Logic? Who Needs Logic?

I gave up on being logical.  I am just going to make the rooms livable.

This morning is started figuring out window placement.  No doors.  They are on our side of the room...

The windows that you see, with the exception of the ones in the sun room are simply to see where to put them....There will be drapes that will cover most of the area....Not much window showing.

The top floor is going to be a sun room and a cozy winter kind of room...As I said....No logic whatsoever.

The second floor is going to be two bedrooms and a sitting room between.

MiniTessie has claimed the left bedroom....She is pulling a typical Tessie-ism on me.  She is running around.  Then she freezes in place and asks, "Can you see me now?"

Don't ask me where the penguin in the sitting room came from.  I just woke up this morning and he was wandering around the house.  I suspect that he is the only pet that miniTessie could find in her size.

As for Tessie herself, she is completely occupied.  My friend Jo always sends her something for Christmas and she tears into it as soon as it arrives. Thanks Jo!

Jo is a great basket maker in both mini and real life.  This year, she sent Tessie a basket full of mini supplies and mini books! 

As soon as Tessie got a hold on the basket, she announced, "You can leave now, Casey.  I would rather do it myself!".

Now the only question is.....What is she going to do?  Will she build herself a mini dollhouse or maybe I can just quit and she will take over the rest of the buildings that I have half undone....No....Her personality is like mine.  In the future, I can see myself tripping over tiny, unfinished builds that she will leave wherever, whenever the mood strikes her to start something else.

On behalf of Tessie, thanks Jo.  I may be calling you to come and clean up the tiny messes all over the house!  She has already started.  I can hear pounding....No, wait.  I think that's the headache that she is causing me......

See you tomorrow.

Light My Fire!

Fireplace #1 is up and not yet running, much to miniTessie's dismay.

It isn't even glued in place and she and Big Tessie want to see if it works.

You saw the rough cut of the fireplaces with one thickness of foam core yesterday.

I filled them out with another thickness today.

I glued the two layers together and backed them with a piece of cardboard.  Then I lined the firebox with brick paper.

I found some scraps of cherry veneer and cut pieces to fit the sides and front of the column. 

I noticed, when I was doing the roof of Tessie's fortune telling booth, that the sticks in the blind were grooved on one side and they looked like very fine double bead molding.  Much nicer for 1/4" than the real thing....The finest that you can get in that is 1/32".  This is smaller.

I cut a piece of the leftover fan blades from the Russian cottage and used it for carving on the front panel.

Surrounded that with the molding and did some more lines with it at the corners and up the sides of the firebox. 

I cut a piece of the cardboard for the foundation and covered it with the same paper as the firebox.

Not too bad for a couple of hour's work.  I am now trying to decide whether to leave it as is or try to stain it and really mess it up.  It's too late to paint it to match the walls....One of those "No way. No how!" situations.  Look at all of those tiny holes!

I still have another one to do for the other big room on the top floor.  Then the next question is, how realistic do I want to get?  Do I have to put chimneys on the roof too?  Magical fireplaces with fires that don't need chimneys?  After all, if we are getting real, the chimneys would have to be taller than the tower, to prevent fire hazards.

See you tomorrow.  P. S.  Look what a coat of stain will do!

A Room Without a View....

It just defies logic. If I put the doors at the back of the rooms, we have to assume that there is a hallway and more house back there....

If I put windows back there, it adds interest, but again makes no sense. 

I don't want doors going from room to room.  That would double the number of doors needed.

Tessie is making me crazy.  She says, "If a wizard, that is any kind of a wizard at all lives here, and he can make it night when he wants to look at the stars, he should not need doors and windows in specific places.

I may just have to follow her kind of fuzzy logic on this.  After all, it wasn't meant to be a quarter inch dollhouse.  It was meant to be a decorative shelf.

Tessie is back in the mix.  After Giac's comment a couple of days ago.  By the way, if you want to see some wonderful miniatures, go visit his blog!  Amazing work. http://englishmanordollhouse.blogspot.com/ 

OK.  Now about Tessie.  She is back to supervising with a vengeance.

First she tried to hold miniTessie where she could get a view of what was going on through her eyes.  When  that didn't work, Tessie dropped her like a hot potato.  I almost stepped on her and squashed her.

