It was one of my very early ones. I displayed it at the NAME National back in 82 at Anaheim. I actually forgot about the pieces in this box when I told you that the cradle that I showed the other day was my first walnut piece. Oops! I did the pieces in here before that one. At the time that I did this room I was pretty new to minis. I wanted to do something English Regency style and this is what I came up with. The box was a Ballhagen, glass fronted, raw shell. I added the two windows in the corner with mat board. There was no such thing as foam core at that time. If there was I didn't know about it yet.
I also didn't know what you "couldn't do" with just an Exacto knife and sandpaper. Nobody told me that it was much easier to cut 1/16" thick walnut into strips for flooring with a Dremmel saw. So I cut the whole floor with an Exacto. We won't talk about how many blades I used on that.
Then some kind soul decided she didn't want her Dremmel jigsaw anymore. What a revelation that was! Yes. It is the same Mr. Dremmel that still cuts for me today.
I used the saw to cut the shapes of the Griffin table legs and the quarter inch slabs for the top and bottom supports. Then I went on to the sofa and cut the shapes out for that. Mind you, all of the carving was still with an Exacto. I still haven't given that up. I tried a Dremmel moto-tool for that just a couple of times. It just didn't give the crisp detail that I wanted for my pieces. I kept making pieces of wood fly across the room and hit the cats. They weren't pleased.
The furniture plans were taken straight from reproductions of furniture books of that time period put out by Dover books. 
The only pieces that I didn't make for this room are the two leopard covered ebony chairs. Those are resin from "Take a Seat". It is too bad that company is out of business. They did some really beautiful chairs.
The trunk Is a pattern that I got out of a book. I modified the top to be a Camel back instead of a plain arch. It actually is filled with goodies that the lady bought on her trip to Paris.
The lady was one of my early tries at poly clay figures. They did get better. She has short legs and long arms. I re wigged her a few years ago. She was originally a blond. It just seemed more like a room that a redhead belonged in.
Her dress is from another Dover book on Paris fashion of the period. Bless Dover for reproducing earlier books. They make it possible for people to go back and research the real thing. In case you hadn't guessed, I do a lot of research when doing historic rooms.
I also have a lot of real antique books. My favorites are on fashion and etiquette from earlier times. The etiquette books give a lot of information about what was happening at the time. They are actually fun to read, believe it or not.
The one piece that I fudged on a bit was the rug. It is done on #22 hardanger cloth in cross stitch. I designed the pattern from a rug in a German needlework newspaper from the late 1800s. I figured that it could have possibly been copied from earlier sources so I don't think it is too out of place.
I bought a bunch of the newspapers at the swap meet. I think I paid about 2.00 for the whole stack. They are a bit brittle, but they are wonderful. Evidently they were put out about once a week somewhere in Germany. They have patterns for all kinds of needlework, even dress patterns for people to enlarge and use. I don't think I would have liked to live back then. It was a LOT of work to have clothes on your back, not to mention keeping them clean.
Can you tell I am playing for time again? No photos of the bookshop today. It's all boring. I will try to get to something interesting by tomorrow. See you then.
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