The Alcove...

The little alcove shelf is finished. It was going to be an opening door that looked like a shelf of books, but I changed my mind :) I'm not sure what will be put into the arch at the top yet - the shelf is only about one centimetre in depth.

I filled the two middle shelves with books - they can't be opened, and I had to chop them in half to fit the depth of the shelves - but it's only for decoration so I hope it won't look odd or out of place :) There will be skirting covering the bottom, as well as architrave at the top, which is why there are gaps :) It's been crackled, inked, and sanded to match the other furniture I made.

Up close you can really see the over-use of ink lol... and although I do like the effect I have on the shelving, it was achieved by accident because I was too impatient to wait for the paint to fully dry.

After finishing, and not being able to do what I really wanted to do (print flooring and bake clay - I have no ink nor oven lol) I started to look around for something to add to the dolls house. I had printed out a lot of the book covers previously, and had used only a few, so decided to make a few more books - full 1:12th size this time :)

I'm really pleased with how using grey board turned out - it almost looks like real pages :)

I could have painted them white - but decided just to leave them with just a bit of ink to age the 'pages'.

Only another 100 or so more to do then :)

The Best Laid Plans...

There was I, after stripping the dolls house even more (yes, the roof is now fully off, and all things that needed to be chopped are chopped!) and wanting to print out the wallpaper and flooring designs I had managed to get a hold of (or design myself)... when the printer suddenly decided that now is a good time to warn me that it can only print in black, because there is no blue ink left. ARGH!

I am left to pick at doing little things - things I don't really need to do and things I shouldn't be trying in the first place... Like the faux faberge egg standing at 1/2" tall...

This was a practise run. Halfway through moulding the Fimo clay ready for baking, I realised that I don't actually have a working oven until Sunday. I got out my heat gun and blasted that poor wee ball of clay... and blistered it! Still - now I know what NOT to do lol. I just dotted a pearl design all over it and stood it on an upturned crown bead cap. Oh, and  teeny pin head for the top. The next attempt will be smaller and glazed (I hope) with a different pattern :)

 

Plans...

My head is swimming with plans! I have started de-constructing the dolls house hubby bought me for Christmas - the front is off, the roof is half off, the decor has been ripped out...

Now I have to rip apart the stairs so I can remove part of the wall so that the 'dead space' under the stairs can be used in a room. The tiny spaces for doors at the back of each room will be blocked off - I shall probably make a fake bookcase that opens in one room - and see how I feel about other spaces. A balustrade has to be placed at the top of the stairs - I just don't like that empty space. I will also put on a new basement door and inside the basement, move the dividing wall so that I can have a large kitchen and a small scullery. The front door has had it's step taken off - this will be made smaller so that it looks more appropriate when the front of the dolls house is closed.

Along with the new decor inside, I will decorate the inside of the main front opening - it is currently painted to match the outside of the house.

Next, I plan to remove the pavement area outside and just have the very frontispiece remaining - no gates or anything. The main front steps will be slightly adapted - there's not a lot I can do with them. This leaves me a garden to decorate - and I might have some plans to do a tree stump with little 'gifts' inside - inspired by Boo Radley from To Kill A Mockingbird.

And so to the theme of the dolls house - I have been thinking about other rooms...

So I will have a room based on the study from The Woman In Black, one room that has Jacob Marley's ghost - including chains and heavy boxes I hope. One bedroom I have decided that it absolutely must be the 'nursery' from "The Yellow Wallpaper" - I just adore that short story and have to have it included in my little house. Of course, there will be the Miss Havisham decayed room - the only room that will definitely have a figure inside. All the rooms will be completely separate from each other - really like six room boxes stuck together. I have decided to try and think of something for the stairs so that it is a room in it's own right... at first all I could think of was toys laid forlornly on the stairs- but that's not really eerie enough ... Unless I make the toys quite scary looking? The kitchen may be a Mrs Lovett sort of thing (Sweeney Todd) - but still  not sure on that one either. Something I have to plan, methinks. 

So... some of my favourite writings have all inspired what will happen in my dolls house.

I did feel a little guilty ripping apart someone else's hard work... but I guess I can only hope that it will be an improvement  and so it will be worthwhile.

See how terribly sad it looks right now...?

Wish me luck... and a LOT of patience lol

Ladles!

I saw this somewhere on the internet, but for the life of me couldn't recall where! Still, what a fantastic idea - turning brads into ladles - and quite easy too. I've just ordered in some smaller (4mm) brads to make a tinier sized ladle - a set of two!

Trouble is, they're so easy to make, you end up with  LOT of them :)

Little Jugs

I made all the jugs in a white 'enamel' with navy blue trim - very traditional :) The set I made for my dear friend Lizzie looks more pristine and new - because hers will be a Victorian dolls house, and the jugs/ewers would have been newer back then. The ones I made for myself I wanted to be very dilapidated and rotten looking... so here they are (not a bad attempt for first try)

Lizzie's gift from me - new and pristine looking :)

I wanted my jugs to be grimier and very used looking

This is the only sizes I shall make - the tiny ones are so difficult with my old arthritic hands lol

Just Practising...

I have seen a lot of paper jugs and ewers on the internet, and decided to see if I could cobble one together. Just as a rough piece, I made some out of paper and didn't paint them - a practice run, if you like :)

I can't wait to get hold of some paint and make some 'properly' :)

The ruler shown is in centimetres.

