Before and After the Oil...

I mentioned on the Greenleaf Forum the other day that I used lemon oil to keep my mini rooms clean and shiny.

Here's the proof. On the left, the before.  On the right, the after.  And it will stay that way for a very long time in the enclosed space. This particular room box doesn't have a glass front.  That's why Tessie and Zar love it.  They can go in and steal tacos and sangria any time they want to.

This little Latin American room box was done in the early eighties. You can tell by the silly pastel Native American designed rug.  This rug was advertised in just about every interior décor magazine on the news stands at the time. I graphed out the simple design and it was one of the first rugs I finished. It has to stay there as a sign of the times.

The furniture is from Colombia.

I pulled everything out and used the lemon oil on the wood surfaces and the floors.  I dusted off anything that was oil resistant with the dry brush.

Here are some close ups of the inside.  The blue shelf is the only piece of furniture that I made.  I found it in a book on Spanish Colonial Furniture. It is just like the original. Blue and all.

The two jugs and all of the graduated bowls are from Nogales. Just the other side of the border.

The black and white pot is an early Rainbow Hand.  Unfortunately, I don't think that it was sealed and the paint chips off easily...That's one that I never used oil on.  The paint would probably completely disappear.

The mosaic pot with the cactus in it is made from paint chips.  I think I added that quite a bit later.  In fact, I think that it did that one for the blog.  It just happened to find a home in this box.

I made the tacos and the pitcher of sangria. There is a tutorial for the pitcher elsewhere on the blog.  It is made from a bottom section of a plastic bead tube.  Yes.  I was beading back in the eighties. The wine was two part epoxy.  We didn't have liquid Sculpey  back then.

The tacos, I made out of Fimo.

This is the little painting to the left of the fireplace.  It is about 1/2" by 3/4"!

A collage age girl came into the mini shop where I helped out and  shyly approached me.  She wanted to know if we would be interested in her paintings.  She had never done minis before!

I picked this one out and bought it from her on the spot.  As I remember, she wanted eight dollars for it, framed. Back then that was a lot of money for a mini, for me.

The photo that you see is larger than the real thing.  Being cactus, it had to go in this room box.  I was working on it at the time.

She did sell some others to the owner of the store too.

Here's the other side of the box.  See the thick walls?

This was a stereo speaker case and I couldn't get the braces that held the speakers in the corners, out of the box.  I am now glad that I couldn't get them out. It gives the appearance of thick adobe walls.

When I took the shelf out and oiled it, I didn't put it back in straight...Oops!  I need to go fix that.

Recognize the tile?  Yup.  That's the same stuff that I was trying in the North African bathroom a couple of weeks ago.  I bought several sheets at the time and I am just now on the last sheet.

This box has found a new home on top of my big jewelry chest.  It will be much easier to plug in.  On the book shelf where it used to live, it never was lit up. Now it can be.

I am going to go get into more trouble now.

See you tomorrow.