Finished Dressing Room...

This morning, I got up and decided that the Elizabethan Dressing Room would be finished.

It is...

I framed the portrait with small chair rail and decorated it with self stick gold filigree.

For those of you that want an easy way to frame, this is it.

I mounted the painting on illustration board with spray glue.  Then I trimmed it to the exact size of the painting. Then I mounted that on a piece of index card.  I trimmed the card 1/8 to 1/4inch away from the edge of the painting.

I already had a piece of chair rail stained, so that made it much easier.  No staining or drying time wasted.

I cut the molding to fit around the picture, with the corners at a 45degree angle.  Then glue the strips to the index card around the painting.

I happened to have some gold strips that seemed to work so I put two strips along the lines of the chair rail.  Then I put a small design in each corner.  Finished.

I used an old gold paper piece for the frame on the mirror.  That one, I had to glue. I bought it way before the sticky backed ones came along.

I played with the dress until I was half way pleased with it.  With the pellon in the bodice, I couldn't pull it down quite as much as I wouldn't have liked.  I think that it still works.  Just not as relaxed and droopy as it would be without it.

The main thing is, Lettice approves. 

As for the cat cottage, it's growing...I ran out of rolled rods about 9:00PM.  What is there so far is one Architectural Digest and one Traditional Home magazine.

The opening in front is going to be the door...It's about 10 inches wide.

It's a lot of work to get rid of two magazines, but I find it relaxing and enjoyable, while watching TV in the evening.

And Widget gets a new house for the price of a few glue sticks.  A friend provided the magazines.

Now I have to think of something new in mini or maybe something old.  We shall see...

See you tomorrow.

Still Plugging Along...

The temperature in Tucson has reached the record for 39 days in a row over 100 degrees!  That was yesterday...Today it is supposed to finally cool down.  It is predicted to be 97 degrees...What a relief...Yes.  That was said with tongue in cheek...

I won't be going out of the house today, except to feed and water the squirrels and birds.

Actually, since we aren't having Witches this week, I plan to stay under the air conditioner and sort my fabric stash....That could take the rest of the month.

I am very close to finished with the dressing room.  I still need to do the costume/s.  This morning, I toned down the candle tree with black paint and a cloth.  It will no longer hold candles.  It will hold clothes.

I think that I have mentioned before that there were no such things as hangers until the early 1900s. 

I was watching one of the Elizabeth the First films the other night and in that, Elizabeth had a huge number of dress forms with her clothes displayed on them.  No dress forms back then either.  They kept them in hampers and trunks or hung them on hooks on the wall.

This is not completely authentic.  Mostly my idea of what it should be.  But I draw the line at things that I know to be wrong. Then I go and make something up that seems more logical to me, like draping the clothes over a chair or hanging them on a makeshift hook.

While I was working, I happened to spot the bottle of Fabri-tack glue, tipped over on the edge of the paint table...Look what I found going over the edge.

This is about 4" long and just a little rubbery.  Remember the fountain that I used this stuff in?  I didn't know that you could get BIG rushes of water with it.

I have no idea what to use it for, but I did find it interesting that, when left to it's own devices, it fills the drops from the inside instead of running all over the place.  Now, if we could just find a way to control it...Oh! The possibilities!

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Hampered.....

I decided that I was not in the mood for dressmaking today.  I went for wicker instead.

I did something easy, but now I don't think that it works in the box.

I will include the directions if someone is inclined to try it.

Part of the problem is, with so small a space, it looks coarse.  I used #10 thread and I should have used 20.  It would be fine elsewhere, but not here.

I started with a 1" by 2" Woodsie and went with 41 holes around the edge.  You have to have an uneven number for the weaving to go right.

I glued a short piece of fabric covered wire in each hole with white glue.

Starting in one corner, I glued the end of the waxed thread inside the corner and wrapped along the long edge.

Here's the weaving pattern.  Two rows of overhand loops.  Seven rows of plain weaving.

Repeat those two sections three more  times and then finish off with another two rows of overhand loops.

Next, braid your little brains out.  I started with over a yard of six threads.  Knotted one end and flat braided with two in each strand.  You need enough to go around the hamper three times.
Once at the bottom and twice at the top.

One braid around the bottom wood.  One around the lid and one at the edge of the top.

