When Grandpa Babysits: A New Source for Mini Fabric

Over the last few months, Mom has been talking about this idea for a doll. We decided that the baby must have gone home before Grandpa dozed off (no child endangerment here!) Despite having a very clear idea of what the grandfather doll should look like, Mom took a while to start working on him. As it turned out, Mom's delay meant that the perfect fabric fell into her lap!

The dolly in blue was an undressed porcelain piece we bought at Philadelphia and costumed ourselves. The teddy bear is the one from my flocked bear tutorial. The book (cover) came from Jean Day, and the rest of the miniatures were in our stash.

The fabric for the grandfather's trousers was a lucky thrift store find. A cotton shirt in the mens' section was the perfect weight and scale for miniatures! We always check out the tie section for tiny silk prints, but hadn't thought to look anywhere else.

Here's a close up of the shirt fabric turned miniature trousers. I love that the stripes are made up of even smaller dots! Finding any in-scale patterned fabric can be difficult, but it's particularly hard to find patterned fabric suitable for men. We'll definitely be scoping out the shirt sections of thrift shops more carefully from now on!

Sturbridge, Continued

Before every miniature show, Mom and I like to guess which item on our table will sell first. We've never been right. In fact, the piece(s) that sell first are consistently a complete surprise! Things we've guessed will sit on the table because they're specialized enough to need a specific buyer are often the first to go!

The first sale of the evening were two tiny paper toys, to Molly Cromwell (the organizer of the Sturbridge show) herself!

I might have made the first sale, but two of Mom's dolls sold just minutes later. The French maid, who I posted just before we left, was the first to sell.

The same customer also bought this cook. Her basket of vegetables was a last minute addition from Mom's stash of props just before we left. I loved how the bright, fresh colors of the vegetables popped against the plain grey of her dress. Mom has made several cooks in similar outfits over the last few years, but I'm always amazed at the distinct personality of each doll. This jolly cook in red and cook plucking a chicken are wearing similar dresses and aprons, but they look like completely different characters to me! 

 

P.S. I've been noticing a lot of spam comments lately, so I'm putting word verification back up for a few days to see if it helps. Hopefully this will cut down on the problem!

Back From the Sturbridge Minature Festival

We came back from the Sturbridge Show exhausted, but in a good way. I only had the chance to take a few photos of our table as we were setting up, so please forgive the mess! We were close to the entrance doors this year, so we really got caught up in the excitement of the customers as they came in. Because of a combination of bad timing and weather issues (Hurricane Sandy!) most of our previous shows have been haven't been too well attended. Because the preview on Saturday night was a bit quiet, we were worried that Sunday (General Admission) wouldn't draw much of a crowd. But Sunday ended up being one of the most crowded shows we've been to in a while!

 

I tried out a few new display methods for this show. Since most of what I make is pretty tiny, they often don't show up against our grey velvet backdrop. In the bottom right corner, you can see one of my new hanging displays. I bagged all the little paper items I make, like letters, envelopes, etc. and made big labels with a sample of each different item.   

As always, Mom's dolls were spread across the table, with my little accessories tucked around and between.

 

This big board of watercolors was a new display for this show. The maid sitting on the scrub brush was one of my favorites of Mom's dolls. The customer who bought her had liked her at the preview show the night before, and came back the next morning to see if we still had her!

We did get a few quick breaks to go shopping. I bought a few pieces of unfinished furniture from BED miniatures, a dresser kit which I'm hoping will fit in the master bedroom of my dollhouse, quite a few brass findings, and some flocking and plastic greenery from Ladybug. The fabric and lace at the bottom of the photos were a few of Mom's purchases from JoAnne Roberts Miniatures.

This and That

 Today is going to be crazy busy, so this isn't a real post, just a couple new photos of old projects. I was playing around with the little cardboard box I'd wallpapered a while ago, and took a couple photos.

 These bowls are made of quilled paper, except for the bottom one, which is made of turned wood. I painted the wooden shelf, which I bought unfinished.

 

 I noticed that this little bench had the exact same shade of blue as I'd used in this 1/144th scale box.

That's all folks! I told you this wasn't a real post!

Ooh La La!

Mom has been checking over her stock of dolls for the Sturbridge show this coming weekend, and I've been taking the opportunity to photograph them. We had a lot of discussions about how to prevent this maid from looking too risqué. Photos of servants from the 1920s were actually the most helpful reference, though Mom did take a bit of artistic license with the short, flirty skirt. I didn't take a photo, but she has layers and layers of ruffled, lace trimmed petticoats beneath!

 I stole the doll away before Mom had added her duster. I just popped the cheap plastic one into her hands for the photograph, but she'll have a nice wooden one at the show. I stumbled across this tutorial after Mom had already purchased a duster, but I'll definitely be trying it the next time we need a feather duster!



I'll try to post once more before we leave for Sturbridge, and I'll definitely have lots more to share when we return!

An Itsy Bitsy Teeny Tiny Miniature

 We just got back from my brother's graduation and I seem to have come down with some sort of flu, which is bad news with Sturbridge just a few days away. Since I don't have the energy to finish up the projects on my worktable, I'll be sharing on of my favorite purchases with you instead. This tiny, 1/144th scale pitchers is one of the smallest miniatures I've ever purchased.

 I purchased this 1/144th scale pitcher from Hannah Roet several years ago. She told me that it took five separate steps to finish each of the tiny vases and pitchers. I've unwrapped my little pitcher maybe three times in the entire time I've owned it, since I'm terrible afraid of losing it.

This photos shows the increadibly tiny flower painted on the pitcher. It's really something else! I've tried painting in 1/144th scale, but I never was able to get that kind of detail.

That Which We Call a Rose...

 I was going through some boxes and stumbled across an old project that I'd nearly forgotten about. This started out as a basic white commercial table, which I covered with books and accessories. The tablecloth got a bit bent out of shape while the table was in storage, so I have to fix that , but otherwise it was a fun discovery.

 The table has a bit of a botanical theme. When I made it, I pictured this table in a whitewashed summer house. As a child, I spent hours exploring, and would often bring back plants to identify, press, or eat!

I made the magnifying glass out of a fancy turned toothpick and a bit of brass tape. I seriously underestimated the number of books I'd have to make for this project! I just kept making more, until finally the stacks started to look appropriately messy!

I got a little carried away distressing this table! The original white finish was nearly bulletproof, but I finally did manage to get down to bare wood in places. I added several other layers of paint over the top, then sanded most of it off again. The book propping up the table leg is one of my favorite details, though I don't think I could ever abuse a real book in that way!