One of my favorite dolls

A few weeks ago I showed Mom's maid sleeping on the laundry. This is another of the dolls she sold at the  show that I had a hard time letting go of.

After a long hard day of work, she's finally getting to relax and soak her poor feet. We displayed her on an "old" scrub brush, but didn't permanently attach her, so that she could also be used in a dollhouse. The scrub brush started out as new, raw wood, and we had a time dirtying it up one night. Even my brother lent a hand with some of the nicks and gouges!

Another little project...

I only found four of these little metal findings in my stash of old jewelry parts, but they seemed like perfect little decorative matchbox covers. This was the prototype, just made from whatever I had on hand, and I'm not yet happy with the matches. Hopefully I can get the next batch looking more realistic.

 The matches are glued in the box, but the box itself can be opened and shut just like a real matchbox.

May I Have This Dance?

This little dance card is only 1/4th of an inch across. It has a tiny pencil on a tasseled string, and the front reads "Netherfield Dance", along with a date.

Inside, there are many spaces for handsome gentlemen to claim their dance!

You wouldn't believe the number of times I had to tie this string! Even with the reference photos right in front of me, I couldn't get the hang of it, lol. When I figured it out, I actually took the time to scribble out directons for myself. I'm usually a VERY lazy note taker, since I'm almost always able to muddle out the way I made something just by looking at it again. But in this case, I REALLY don't want to fuss with those threads any more than I have to, if I end up wanting to make more dance cards down the line.

Do you take notes on your projects?

Our First Miniature Show!

Mom and I spent Sunday on the other side of the sales table at the Stamford Plaza hotel in Stamford, Ct! We were so nervous, we spent all of Saturday fussing with last-minute details. We practiced so many mock table set ups, I think it only took ten minutes on the actual day! Mom brought dolls, and I brought a few paintings and paper things (books, dancing dolls, and a couple other bits and pieces) to split a six foot table.
Mom was so convinced she wasn't going to sell any of her dolls, she almost brought only a couple large gift boxes to the show to wrap dolls up. Luckily, I threw in a bunch more, because she only had four dolls left at the end of the show! The maid up above was a little hard to let go- we did a lot of the work together. Mom dressed her, of course (I can't make any garment more complex than a toga :) but while she was doing that I painted/distressed the table and matching stool, and we worked on the folded linens together at the kitchen table. She went to a good home though, as did all the others!

P.S. Our favorite porcelain doll parts all come from Ellen's World.

Dancing Dolls

I didn't realize how long it had been since my last post. As it turns out, my laptop was fried, so I had to wait a few weeks to get a new one, and then other things came up, so minis have taken a back seat recently.

These dancing dolls are about all I've had time to make. They are all jointed with thin wire, so that they can be posed in different positions.

The joints are hard to see in the photos, but there are at least four per doll. They were quite a challenge, but I'm pleased with the results.

The next post may take a while, since I'm in the midst of packing to go back to school, but I'm hoping to get back to a regular schedule soon.

Broken Laptop and and Mini Watercolors

My laptop is broken. It turns on, lights up, but the screen stays dark. Right now, it's in the shop getting properly diagnosed. The bad news is, there's a good chance that I'll need a new one. The good news is, retrieving my files should be easy, so I won't lose any of my work.
In the mean time, I've been framing miniature watercolours I painted awhile ago. I hate to make the frames, so I splurged on a bunch of frames from Smaller Than Life.

Framed, this painting is 2" wide and 1 1/2" tall.

This is the smallest painting- the watercolor area is less than 3/4" square.

This painting is 1 1/2" wide by 2" tall. The colors in this photograph are a bit washed out- it looks much more cheerful in real life.

Bigger Projects

I haven't posted for a while because I've been caught up in non-dollhouse projects. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

I inherited my iPod from my brother a few years ago, and never worried about it since it was already a bit scratched up. Finally, I decided it was time to make it a case the other day. It's basically made like a book cover, with cardboard panels covered in green silk. Making this cover was the closest I get to "tech savvy", and there are still a couple of design flaws.

I found a tutorial somewhere (wish I could remember where) on making flowers out of pine cones. The "enamel" is done with nail polish. I'm going to attach these to bobby pins.

Last but not least, here is the kitchen wall, stripped of nasty vinyl wallpaper from the previous owners. This has been a project that's needed to happen for a long time, so just looking at the unpainted walls is a thrill. And just in case you don't believe how badly this needed to be done, I've included the 'before' picture below...

Scary isn't it?