News / Lismore Castle

The first impression I got of Lismore Castle was that it had been added to over a long time - it just seems too big and complex to have been thought up all at once!

Apparently the earliest remaining part of the castle is a round tower, which dates back to the 13th century. It changed hands many times in its history and has been lovingly and extensively restored by its successive owners.

For me, the challenge was to capture the unique charm of the castle - of both its exterior and its inner courtyard, and engineer it into a kit which would fit on an A5 greeting card!

I began by drawing the circumference, taking extra care to get all the levels right. I realised that my model would have to include parts of the gardens and park in order to make it look right. So, each aspect of the model also has depth, not just facades all on the same plane.

Similarly, for the interior courtyard, the level of the ground was a challenge. Really, it should be elevated from the exterior base level, but this would have made the model quite difficult to assemble. So I decided to again include some of the yard on each facade. This actually works quite well, giving it more depth.

I used the roofs to join the courtyard to the exterior facade of the castle. I avoided making these too exact - this gives a lot of play for the person assembling. So, even if you're not a perfectionist, you'll still be able to make a great looking castle!

Finally, I decided to print the interior of the card a purplish grey because some of the surfaces were visible from both sides. White just didn't look right!