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NEW!
The Haunted Swimming Pool
Yet another change...instead of embedding the Parlor's YouTube content, you will find instead the image
used for the thumbnail that you can click on to view directly on YouTube. Everything available on YouTube will be accessible
by way of an image link. It makes this page a lot easier--and therefore a lot more fun--to navigate. The swimming pool model
is the first part of the 3D model of the Mayfair Witches house to be used to create a type of video that has become very popular
in recent years, ASMR ambience.
One area of the grounds of the Mayfair Witches house I'd been anxious to see if I could build was the swimming pool. This
on top of already wanting to see if I could recreate a garden like this with so many beautiful flowering plants! I'm still
fighting with my software to get it to create an accurate 3D model of the garden, and somehow, I managed to get it to let
me build this much! The cabana is not 100% accurate, but it needed to be there to balance the rest of the scene.
My focus was on the flagstone patio, the balustrades, and the shape and appearance of the pool itself. One thing I have not
found (but keep meaning to, of course) is the age of the actual swimming pool that is a feature of the Brevard-Rice house.
In the novel, the 1920s-era swimming pool plays a major role in the story of the Mayfair Witches. It appears in The Witching
Hour both at the very beginning and at the very end of the novel as well as at various points throughout. In the beginning,
the doctor whose nightmare opens the novel recalls exploring the grounds of the Mayfair house around 1983, where he came across
this old, weed and gunk-clogged pool with fountains still mysteriously spouting water into the muck. There, he met Millie
Dear, who mourned the dilapidated condition of the pool and its environs while reminiscing about Stella and the parties they
had once had around that very swimming pool.
If Millie Dear had, in fact, died in 1979, that would mean both the doctor and the reader will have just met the first of
the ghosts haunting the old Mayfair swimming pool.
But not the last...
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
Stella Mayfair Haunts the Master
Bedroom
Here and on YouTube at the moment is a brief video with a bit of sarcasm--my
way of saying there is just too. much. PINK. here. The room is the master bedroom, which we do know is directly over the
library. You can see the dimensions and the placement of the fireplace, windows and drapes are basically identical to the
library below.
The window treatments (fancy way of saying drapes, curtains, etc) do have a frame that is more ornate and matches the detail
at the tops of the main and cutaway doors of the first floor. This I was able to see from real estate photos of the house.
However, I have not been able to find a layout of the second floor of 1239 First Street despite numerous searches over the
years. This is why the door to the master bedroom isn't just out of range of the camera at the moment; it isn't even there,
yet.
There are two more real estate photos of the bedrooms on the second floor, but other than the placement of the fireplaces
(the ones fitted for gas, if I am not mistaken) and the windows in one of the bedrooms, I've yet to figure out where the doors
leading to the second-floor hallway are.
The master bedroom is a location of the house that appears in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches
series in significant parts of the story. It was Deirdre Mayfair's bedroom (and religious items were on the dresser along
with a picture of Deirdre's daughter, Rowan, on the deck of the Sweet Christine in 1983. This is the bedroom of the
Designee of the Legacy, and where Deirdre Mayfair died the very night Michael Curry returned to New Orleans.
Rowan Mayfair and Michael Curry did not designate this bedroom as the one they would share, however. It was the bedroom at
the front of the house, the one that opened onto the second-floor gallery. But after Rowan disappears with Lasher, and Michael
was found floating face-down in the swimming pool while suffering a heart attack, the master bedroom is where Michael slept
after returning home from the hospital.
When Mona Mayfair managed to get into the house through a bathroom window on the first floor, she found Michael in this room,
awake and reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, his favorite novel. This explains its presence on the nightstand
in the (for now) very pink bedroom with white painted furnishings.
The music playing in the video is The Charleston by the Isham Jones Orchestra from 1925. Sixty years after Stella Mayfair
was murdered in the parlor during one of her Roaring Twenties parties, her great-granddaughter Rowan would hold the first
party since that night in the same room. During the wedding reception, the song played again, and Mayfair wedding guests
danced to it like 1929 was just yesterday. And Michael Curry saw Stella, a ghost still bearing the gunshot wound to her head
that had killed her there 60 years earlier.
When you think about it, Rowan Mayfair was the first Designee since Stella to actually enforce her rightful control of the
house. Lasher didn't seem to tolerate any attempts at fixing his ruinous masterpiece until Rowan returned. Like the house
itself was held hostage in some way as long as Carlotta Mayfair did everything she could to maintain control of the house
by controlling the actual Designees: Antha and Deirdre.
