This past Sunday was the local dollhouse show and I spent most of the day shopping and/or helping out. On Saturday I dropped off a roombox to exhibit and some items to sell at the club table. While at the venue, I took a quick look to see what was already out on some of the tables. There were 2 assembled dollhouses at a one table, including a Greenleaf Glencroft. Later, my sister and I discussed it and she said no more dollhouses (we share an apartment). However, the next day I asked the vendor if I could take a look at it. It definitely needed work but she lowered the price to $40 so I bought it! Now my sister can sell her Glencroft kit but as usual, I should re-evaluate the houses and kits I have. Below are some of my show purchases. I spent the most money at Studio E's table and Lori Ann Pott's table. I managed to find some half scale pieces as well but mainly concentrated on 1:12. At Beauxmini's table my sister found a $10 vintage bathroom set that I had also bought off ebay earlier this year - except that I had spent way more on mine! I should always remember that you can find the best deals at shows. My roombox lights went out earlier in the morning and I didn't bother fiddling with the wires to fix it. Now that it's "finished" I already want to replace some items and add others. I'm tempted to get more glass chemistry items from Ray Storey and have my eye on another lectern on ebay. It was nice to hear people comment on the box if I was wandering by and one person came up to be introduced to me to tell me about some articulated Harry Potter figures that she has in her collection. (I'll try to take some photos and post them under the Hogwarts project page.) Unfortunately, I was distracted by Studio E's Villa Leone to pay much attention to the other exhibits. I really wish she would take commissions or sell her houses (although I can't imagine her wanting to part with them or what price would be adequate to compensate her for her work). At least, I'm lucky enough to see it in person. Venice is one of my favorite places and it was great to see such a unique build. I'll be impatiently checking her blog to see more detailed photos.
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Last year I drove down to Seattle for their miniature show (and also a day of comicon). But the major news is that my sister and I went to Chicago for the first time! We spent two days sightseeing, including a visit to the Art Institute, which was great, then headed to the burbs for the 3 shows - the Miniature Show, 3 Blind Mice, and Tom Bishop. I didn't really have a budget in mind and didn't really spend as wisely as I should have. Of course, I ended up shopping for a project I haven't even begun to construct yet. Below are some of my purchases, which will be used in a few different houses or roomboxes. (Hopefully the captions are working.) Not pictured are the findings I bought from Bindels Ornaments and Laurent Seigle-Dias. Lighting was also on top of my list and I bought a few including ones from Heidi Ott and Jim Pounder. I should have taken more photos of the tables, here are some favorites below: Bobbie Johnson, Vitreus Ignis, (both at Tom Bishop) and a section of the Swan House portion at the Miniature Show. I doubt that I'd be able to afford to attend Chicago regularly. A few notes for myself and others who haven't been before: the shows are in the suburbs so be sure to take a suburban taxi, otherwise you get charged 1.5x more! The shuttle information on the Miniature Show website isn't totally accurate - they do run fairly consistently during show hours except for the Sunday which is the last day for Tom Bishop. We had a room at the Hyatt but I would suggest changing to the Marriott for Sunday night to avoid paying for taxis. Also for Tom Bishop, you may as well pay for the preview since 2 days of the show cost a $10 entrance fee each day. Bags are available at TB and the Miniature Show but I'd still pack some containers for repacking purchases, especially if flying home. Bring cash, it surprised me that quite a few vendors didn't accept credit cards. Cash might also be a good way to budget. I did try to talk my sister into returning to Chicago this year but she vetoed that idea.
Projects I am currently working on:
All are 1:12 scale. The bakery roombox is half done. I thought the deadline was this June but it has been extended until next year. Perhaps I can have it 100% completed with that extension :P The Orchid is very slow going. The cat kept crawling into it and knocking down the wall on the main floor. Colour for the trim was an ongoing debate. I still hate the top windows but have yet to plan or shop for something different. It had been sitting forgotten in a back bedroom at my parent's house in the state pictured above - partially glued together with some base coats, usually devoid of the fuzzy monster. I wanted to do a bold colour scheme of a wine/burgundy and dark blue or purple and gray trim. When I began to work on the house again I went back to doubting that idea. So it has been painted over in white and will likely be brick now. My sister has some brick paper that I might steal or she also has a stencil somewhere if I want to try a 3D look. I should take some more pics of it but if I wait to do that this blog will never get restarted and it still looks almost as bad as the photo above.