 Excuse my terrible nails - but crafting is a messy job lol

Miss Havisham's Furniture #2

After being inspired with making the ladies bureau (still not glued together - awaiting bits to put inside), I decided to make a grandfather clock. It's finished - nothing opens up - but the pendulum swings (erratically - but still, it swings!). I did go over-board with the ageing ... but in fairness, it was the lacquer finish that bought out the darker colour and made it bleed somewhat. I do like the result though :)

I actually made plans on paper for the clock, which was lucky as I promised I'd make one for a dear friend too.  Second time around, it was easier to make, as I'd made the mistakes and errors with the first :)

The clocks are slightly shorter than bought 1:12th scale grandfather clocks - but the ceilings in my dolls house are actually quite low, I think - so perhaps a little shorter will be better for me.

Here's the clocks together:

Firstly, the bought one... then the one I have made for a friend, and lastly my own that I have made.

The one I made for a friend is under-coated and sanded, with all the bits she needs to finish off the clock in a little baggy. It's been left like this so she can paint it in the style she chooses - I can't wait to see what she does with it :) I think I'll print off a few faces for the clock - something a bit more suited to her decor. If needed, the hole where the face is can be left open, and a working watch-face inserted (it is a 1" circle).

Ornaments

Okay, so this is basically a cheat - because dolls house ornaments are so expensive!

I have four beautiful solid silver ornaments - two on wooden plinths and two free-standing ones...

Excuse the 'dodgy' photographs - I WILL get batteries in my 'proper' camera soon!

First, the mounted ornaments - a chinese dragon and a horse... with the glue still wet *lol*

 And then a little hare and a puma (at least, I think it's a puma!)

 And these little ornaments were made using a very inexpensive charm bracelet, and the 'plinths' were made with a lolly stick. I love a bargain! :)

Miss Havisham's Furniture

Although I haven't started to decorate the new house yet, I have decided on the theme for 3 rooms - one will be the study from "The Woman In Black", another will be a scene from "A Christmas Carol" with (hopefully) the ghost of Jacob Marley... and the one I am currently making furniture for is a Miss Havisham room  from "Great Expectations".

I took a few lessons and inspiration from Kris at 1" Minis and have almost finished a ladies bureau - I haven't glued the front on yet, because I want to fill it up a bit more, and I also want to 'age' the drawer knobs too.

It was actually more difficult than I imagined it would be to make the piece look less 'shabby-chic' and have a more decayed look - but I think I have done quite alright for a beginner :)

Orchid Dolls House - Project

 I used spare shingles to make a teeny bird house

Orchid Dolls House... Project

The Orchid Dolls house... in the making :)

 Drawing the lines on the roof to line up the shingles was such a pain!

 Decorating was easy - everything purple :)

 The shingles weren't painted - they were washed with a watered down ink solution :)

Purple Orchid Cottage

Some of the items I made for the purple dolls house - a bread bin and spice rack, and paper flowers - pansies and snowdrops :)

How Long...? An Update...

It has been so long since I updated here - life took over, other hobbies took more time, and miniatures just slipped by the wayside.

A few weeks ago, I sold all my clay-making bits and pieces, sure that I would never make another miniature in my life... and then asked Hubby to buy me a dolls house for Christmas! This new house is ready-made - though I shall be redecorating :) It is 1/12th scale with 6 rooms - I'll take photos at a later date with news and projects I'm working on.

A quick update then...

I'm not sure how far back I need to go, so I'll start with my little cat Bella. She went missing after we had her for a year and has never been found. I missed her so much and had to get another cat - Miss Violet. Unfortunately, Miss Violet (or 'Baby', as she was called) was ran over a year after we bought her, and died in my arms... I was devastated. SO... I got another cat to help me heal my broken heart. Enter Kitty-Belle .. a persian/bengal cross who looks like a tabby. I was so worried when she got to be a year old - but she broke the 'year curse of the cats', and she's still with me now - along with her baby, Coco (we call her 'CocoBean')... a tortoiseshell with quite a bit of fluff :)

Poor Lily - my jack russel terrier was put to sleep because she had mammarial cancer. I swore I would never have another dog again... and that lasted five days. Off I went to London and bought a yorkie who we named Barkley McScruffles. 

Now, anyone who has read this blog may notice a very strange coincidence here...

My 'Forever Christmas' 1/24th scale house has two pets inside... a grey tabby and a little yorkie (I named 'Pookie'). I didn't even realise until a couple of months ago, that the pets I had bought for the miniature house (many years before), are the same as my 'real-life' pets... and it really wasn't planned.

Just over a year ago, my father passed away very unexpectedly, and to be quite honest, I am still not 'over it'. I spiralled into depression and was diagnosed with 'extreme delayed grief' with symptoms similar to mild PTSD. I gave up all crafting and hobbies except for making 'reborn babies'... a hobby that still takes a little of my time, and one which I shall be doing a lot of after this coming Christmas.

I have two grandchildren - and two more on the way :) My second daughter is expecting non-identical twin girls in April 2016 - a bit of good news there :)

I did finish the purple cottage - I'll find some photographs and post them soon. Unfortunately, the beautiful little house just took up too much room, so I had to sell it... and have regretted that ever since. Still, we live and learn.

That's all the updates for now...  I guess you can clearly see that my life revolves around my family and pets! I'll try and update as my new project moves forward... 

Another 'Adventure Into Miniature'!