I wonder what effect that would have had on Tessie?  Hmmmmm....Sometimes I am tempted to find out.  No....Then I wouldn't have anybody to keep me in line.

Anyway, She has approved of the placement of two fireplaces that I drew up plans for last night.  I tried them out in foam core this morning...they worked! 

I dug through my files to find background to fill the windows.  I found some stuff that will work....But I also found these.

One of the few classes I took when I first got into minis was a rosewood tea house.  It was beautiful, but a kit and it didn't mean much to me.  I sold it. 

I found this!  plans for a Tea for Two Tea house.  complete with schematic.  It's for a full sized one, but shouldn't be too complicated. 

In answer to your next question.  No....I am not going to start it right away.  I am putting it on my things to start list though....Let's face it.  I start a lot of things.  Sooner or later, they get finished.....Remember?  Attention span of a six year old?

I also found this potting shed and plans.  Not as cute.  Way down on the list, but reminded me of another potting shed(much nicer) that I saved the plans for.  Now where'd I put those?

I am not going to look for them today.  I have to do other things in real life. 

Tessie needs supervising whilst she is supervising me too.  I just heard a crash in the other room....Wall house off the wall?  Maybe....

I have to go see what is going on now.

See you tomorrow. 

You Had to Ask???

This morning I went to read the mail and Giac got me in trouble! 

I have been quietly working on the Tudor 1/4" in the bedroom, when Tessie isn't around.

Unfortunately, she saw Giac's comment on yesterday's blog and now I have a watchdog.

MiniTessie, has been sent in to supervise....

There she is in all her glory...Guarding the front door.

I managed to work around her and finish the wallpaper and trim on five of the rooms in the tower this morning.

I cut the paper yesterday.  If you have never done quarter inch, the easiest way to do this is, cut a strip the height of the room.  Then, starting at one edge, line it up vertically. Smooth it to the back corner and crease it....Then, holding that corner, smooth it to the other back corner.  Crease it.  Make sure that it is correct then crease the front corner  and cut on the fold.

If you put Yes glue on the back, you can lay it in just as you did when measuring.  Smoothing as you go.  Then make sure that it is well into the corners and glued down good along the front edges,  That's all there is to it.

I have pretty much decided that this is not for miniTessie.  She is unaware of the fact, so don't tell her!

I am seriously thinking of trying to knock the middle wall on the bottom floor out to make a larger kitchen...

This morning I decided on the room arrangement.  I had it all arranged.  Then I remembered that it needed bedrooms for adults...I had a nursery room in the tower, but no bedrooms anywhere...Duh!

The top tower room is to be an observatory.  Thus the stars outside.

I am thinking that the owner is a wizard on the side and can call up the darkness whenever he wants to stargaze.

The sofa and table are my own designs.  The sofa may not stay here. 

The desk needs staining.  It's a kit that someone brought back from one of the NAME conventions.

If you blow it up, you can see a chair in front of the desk.  The bottom half is one of the plastic ones, the top back is a piece of one of the fans that I was using on the Russian house.

Speaking of things I made.  I don't think that I have ever showed you this.

If you want to do 1/4" rugs, not work on 48 or finer mesh and still get  a pretty good looking rug, this is how to do it.

I came up with this about 15 years ago.  The fabric is #22 hardanger.  It was rust colored.  I just used two colors of thread and blackwork stitches.  In other words, all straight stitches. 

This rug is 1" by 1 1/2".  It didn't take long to make because I didn't have to fill in the background.  I have a couple other ones around here someplace.  I will have to see if I can find them, to show you.

Anyway, that's all I have to report to you....Unfortunately, what with Giac's comment, I have to  report to Tessie instead.  She is hoping for  a quick finish on this one, so that I can get back to work on stuff for her.  I think that she already suspects that miniTessie isn't going to be the new owner.  Immediate loss of interest.  Immediate, "Hurry up and finish, Casey!"

I have to go back to work.  Tessie is rummaging around for a whip and a chair to keep me in line.

See you tomorrow.

One Thing Leads to Another....

