24th May finishing the room

On this last few days running upto the photoshoot and filming, we had limited but vital jobs left to do like laying the floor, patching up the paint work, painting the windows, hanging the drapes and applying pictures and other set dressing.The first job was to add more layers to the death corner. Using a technique shown to us by Henry Jones we used French/button polish and water which resulting in a minor reaction alluded to sticky wet surfaces with scatterings of mould and other corroding spores. By sponging on the polish in thick amounts sometimes encouraging drips but whilst still wet water was immediatly flicked or dripped onto the polish. This turns to foam and drys in a yellow stain but the more water applied, the whiter the stain. This same effect was blended aross the corner of the wall and the panelling as well as the floor behind the feet of the screen. The effect was also mimiced onto the fabric around the hole in the screen. The polish and paint did taint and stain the material but the water marks were not as clear, so using watered down white paint we created the similar drips and stains. The jersey velvet was very difficult to rip and tear convincingly. After much experiment we discovered the easiest ways to part the threads was to closely roughly cut frays with scissors and rip and pry them appart and rub them down with sand paper, below are some photos of our tests and final outcomes.

other features of the day included painting the windows with dark oak varnish. Then once dry the curtains could be stapled to the top of the windows. One problem that occured was that the seperate swag in the study Lauren had beautifully made was unfortunatly the wrong way round for the way of the curtains, to over come this Iunpicked it and turned it round so the top was now the right side. Folding in the pleats and tacking them in place. Then tacking some of the green braid used on the chaise to the edges to add the the baroque style and detailing.

Other features applied were the lights made by Kirby and Rob, also their deathly hand candles for the study both casts of kirby's hand and moulded in plaster painted gold and then layered with the wax drippings of the candles. Pictures were added to the restored frames including my embroidery made at Easter, old pictures of victorian towns from other peoples houses and printed baroque paintings. Old photographs included one of Tolstoy the author of the story and one of my great grandmother who played the part of the portrait of Mrs Illych, Ivans wife. The floors were layed down in the drawings room, some extra strips had to be cut to fill gaps or to make notches for uneven sections in the wall, this was done with the jigsaw. After the boards were laid then they were secured to the under floor and each other using duct tape.

Finally before we finished for the night everything was sprayed with fire retardent, a necessary requirement for any set or publicaly viewed theatrical or display piece.