Two New Watercolors

... or rather, one new watercolor, and an old one which I just got around to framing. 

 This city street is the newer painting. I tried something new for the frame, first painting it white and then brushing it with gold Rub'n'buff. Unless the frame is in sunlight, the metallic is very difficult to see. Otherwise, it really looks more like an aged, grey-brown finish. I liked the effect for this painting, but don't think I'll use this finish very often.

This portrait is one that I did about a year ago. Unfortunately, I used the wrong type of tape around the edges, and the background bled terribly. I stuck it in a box with a few other problematic paintings, and promptly forgot about it! When I I found it again, I really liked the dark frame, but the bleeding showed, and there was no space for a mat which might have covered it up. I had to use a bit of paint to salvage that white border, but I'm very happy with the way it finally turned out!

Miniature Laquered Boxes

 I've always liked Russian lacquered boxes. I thought I'd try to make some in miniature. A circular box about 1 cm in diameter seemed a good size to start with.  The box on the right was my first attempt.  I had lots of trouble with this one. You can see that the finish isn't quite even, and I thought that it was a bit too tall. I tried to copy a Russian box which my mother owns for the picture on top. The painting on the first one also came out a bit dark. The traditional way to paint these is to gild the silhouette of the scene/figure first, and then paint over the top in thin layers. Since I was only trying to make these boxes look like their larger pieces, I just used a base coat of white paint to brighten the figure on the second box.

 I like the boxes best open. I'm going to have to try a few more of these. The basic box was easy enough to make from card stock, but I'm not happy with the simplicity of my paintings. I may try decoupage for the next set!

A Tiny Secret

 By now you probably know that I like to make miniature books. This one is the latest. But it has a secret...

This little reading nook is inside! Looking at it again, I think I want to put a cushion on the chair, and a book on the table. Maybe a pair of sconces on the wall?

A Before and After

 I spotted this chair at my local dollhouse shop the other day. It was a bit chunky, but I liked the front legs, and the price was low, so I bought it.

This is the way it looks now:

You might have noticed I did a little surgery on the chair. The braces on the bottom were too chunky, so I broke them off and sanded that area smooth. I also used an X-acto knife to hack off portions of the back legs and bevel the slatted backs.

 It might not look it from these photos, but the back legs of the finished chair have only about half the wood they started with!

Carving down the chunky bits of commerical furniture is an easy way to make these pieces look a little less mass produced!

Dolls for Dolls!

I am a bit addicted to miniature toys. Dolls, bears, and toy theaters are my biggest vices, but I'm drawn to almost any tiny toy! It's gotten to the point where I have far too many toys to display in my dollhouse. So it really made no sense for me to make even more...

These little wooden dolls are less than an inch tall. I stole fabric and lace from Mom's supplies. The basket that the doll above is carrying was made with thread (there used to be a tutorial on the Yahoo MicroMini group, but I'm not sure if it's still there.) She still needs a big straw picture hat, which I think I can make with more coiled thread. The doll bed below was an experiment using pieces of a sandlewood fan. The bed is a bit fragile, so I don't recomend using fan fretwork in this way!

A Ladylike Accessory

 I have a small collection of vintage handbags which I frequently use. It struck me a while ago that I could try making them in miniature. After a bit of fiddling around, I came up with this:

 I used very thin imitation leather for the handbag. I used a brass pin, some fine chain (for the handle), and a scrap of a brass finding for the hardware. I had a terrible time getting the chain to stick.

 After the terrible time I had with the chain, I decided to try a clutch type handbag next. The fancy clasp on this one is made from a cheap ring (from the craft store 'wedding' aisle)

 And just for a laugh, here was my first attempt at a handbag a few months ago. I used silk-covered card and metallic tape for the clasp. The silk was a horrible choice: it frayed horribly, and got glue spots which I tried to hide with gold beads.
I never showed it because there were so many problems with it, but it's been sitting on my table for months as I worked out better ways to make a handbag. I often like to keep "failed projects" like the green bag below until I've worked out a successful version. I think seeing everything that went wrong in previous versions can help me figure out a new approach. At the very least, it (usually) stops me from making the same mistakes over again!

 

New painting

Just popping in for a moment to share this miniature watercolor. Framed, it's about an inch and a half tall.

Sorry to be so quick!