Sinking it!

Hi, Thank you for visiting. There does not seem to be as many active blogs at present and I miss seeing what is happening. Instagram etc are wonderful for a quick photo but it is also good to have a forum to share the process of how our miniatures are made.

In the Swedish House I decided to have natural wood counters, a concrete apron-front sink, reeded cupboards, open shelving, a wood-fired style stove, mmmm what else was on the list ... oh, yes wood flooring and good lighting.

Isn’t it amazing .... in a mini house I can have almost anything I want!!!  But how to get it!
 
I started with a bamboo napkin holder and pulled it apart. This was a $3 investment that proved to work for all the counters I needed. The counter depth was correct so it was just the width and lengths to be cut.
The plate rack is basswood with bamboo skewers painted black set into the sides to hold the plates.

On the counter cinnamon buns are cooling beside a raised platform tray with the coffee pot, honey container and cups. Behind is a tray that Elizabeth made - at one time you could buy them laser cut ready to be punched out, glued and stained. E then put a motif suitable for a farmhouse on an island!
The sink is made of basswood, cut to size and then covered with drywall mud to soften the edges and after sanding I painted it with Antique White Acrylic Craft paint. The crackling was unintentional and happened after I painted it with a clear matt finish.
There is a drain and plug attached with a chain ... the drain is one side of a necklace box clasp.  I am very happy with the way it looks. I needed to hammer it flat and paint the area behind with black to Create the impression of a drain.  I searched through my metal collection to see if I had anything suitable. Yes, this is a requirement for mini house builders. I also had BB pellets from an air rifle (amazing things in my metal box!) - they make perfect pewter looking cupboard knobs!

I made cutting boards with basswood - scored, stained and threaded wire through the wood  to create the look of a leather tie for hanging up the boards.

Below you can see the bass wood box measured to set into the counter before mudding.

These are the cupboards in progress. You can see the texture of the sink prior to sanding. I did paint it to represent concrete but I was not happy with it in the room as I already had lots of grey. It looked so much more appropriate once it was antique white.

The cupboards are made with mat board boxes overlaid with bass wood to give the impression of cupboards and inlaid with ribbed craft foam that took paint very easily to make the reeded door panels.

The foam was so much easier to work with than creating the reeding in wood. Handy husband rebuilt a cupboard that you can see in a previous post for the bedroom. It has reeded doors in wood and it can be worth the effort.

Below is fabric  my friend Fatima gave me as it looked in the style of the Swedish house. I recovered these chairs that I had previously used in the French house.
Note the spacer beads attached to the bottom of the kitchen table. The table had a grid at the bottom that I removed but the table was a little low but it was a simple fix to increase the height and paint it.

Original upholstery below - more French than Swedish I thought.

The original table - meant as an island but converted to a kitchen table.

Below you can see the sink painted to represent concrete .... and the stove ... but that is a story for another post.  You must be a miniaturist to read to the bottom of this post!  Thank you for dropping by. I can also be found on Instagram: wordsworth502018 

Have a great weekend! 

Janine

I needed a Desk:

I needed a desk for the Empire Room! I decided to use a cupboard I had. I cut off the legs, removed drawers, glued an embossed piece of leather taken from an eye glasses case and set the scene.

The lamps shown are made from a pair of lead candlesticks painted gold. I used electrical marettes for the shades that are covered with scenes of Napoleonic battles. The mirror is made from a tray-like earring backing on to which I glued a mirror. I painted the seated sphinx gold and glued the mirror onto the sphinx.

The books are covered blocks of wood or coupon books cut to size. A couple of shells hold down bundles of letters.

There is a little clock made from a cut-out clock face in a circular snap. I used a toast rack to display old postcards on the desk top in front of an unframed print. I will also make a diary and a low vase of flowers for the desk top.

Of course that was just fun.

Now working on the silk bed curtains - not so much fun. I will have to keep it very simple.

It was sunny today - it lifts the spirits!

NapoleonicRoom

I have called this room the Napoleonic room as once I found the picture of Josephine that is above the fireplace the room began to take on a life of its own. I painted water colour paper the colour I desired and drew double gold lines around the ceiling and trim on doors and baseboard are also gold. I could have called it the Josephine room but it seems more masculine in the strength of colours in the furniture and walls.



The French went crazy over anything Egyptian - note the leopard skin sphinx chair at the desk and the sphinx supported mirror on the top of the desk. Crystal ball is made of a crystal bead mounted on the base of a large snap. The lamps are lead candlesticks painted gold. The lampshades are electrical caps covered with Napoleonic battle scenes. There are so many to chose from!




