Toni's Blog - Burrow interior.

I started building a small room in one of the burrows and added a small window. I still need to do some small research on what would be in the interior and tie it to history.

I was thinking we could only add some interior on some of the burrows as if we tried to add rooms on all the burrows, the rooms would clash with one another.

Also in Hobbiton they had a bar/pub called Green Dragon. We could possibly build it and research a bit on historic pubs and what the interior looks like. (As I don't have much to do during Study Leave, I could build it to fill some time.)

Just doing some interior of the Hobbit holes

Toni's Blog - Starting on Hobbit burrows.

I have tried doing some building in study class a couple days ago but the internet has been poor and I have been kicked out of the server because of the connection.

But I have gotten some building done, starting on some simple burrows.

I just thought to create a small blog now before I forget for this week, but will do more building whenever I have the time. And make a second blog if I can for this week to talk more of what I have built.

I have been looking at images for the basic idea on what the doors look like. Of course we are using Minecraft and a circle doesn't exist in the game so we have to get to the closest we can to call it a circle. The burrows are a mix of wood, brick, stone and clay and I will make sure to add these features into the build.

Alicia's Blog 9 - The Outside Build

Over the past week/weekend I've done some of the beginning parts to the outside (lighter) part to my build. I had started off planting a ring of trees around the build (the fairy ring) as well as some quick landscaping just to get rid any of the parts of the outside of the trees that look like cliffs/chunks of land that has just been cut out.

I also added in larger trees that have houses built inside the leaves. They are connected by wooden bridges. I will also be adding in mushroom houses but I wanted to focus on the tree houses first. I houses have stairs leading up the trunk to the rooms. There is only one room per tree, each room having a fireplace (that is not lighted because it would burn down the tree in minecraft), beds, table/counters to the side and some chests/furnaces/crafting tables as decoration along with some plants in frames and in a pot.

Underneath some of the bridges I have a small stream that is decorated with lily-pads and surrounded by different plants such as flowers,grass and ferns. There are also some vines coming down from the trees/bridges.

Soon I will be adding in a entranceway to the front of the tree fairy ring, some mushroom rings (http://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore/do-you-dare-enter-fairy-ring-mythical-mushroom-portals-supernatural-003677), mushroom houses and more plants on the grass. While looking over the build for the screenshots I decided that I should of added some more hills or rises in the land where the outside of the build is instead of it being completely flat, but I've already started building so I might not be able to add that feature in.

(Evidence around fairy rings etc can be found on my previous blog here: http://craftinghistory2.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/alicias-blog-6-references.html)

Finding the Perfect Hobbit Hole....

Hobbit Holes!

so i am trying out some different ideas on hobbit holes and sadly i am a terrible builder so'

i am just gonna do some random combinations and hope one of them describes what

hobbit holes were described to look like..

This is the first one I attempted, Its using dark oak and Black stain clay..

And this one is the exact same as the last one just using Lighter colours

Here is another one i made on a creative world.. I like it but its a bit "Funky"

So those are some ideas, I still have no idea what we are going to use. and of course there will be greenery and such surrounding them and all that jazz..

Food is now being served in the dining hall!

Castle Black now has a dining hall! Such an achievement. Being a military type of fortress, it is crucial for both Castle Black and Hadrian's Wall to have somewhere that grows, prepares, stores and/or serves food. My research suggests that there would've been a large amount of people stationed at the different posts along Hadrian's Wall. And those people would've needed food.

Alicia's Blog 8 - Plans

I haven't had much time to build this week because of my portfolio for art, but i've finally finished it (horray) so i'll have more time to do Crafting history stuff.

I did manage to put up some blogs last week about the changes I had made & some references.

I'm just going to go over some brief plans for what I'm going to be doing.


I'm planning to change up the throne in the throne room, only because it's kind of messily done and some of the colours clash which to be makes it look kind of tacky. After that I'm going to leave the mountain and work on the outside. I'll start with some quick landscaping and adding in the faerie ring. After that I will start planning out where the different houses and areas will be placed, and see if there is enough room for a stream. From then on it will be mainly atmosphere building and some landscaping before I think about doing the rest of the inside of the mountain. If I have time I will add in the bubble.

Toni's blog - Interior.

Decided to do a second blog as I got a lot done during one of my classes.

