One Man's Trash...

I found this little plastic baby doll carriage in a bin at my local dollhouse store. It was marked 25 cents, so I bought it. I knew it would be an easy project.

 Here it is repainted. I added a bit more distressing than I usually would, so that the toy would look well loved.

 I used to hate painting eyes on dolls. They are so tiny, but if they look wrong, it wrecks the toy for me! I used to redo them countless times. Then I figured out a very simple method which looks surprisingly realistic. Use artist quality acrylic paints, because they less transparent than craft paints. Water down white paint until it is quite runny, but only a bit translucent. Paint the white of one eye with this. While the paint is still wet, dot the pupil in using slightly less watered down black or dark brown. The white and black/brown will mix around the edges of the pupil, creating a fairly realistic blue-grey or brown iris. Just repeat for the second eye, then add eyebrows, lashes, and any other details you want.

Dabbling in Intrigue

 Awhile back, I saw a photograph of a secret poison cabinet hidden inside of an old book. The idea stuck, and I decided to try a miniature version. The drawer pulls are made from brass pins (the pulls had to be low-profile so that the book would close.) The bottle and jar were miniatures I had stashed in a drawer.

  I used textured wallpaper for the outside- I would have loved to have used leather, but didn't have any thin pieces large enough for the whole thing. I used model ship rope on the spine. On the whole, this piece  is a little large to be a 1/12th scale book, but I really wanted to have enough space inside for the poison supplies.

 I think I've mentioned before that I don't take notes on most of my miniature projects. Well, below is the proof that I don't plan well either. This is the post-it where I drew the drawer and cubbyhole layout, and started to figure out all those important measurements- until I decided I'd just figure measurements out as I went along. Thank goodness for very precise rulers!

I still need to fill the drawers, add some leather straps to the cubbies to keep the bottles in place, and add a clasp to the outside of the book to hold it firmly closed.

Miniature Bibliophilia

Awhile back, I posted (here, here, here and here) about my goal to fill a library with readable books like the ones below. Well, I haven't quite gotten there yet. The bookcases I'm trying to fill are quite large, and I haven't managed to fill much more than two of the shelves in the past few months. I was getting a bit discouraged at the length of time the project would take, when I made a fun discovery...

A few months ago, I impulsively bought a little bookcase at a local show, thinking I might be able to squeeze it into Lottie's room (I'll have to post a better look at her room soon!). It didn't fit where I'd planned, so it's been hanging out in my workspace waiting for a home. I put all the books I'd made so far in the little bookcase today- and they filled the shelves PERFECTLY. Now I have extra incentive  to find a spot for the bookcase, and an excuse to put the library project on hiatus until I'm in the mood to make books again.

One book won't be going in the bookcase though. I found this book, "The Quadrille" at Eileen Godfrey's shop just after deciding to put the library project on hold.

It's beautifully made, with lots of illustrations. The title is stamped in gold on the spine as well as on the cover. I'm going to have to find a very  special spot for this book. I'm not sure who made it, if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. 



A "Brass" Table and a Dishtowel

Mom worked on a new doll today. While she had her supplies out, I borrowed her Styrofoam block, fabric stiffener and extra-thin pins to make a dishrag for my cupboard.

 A few weeks ago, I ordered some shrink plastic (or Shrinky-Dinks). This stuff comes as a plastic film which can be easily cut with scissors, and colored with markers. Then you heat it in the oven or with a heat gun, and it shrinks to about 1/2 the original size, and becomes about 1/6th" thick. I had the idea that it would make great glass for miniature table tops.

 Well, that idea was a failure. I just couldn't get the plastic to shrink perfectly evenly, and any fingerprints I got on the film became permanent smudges on the finished plastic.One or two pieces just curled up like the piece on the left. After a half-dozen tries, I gave up the idea.

While I was working on the glass however, I'd built a little table out of styrene. To make it look like brass, I spray painted it gold, then added highlights of gold Rub'n'buff.

 I rather like the table with the Zebra chair I re-covered a while ago. They are both outrageous.  

Since I hadn't managed the glass top I'd originally pictured, I painted some marble for the top and popped it in.

My Workspace

This cupboard started off as a slightly clunky but well made commercial piece. I tore off the thick upper doors, added trim to the shelves, and painted the cupboard. The decorative  painting is mostly done with dots and dashes. It's a good piece to put in a shadowy corner: from a distance, the cupboard looks much nicer than it actually is. I'm still working on filling up the shelves, and then I'll give the whole thing a last bit of aging.

I also reorganized my workspace. I haven't really posted about this space, because it's usually a complete mess, but it's been staying slightly neater lately. My workspace is a little alcove in the dining room. It has a lot of windows, but gets the most light in late afternoon.  The small drawers on this table hold tools and miscellaneous supplies. The two gold room boxes protect finished projects until I find a spot for them (the large box is actually the Gallery I posted about a while ago.)All my miniature magazines are sorted into wooden holders underneath the table. The white shelf on the left holds spray paint and various solvents.

Behind my chair are larger drawers holding larger supplies like paint, leather, fabric, and landscaping foam.

Back from the Guild School

Actually, I've been home for nearly two weeks, but I've had a lot of bad news lately and I haven't felt much like blogging. Things have been looking up in the last few days, so I'm going to try to start updating fairly regularly again.
I loved making this tiny 1/144th scale garden cottage in Nell Corkin's class. Nell brought the cottage walls already cut (we had to cut the windows!) and the weather vane already assembled. Everything else was made in the class.

 Constructing the trellis was fun, but I didn't like adding the climbing roses nearly as much!

 I may add some taller laser-cut flowers along this side now that I'm home.

 There was even time to make furnishings! The chairs were difficult- the first time I tried to put them together, I glued them all wrong, and then I painted them with a half-dozen coats of the wrong color by accident. But in the end, it all worked out.

 

 It was so fun to see all the finished projects at the end!

Watercolors

 Last night I dug out my watercolors for the first time in months. I love to paint in the summer- there's such great light! I realized when Mom and I were setting up for the show last weekend that the paintings were looking a little picked over. I didn't have many cottage paintings left, so I'm going to try to work on more over the next few weeks.

 I've only worked on this one so far. It still needs a lot of work. The frame is only laid on top as encouragement, and to check that the darkest colors are dark enough to show up.

While I had the camera out, I snapped a shot of this painting as well. I painted it for Mom a few months ago, but don't think I ever posted photos of it here. We both love Jane Austen, and while Persuasion is my favorite of her novels, we watch the 1995 addaptation of Pride and Prejudice quite often.



You can see that the paint bled horribly around the edges, which is why the painting is still unframed. I usually tape the edges of my watercolors to keep them neat. My favorite tape is extra-narrow masking tape from the model train shop which gives a nice clean line, but it's a bit difficult to find. I used a different brand of masking tape on this painting, thinking it would be the same, but as you can see it was terrible!