My Valentine Table for the Castle Shed

A few days before Valentine's Day I had my glass of wine out in the shed working on the paper mache chandelier and thought I would ask hubby to make me a new table that is similar to the little one in the shed that he made.

I'm ok with not receiving jewelry, flowers or candy for Valentine's day. I would rather have something he makes, a painting or this year a table!

Here he is dismantling an old box that came from a farm, I wanted the sides for the table top.

Dirt and rusty nails all over the place.

The under side of table top.

Final assembly.

Now in place and we had a full moon peaking through the bare branches over the castle shed. All the lighting is solar.

Then it was my job to paint it, I wanted the base to have a creamy whitewashed look.

Now in place I have another honey-do. "Honey, it needs benches or chairs that fit the scene and now that the coldest part of the year is over the flagstone is looking bad, needs a good scrubbing."

".... and after that we need to set the stones in mortar around the base of the shed, we didn't get to that last year."

It's always something. ;)

Painted Paper for Castle Shed Chandelier

Late in the afternoon one day this week I went out to paint crumpled paper for the paper mache chandelier for my castle shed. Here they are pinned to a line to dry in the shed.

 Closeup of a pink sheet. You never know where paint flows in all the creases.

The next afternoon I went down the rabbit hole again and made paper tassels for the chandelier.

Some of the teal painted paper was cut, glued and twisted to add to the paper mache chandelier that was painted in a metallic gold paint.

By the third afternoon I had added more tassels and paper cord. Now I have to decide what to do for the candles. I really want solar powered wired candles with the panel outside so when it is dusk the chandelier candles light automatically like the spotlights do but I don't believe there are solar candles like that, yet. Hmmm, now if I knew more about wiring solar lights I may be able to figure it out but I just want this finished and hanging above my work space in the turret.

For the other turret there must be a dragon. Have you seen the dragons by the front door in the Downton Abbey series? They may be the inspiration for my turret dragon. Here is a screen shot from one of the videos on filming the series, hairy bare legs and white gym shoes would never be on Downton Abbey!

I've made a couple of paper mache dragons in the past, the one for my castle shed needs to be different. Any ideas?

Paper Mache Chandelier for Castle Shed

The weather has been lovely for a week, in the low 70s. The castle shed has been calling, so many projects to do but not when it's cold out there. So I went down the rabbit hole a couple of days in the afternoon when the sun was shining.

 

I decided to make a chandelier of wire and paper mache. It will be just for the decor since there is no electricity in the shed. When finished it will hang from the center of the south turret and will be adjustable in height so I can bring it down to slip in LED tea lights. This may not be my final chandelier but I just had to work on something. Here is the start, wire and masking tape.

Then I wrinkled some white paper and tore it into strips for the paper mache. Exterior wood glue will hold up better during the rainy weather.

Time ticks away too quickly in my imaginary world in the castle shed.

Look at the basket I found at the Salvation Army thrift store. It's a larger version of one we bought in Holland in 1990 for lunch for day trips. This needs a flat base and divider for a tea pot and cups and saucers to be ready to take for a picnic tea time.

The sunny days are doing their job on the solar lights both outside and in.

Then I looked to the right and saw all those lemons. I have given away some and have baskets full on the kitchen counter and still this many remaining on the tree. Better get busy making lemon curd.