Virgin Church 10

After I little delay, I tackled the molding of the Virgin Church.  Virgin was the original settlement in this valley, and the church was the only public building built in the area during the Civil War.  Because of this, it was lavished with some attention to detail, and was designed by a more prominent architect of the time.  This is manifest first in the presence of the clapboard siding itself (in lieu of the plain Virgin flat stone and adobe of the neighboring buildings), and in the eaves moldings.  Using finely milled siding in these parts was not common at the time, and it certainly would have been a luxury.   In it's original form and finish the church would not seem dissimilar from a building on the East coast or in another part of the world.  This projection of power and refinement was symbolically important considering the global origins of many of the Mormon settlers sent to these parts.

I milled much the molding material from basswood on the table saw, something I do but don't recommend to most people.  In addition to using good safety procedures and fixtures, I use a saw made by "Saw Stop", the now famed safety saw.  I would not encourage people without experience and a similarly equipped saw to make such small parts this way.  The pediment molding was built from seven pieces, assembled in place.  The eaves were built from five pieces, incorporating the milled section, as were the eaves returns on the corners.  I used two types of dollhouse crown moldings to add the convex and concave sections to the molding.  In the end, it reminded my of doing architectural work in New England, trying to match historic moldings by building up assemblies of square and milled parts.  

I am going to prep the roof for shingles and do some of the interior fitting before getting into final paint.  Final paint is delightfully close.  And of course, I need to get the corner boards on. . . .