I may dip this one in walnut stain and see if that helps.  Right now it looks out of place.  I fear that it will still look that way when stained.

Anyway, so much for the hamper for today...Tomorrow's another day, as they say....There's those "theys" again.

See you tomorrow.

Peek A Boo...

The title refers to Widget.  He is always somewhere nearby, supervising. I couldn't resist this photo of him.

I'll bet you thought that I forgot the other two boxes...Nope.  At least not one of them.

The dressing room is much closer to being finished than the other one. That one may languish for a while.  The actor's room is calling.

I decided to make a wig for him/her.

In the first photo, the stand is on the table and the wig cap on the stand.  It is the tip end of the thumb of a kid glove.  It just fit the ball of the stand.  You could use the same technique to make a wig to fit a doll, but the glove would have to be really thin.

I won't go into all of the boring details, other than to say that I cut along the hairline and glued it to the ball.  Then I just took three pieces of mohair, unfurled them and glued the top ends to the ball.  You can see that in the final photo.  Not at all complicated.

Then I proceeded to make seven roses.  I have showed you how to use one of these elsewhere in the blog. 

You just start with your needle tool and loop about 1/4" of the end of the ribbon around it and glue.

Next you twist the ribbon towards yourself once and glue.

 Last you twist it away from yourself and glue to the body of the rose between each twist.

I usually do three of these.  You can do more if you want a BIG rose.  The one in the photo is ready to cut.

Here's the finished wig on the stand.  If you blow it up, you can see a wreath of roses on the top of the head....Very Juliet-ish.

None of the stuff is glued in yet.  I still have the power to change my mind if need be.

Now for the hard part.  He is going to need a costume...

See you tomorrow.

And the Winner Is.....

KATIE!  That is the Katie of Katie's Clay Corner blog. http://katiesclaycorner.blogspot.com/  She is an avid miniaturist and does lots of different things. I am an admirer of her aging and woodworking.
Congratulations Katie!

Now on to other things.  I'll bet that you thought that the boxes were something new that I just thought up.  Not quite.  They started with a kid's cardboard pencil box back around 1990.  At least that is when I started doing them.  I taught a class on how to do them back then.

You can still find the cardboard pencil boxes on line, but they aren't nearly as nice as they used to be.  Not as thick.

I woke up about 2:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so I thought about what I could do to make it easy for the rest of you that were interested, to build your own box.  I decided to show you how I did the original one.

You can take it from there. It can be made into anything that you want. 

I am going to do it the way that I did it originally for the class.  Only this time I am using a wooden cigar box that I had handy.

You will have to take your own measurements and make your own plan, but it is really simple.

The first thing that I did was sit the box on a piece of GOOD foam core.  Not the kind that you get at the dollar store.  It needs to have a hard finish so that it won't warp as much.

I lined the back edge of the box up with the edge of the board. Then I used the lid as a compass and drew a semi-circle on the surface of the foam core.

As you can see, the first blade that I found was not exactly sharp.  No worries.  The surface will be covered. 

With this box, I had to cut off the lid and treat it as a separate piece.  Your box may not have to be done this way.  With mine, the lid fit down inside, flush with the top edges of the box on both sides.

I cut it off and slid it into the side at a 45 degree angle.  If your box top overlaps the box all around, this step is unnecessary.

I cut a piece of wood to fill in the far edge and two small pieces to fill beneath the sides of the arch.

I cut out the arch by making a paper pattern.  The paper was cut to the size of the lid and folded in half.  The arch was cut from that.  Then I traced around it on the lid and, in this case, I cut it out on the jig saw.

The only one of these that I have left is the mini, mini one that Tessie is holding in the second photo....Did I mention that, when I was taking that photo, she hissed at me.  "This one is MINE!" 

She wasn't talking about the little one she is holding... She is keeping the big one she is standing in.  Typical Tessie.

Anyway, here's the little one up close.  I will start doing the spackling, landscaping and flooring next.

As I said, the indoor outdoor thing is nothing new.  You can do it many different ways. You can put a door or window in the wall, instead of the arch.  You could possibly make it two rooms by using two box bottoms.  It is really easy and a lot of fun. 

Back to work.  Again, congrats Katie!

See you tomorrow.

"If I Can't Have It......

...Nobody in this house can have it!"  That was Tessie this morning...

