Progress with weathertop is suffering from a technical issue...
I really should know better with 3 (no, actually 4) current small and medium projects than to start something new...
But, anyway...

Oh, we used to dream of having only four projects going at the same time.....

4 projects not counting the cubic-yard of shame and only counting the unfinished projects I have been working on during the last 2 years.

Unfinished projects so start a new one

We have all been there, done that.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

I think by now i have enough windows for bag end.

Since in the mean time the ordered wires have arrived, i have begun with the oak tree that will eventually sit on top of that specific smial.


still a long way to go. i would say... the tree is about 30% done

Looks like a good start!

So, 'cut and bent the first loops and added the first fragile, thinner branches with a much thinner kind of wire.
It looks better in reality than on the photo.
But the required time is... impressive. If the pace stays at this level, completing this step alone will take at least 12 more hours.
Regarding relations, this staep will take in total longer than the rest of the whole smial

The tree is growing - but there isn't really a point in posting photos every 20 branches. And because it is quite boring due to the fiddly repetitiveness, i started with the other two smials.
Those will be almost identical, one of them will end up as a christmas gift (that much on my expectation on when i will be done...). The additional windows are intended for the side. I'm not yet sure if i will use them or do something else.
Those two smials are not as fancy as bag end - but they already have a quality of their own.
Regarding bag end... i am also doing a couple of chimneys and starting to plan positioning of all prepared elements. Damn... the thing is getting much larger than i thought! The footprint will be about half as big as my weathertop (no progress there, still struggling with spraying glue). And considering the elevated position in the hill... and the tree...

what a change some color can make...

Next: Assembly and many more details.

Looking good!

The wire-work-phase of the tree is finished, next step will be obscuring the wire-structure and to get something resembling bark.


The smials are by now 3-dimensional - still a lt to do, but by now one gets an impression on where the road leads to

The tree is approaching it's final phase - obviously, it lacks green.
All three smials are in a similar stage than Bag End which i took photos of.
All three will get a bench - and let's see how far i get with those fence elements.

At first, I thought the fences were Goblintown walkways!

Things are coming along. I think you're going to have some impressive hobbit holes. I especially like the stone path around the perimeter of the structure.

Back up, back up, back up. Not so fast. How did you go from that wiretree to that magnificent thing we see in the later pictures?

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"Mickey, my friend!"

I see...
Actually, that step gave me the hardest headache.
I should mention that my solution has a significant downside.

What i did was dipping the whole thing a couple of times in a bucket of wall paint from the last renovation - and in between, i sprinkled saw dust on the wet paint.


The downside is: The wires are flexible - and the paint is not. So it tends to crumble. I hope i have reduced the risk a bit by adding a few layers of PVA as sealant.

The foot started with kitchen paper glued to the bottom. And then much PVA to make it stiff and to bring it in shape. The space between the roots is filled with modelling clay - or rather a mix of plaster and paper fibres... actually finely shredded toilet paper.

Next step was brown and olive spray paint.

Then came spray glue (which is by far not invisible as i hoped, but i was still lucky with the effect) over which i sprinkled my house-made twig-flock.
A long time ago i stumbled across something called "vegetation foam" which is sold in mats. I cut and ripped it in tiny chunks and colored them brown.
In the bucket in the middle on this photo:


The stuff on the lower half of the photo is material for the ivy i need.
I think i will make the leafs pretty much the same i did the leafs for the ivy:
dryed, crushed parsley from the kitchen with some green color

halfway done with turf, much more green to come.
And the fences are not even remotely sufficient. I should have measured...


The two small smials are more or less identical, so only one photo.

Looking good!

Thank you!
But it is still quite a lot to do - and the clock is ticking...
I started to turn the surroundings into a garden - i think i am at about 40% here... likely less.
The yellow, pink and blue foam was way too bright in the first step, so i added some ink. I am not yet happy with the result, but compared with how it looked before, it is already an improvement.
The ivy lost quite a lot of leafs during applying it - but that was to be expected and i make (much) more leafs (for the tree) anyway.
I will add much more plants - and some will need some more treatment with color and maybe turf or something else that looks more like leafs.
I am also going to look how grass fibres will fit in.

And of course i will need to deal with the white plaster stains on the stones. The chimneys need paints, more fences are already on the workbench





The small smials are always a step behind. I always make the same mistake. Instead of practicing on the smaller ones, i go straight to the centerpiece. At least i did not completely ruin it yet...

Still working on the plants - and i think it is still a lot to do. More and different plants.
The bright colors of the blossoms and the trees feel somewhat more like "my little pony" than "Lord of the rings"... perhaps a few drops of wash will help here.
Bag End needs more fences, all need grass.
I still need to clean up plaster residues on stones.
But... the end is in sight.
Perhaps some dirt on the walls...?

And then, there is of course still the large oak...

They look finished (and very nice) to me, but what do I know.

Are they scheduled for any Scouring of the Shire scenarios, or ....?