Booked for the Day....

The dreaded workroom was calling when I got up this morning....It has been calling for a week, but I refused to answer until I couldn't navigate through it. It is about half clean after a half day of cleaning.....

I kept getting interrupted by certain people. One in particular was unpleasantly persistent.

"What's this? Where did this come from? Why do you have one of these? Can I have that? Can you make that in miniature?" Those were five of Tessie's favorite questions and one of them was asked for just about every piece that I attempted to stow away. She had to have the last question for the big pieces.

When I got to this particular piece, I thought that you might like to see it. I am thinking that it would indeed make a neat mini.

It is a book made from one sheet of rice paper. Of course the last page isn't finished and there is no cover. Hey! It's only about five years since I ran out of steam. Maybe the six year old needs to revisit that project.

Basically, the page is folded into 16 rectangles. Then it is cut down the center line on three blocks, from there, it is cut one block in either direction and then lastly you turn around the block and cut down the other side of two blocks on either side. Then you start at one end and do an accordion fold. If you do it right, some of the pages will be vertical and some horizontal. I did that part first and then I drew a vine that grows from page to page from beginning to end. The right center square is the start and I left that one blank for the beginning. That would be glued to one cover and the center one on the left, that is unfinished will be glued to the other cover. They are free of the spine and the book is turned this way and that to read or view.

The second photo shows one of the horizontal views. In this one I did a different kind of animal or bug on each page.

Tessie wants a smaller version of this. I am going to have to try it. It will have to be done with lightweight paper.

Next, while I was going through boxes and baskets where I had stuffed things to hide over Thanksgiving, she hit the jackpot!

There's a tuffet with a spider embroidered on the top and the carved fireplace surround that I decided not to use in Zar's bedroom. She started piling up things that she wanted to take away.

I don't know where she is going to put them. The storage place in the computer room wall is stuffed to the gills.

She found a Daguerreotype of a lady in a gold frame from about 1860 that she claims is her niece....I am not going to ask questions about that one. I know that Tessie is older than she looks, but I don't think that I want to know the exact age.

Then there are the two blue chairs that you see beside her. She was really irritated when she found them. She says that I have been holding out on her. "They will be perfect for Spiderwort Manor if you just change the upholstery. Blue! Yuck!"

About the time she gave up on me, Balthazar took over.

It's not my day! He found the cigar box that I have been keeping watch parts in. I made the mistake of putting a label on the front this morning.

He got it open and has been Oh-ing and Ah-ing over various parts. Between the Oh-ing and the Ah-ing, he turns around and gives me a dirty look and says things like, "You've been holding out on me! These are all mine and I want them in the cottage now! I need to get to work!"

He started gathering up as much as he could carry. Beau trotted after him with a watch face in his teeth.

It took six trips. All of that mess is now in the secret workroom. As he left with the last of it, I heard him exclaim...."Those two witches will not win! As soon as the time machine is finished, I'm out of here!"

I think it's safe to say that he will be here for a while longer. I happened to see Tessie hiding one of the vital parts under her mattress yesterday.

See you tomorrow. P.S. I just did one of the little books in mini. I will show you how to do it tomorrow. Don't try the usual way of folding. It won't work. I suspect that the person that thought this one up had some origami background.