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.

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.

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.

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?

Shoe Makeover

I try to mostly show my miniatures on here, but I'm going to post a different type of project just this once.
I have a hard time finding shoes, so when I found these shoes on eBay quite a while ago I was quite excited. I bought them knowing that I'd change them around a bit. That floral pattern wouldn't work with anything I own.
I didn't think to take photos of the process, but this is what I did with those shoes:

It's just a quick re-cover, with fabrics and trims that I had on hand. I didn't cover the entire shoe, since the blue satin accents seemed like they would be too difficult to change. I worked around the blue details, and ended up gluing seven separate panels of the grey fabric. I used old remnants of grey linen, which appears quite blue in these pictures. The black trim is bunka, and all the other details are beaded and sequined elements cut from some netting a friend of the family gave me. It took me two evenings to cover the shoes, but I rushed a bit.

I really like shoes with detailed backs, I've decided. The beaded designs are quite symmetrical in real life, despite how it appears here!

Since making them, I've worn them out and about a few times. They seem to be holding up fairly well, though some of the beading I glued on the sides of the heel has been damaged.

Books, Books, Books!

Despite the fact that I don't have a library in my dollhouse, I've always had a fascination with readable miniature books. I've been playing around with various methods for a while now, and here are a few of the results. From left to right: Heidi by Johanna Spry, Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde, The Monk by Mathew Lewis, Lover's Vows by Elizabeth Inchbald, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, A Simple Story by Elizabeth Inchbald, and Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.
Over the past year, I've made 21 different titles, all with readable excerpts. These seven are the most recent batch. The covers and end pages are antique graphics which I repurposed.

I made a mistake on this book- I just noticed that the "W" in Mathew shifted around at some point. You would not believe the number of silly mistakes I've made on these books! I try to catch them all before printing/assembling, but occasionally I miss something really embarrassing!

The books have size 2 or 3 fonts, and are printed on normal computer paper. Since these books are just for my own enjoyment, I haven't worried about archival paper or inks.

Here's the list of characters and a bit of the opening act in Lover's Vows by Elizabeth Inchbald. It's the only miniature book I've made but haven't read. I'll read it (in a BIG book) someday, but in the mean time I couldn't resist reproducing the play that caused so much trouble in Mansfield Park.

Click the photographs to enlarge!

Two Micro Projects

I made this pocket watch for my brother's girlfriend. She needed a secret lab!


This fairy couple is an old project made from HO railroad figures, so it's a little bigger than my normal 1/144th scale. I gave the girl a new pink skirt made of paper flower petals, and a curly thread wig. They both have brass wings (with pink and blue accents). I still need to add lots of details to the landscape. I'm thinking a snail or two, and lots of 1/12th scale flowers.