Elizabethan Era

The image above is of Little Moreton Hall from Wikipedia. This building is one of many Elizabethan structures that inspire me.

I have changed direction once again on the birdhouse I am making for my brother.  There are a lot of half timbered buildings from the late 1500s and early 1600s that I find to be inspiring including the Stokesay Castle Gatehouse, one of my all time favorite buildings. Old hand drawn illustration of it below

Wikipedia Image common license

But I don't want to try and replicate an existing building as much as I love the Stokesay Castle Gatehouse. I prefer to design my pieces "in the style of" an era rather than creating a scale model. For one thing I don't have direct access to old buildings here in Seattle unless I count the authentic Tudor Manor house that is near Tacoma, WA. It was taken apart and shipped to the USA then reassembled brick by brick. So this morning I got busy in my CAD program and began designing an Elizabethan Gatehouse to build in 1:12 scale. The basic size and shape of the building is now finished but not much in the way of fine details. That is how I work, first the massing study for overall impact and balance then later I start embellishing the surfaces with all the details.

No interior needs to be done as it is not a dollhouse. I will be putting my recently upgraded carving skills to good use on it! Tonight I will start cutting walls, first in cardboard, then the marine plywood I use for birdhouse substrates. I can't make any mistakes or redo the plywood pieces, too expensive and hard to come by that material in recent years. That is one reason I no longer make many birdhouses. Local shipbuilders have been on an almost year long waiting list for their materials.

My recent list of films to watch have included Shakespeare in Love, Anonymous and Elizabeth. A little bit of synthetic time travel, amusing as well if not completely authentic in details.

Elizabethan birdhouse