Happy Easter from All of Us in the Grand Duchy of Stollen. . .

 

The eagle-eyed among you will spot the very subtle Leather Brown highlights across the toes, vamps, heels, and a few edges of the boots.  To paraphrase the Mad Hatter, one of my favorite literary characters, "I'm mad.  You're mad.  We're all mad!" [The Cheshire Cat, it turns out, said something akin to the aforementioned.  Not the Mad Hatter.]

And while the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II attends a special Easter Sunday church service, here's a photograph of the Croats with their long anticipated flag.  Saturday has been spent painting very carefully over David's design in a paint-by-numbers sort of way because computer inks fade over time.  

Have to say I'm very pleased with the results of his and my own handiwork combined.  Ahistoric and unofficial, yet easily the best flag yet in the Grand Duchy of Stollen collection to date.  I even managed to get a fairly nice furl that seems pretty close to a large piece of silk blowing in a light breeze.

For those who might be interested in the nitty gritty, the over-painting described below used various Vallejo, Army Painter, and craft colors.  Brushes were a #3 round and, for most of the work, my trusty 000 sable that has served me well for 25+ years at this point.  There's an unintentional bad pun in there somewhere.  The Grand Duchess thinks I do it on purpose, but most of the time it just spills out of me.  Annoying I'm sure.

Anyway, I started the flag brushwork with the flat piece of typing paper on which the flag was initially printed with the basic red field and then the 'teeth' around the outer edges, one color at a time.  For this type of work I like a paint consistency that is somewhere between a too runny wash and full strength.  Damp-brushing for want of a better term.  That took about two hours across a couple of sessions using an 000 brush.  I returned later to carefully cut out the flag and then trim off the excess paper and clean up edges with a sharp hobby knife and metal straight edge.

Attaching the flag to the pole was fairly easy and I managed to do that without getting glue all over my fingers, the flag, or Croat figure.  Frustratingly, I could not quite get the two halves matched before the glue began to set, and some touch-ups were necessary around the edges for the  various colored teeth.  The swallowtail design of the flag was the primary culprit, but in the end it worked out reasonably well.  

I finished by highlighting the high points of the red field with a few licks of thinned Scarlet and took a stab at highlighting the visible parts of the double-headed eagle with Fur Brown, suggesting feathers with several very tiny lines against the much darker brown.  Again, the 000 sable here and lots of breath-holding, plus the odd whispered blue word or three.  Overall, not too bad.  

My over-painting atop David's wonderful graphic design work would not stand up in a painting competition in 2025 (maybe 1975?), but at arm's length the finished flag will look fine.  One of the the hardest parts of tabletop unit painting is knowing when to stop.  You can drive yourself crazy after a while retouching various teeny-tiny bits to the point of things looking overwrought.  But I think we've reached a good stopping point, or will very shortly with these 15 Croats.  Time to gloss 'em and finished their bases.  I'm ready to return to those remaining 14 or 15 Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  

That said, two or three very minor touch-ups necessary at some point tomorrow, and then glossing can begin.  But, of course, life is unkind at times.  The lawnmower is back from the repair shop, all tuned up, with new air filter, spark plugs, oil changed, and blades sharpened.  I thus have no more excuses and must begin getting the front and back yards into shape for the late spring and summer seasons weather permitting.  

Yep, Suburban Dad is back [sigh].

-- Stokes