Then, Deirdre died, and Carlotta sorely underestimated Rowan. Clearly, there had been no contingency plan in place should
Ellie Mayfair die without finding a way to make sure Carlotta was notified. Had Carlotta known Ellie Mayfair had died, and
died after her husband, chances are Carlotta would never have called Rowan's house demanding to speak to Ellie Mayfair. And
since she couldn't stop Rowan from traveling to New Orleans after instructing the funeral home to not close Deirdre's casket
until after she arrived, and knowing what she did about Rowan's abilities, Carlotta found a bizarre way out of having to face
any responsibility for what she had done to both Antha and Deirdre. Well, to Stella as well, along with many others over
the decades.
Rendering this 2D image exported from the 3D model in NightCafe produced this extraordinary
image. It is the first image where the type of ambient lighting I really like in images appeared in an image I managed to
generate using generative AI technology.
The wing of the house that includes the library and the master bedroom were later added by Emory Clapp,
the second owner of 1239 First Street.
For this addition, Clapp hired the original architects Albert Hamilton Brevard had hired to build the house--James Calrow
and Charles Pride.
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
Rowan Mayfair and the Sweet
Christine
Something a little different... As I've begun to add to the Mayfair Library some items from the history
of the Mayfair Witches and more, I've also added a few things specific to San Francisco. Well, of COURSE I was going to do
something to bring to life the Sweet Christine!
Rowan Mayfair is a blond in the novels, and this model needed very minimal changes--which you can't see
due to the sunglasses, anyway--but here she is on the deck of the Sweet Christine on foggy San Francisco Bay...
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
The Mayfair Witches From 2D to 3D
The face used for this image came from the AI generated image of Katherine Mayfair. The Emerald Key is
shown switching with the Mayfair Emerald necklace. The model is made from a model of a character from "The Last of Us".
Some things will be easier than others to produce, such as accurate eye color, but others, like clothing that is accurate
for the time period each Mayfair Witch lived in will be a bit of a challenge.
Hopefully, I'll have more of these very soon!
A Mayfair Witch in 3D. The face used came from the AI generated image of Charlotte Mayfair. And the
Emerald Key is one I made in 3D and is designed after the key in the AMC series. This is the Emerald Key I use if I make
graphics for the Parlor with it.
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
A Traditional New Orleans Dinner for
the New Year
For those interested in a recipe for Black Eyed Pea Soup as shown in the Parlor's 3D rendering of New
Years' dinner in the Mayfair house, you will find it on this page of the Parlor:
The Mayfair Kitchen
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
Mayfair Christmas
And finally, a Mayfair Christmas Dinner!
If you look in the video description on YouTube, you'll learn it was quite an odyssey getting this ONE video, this ONE part
of the project ready. But better late than never, here it is!
There is a lot more I wanted to include, but there were so many problems, even after upgrading the software. Hopefully, what
I was able to put together here is something you'll still enjoy as the Mayfair House emerges in 3D...
A Mayfair Christmas tree at night, lights on...
The 3D model of 1239 First Street has come a long way! So, for Christmas, I thought I would put up some
pretty lights and things, a brief teaser of what is to come. Keep checking back!
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
The Mayfair Dining Room
As Thanksgiving is near, I thought this might be a good time to really work on the Mayfair dining room.
For those who have seen the AMC series but have not read the books, the spoiler alert is that the dining room at 1239 First
Street is quite a bit different from the one in the series in one particular way. Instead of a pomegranate wallpaper pattern
with portraits of the Mayfair Witches, the walls are, in fact, a large mural that continues around the room. In The Witching
Hour, the mural is of Riverbend Plantation, the home of the Mayfair Witches upon first arriving in Louisiana.
This turned out to be very difficult to replicate, so instead, I found a panorama of a Louisiana bayou. In a panel of the
dining hutch, there is a rendering of Belle Grove Plantation, which was in Iberville Parish and one of the plantations Anne
Rice based Fontevrault, the "other" Mayfair plantation, on.
Like the dining room in the series, though, you will see a little bit of the pomegranate patterned wallpaper and some portraits
of some of the Mayfair Witches. The dishes, the place settings, and other details were inspired by Rowan and Michael's initial
exploration of the Mayfair house in The Witching Hour.
Then, there are the candles...
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
The Mayfair Tomb
Halloween is here! I thought this would be the appropriate time for this particular
model. Based upon the drawing in Katherine Ramsland's The Witches Companion, I've done my best to build the Mayfair tomb according
to the illustration.
In the novels, the Mayfair tomb is located in New Orleans' Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, just blocks away from the Mayfair house
in the Garden District. The tomb has fluted Doric columns (which I'm having a minor disagreement with in SketchUp at the moment),
and twelve shutters fronting the end-open crypts. To give my best guess of their size, I based the size of the crypts on the
size needed for modern caskets such as the one belonging to Deirdre Mayfair in The Witching Hour.
Any way one looks at it, this is most definitely a tomb massive in size compared
to many of the actual existing tombs in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as well as other New Orleans cemeteries. There are tombs
of comparable size, though. Notable examples include tombs constructed by benevolent associations. Many of these tombs can
be found in Lafayette Cemetery No. 2. One is the tomb of the Benevolent Association of Coachmen.
