Snowdrops....

The First Arrivals.....

Some of you, Dear Readers, may have seen your Snowdrops come and go weeks and weeks before now, but here in the North we are finally seeing them poke their heads out of the frozen earth! They are nearly always the first flowers to emerge in the Spring... their tiny white blossoms sometimes nearly hidden by the still snowy ground.... barely visible unless you know where to look and are watching for them. I have long intended that there be a clump of them under the lilac shrub, and have to admit I was running out of Time to get them made! Last weekend was the first real opportunity to clear last year's leaves from my RL garden, and so I suddenly found myself behind on my production schedule. But rest assured, I finished the lilac blossom number Fifty-one!

And here it is in the nearly full box!

I can't tell you how excited this makes me!

And another boring batch of ten leafy branches done!

But would there be time to make a bunch of snowdrops?

And could I even find the right sized punches in my tool box?

I had to try, even though I knew I needed to be out in my RL Garden too.

Above you can see the beginnings... 

painting a crescent of green on the inner petal tips,

 and dipping the green thread into yellow paint for the stamens.

The last time I had made snowdrops, (several years ago)

 I thought they had ended up a tiny bit too large for true 1/12 scale,

 so this time I started with a smaller punch.

Here I am slowly gluing the inner petals to the threads.

Here the three inner petals are all added.

I used a ball stylus to cup the outer petals

 before separating them and attaching them to the flower stem.

Adding the petals one at a time.... 

it is a slow process because you need to wait

 for the glue to dry between each petal.

Here you can see all the petals have been attached.

But then, Dear Readers, I truly had to go out to my RL garden.... 

and when I was done out there I was Exhausted!

So the beads for the tops of the blossoms were added later.

And I really wasn't sure I could finish the snowdrops this week.

But I tried anyway... painting a tiny bit of paper

 for the "hoods" at the tops of the stems...

They have stripes painted on the outer side, 

and tonal shading on the inner side...

not that anybody will be able to see the inner side when it is attached..... 

(but I will know it is there!)

The hoods get folded around the top of the stem

 where the blossom joins the thicker stem

 (already glued together here).

Here all the stems have their hoods attached.

 The blossom emerges from this hood as the flower blooms.

And adding a pair of strappy leaves to each stem.

In RL, these leaves are a bit thick...

 and I have not been able to make them appear that way in mini.

And I was rushing to try and get these done... 

to see how they would look in the Folly Garden...

 tucked under the Lilac shrub...

I only got four completed before it was late and I was tired.

But here they are!

Nodding their little heads...

(it just reminds me how many details are still needed here...

 those bricks need dirt and aging....

 there needs to be some moss....

 the lilac suckers are still not done.....)

But the snowdrops don't care! 

They have arrived, and that means

 it is truly Spring in the North! 

It sure is challenging to get good pictures of these little guys!

And tonight, Dear Readers, 

I added a couple more blossoms... 

because that clump was too sparse.

And there are still one or two more buds to add....

But I am running a little behind schedule here.....

Spring has arrived.... the Snowdrops are in bloom!