I asked her what she was talking about... Here's what she replied....Grab a cup of coffee...This could take a while.

I sprayed the floor with matte Mod Podge finish this morning and gathered up a few more things for the shelves and announced that the box was done.

That's when this all started.

Here's her answer.  "Since you won't let me have it, it should go to some nice person that made a comment while you were doing it."

That sounded OK, so I let her go on with her rant.  "Take one last photo of me sitting in the chair and then I will tell you what I have been doing an d what I have in mind..."

"Now that I and the pup are out of the box, take another photo."  Never a please or thank you...Just orders.

"Any comments made from today on won't count.  I have been coming in here and adding to my list each day.  I put the last name on early this morning...I am finished.  Done.  The list is complete." 

At this point, I decided that I needed another cup of coffee, if she was going to continue.

I got it and she started in again.  "To be fair, I didn't duplicate anybody's name...One to a customer, as they say...By the way, who is "they" anyway?"  I am going to check her list to make sure that it is exactly what she says it is.

"As for you, you get to do the packing and shipping.  I will be directing as usual.  Some of the stuff is going to have to be fastened down.  Leave some spaces on the shelves for the person that gets it to add a couple of their own things."

She went on and on about how hard she worked to finish the box...It must have been when I was asleep and she must have undone everything that she did before I got back...

I will boil it down for you.  Tessie made a list of everyone that commented and one of you is going to be contacted for a snail mail address to send it to.  Short and sweet.

The drawing will be by tomorrow.

See you then.

Meeting the Deadline....Maybe

See that little black thing in my hand?  It's the smallest portable radio that I could find at Walmart this morning.  It's cost?  Ten dollars!  It's a Magnavox and it runs on one AAA battery.

I wanted it to carry around and listen to when I am outside or someplace that there isn't anything else to entertain me.

I had a brainstorm whilst messing with it...Now I have to find a very small speaker.  Then I can have music in some of my room boxes or in one of Tessie's houses. 

I did try one of my big speaker sets that I use with my I pad.  It works, but too big to hide anywhere.  I am thinking maybe Radio Shack might be able to help.  We shall see.

I spent the morning hand sewing...Real stuff, not mini.  These two shirts came with a white bib inset in the neck, but when I got them home and tried them on it was a bit small for my taste...So I took  a white tee shirt and used the bottom edge to make the neck insets and one set of white cuffs and the bottom of the sleeves to do the other set.

That little bitty thing sitting on top of the neck of the yellow shirt was what was in the neckline before.

OK...I know that you want to see progress. I did some shading on the floor with Prismacolor pencils after I finished the shirts.

Tessie helped...(She paid me in chocolate chip cookies to say that.)

Anyway, I should be meeting her deadline by tomorrow morning.

See you then.

OK....Stop Nagging!

I am back....Working on the Mystery Box.  It is no longer much of a mystery. 

I am down to the wire.  Tessie is still holding out for Monday as the deadline.

I did the bolsters and pillows this morning. 

Here are the things needed to do it.

You have seen me do the Tampax bolsters before.  There is a tutorial under beds in the labels list.

I will go through it once more in an abbreviated version.

These were easy.  No cutting of the tubes.  The inner tube is just a tiny bit under three inches, so they did the job for the bolsters along the back of the bed.

They were covered with a layer of batting and then a layer of material.  To this point, everything was glued. 

Then the ends were gathered with a single thread. 

Oops. I lied.  I did cut the outer tube in half for the white, shorter bolsters.

When they were finished, I decorated the shorter ones with green bows at the ends.

Since the pillows will be glued in place, I opted for the kind made with index cards.  Again, there is a tutorial elsewhere for these.

I made them 1 1/4" square.  Cut two of the card.  Glue on a layer of batting.  Then cover with fabric.

Sandwich two together back to back and decorate the edges. Then, when they are dry, you can bend them to look slouchy.

I have dropped the other two boxes for the time being...Tessie wants this one done.

I am not sure of the reasoning, other than the fact that she wants me to work on her stuff.

I am really close.  We just need a few more things for the inside and a finishing coat for the floor.

She is still fighting me for the hat, but I am bigger than she is... Maybe, just maybe, I will win.

Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.

Time Out....

 

This morning, I started hunting for accessories for the Mystery Box...I did pretty well, considering that nothing was where it belonged.

