Leftovers: Christmas Window 2014

For Christmas, I'd had a plan, which again my sister and I had been talking about for a few years, but it was only with the removal of a set of shelves that actually gave me the opportunity to do it.

Seems silly, that extra meter by thirty centimetres or so, shouldn't make that much difference, but it's actually great. It's allowed me to make something big for Christmas. So of course, it was gingerbread house* time! I even piped the whole house with icing made of a concoction of glue, flour and shaving foam.

I even roped Sarah (the self confessed least crafty person in the house) into helping me make felt balls to make into garlands for removable decorations. Annoying things was, she was really quick and apart from making them bigger than mine, really quite good at it.

I made little window boxes, with felt poinsettia in them, with little beaded centres and paper foliage Then I lit it all from the inside, with a load of LED fairy lights so that my Dad's brilliant idea of using old, damaged colorimetry sheeting as stain glass, would be bring a little colour to the house. Colorimetry sheets, just as a side note, are used as a reading aid for people with visual distortions and dyslexia related reading difficulties. The patient tries a dozen or so colours, which are laid over pieces of text and each individual will find a different one, which help to make reading them easier.

Did actually think he was mad for that one (though how appropriate for an opticians), I thought they were too sheer and would show all the writing and mess I always leave on the inside walls, but once it was lit from inside it was perfect. Not a scribble to be seen.

 All of the icing was done freehand bar the sides, which I marked up first. Thus why it's all wonky and every batch of the 'icing' I made, had a slightly different texture and colour. Some really holding their shape and others flattening out. Not bad for an odd mixture of ingredients. Then, as a final bit of decoration, I made wreaths for both the front and back doors (painted blue to match the practice logo), hand sewing hundreds of punched paper flowers to a base... don't do it. It takes hours! Plus, I had no red beads, so had to paint old plastic karma beads from the nineties with nail varnish. Don't for the love of small furry animals, follow my lead with that one! It's impossible and messy and just go to the craft shop!

So, that's it, Christmas window 2014. I think it's one of my favourites. It kind of felt proper if you know what I mean. Plus, I got to continue using my trees and a few sheep wandered back in.

I'm so mad at myself though, and I have to apologise. I thought I'd taken so many photographs of the window, but half of them are blurred or really low resolution because I didn't put on HDR. The other half are dark because, well, I worked from one, when I finished work and the practice closed, until around six getting it all set up. So it was dark when I got around to photos.

Why didn't I go back before the Christmassy parts of the windows (garlands, lights, wreaths and stars) were removed? Well, Christmas, then exhaustion, then illness, then not going back to work at the same time as everyone else. Plus it was the holidays and I'm lazy.

What it does make me realise is how I have to stop relying on my phone to take photographs. It takes great photos if you have good lighting and a relatively close subject matter, but it isn't good enough quality for window photos. I have to start using my digital camera for again.

And you know what's doubly annoying? I had it with me.

* The whole house comes to pieces and can be stored flat. It's very sad to be proud of that fact, but I am. Storing work isn't always easy and it's really important to try and get things to store flat to keep them good for another year. Or for taking home. Never know, maybe one day I'll have somewhere to use it of my own. Also, do you think I could make doll houses like this? I don't know if there's a market for foam board gingerbread doll houses, but if I or my sisters ever have kids, they're not getting the choice. 
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Listening: Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) - Irma Thomas