Monday, February 22, 2010

Don't sneeze!

I posted this micro chateau I put together out of paper a while ago, and a few projects more recently but looking through some old photos, I found a few other tiny projects. These projects were not necessarily as challenging as the chateau, but they remain some of my smallest attempts!
This doll and toy soldier in a box were fun! The doll was made according to instructions on Frances Armstrong's site. Both these projects found homes in micro scenes later on.
These baskets are made of thread. They are slightly large for true 1/144th scale, but are quite effective in some settings where scale is not such an issue. As you can see, I got a bit carried away making these - I made about 30 in a few days at one point!
This was just thrown together, using miniatures that needed a home. The chair is an N scale (1:160) brass piece. The music stand is also painted brass.
On the chair is a 1/144th scale violin! It is made of styrene (plastic), paper, and various other materials. It took lots of experimenting to figure this one out! Though they cannot be seen in the pictures, there are even tiny black tuning pegs on the neck, as well as a black tail piece. The violin is about 1/8th of an inch long.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Little Details

My uncle built the original shell of my dollhouse. When it was refurbished about ten years ago, I realized for the first time how unusual my house was. It's similar to the Katherine, but was built from plans rather than a kit. So my floor plan is slightly different, and I have many more windows. There were several problems with using the opening windows which I wanted all over the house, but we were able to use one for the kitchen. I think all kitchens need an open window for little boys to steal the baking, don't you?
The fuzzy African Violet was made by my mom from a kit. The muffins were a joint effort.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Snowy Day Projects

I woke up this morning to find that it had snowed again, on top of all the snow that we got last week. This is taken from the window over my bed. It's a very pretty snow, but I'm getting a bit of cabin fever!

To pass the time, I've been cutting scraps for more miniature scrap screens like this one. I'm thinking that I might make a scapbook or two as well. Unfortunately, I've run out of the unfinished screens that I used to use. Does anyone know a source for plain wooden (or even painted) screens?
Empty, clean tic-tac containers are great for storing scrap, especially since I have a tendancy to knock containers over! Most scraps fit through the small top opening, but the entire white top can be removed if necessary. There are enough pieces here for one screen, with a quite a few left over.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

More Books, and Help Please!

I've been trying to put together more books over the last few days. Here they all are. I need to press them all shut still, in my doll-sized flower press, so that they will actually fit in a bookcase without popping out.
Top row: Lover's Vows, Alice in Wonderland, Heidi,The Monk, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Simple Story
Bottom row: Buckle My Shoe, An Old Fashioned Girl, Ivanhoe, King Arthur, Line and Form (an art book), Robin Hood, and A Little Princess.

I need help thinking of more titles. I'm trying to concentrate on older titles, since I doubt that I'll ever do a modern dollhouse, but I confess that I know far more recent fantasy/scifi books than anything else. Since the books I've made so far will only fill a few inches of shelving, and my eventual goal is a readable miniature library, I'm going to need lots of titles. What are your favorite books?