The Parisian apartment or French townhouse is mainly planned out...again I have to just do things and stop second guessing myself. A lot of furniture and building components have been purchased. It has grown in size, though. I had thin hardboard pieces cut for it, originally planned as 2 floors with an attic room so 3 storeys, each about 12 x 12 inches. Then I bought a mural ceiling wallpaper sheet and adjusted the building to that size so I could use it in the salon. The rooms are now wider but less deep. I lowered the ceiling height as well. With my fear of power tools, I also decided to try building it with rigid insulation. I went with my sister to the hardware store during an unpleasantly hot day to buy sheets and have them cut. Except they wouldn't cut them at that Lowe's since it will apparently clog the machines. Luckily I needed a new exacto knife so I cut down the 8 foot sheets myself before loading the car; what a hassle. They are half an inch thick which I hope will be okay. The Hogwarts classroom is mostly finished. Although, it is another box the cat likes to crawl into, even with furniture and accessories! I finally covered the exterior of the box but the back needs covering (with cutouts for the windows and lighting wires) and the front could use some trim. I'll try to do a post to show it off. Projects started but abandoned (for now):
Future projects:
I have a draft blog post somewhere... I really should make 2016 a year to organize things, including an inventory of my miniatures and projects. (Marie Kondo's decluttering book is sitting on my beside table.) At least I did find the "lost" 1:12 tiles in my closet, now it's just figuring out where I put the printer fabric sheets that my sister was hoping to experiment with around Christmas. I have a bad habit of getting to about 80% completion for projects then setting them aside. The almost finished list includes the 1:12 Hogwarts roombox, 1:48 Jolley's bakery/tearoom, and the 1:48 Petit Palais hotel. There could be more, I haven't even included the forgotten birdcage which requires a second floor and interior decoration and the half-finished storefront. For some good news, I did finish my part in building a dollhouse for my young cousin. It was supposed to be a joint project with cousin G and my sister, but somehow I ended up doing the bulk of the work. G requested a 2 room house with shingles and sis wanted to get her the Primrose. However, it was sold out so we went with a Sugarplum instead. The three of us went shopping at Ross' Treasure House and she bought a 5 piece living room and 5 piece bedroom furniture kit. Those were assembled and painted a basecoat of white. G also picked out some scrapbook paper at Michaels to use for wallpaper. You can see from the photos some of the changes that were done: removing the top floor fireplace (for better furniture placement) and front door settees, using brick paper and therefore cutting off a bunch of the front trim. Trouble I ran into:
Plain strips of wood were added for baseboard and a watered-down wash of grey and silver paint was put on the floors. I tried to lineup the heart wallpaper but wasn't completely successful. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with it. G's Dad has been left the task of shingling and the option of the front window box. Now I'm attempting to finalize plans for the Orchid. I've started painting and have most of the furniture. Issues that are stumping me: wallpapering before or after gluing the shell, and what to do about the windows (I really dislike the flower pattern)? To date, I've already changed the trim color 3 times and am up to option C for the bathroom. My order from Petite Properties arrived and I'm slowly constructing the Palais. It isn't a normal family house, I've made it into a hotel. The main floor has an eating room, foyer, and lobby. The other two floors have bedrooms and one bathroom. If there's space I'll put in a computer area on one of the landings and maybe a wardrobe for linen storage. I painted and papered most of the rooms in advance using the measurements in the instructions as a guide (74 mm for the room on the right and 60 mm for the hall). I found the images online and resized them but I sort of took a guess at scale. I ran into a bit of trouble as I started gluing things together - I did some clamping while gluing but maybe it wasn't done properly so as I went to the add the floors I discovered that the room dividers were a smidge too high. So I had to shave down the floor tabs and clamp them to position them properly. I also had to cut down the walls in the stairwells, otherwise my hallways would have been larger than expected and I needed to take into account the wallpapered areas. In quarter scale, one or two millimeters off can make a big difference. Here are some stickers and name tags I found at Michaels to decorate the ceilings. I painted the bronze 3D stickers white. (Sorry about the flash, I need to take more time to produce better photos.) Next I'll tackle the roof. I already have most of the front wall finished and there's more mistakes to report there! I'll need to remember a sign for the hotel somewhere.
