Dog brains, dungeons, and gold leaf

Hi again. Sorry it's been a while but I've not felt motivated to update for whatever reason. This past weekend was spent gallivanting around Stratford on Saturday afternoon and heading for Warwick Castle on Sunday. Warwick is a castle that, according to the semi-reliable but informative Wikipedia, was built in 1068 within or adjacent to the Anglo-Saxon buhr of "Warwick" It was used as a fortification until the early 17th century, when Sir Fulke Greville converted it to a country house. It was owned by the Greville family, who became earls of Warwick in 1759, until 1978. From 1088, the castle traditionally belonged to the Earl of Warwick. It held many prisoners including King Edward IV when he was overthrown at one point (only to be restored later). Thanks to my Google search, you can visit the castle yourself, by doing a 360 degree tour here: http://www.our360tour.com/warwick/warwick_castle.htm


It's a really spectacular sight, even with some of the tacky bits that the Tussaud Group has added (the place is run by folks from Madam Tussaud's, so there are wax figures inside and some rather hokey bits, i.e. sound effects and LOTS of toy swords to buy). The castle was voted Britain's Best and the cool bit that the Tussaud Group has added is a working, full scale, authentic trebuchet! They launch it off twice daily. I managed to catch the 4pm launch, where they flung a large ball of fire across a field. I was shocked at how high it went! And it flew a very far distance. This is what the thing looks like:
It is the largest working one in the world! The castle also has most of it's areas open to explore which is really neat. I went down into the dungeons, where you can still see the stratches on the walls from prisoners marking the days spent there. CREEPY. And I climbed over 250 steps up the rampart to get a great view back down on the town of Warwick and the castle grounds. They've even got original 18th century furnishings throughout and some pieces dating back to the Tudor and Medieval periods. The Great Hall is chock full of armor and swords and lots of other amazing pieces of history. They've got a saddle and handkerchief that belonged to Elizabeth I (she visited the castle) and a child-sized set of armor.

I've been busy at the RSC this week. We're in tech so there's been some notes to take care of. I did a lot of gold-leafing, making a lance look a bit more decorative with a broken gold finish. I spray painted baskets to look darker and moldier, and lashed rope to make a carrying strap for one of them. Today I carved foam to look like a dog brain for another show that RSC is doing about philosopher/scientist Thomas Hobbes. It was neat to make, but the research bit was a little gruesome! :-P I also made a LOT of fake Italian money today (but it looks very real...ahh counterfiting! Such fun!)

That's all for now! I miss home a little today but I'm looking forward to seeing this show and to going on to London on Sunday!
<3 Nat