Cooking apples

While waiting for my supplies for the inside of the house to arrive,  I started finishing the back of the house.   Most canal houses have quite deep gardens, often beautifully laid out in a formal style.  I don't have the space for that so I decided to only make a small patio.

Years ago I cut a big hole out of the back gable as I wanted to give the kitchen a wall of windows.  I was not happy with the windows and French doors I made back then.  In this photo I took out the windows from the floor above to see if I could find a configuration I liked.

I used a door I had  laying around in a drawer.  In fact it may the the original door which came with the house.  I made the windows to match the other ones in the house.

 A sheet of acrylic I found in my stash I used to cut the window panes from.  After a lot of cutting and sanding I had them fitting perfectly so it was time to install them.  When I took off the protective covers I found that it was not a clear acrylic!  

Grr! So annoying!

After a long search (I knew I had it somewhere),  I found a huge sheet of clear acrylic which I could use for the windows.   This time I checked whether it was actually clear before I started cutting it. 

For the patio I made a brick step with coloured sandpaper and a partly rendered back wall with leftover brick sheet which I used on the front of the house.   The patio will have gravel eventually.  I bought the wonderful folding garden furniture several years ago from the French maker Serge Piacentino.  

Of course I just could not throw away the bits of matt acrylic, so I used one for a door canopy.  I used pre- moulded plastic, bits of wood and some very thin lead cut to shape to make the canopy.  I like the way it adds a bit off interest to the otherwise very flat back gable.

Ever since I visited Hever Castle about twenty years ago, where I struck up a conversation with the head gardener who was tending the espaliered fruit trees, I have wanted one of my own (an espaliered fruit tree I mean, although a head gardener would be nice too ;-).  My full scale one failed miserably ( it is now a very big tree), but I could try and make one in miniature, right?   

The wall is a perfect size for a small tree.  I used metal wire, paper tape and kitchen paper, spackling paste and acrylic paint for the tree.  I looked at my own full sized apple trees to determine the colour for my miniature tree.  You would think they're all brown, but that is not the case.  Most of my trees are more grey in colour, so I used a grey colour over a brown base to create a natural looking trunk and branches.  

The leaves for the tree were another stash find.  Leftover from a project I did about six years ago.  I dipped them into paint mixed with some varnish, then shaped them using a ball tool.  After the leaves dried I painted the undersides with a grey wash and gave the tops another colour wash.  

Making the leaves seemed a never ending task.  Every time I thought I had enough leaves it needed more.  I'm glad I was making an espaliered tree as it needs far less leaves than a full sized tree.  

Next was my least favourite job.  Fimo.  Hate is a strong word, but I must say I really don't like working with clay.  I had plans of contacting a miniature food maker to ask for a bushel of apples...But I reprimanded myself and thought I should try it myself first before enlisting someone else's help.

So late one night I found my Fimo (all unopened packages) and I tried making a batch of apples.  It was not at all as bad as I thought and my test batch turned out fine so I used them.   After baking I added colour with acrylic paints.   They're OK!  With the little wire stems added they're ready to hang on the tree.

I don't have a photo of the finished tree yet, but I thought you might like to see this instead.  Several people have shown photos of their work space recently and although I am not showing you my work room, here is an uncensored look at my desk while working on the apple tree.  In complete control.