The sketch of the home of Mona Mayfair in The Witches' Companion by Katherine Ramsland
transformed into a fairly realistic rendering of the house on NightCafe
Red Sash Tours - The Best Cemetery in New Orleans to View Society Tombs
As described, at the top is the Egyptian keyhole doorway that was designed to match the door of the Mayfair
house. Twelve crypts, twelve witches, and the 13th witch is the doorway. I added a little something of my own, here. I made
the door as a functioning door (it opens), and the model itself is designed so the animation shows light coming on in the
windows around the door.
This little door reminds me a lot of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice falls down the
rabbit hole and finds this tiny door behind a curtain. Unfortunately, she shrinks herself without thinking to grab the key
from the table first. But did you know there is at least one building that actually has little tiny doors like that?
The US Capitol building! It was built before indodr plumbing, of course, but when plumbing was installed, the building was
so massive there had to be a creative way to check it throughout the building. So, little bitty doors were installed along
the baseboards to provide access points. I was futzing around on YouTube just after the January 2021 storming of the Capitol
building and found a brief video about these little doors. Fun factoid of the day...
As the Parlor has been test driving these new generative AI sites, the most
impressive so far has been NightCafe. Any time an AI generated image appears on this site, you will see a small watermark
indicating just that.
NightCafe is the first AI generator I've been able to find that can translate a sketch one uploads to a realistic image.
Any time the Parlor uses anything not made by the Parlor, it is done under the Fair Use Doctrine.
To that end, I decided to also do more testing to see how NightCafe handles graphics of 3D models created in SketchUp using
different settings available. Some time ago, I came across the image just to the left. This could also fall under the Page
to Screen category, as it is...
A 3D model of the Mayfair crypt by Nicholas Scott for the AMC series!
I used minimal text prompts, but I am considering trying a version showing the crypt with a night-like darkened interior and
those oil brazers in the corners lit! Because this was done for the series, I've chosen to only display it here.
What I have learned from this experiment is that if I were to go into some of my own 3D models, also created in SketchUp,
and apply this setting, the results for my 3D models will no doubt turn out as well as this one did!
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
1239 First Street in 3D
***Pssst! Keep an eye on the video thumbnail! It will change to reflect the more subtle changes to the
exterior of the 3D house model!***
I will update the video above as progress is being made on the model. There will be notes in the video description that point
out things that have been updated. This is certainly the most challenging model I've attempted to date.
This is a very preliminary preview of my new project-building a 3D "shell" model of 1239 First Street! For those unfamiliar,
a shell model means it is exterior only. My goal, however, is to eventually add an interior to the model.
If you look at the description of the video, I've put some additional information about the progress of the project.
I have done more work on the keyhole doorway model as well, making sure hardware is in the right place. It isn't in the
GIF images at the moment, but I was more focused on the detail of the frame of the door. Oh, and, it has a new house key...
The scale of this house and others like it is astonishing.
That is something I want to be able to show with this model. In the video, you will see the iron lace of the arches on the
side porches is there. That has been a challenge to do, but I wanted to make sure that was done before showing the preview.
That iron lace is pretty iconic to New Orleans, and I definitely want to give it special attention.
This project is obviously far from done, but please keep checking back as I do plan to provide updates as the work progresses.
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
The Egyptian Keyhole Door
See the 3D model of the Egyptian Keyhole door updated in the video above!
These animations are of the 3D model of the Egyptian Keyhole door at 1239 First Street, which is symbolic
of Lasher's reentry into the world...
As I am building a 3D model of the rest of the house, this door has also undergone further transformation. Hardware is placed
accurately and the detail at the top of the door frame is at least outlined. The door itself and surrounding windows are
actually recessed, like the front door of the Soria-Creel house.
This version of the Egyptian keyhole doorway is perfect for another project, though. And since Halloween is coming up, this
would be a great time to build where this version goes--the Mayfair tomb. In the meantime...
Getting back to that door hardware, I'm making a nice new key for it...
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The Mayfair Witches Books
Yes! These are little 3D models of the Lives of the Mayfair Witches, Vampire Chronicles and Witches'
Companion books!
The hardcover edition of The Witching Hour had a drawing of 1239 First Street on the title page
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The Mass Market Edition of The Witching Hour
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
The Talamasca Card
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
The Mayfair Emerald
Portrait of Deborah Mayfair wearing the 3D Mayfair Emerald I made
For more on jewelry and gemstones of the 17th century and a discussion on what the Mayfair Emerald might have looked like
in real life, please visit this page of the Parlor:
Family Jewels: The Mayfair Emerald
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
The Blackwood Farm Cameos
I made 3D model jewelry by modifying with the cameos shown on the back and front of the hardcover 1st
edition dust jacket of Blackwood Farm
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Mayfair 3D Gallery
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