I hung the Tudor Wall House in its regular place by the bed, yesterday.

This morning, it needed  something....It looked so bare.

I was in the midst of Monday housework/laundry and needed a break.  The break was spent hunting up all of the 1/4" supplies. 

I found the paper easily.  It's in a notebook, all in one place.  So I selected the pieces that I will probably use and cut them to fit the rooms.  I will show you close ups as each room develops.

Also in the notebook is all kinds of patterns for 1/4" furnishings that I have cut out of mini magazines.  One other item, is all important. 

This template comes from an art store.  It is meant for designers and decorators.  Each of the little holes is the shape of a piece of furniture in quarter inch scale.  It is great just as it is for checking the size of different pieces in quarter scale mini making.  I can find the size of a twin, standard or king sized bed immediately, without measuring the real thing.

I have two, count 'em, two Plano boxes full of quarter scale supplies.  You may not think that's much, but what I have in there is enough to do several houses. 

  

One box is meant to be all of the outside, architectural things.  Windows, doors and other trim.

The other is furniture and interior fittings.

A few years ago, I got crazy when I couldn't find the cards of the little plastic furniture.  When I finally found them, I bought a bunch!  They are cheap and I won't run out again.  Did you know that they can be carved?  I have some that I did  cabriole legs on.  They also can be cut  apart and re assembled in different configurations.

Unfortunately, over the years, they made some changes in the design....For some reason, the chairs all have wide backs and narrow fronts now.  They have to be altered if you want to make them look real. The china cabinets have solid brown doors, instead of the clear plastic like they used to have.  Kind of disappointing.

I think that the next order of business will be to straighten the two boxes....Architectural elements in one box and furnishings in the other.

Here I go again....But first, laundry and floor mopping in the real world.  Icky!

See you tomorrow.

Oops! I Slipped!

There will be a slight pause, whilst I fix my thumb.  That's what I get for getting sidetracked.

I found some of my mini gourds that needed cutting...  As you know, I switch directions quite easily.  I decided to sit down and cut a few.

The ones with the curved edges have to be cut by hand with an Exacto knife....Very carefully.

I was not paying close enough attention and zipped into the side of my left thumb.  At least it was the one that I use the least.  I can even type without it!

Anyway, I decided that the fates wanted me to keep going on the roof of the Tudor Wall House.  So after bandages and disinfectant, I changed course once again.

It's a good thing that I did.  The second batch of stain was just right.

I started on the biggest part first and by the time I got to the end, the beginning was nice and dark.

Just look at the difference!  The stain isn't dry yet and it is already looking good. 

I turned the roof upside down so that the stain could get up under the overlapping shingles.  I don't want any shiny spots beneath the edges.

This is just seconds after I finished the painting on the stain.  It works very fast.

I am just sitting here watching stain dry now.  I will show you the final results tomorrow. 

For today, I think that I will behave myself for the rest of the day and do what is expected.  No more gourds....

Maybe I will just follow Tessie's sage advice and "Tend to my knitting". I don't need thumbs for that.  At least not the left one.

See you tomorrow.

The Morning After.....

No way, no how, was I going to leave the house this morning with all of those crazy people running every which way, trying to find a bargain!

I actually got a bit of work done. 

I have come to the conclusion that I have to put away the heat gun and let things dry naturally. 

As you can see, the wet vinegar solution looks darker in the third try.  

I made the mistake of using the heat gun immediately and the results was, the solution didn't soak into the wood enough to turn it a darker brown/gray.  I will do another section and let it dry naturally.  I am sure that it will be darker that way.

I worked for about four hours this morning and finally finished the Tudor Wall House roof!I am cross eyed, but am patting myself on the back for finishing that awful job.

Tessie tested it for "slide capabilities".  Too short.  She just slid right off the end.  It's just a good thing that she can catch herself by zapping to another location.

Zar and Spike just sit and watch in amazement when she disappears into thin air and comes up in another location.

The trip to Phoenix, yesterday, was uneventful.  At one point, the electronic road sign over the highway announced that there was an accident 17 miles ahead.....It was stop and go traffic for about half an hour.  We never did see any accident....Just A lot of sitting and waiting, then creeping ahead at a snail's pace.