I found a yellow hat with green trim that matched the room perfectly...Of course, Tessie claimed it and didn't want it to go in the room.  She wanted it in her hat shop...

I realized that the reason that I couldn't find anything was because Tessie was hiding things so that they wouldn't be put in the box...

While I searched, she sat on her tuffet and munched on chocolate chip cookies.  Only crumbs left for the dogs.

As I sat back to look at the box, so far, I saw this....Not good.

I can't work on the work table....No room.

I decided that I should clean a bit before going on....

Then I made the mistake of getting up when the timer went off, to go move the hose.  Still no sign of more monsoons.

Oops!  So much for working on the boxes...at least for the time being.  At least there is a path from the door to the worktable.....That's about all there is. 

I guess I am going to have to break down and straighten things out....

Tessie refuses to help.  When I asked, she told me in no uncertain terms, "It's not my mess.  Not my problem!  Call me when you are finished."  And with that she flounced out of the room.  Taking the dogs and cookies with her.

I guess I am on my own for now...
See you tomorrow, with a clean room...Maybe.

 

A Little of This and That....

 Yes, I am still working on the Mystery box....Among other things.

Sorry Phyllisa, no princesses.  I did get a mattress in it and some drawers on the front...Obviously a box bed now.  Maybe I can at least get this one finished before Tessie's Monday deadline.

Spike's little brother showed up this morning....I can't find Spike.  I think that Tessie locked him up someplace so that she could be the model...

For all intents and purposes, the remote is covered.  I may still have to put some fringe on top of his hat or a chain for him to go around my neck.  I am always losing him.

Tessie is scheming for a way to use him in one of her places of residence.  At least I will know where to look when he disappears.

Lastly, I did some more work on the rug for the craft cottage.

Don't let the pose fool you.  Tessie did NOT work on it today.  I did!

It is slow work doing the vines.  After I finish those, filling in the background will be a  breeze.

I have to go back to work.  The real house needs attention.

See you tomorrow.

You Again?....

Not a very nice greeting from Tessie when Zar appeared this morning.

In case you hadn't noticed, he has been missing for about a week....He told Tessie that he was "visiting relatives".

No wonder she doesn't believe anything he says.  Both she and I saw him up in the potion room of the townhouse....He was madly running the potion machine.

Neither of us know what he was cooking up, but neither of us will accept food or drink from him for a while...Just in case he has something up his sleeve.

 After Tessie's unwelcoming greeting, he promptly came in the workroom and told her that he would finish the floor for the Mystery Box.

The way he put it was, "OK.  It's my turn.  I am going to do the floor for this.  By the way, what is it?"

He didn't like the terracotta and immediately changed course to slate tile.  Nothing could sway him.

So far, he only has the first coat of paint on it. 

I made the pad from foam core and covered it with egg carton tiles.

I decided that it didn't need to be fastened to the rest of the box.  This way, it can fit in the lid when the box is closed.

No sooner did he get the first coat of paint on it and Tessie zapped in with an easy chair and foot stool, saying  "This is going to be mine, you know.".

News to me.  She doesn't even know what it is, but she's claiming it anyway.  Spike is not a happy camper.

In other news, the Startled Savage is coming right along.  More feathers on his head dress.

I have decided that it would be smarter to have that end finished and closed off before I start trying to do the final part of his chin.  I have to make a buttonhole opening on the back on that end, so that the apple can slip in and out for battery changes.

Now you are up to date....

Excuse me whilst I go and break up a yelling and barking match.  It is now a three way argument as to whom is the owner of this box....I think that the only way to settle it is to give it to someone else.

See you tomorrow.

 

Savage and Refined All at the Same Time.....

The savage part is the remote....I got the back down to the chin, but didn't want to start connecting it late at night...So I went up to his head dress.

It takes time when you don't keep at it hours and hours at a time.

This morning, I put in the swags.  I'm not going to put in side curtains.  That would block the view of the inside.

After that, I got out my 18/0 liner and started painting around the edge.

Vines....and more vines. I didn't want it to be symmetrical... I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.

Then I went back in with colors to match the flowers in the swags.

Now all I have to do is fill the inside.  I am thinking that I might try a tile floor that folds up inside the box when it is closed....Not sure if that will work.  I have to think on that for a while.

Good thing I have two other boxes and a remote to work on whilst thinking about it.

