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Sunday, April 28, 2013

Gone, But Not Forgotten....

First of all, please excuse the poor picture quality.  These photos were taken back in the 80s and 90s.  Sorry about that.

I am still cleaning.  I stumbled across this old photo album and realized that there were a lot of minis in it that I have either sold of given away over the years.

I thought that you might like to see some of them.

The first one is two people that I did for Pam Throop of Historic Homes in Miniature. When she passed away, her daughter Eve took over the business.  She is missed.

The two dolls were dressed in English 1840s costumes and the gardener's smock was actually smocked in miniature on fine linen.

This gentleman was done for one of her other houses and I had photos of the man to work with... I liked his trousers with the stirrup straps at the bottom.

This house is a quarter inch mansion...Believe it or not, it was my first quarter inch building.  It took six cigar boxes and a piece of a carpet tube for the tower.

Nobody told me that I couldn't jump right in and build a mansion, so I jumped right in and built a mansion...

Regrettably, when we moved, I traded it away to a friend.
I wish I had kept it.  Look closely.  You will see bent wire "ice cream parlor" chairs in the kitchen.  They were done with hairpins.

The hammock, hanging basket chair and the stair rails were all done with needlepoint canvas.

The hood over the stove is real copper.
This is a carved walnut copy of a Chippendale bed.  The cornice is taken directly from his Directory of Furniture.

Unfortunately, I got banged around and broken...

I didn't have the heart to do it all again.  It was fun while it lasted, but I was so sick of carving walnut when it was finished...And sick of making roses.  There were over a hundred on this bed.
This last one is a room box that I did for one of the mini shows.  I got best of show for it.  If you look closely, you will see that the room boxes in the back are Barbie scale.  I wanted people to be able to see the interiors.

The center bottom one is the exact same room.  And that room has the six room boxes built into its wall... Yes.  There is an indication that that room box has the same interior....NO!  I didn't go further with it.  I don't build room boxes for fleas and gnats to inhabit!

Anyway, I sold that one to a friend that fell in love with it.  She moved away and I often wonder where it is now.

Enough strolling down memory lane.  Back to work in the real world.

See you tomorrow.

7 comments:

Lucille said...

You're full of surprises, Casey! Building wee chairs with hairpins? How clever of you! You certainly know how to use everything at your disposal! Those dolls are works of art. Also, how clever to use cigar boxes to make rooms for that little house!

Caseymini said...

Lucille, I should have been more explicit. Each cigar box was turned on end and had three rooms(one on top of the other, for three stories). There were a couple of rooms on the other side of the kitchen and bath that you see. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of that side.

Lucille said...

Of course, Casey! I should have thought of that because it's one quarter. One quarter is so small. I don't think I would want to tackle that. You're very patient and also your fingers must be very agile to handle such small pieces. I think I need to go take a nap. It's Sunday and it's quiet and nice fresh air is coming in. Maybe a nap will clear my head! Wishing you a lovely Sunday!

12Create said...

I love the room boxes within the room box. What a neat idea.

elizabeth s said...

Hi Casey! I remember the work of Pam Throop. She was an outstanding miniature builder who use to have her work featured regularly in Nutshell News. I recall the series on Miss Marple's "cottage" which was built according to the gathered descriptions from the Agatha Christie mystery novels. It was magnificent in all the fine details both inside and out and in all the accessories that were used!
It is great fun going down memory lane but you do miss those who were once so vital in this hobby and are now gone from us. Thank you for sharing these early days from your photo album. It is always a nice treat to be able to 'remember when'; Especially when you are sharing with friends.

elizabeth

Caseymini said...

Elizabeth, I did some of the furniture for miss marple's cottage. It was great fun to be a part of the project.

elizabeth s said...

Hi Casey! What a small world! I still have almost all of my Nutshell News magazines in the garage as I cherish them as old friends of the family and find so much information between the covers. Do you recall what issue your furniture pieces were in? I would love to be able to connect the dots.

elizabeth