Got a lot of the interior done. Adding chests, hay bales, furnaces and crafting table. Also added the gears like in the reference pics.

Probably add more to the interior as there is a lot of space. Also add a path to the bridge that will later connect to the Hobbit burrows. Also fix the space of the river to make it look more natural and a bit bigger. Also add more plant life.

Toni's Blog - More windmill/bridge progress.

Got most of the exterior done, only need to add is the windows and wheel. Decided to go with mostly stone with the wood roof like my previous reference pictures.

Will do more research and start building on in the interior soon, after I get the exterior done.

I could use some redstone materials for the contraptions inside the mill. Use droppers, dispensers and other things that could look like gears, funnels and switches.

Will also add chests, crafting tables, hay bales, and furnaces as well to complete the look.

Most importantly will need to light up the rooms with torches.

Blog #3

I have been haven't really been able to get on to building lately, technologically difficultly.
But since I haven't building I have been reaching idea's for what our hobbit holes could look like once they are finish. I hope to be able to start building as soon as I can,

These are the best I have found so far, I know it isn't to look exactly like them, but similar.

New updates and a call for Wall help!

Some screenshots of the Castle Black progress so far. Ass an announcement to everyone, anyone who offered to help me build the Wall for Castle Black, now is the time to do so if you wish. The framework is up and all anyone needs to do is to follow the ice and snow block pattern in anyway shape or form. Once the current section of Wall is completed, I can put up another frame that's a few blocks thinner so that the Wall gets a slopping look to it, as depicted in the books and TV series.

I would really appreciate the help in getting a large, and very significant part of this build done as time is ticking on and the end date for this build is fast approaching.

Alicia's Blog 7 - Changes to the original plans

Differences from the Plan to the Actual Build and Reasons for Changes

Mountain

The basic concept for the mountain remains unchanged from the concept drawings, except of course it is within the limitations of the Minecraft blocks available. The concept drawing is shown in two colours, whereas the depth required for texture in the final Minecraft version uses four tones: stone, cobblestone, grey hardened clay and andesite. The concept version is craggy, whereas the build version is a simpler shape to counter time limitations, but still contains a high level of detail from the colour/texture variation. In the concept drawing the entranceway is centred, but in the build it is not centred to create a more natural look that has been taken advantage of by the fairies, rather than a built entrance. As the surrounds have not yet been built except for the basic outline of the dirt surrounding the mountain, this part will be added to the description later.

Underground dance/ball area

The concept drawing for the underground dance/ball area has been completely adapted. In the initial part of the build I tried to make this a square room, but it just didn’t look right. In the concept drawing it looked clean and ‘built’, this didn’t fit with the idea that faeries would live there once I saw it. Instead, I had to go back to the beginning and rework this room. It is now more like a natural dug out in the rock where the faeries have made a room. I have kept the throne from the concept drawing in the real build, but instead of being made from formal materials it is made from the dirt/rock around it. I am considering revising this as it isn’t quite right yet. The plinth that the throne is set on in the concept also has a more natural look where faerie kind have carved it out of the natural materials around it. 

As I made the room from the bare material of the rock face it was too dark, I countered this problem by dropping glow stone randomly within the walls to create a low ambient light. This cannot really be seen from the dance floor area, but the glow lights up the area. It gives the general feel of glow worm caves like the ones at Waitomo, again reinforcing the natural elements rather than a built environment. When compared to the concept, I’ve also added a chandelier (not visible in the concept drawing). This is mentioned in the plan as both a lure effect, and the fact that it was difficult to sketch. In the build, this adds a formality to the room which reinforces its purpose as a space to ‘dance for all eternity’. Eventually, this room will lead to the nursery and the kitchen, this part of the description will be added later.

Alicia's Blog 6 - References

Haven't had time to blog or build over the last week because I'm trying to finish the last couple pieces of my art portfolio. Here I just have a bunch of different references regarding the different parts of the build/plan (I probably won't end up finishing this build before the end of the year.)

References for the Concepts Behind the Build

Underground

‘Partly underground castle, inside a hill’ plays on the whole ‘under the mountain’ aspects of fairie lore where they are known to lure people under the mountain where they are forced to dance forever(*see eternal dancing below). To make the build possible in the amount of time given, the castle design needs to be reasonable simple, and not too extreme. Possibly a dance floor to symbolise above, and possibly a kitchen and/or nursery. 