 

It did give me time to knit the start of an interesting scarf.  It is called a Potato Chip Scarf....(Bet you can't knit just one).  

The pattern is so simple that you can memorize it in about 30 seconds and go on your merry way.

I found the pattern somewhere on the Ravlery site.  The actual pattern is here.  http://oceanwavesquilts.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/potato-chip-scarf.html  I think that they might be right.  If this one looks good on, I will probably make more....Mindless knitting for TV and travel.

Since it still feels like a holiday, maybe I will go knit some more.  Walter is out golfing and I have absolutely nothing to do....Yeah...Right..... 

See you tomorrow. 

"Is It Stain Yet???"

I was cleaning out cupboards yesterday and found four bottles of half used vinegar.  So....Stain was started.  Other people would find all that vinegar and make pickles or salad....Nope.  Not me.

I took about a quarter of a roll of steel wool and stuffed it down into the bottle.  Closed the cap.  shook it to make sure that the steel wool was under the liquid.  That's all there was to it.

Tessie showed up three minutes and asked, "It it stain yet?".  It takes a few days, depending on how dark you want it to be. 

She tends to be just a tiny bit impatient....That's her style.

I figured I should do something else to amuse her if I didn't want her asking the same question every seven minutes.

I got out the shingles and did three more rows on the Tudor Wallhouse.

That was enough of that.  Those tiny shingles, tweezers and icky glue are only fun for just so long.  I was into the second hour when I quit. 

Then  I heard from the roof, "Let's go look at the stain!"  By the way.  after I took the photo, I unscrewed the cap and took it outside.  Pressure builds up in the bottle.  Walter was not happy with me when it spilled on the back porch....Can you imagine what it would do to a rug?

My next and last project for the day was working on the tiny table some more.  I decided that the best way to fill in the hole was to call attention to it.

I cut a piece of mat board the same size as the hole.  Using liquid Sculpey as glue, I used slices of a bunch of cains to cover the top. 

Then to add insult to injury, I covered the porcelain knob on the drawer also. 

You will have to enlarge the photo by poking to see what it looks like. 

The last step was to apply a couple of coats of Future Acrylic floor wax. 

I still have to do more patching and refinishing on the wood. but I think that I am going to like it when it's done. 

I hear Tessie yelling from the kitchen, "Is it stain yet?".  I had better go peel her off of the window and get back to work....Now it's the no fun part.  Icky vacuuming.

See you tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Tomorrow...

I am done with minis for today...This is pretty much it.  There may be a few short pieces in the bottom of the wood bin, but not a lot.

I didn't count as I went, but it took me over an hour to cut them all...

I am hoping for more than a thousand.  Each row is taking between eight and ninety shingles and I still have at least ten rows to do!  Please keep fingers and toes crossed for me.

This is the reason for the break in minis!  Amare is turning one tomorrow.  We are partying today...I have to get ready and wrap presents.

Happy Early Birthday, Amare!!!  We'll be right over.

See you tomorrow.

Want To Bet???

OK.  I have pretty much all of the shingle wood in hand now. 

The Terrible Two are taking bets as to whether or not I am going to get the rest of the roof covered with what I have left....

Zar is on my side.  Tessie is betting against.  The only trouble with this scenario is...If  Tessie sees that she is going to lose, she will certainly zap a few sticks away to make sure that I come up short. 

The first photo shows the method of cutting....If you use the calenders for anything like this, lay the pieces side by side, to cut with scissors.  If you stack them, you will end up with a lot of splintered wood.  The scissors tend to eat the wood if it's stacked.

For gluing, I use plain old white glue in a fine nosed bottle.  I run a line across the top of the previous row and another approximately where the top of the new row will go.

It helps to have Spike's supervision.  If any are too long and look like they would be fun to chase, I simply toss them over my shoulder.  He brings them back  and chews on them until they are the right size.

Tessie and Zar are helping too.  Tessie says she is measuring, but she has been sitting there holding the same stick for the past 23 minutes.  I suspect she is power napping when I am not watching.

Zar, on the other hand, has his hammer ready....Never mind that I am not using nails.  He's ready....Double power nap time.

