Taking a Time Out
 

1. Test sculpting a tree trunk was fairly successful, though a taller test tree trunk still needs to be made as well as testing various ground covers.
2. We were able to temporarily mount the frame sections to the plywood base. 
3. All of the buildings came out of their temporary places, only to reveal that I have too many buildings to display at one time.  An alternate plan of displaying a few a time was decided.
4. I chose to put away my collection in the new short cabinets beneath the Village.  Pretty much everything fit, which was one of the goals of putting things away.  Another goal was to start getting our house back to some degree of "normal", which ultimately meant cleaning our entire basement and Village area, rearranging the boxes of boxes on the top shelf in my second floor walk-in closet, and putting away all the testing equipment and materials from our kitchen and basement hallway.  The result has been spectacular!  Except for this huge and unfinished display area, also known as The Sylvanian Village, in my basement studio, our house looks like it's not a workshop anymore.  This, of course, will change once I get back into construction mode again.  But I'll enjoy the simplicity while I can.
5. Speaking of simplicity, I don't think I'll have quite as much of it as I would have hoped.  My "time out" has been taken to further reduce the clutter by cataloguing the shipments of Sylvanians received since March 2008.  Last year, that would have meant several large shipments of Sylvanians.  This year, it amounts to several small shipments that have piled up, resulting in probably about a quarter of the number of items to catalogue than last year.
6. While I have the storage containers out, I'm also hoping to furnish houses that are currently bare.  I don't know if I'll have time to do them all, but we'll see.

By the end of June, we should be back to Village construction mode.  At that time, Chris will have four days off and we're planning to permanently mount the frame sections to the plywood base.   If there's time, we'll also get a start on cutting and fitting background and ceiling plywood. After that, I'll be pretty much on my own as I landscape the Village.  Did I say it would take me until Christmas to finish?  Yikes!  It probably will with all the testing of materials and techniques that will go on before working directly on the Village.
 

Mini Vacation - Needle Felting Dolls
photo taken June 20, 2008

Two dolls have all their body parts.
The last doll is missing her arms,
though the arms are now very close to ready to be added.
Once each doll has all her body parts, I'll add their clothes.
Even at this point, I don't know how I will dress them.
On the right, is some of the cleaned and carded wool
that has been used to sculpt these three dolls.

►Cataloguing Sylvanians got boring, so I decided to get back to another of my passions - needle felting.  Yes, I'm still cataloguing Sylvanians, but at a much slower rate.  Besides, it's been rainy here off and on for the past few weeks.  To catalogue, I have to sit in front of a computer.  To needle felt, I can sit outside during the nice parts of the day to soak up some Vitamin D and felt to my heart's content.

On the one hand, I feel a little guilty about not working with my Sylvanians because I'm in the middle of the project.  In the back of my mind, the Village keeps calling me - "Finish me!  Finish me!!".  On the other hand, I've given myself until Christmas to get the Village completed, which gives me time to have a life away from Sylvanians.  So what if it actually takes me until Christmas to complete the Village?  Life is here to be enjoyed, and for the moment I'm enjoying making three sweet dolls.