• Aristocratic Trooping Faeries are gregarious, they live in communal groups under mounds or hills and in other underground areas [Ref: www.medbherenn.com/faerie-lore.html]
• Fairies…within the little hillocks they most haunt… [Ref: Robert Kirk, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, Stirling: Eneas McKay, 1933, pp 67-68]

Faerie Food

The kitchen to symbolise tales of talking about how if you eat faerie food, you’re stuck with fairies forever. 

• ‘Maybe you’ll starve to death, never able to eat human food again, maybe you’ll end up trapped forever’ [Ref: Kat Otis, Faerie Food www.dailysciencefiction.com]

Dark History

The nursery to symbolise the changeling stories. Inside the castle it’ll be a darker theme, symbolising the dark history of faeries and showing that they aren’t all ‘tinkerbell’. 

• ‘where no human habitations…then the imagination rushes to fill the woods with something other than blank darkness; nymphs, satyrs, elves, knomes, pixies, fairies.’ ‘Fairies are what we create to fill the dark places’. [Ref: Diane Prukiss, Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairie Stories]
• Dark Fairie Types from Celtic Histories
• Banshees - a form of faerie who foretells death - Irish
• Baobhan Sith - a succubus faerie - Irish
• Changeling - a fairy who replaces infants with fairy kind - Welsh
• Korrigan / Gwragedd annwn - faeries of lakes and streams that lure and drown people - Breton / Welsh

   [Ref: www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html]

• Lore Podcast: Episode "Black Stockings" was so shocking considering the time when it took place. It's about the Irish folklore of the "changeling" or faerie. When a person or baby is believed to have been taken by a fairy and in their place, is a "changeling" something that looks exactly like them, but acts differently. [Ref:  http://lorepodcast.libsyn.com/episode-11-black-stockings#Ze7t6uGD3LI6RBeO.16]

Faerie Rings

The mountain will be surrounded by trees and faerie rings, it will have a much lighter atmosphere, symbolising the modern day faerie lore. Inside the faerie ring around the mountain I might add in things to symbolise oder day faeries such as brighter colours, mushroom rings, giant mushrooms, bridges between trees, trees/mushrooms that are houses, streams/waterfalls if they will fit. 

• ‘Whoever lives in a house built over a faerie ring will wondrously prosper in everything’ [Ref: Translation Ellis T.P. and John Lloyd, The Mabinogion, a new translation: ‘Lady of the Fountains’, Oxford University Press, 1929]
• A "fairy ring" in Ireland, said to be a portal between worlds. #lorepodcast #history https://instagram.com/p/5-oltqTOCa/ [Ref: https://twitter.com/lorepodcast/status/628697948738711552]
• Faerie Rings as mythical mushroom portals of the supernatural [Ref: www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore]

Eternal dancing* and Glass Domes

Possibly adding glass over the fairies ring, with rings of coloured glass through it to give a kind of bubble or forcefield effect.

• A poem:

In airy dalliance

Precipitate in love,

Tossed, tangled, whirled and whirled above

Like a limp rose-wreath in a fairy dance

Like a dome of many-coloured glass

Stains the white radiance of eternity

Until Death tramples it to fragments, die’

[Ref: Rajendra Nath Mishra: Search for belief in the poetry of Robert Frost, Anhinau Publications, 2003]

• ‘People could enter the (fairy) ring, and find themselves trapped, dancing for a lifetime, and invisible to the outside world, unable to escape.’ [Ref: Laura Starling, Faeries are Scaries www.critic.co.nz/features/article/5973/faeries-are-scaries]

Toni's Blog - Progress on the windmill.

I have some progress done on the windmill. I haven't done much as I am busy with my art class and the connection has been kicking me out sometimes during study class, when I do go on Minecraft.

But I still got stuff done.

Still working out if most of the building will be stone or wood, do more research. But by looking at plans and sketches, the building is mostly stone with a wood roof. Will have to change that the next time I can work on it.

Also found some plans for water mills for what the rooms will be.

Just a wee update, Have been trying to make the path the spirals up the hobbiton hill as shown in the picture

I dont know if I agree with using wood as the material so I will do a bit of research on that and see what material to use.