A Cook for Every Kitchen

I thought I'd share another of Mom's dolls today. This cook is waiting for us to find the perfect tray or bowl for her to hold.

Though Mom has made several cooks, they always end up looking quite different. Though Mom used a similar dress and apron pattern for this cook, the choice of  red stripe or grey windowpane fabrics alone make a big difference in the look! The dolls take on even more life when Mom starts giving them props and activities, like this cook plucking a chicken.

Mom says that between the apron, cuffs, and other details of the cooks, she sometimes feels like she's dressing each one twice!

Little Things That Sparkle

Ever since we started selling at shows I've been wrestling with the problem of size. I love making tiny things. In fact, in most cases, the smaller an object is, the more fun I have making it. But most of those little things are simply lost on a 6 foot table. So I thought I would put together a few "dressed" pieces of furniture for the next show.

The paint job on this vanity needs to be reworked. There are a few places I'm satisfied with, and a few others that I can't wait to sand down and paint over! What was I thinking with those drawers?  The gloves and pink flower I stole out of my own pink dollhouse. The lace dresser scarf was a scrap of vintage lace which my grandmother gave to me. 

 

 

 

The little leather tray with the elaborate saphire and pearl brooch is one of my favorite pieces on the dressing table. I had planned to add a white silk pad to the tray, but then I found a bit of trim which perfectly matched my favorite silk, and thought it was even better choice.

On the right hand side, I added a number of perfume bottles, a jar of cold cream, and perfume box all from my stash. The figurine was one I've had for a few years, but I repainted her Barbie-pink dress and blonde hair. The little compact I made specifically for this dressing table. It still needs its mirror and powder puff.

Toying With Shelves

 This little bookshelf  started out as a plain white impulse buy. I thought it might be short enough to work in one of my attic rooms. But after trying it in multiple spaces, I just couldn't find a spot for it. So I went for plan B, which was a shelf full of slightly battered but still cheerful toys.

 I'm not sure where I got the idea for this color combination, but it worked well with a bunch of my vintage paper toys. The little boy doll in blue was one that I hand sculpted years ago. I'm glad he finally found a home! The toy car and rabbit were metal miniatures that I painted.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I love decorating for Christmas. I love the anticipation of it- fussing with a red bow here, piling Clementines there (though they're usually half gone an hour later!) So it's no surprise that my dollhouse gets a good dose of Christmas decorations too.

 

I made a bunch of little mistletoe sprigs this year, and have been having fun finding spots to put them.

They're quite tiny! I added a hook made of thicker wire to the top of each sprig to aid in hanging them. Usually I use sticky wax to hang items, but that can create dirty spots over time. So far the hooks alone seems to be working well

I really like this sprig hung over the door to the music room!

I also decorated a little lycopodium tree. I made the tree a year (two?) ago following Casey's tutorial, but I never posted it because I hadn't decorated it. I figured if I didn't start to decorate it this year, I'd never do it, so I finally bit the bullet. I was running low on appropriate beads for ornaments, so I had to get creative. I added lots of Victorian paper ornaments, and some repainted plastic charms like the snowflake (bottom left of the tree). I wanted a few smaller ornaments, so I dipped glue covered wire in glitter to make some gold icicles. I also dipped a few gluey wires in no-hole beads to make small irregular ornaments. You can just see one at the bottom center of the tree. I think they're rather effective from a distance. I still need to make a topper, and when I can get to the bead store I'll add a few more ornaments, but I'm happy with it for now.

I actually have a much larger tree that usually goes in the parlor, but the bigger size makes it look a little modern. I haven't quite decided whether historical accuracy or holiday spirits should carry the day. I may move this tabletop tree to the music room, and put the larger tree in parlor. Either way, I need to make new fake gifts. These red and gold packages are beautiful, but they're a little too perfect for realism!

 Last of all is this little Christmas candle I made last summer. You won't see this in my dollhouse. I only made one, and it sold to a lovely customer at Philadelphia. I liked so much I couldn't help sharing it here.

 

Houseplants

I'm making an effort to add houseplants to my dollhouse. My dollhouse isn't a very historically accurate Victorian home, but I like to make it a little more realistic/period where I can. I've collected a number of gorgeous empty vases over the years, and I'm slowly putting together plant kits to fill them.

The philodendron kit is one of my favorites because it's because it doesn't have to be permanent. I don't need to commit to filling the vase up with dirt. I can just arrange the loose wire stems in the vase, letting the bushy leaves hide the lack of dirt!

A Gift For Mom

Every year, I try to make one or two miniature gifts for Mom. This one is a project I've had in mind for several years. Mom loves dummy boards in both real life and miniature. We also have a really sweet English Cocker Spaniel who loves to sleep in front of a fire. Sometimes she curls up so close to the fireplace that she's nearly lying in the coals! For a few months, I toyed with the idea of commissioning a dummy board from Pastmastery, but just as I was ready to commit, they announced they would no longer be making miniature dummy boards.

The other day, I finally decided to try painting one myself. Since I couldn't get the dog to remain in the correct position for long (she's getting old, and kept putting her head down to sleep) I had to do the initial sketch from a photograph. I painted her with acrylic paints on thin birch plywood.

There are still a few touch ups I need to do, but most of the painting is done. I added a toothpick to the photo above for scale.

Here's the back, showing the triangular support piece. I still need to sign and date it, something I always forget to do. It doesn't matter too much when things we make are just staying in our own collections, but we have to double check that everything is signed before each show!

A New Room

Alright, so this is a bit embarrassing to admit, but after three years of blogging, there are still rooms in my dollhouse I've never shown on this blog. One of those rooms is the nursery. This room is a tiny little space that was originally the bathroom in my house. It was also one of the hardest spaces to redo. When my uncle built my dollhouse, he built it to withstand a lot of playing. He  used some sort of industrial strength glue to stick plastic tile sheets to the walls in this room. When the house was redone, the only way we could get those tiles off the wall was with strong solvents which literally melted the plastic.

This room has always been a challenge because it's so narrow. Believe it or not, I had a bespaq highchair stuffed in here as well, up until the Great House Cleaning of two weeks ago. The room is still far from finished, but it will get there eventually!

I love the little girl in the crib. I call her Patience (because she clearly needs to learn it!) The only trouble with her is that she is completely naked, and sculpted in a way that makes her impossible to temporarily dress.  I've given her a bit of silk ribbon for modesty at the moment, but she should really be sitting in a little bath tub!
The petite point carpet in this room was stolen from the bedroom next door. Normally, I have a gorgeous round rug in here, but I prefer the way the rectangular one fits the room. The pink chest at the front left holds a few pairs of tiny baby shoes. My little sterling porridger and baby cup are piled on top until I decide what to do with them now that the highchair is out.
The (crooked, oops) pictures on the right wall are Godey prints. I had a bit of an obsession with them when I was 11 or 12, and collected a few for my real bedroom. The corner shelf on the back wall holds a few little painted charms, including the Owl and Pussycat in their 'pea-green boat' and a little Punch and Judy that hit each other when you press a lever on the back.