do.