Spring at the Hedgewitch Cottage

 WELCOME SPRING!

The time has changed on us once again and spring is right around the corner.  New season, new beginnings, new growth.  Below is one of my favorite poems about spring.

Spring

 "The wood is decked in light green leaf.
The swallow twitters in delight.
The lonely vine sheds joyous tears
Of interwoven dew and light.

Spring weaves a gown of green to clad
The mountain height and wide-spread field.
O when wilt thou, my native land,
In all thy glory stand revealed?"
-  Ilia Chavchavadze, 

Progress on the Hedgewitch Cottage

My work load has lightened somewhat now and once again I can work on the cottage with a little more gusto!  

I have been over-thinking how I want to make the fireplace and chimney for the cottage.  Big wide chimney?  Thin crooked chimney?  Brick?  Field stone? River rock?  So many choices for every little thing - just like building a life size house!!  So I've decided to quit stressing over it and just get on with it; make my choices and stick with them.  I made a mockup chimney to help decide the finished size I wanted.

Once this mockup was put up against the cottage, I decided it was way to big, to wide at the bottom.  This helped me a great deal in deciding a narrow chimney was the way to go.  After that was decided I got to work on cutting out the outside chimney out of styrofoam to the basic shape I thought would work.  I then glued it generously and clamped it into place until the glue was dried. 

I next started on a visual for the inside of the chimney and fireplace, which will also be cut from styrofoam and glued to the wall.  I'm going let the chimney be seen on the inside all the way up to the roof line at the second floor.  I'm still undecided if there will be an upstairs bedroom or not.  

 

You can see the basic shape of what the fireplace will look like.  I've decided to go with a field stone to cover the entire outside and inside of the chimney and fireplace.  I have ordered this product on-line from Hobby Builders Supply.  The stones are handmade of high-density casting plaster. Cast in a solid color so when trimmed, edges show the natural color (not white). "Stones" can easily be cut with an X-acto knife by scoring the surface and snapping at the score.  

This is a stock picture of the actual product.  I really like the way it looks.  I'm going to glue them into place then put a 'mortar' in-between the stones.  I'm going to be using a mix of brown and gray field stones. 

While I am waiting for the field stones to come in, I am going to be working on the large window that goes in the side room.  

Can hardly wait to get to work on the outside gardens around the cottage, especially with spring so near - makes me want to "plant" things for the cottage garden too!  

 

Stop by often, have a cuppa and visit for a while!  We look forward to your visit!