I dressed the sleigh bed with cushions of yellow fleur de lise and striped gold as well as a couple of fine lace ones to soften the bedding. The sheets are made of an old fine-lawn handkerchief. Note the Napoleonic bee cushion.
The curtains are temporarily strung as I have not decided if these will be used. I tried the gold striped fabric but it does not fall correctly.



I made the breakfast tray and most of the items on it - this includes the teapot, bread and boiled egg and fruit cup and rose in a bud vase.. also the milk jug and sugar bowl made of beads.
I had a weekend once doing nothing but making frames for all the prints and pictures I thought suitable for the house. I really got a lot of use out of the little mitre box I had bought.



Above is a photo of the Bespac cupboard that I painted in the Biedermeier style and decopaged prints of the Battle of the Nile on the doors. They need little tassels on the knobs I think.

Below we can see the whole room. The chaise lounge with an old-fashioned telephone on the little side table behind it. Vignette includes a bowl of chocolates, clock and framed photograph. A LV style purse and a bunch of roses are on the chaise. Shoes are kicked off and will be found at the end of the weekend still underneath.
To the right is a bombe cupboard that displays a tray of ivory bead bottles. The frame (with photo) was made from a decorative button, silver candlesticks and a couple of old postcards finish the scene.






Perhaps you can see inside the suitcase that contains a blue sweater with a small leather purse on top, stockings in their package and speciality underwear in a Paris box. There are also delicate undies almost concealed under the box of chocolates.

This room is occupied by the youngest daughter, who returns to the home most weekends. Much of the furniture has been in the family for decades but Josephine changes nothing.
She loves to come home, kick off her shoes and relax.

Bathroom:

The tiles on the floors and walls were made by measuring and scoring white laminate. When you score the laminate the backing shows through and it looks like mortar. You need a steady hand with mat knife.
The cabinet is Bespaq. The display is a combination of items made by Elizabeth and I when we were making and selling miniatures prior to 2002. These items include the tray on the toilet and the one in the bath. Note that the soaps on the lower shelf of the cabinet are displayed in a suction cup! The drawer (unopened) is filled with toilet rolls. Items are all glued to clear plastic sheeting to save the wood. Picture is in a button frame.
The wall display unit was "bashed" - do people still use this expression? It means you take something and turn it into something else. It was some kind of wire thing that I used snips to trim of excess decoration to simplify for a wall unit. Items are mainly bead bottles, towels made from baby velour wash cloths tied with a silk ribbon and bow.

Dining Room Display Cases:

Here are the photos of the two display cases. The clear rigid plastic, to which items are glued, enable you to change the display or to remove an item without doing any damage to the cupboard.
I must not collect any more china unless I plan to set the table.... mmm , I could be tempted.
But I do have a wonderful collection of set tea trays that my friend Elizabeth made for me. I think they are still away in storage. Perhaps I will save them for a bed and breakfast doing each room in a different theme.
I really should polish the silver! Photos are very helpful when I am looking to see if things look realistic.... thank goodness for digital cameras!

Dining Room:

Furniture, once again, is Bespaq. I had a frenzy of buying Bespaq at the Seattle Dollhouse Show in 1992. I was very new to doing miniature scale and so little was available in Vancouver I decided to buy as much as I could afford when I found it. The cupboards house a collection of porcelain china and glassware collected over a few years. Miniature items are so readily available now through the internet it definitely favours a small world.
I took the glass shelves out of the cabinet and painted it. I used prints from a book and papered the interior backs. I arranged the displays on clear perspex (think plastic sheet material) .and glued them into place.
The flooring in the dining room was made with a thin coat of drywall mud applied to heavy card. The mud was painted to approximate sandstone then cut into 20mm squares and applied individually. The living area and entry was made in a similar way but the drywall was scored to create diamond tiles with edging. This process worked very well and looks realistic. It is easy to do some sample boards to practice to get texture and colouring. I wish I had kept a diary when I was working on things as a record of paint colours and techniques would have been helpful.
View of dining room shows through into the entry stairwell. Chairs still to be upholstered and table top detailed.

Kitchen sink counter:

This will be leveled and attached permanently when I finish the sink. I imagine it will be filled with cut flowers ready to be arranged in vases. I do have a set of glass-fronted cupboards to fill and place above the counter to the left of the window. Windows will be open multi-paned windows with window boxes.