Some work on the storefront: I bought a box from Michaels when they were on sale and cut a hole in it to fit the storefront. I'm undecided on covering the front sides but rather like the interior and won't wallpaper over it. The shop is supposed to be a Venetian mask shop so the Parisian theme of the box throws that off. Since the bottom of the flap was looking raggedy I used some athletic tape on it. The box itself is just cardboard covered with paper so it was fairly easy to cut with only an exacto blade. For the front itself, I cut out the center window dividers to better display items. I stained the door and painted the rest of the storefront. To build a counter behind the windows for the displays I cut a block floral foam and glued fabric around it. I think I have enough items for display, now it's just figuring out the best way to arrange the masks. In other projects, I put away the Willowcrest to concentrate on the Orchid. You can see the size difference in the boxes (although the side flap of the Willowcrest is open on the left). More progress has been made with the Petit Palais but there's a slight hiatus as I wait for more supplies. I'm hoping things will arrive from the UK quickly and I can do further construction. Here's where I'm at now, with papers printed off the internet.
Since my last post I've been through a period of not working on miniatures, joining a local miniature club, refining my project list, selling some of my extra mini furniture/accessories, and starting a new collection (Lego). Plus I've attended 3 miniature shows - in Seattle last year and this year, as well as the 2015 West Coast show close to home. I've been meaning to gather all my show purchases and post a picture but that hasn't happened yet. It was also at the 2014 Seattle show that my sister began to get into dollhouse miniatures, so it's been great to have someone to share the hobby with. I have some photos on my phone of a few of the exhibits but I might as well link to the proper blogs or websites with better images: the MCBC project shown on miniatures.about.com, Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth of Studio E, and the French country house by minworks.
So what am I currently working on? The almost finished Hogwarts roombox (I know, I know); the 1:48 scale Petit Palais from Petite Properties, and my mask shop roombox. A Willowcrest purchased off ebay is in the planning stages, too. I was inspired by the art nouveau version on the blog Petit cabinet de curiosites. If anyone knows where to source the jewelry findings they used over the windows please let me know. I swear I've seen them on Etsy ages ago but cannot find them now. The idea of a French dollhouse has been preoccupying my mind for a few weeks now. After browsing some blogs I found some great links for building components: Goliath Miniatures The Ironworks & Black Country Miniatures see Small Talk's post about them here The Lawbre Company and Architectural, Etc. Lawbre items can be found on other websites as well. One disappointing feature to their website is that it doesn't have photos of everything, and the catalog is $12. This is one thing that gets me about the internet - sellers, please upload photos! Here's a (bad) collage of possible windows (from the Dollhouse Junction, Lawbre, Houseworks, and Goliath): So I haven't decided on a plan yet, although if I purchase components from the shops above then it'll be 1:12 scale. I'm thinking the yorktown windows won't work, despite liking the arch they have. I'd like some fancy wrought iron and an oeil de boeuf window. I'd also prefer that some of the windows open; some of those pictured are non-working. I'm tempted to add stairs but they'll add to the cost and size of the dollhouse...what to do?
Links for inspiration: A Lavender Dilly Une Petite Folie Creating Dollhouse Miniatures - videos My Miniature French Chateau - dead blog but shows an interesting start Chateau Margaux Dollhouse You can also google La Maison de Reves and Petit Tresor (I didn't spot blogs for them, although pictures are available on pinterest, etc.) Despite planning to be finished the Hogwarts roombox before the end of the year, that didn't happen. I did install the gothic windows but ended up cutting the stone wallpaper too large around the window. After a brief debate between using egg carton stones instead, I reordered more wallpaper and am now waiting for it to arrive. As you can see from the quick phone pic I took below the gray color I painted the window will need adjusting too. In the meantime I need to do an inventory of what furnishings and accessories I already have and maybe do a rough schedule of what else needs to be done. I'm attempting to focus on one or two projects at a time (but am already having a hard time doing this!) 1:12 projects:
1:48 projects:
From Paris, we headed to Bruges for a night. Here's a picture of the bathroom and the combo tub/shower. We stayed at Novotel Brugge Centrum and managed to get ourselves lost despite it being a small town. Luckily, a nice local walked us back to the hotel. There was some great architecture but I could have done with less rain. |
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Photo used under Creative Commons from kthypryn