OK....Now if I can just convince Tessie that she really doesn't need this box....Or I could just close her inside again....You would think that she would learn from her past mistakes.  Oh wait....She has her zapper back to full power, having not used it for several days, so that won't work. 

I have a lot of thinking to do.

See you tomorrow.

I'll Trade you....

It's not going to work, Tessie.  After all, what will Spike do with a sewing machine?

She tried to persuade him to switch boxes this morning.  You know how that goes.  New box.  New "I want."

I added more to the Mystery Box this morning.  Not finished by a long shot.

Tessie immediately started bargaining with Spike....

I cut out the pieces for the sewing cabinet.

She tried trading all of the raw lumber, thinking that it would make good throwing sticks and chew sticks.

He wasn't having any of it.  I think that he knows what the mystery box is going to be.

I got more of the remote cover done last night.  The first photo is the back.

I am going to have to drag out the magnifying lamp to work on it.  It is hard to see the holes in flat black beads at night.

Tessie tried to throw in the remote control to make the trade....Didn't work.

Spike has no interest in jumping up and down to change the channels.

Tessie changed the name to Startled Savage after I got down to where I was starting the part around the directional dial.

For some reason, she thought that I was going to cover that part.  Sometimes she has no faith in the tricks that you can do with leaving out beads and then reattaching them later. 

I have to admit that I had to go back and do the bottom of the eye holes the second time....I miscounted beads when I went to add them back in to complete the holes. 

It should go faster once I get to the part where I just go round and round.

Working on four things at once seems to keep me from boredom.  I need to get back to one of the four.

See you tomorrow.

Sticking Like Glue...

Did I mention that Tessie is sticking close now?  I don't think that she trusts Lettice.  The lock box incident frightened her.

She is also behaving for a change....It is a bit boring.

This morning I cut out all of the pieces that I needed for the interior of the Mystery Box.

Spike is guarding them with his life...If I lose even one little piece, we are in trouble. That's why he has one of the important pieces in his teeth.   I don't want to have to go back to measure and cut it again.

I also tore out the pink carpet and replaced it with Sautillo tile.  No.  It's not pink.  More terracotta.

I do believe that I have a handle on what is happening in this box now.

I didn't finish the remote cover.  I got down to his ears...

Yes.  Now Tessie is referring to it as the surprised savage.  I am not sure if that is better or worse.

I started this by stringing Delica beads.  I made it divisable by 4, so that I would have plenty of options for design.

Now I am just going one row at a time...This could take a while, but when I finish It should be more visible.  I am always losing it.  It is such a dull thing without cover and blends into the background.

Anyway, we are going to go to a movie this morning, so I probably won't get much more done.

See you tomorrow.

Problem Solved...

I finished the barley twist table this morning.  Not two minutes after I did, it disappeared...

I knew just where to look.  And I immediately went to check on Lettice.

Actually, she is fine.  When I asked her how she was feeling, she said,  "I am of the opinion that Tessie is not to be trusted.  It took me a while to extricate myself  from the spell.  Being a longer practitioner  of witchcraft than that child, I know more about how to fix things than she does."

I was very surprised.  I had no idea that she was of that persuasion. 

She also whispered to me to please keep it quiet.  And then the real shocker...."You know, I am actually her great, great grandmother....Please don't advise her of that particular fact. She can't figure out how I managed to escape her spell..."  I am guessing that Lettice has the upper hand if she wants it.

Anyway, I had to take the table away from Tessie and I needed a bit of help.  Lettice was my secret weapon. 

I pulled the table out of the sewing box and Lettice slammed the lid shut and fastened the catch....

There is a very irate witch in that box....I am either going to have to let her out or drill holes in the bottom  of the box for her to get air.

Lettice was pleased with the table and I also found a  portrait from 1585 that I am going to use on the lid wall.

I also still have to make a stool and a mirror.  The poor man can't put on  makeup without a mirror, can he?

Now for Spike's Mystery box.  No more pink rug in the body of the box...I will replace the other pink with tile.  I am starting the interior furnishings...

Any guesses?  Yes there will be shelves in the back.  They are just stuck in there to see how they fit....They won't be crooked when I finish....I hope...

Other than that, wait and see.....I have to go check on Tessie...Maybe I will open the box just a crack and shove in a couple of potato chips.

See you tomorrow...