Fenêtre sur l'hiver/ Window on Winter

Mon pays l'hiver

This all started with this project to do a calligraphy with the Mon pays song by Gilles Vigneault in June.  The meandering book shown in a previous post came out of this challenge.  But to get there, i tried different things, and one of them was to write using felting wool.  As I  have a collection of wool sweaters bought in second hand shops, the idea of winter, sweaters, and 'tuques' grew, and I could see in my head which seater i wanted for the background.  This sweater reminded me of old winter sweaters that one sees in kids story books, like the ones by Robert Munch, and the colours and patterns were perfect for that vintage look.

 I did a first time similar project with the needle felted tree on a felted sweater a few months back ( another recent post) , and enjoyed it.
When time came to get a frame, I looked into my stash of white, black and natural wood frames, and nothing seemed to work.   Then S suggested I look into my stash of old window frames I pick up on the street on garbage day, and is piled up against the foundation wall of the house.  I jumped with enthusiasm about finally using one of those. ( I kept them for stained glass projects).  one of them was the perfect size. It had been exposed to a winter outside, and the zillions coats of green paint peeled off very easily.  I started to take care of it,  sand it, let it dry in the sun (the end grain  wood was so absorptive)- labour of love. I finish it with white chalk paint & clear wax , to keep with the wintery feel.

Une fenêtre sur l'hiver/ A window on Winter, collage of wool and wool felting

I believe the window frame is the bottom sash of a vertical slider window.  The sash measures 16 in by 24 in. A vertical slider window would be about 16 in. by 46 in.  In our neighbourhood, this size of window was used in bathrooms.

Note the recess in the wood on each side (jamb) and at the sill;  this was probably to line up with the trim that extended to the lath and plaster finish (walls were quite thick then- around the beginning of the 20th century).  This kind of woodwork detailing is not common in todays construction.
I love the fact that the brass handle was still in place. Yap, I love it!