As you can see, for a roof like this, I don't mess with measuring.  I just cut the pieces by eye.  I want it to look a bit rustic.

I thought you might like to see what the finished side of the roof looks like.  After I got all of the shingles on that side, I hit is with some stain.  I will have to get back to you on what kind is it.  I'm not sure what I used.  I had better figure it out.  I do want the roof the same color all over.

There were three rows of shingles on the part I am working on.  I put three more rows on...It is very slow work, but someone has to do it....Those other two are up on the roof playing inspector. 

If I want anything done.....

Back to work. 

See you tomorrow.

Housework and Minis Don't Play Well Together....

I am triple tasking this morning....I have laundry going. I am cleaning up from the weekend. The minis are coming in dead last.

I started messing with the wine cellar. So far, I am not impressed. I like the door OK. I made it out of a slab of 1/32" walnut. I don't think that I am crazy about the stone work. I did that with some embossed stone paper from the model train store. It doesn't have enough depth.

I put a few of the barrels in and they aren't bad for size, but I need to do some touch up on the painting.

Once I put the embossed paper stone trim on, I am not crazy about the fabric stone anymore. It is too flat and one dimensional.

In other words....One step forward. Two steps back....Bah humbug.

Tessie tried to help by suggesting wallpaper. Since I am going with Victorian, wallpaper would be in order.

The only problem being, this is the closest thing that I have to something that would go with either of the beds. I don't like it.

I don't think that this is a good day for working on the Tudor. Maybe I would be better off skipping today and going back to laundry and such....Tomorrow is another day....

See you then, with an attitude adjustment in place.

****Post Script.....I just tore out the floor of the wine cellar....I feel much better now. I apologise for being such a grouch.

Sometimes it just takes a piece of cardboard, a ball stylus, a black Pigma Micron and a few colored pencils to put me in a better mood.....More to come....

See you tomorrow.

I Was in So Much Trouble.....

I worked on the roof of the house yesterday, until my eyes were crossed from trying to line up tiny shingles. I think that I told you that I am hanging the house by the bed temporarily.

Unfortunately, I hung it much too close to the vignette above...Tessie was not at all pleased with either the location or the fact that I had almost finished shingling the second side....Well not almost, but over half way there.

I heard screeching coming from the bedroom after I hung the house up, after quiting for the day. I rushed in and this is what I saw.

Tessie got stuck! You don't want to hear the words that were coming out of her mouth. Not pretty, to say the least. The whole tirade finished with, "Get me out of here! NOW!" That's all I dare repeat. It seams that she was trying for a belly flop down the side with less shingles. It didn't work. She couldn't budge, one way or the other and when she panics, she forgets zapping.

After her performance, I am definitely thinking of leaving the house right where it is. It's kind of like "Tessie-proofing" it. If she knows she can easily get wedged in there, she will not attempt sliding.

Besides, I kind of like it at eye level, where I can see it any time I am sitting on the bed. Most of the other minis in the bedroom are too far away or to high up to see easily.

Tessie was so spooked by the experience that she just sat there on the lower roof for about 10 minutes. I don't think that she will mess with that part of the roof, once I have it shingled. Too slippery and not a long enough ride to bother with.

A couple of other changes to the house. I sawed off the out of scale chimney that I couldn't hammer off of the tower section and I moved the arches forward to the front edge of the rooms on the second level of the house. I can't decide if I want to stain them to match the rest of the woodwork or paint them white. There's plenty of time to decide.

Anyway, this morning Tessie was still not speaking to me. My fault for hanging the house in the wrong place. I went to town to get a few things and my car automatically stopped at Lowe's. I went to try to replace a few more of the back yard plants. *

Tessie is now talking to me again. I bought her a peace offering. This is a Ming Aralia. I was fascinated by the trunk. It looks like some of the branches grew under the skin for a while and then decided to emerge. I think that the people that grow them somehow train them....When they are ready they cut everything off and let new sprouts come out from the cut areas. Very strange plants.

Tessie fell in love with it and climbed into the branches.There she sits.....Every once in a while she shouts a command at me...."Bring me a cookie!" or "I want a drink of water!"

Hey! I will gladly do that in exchange for peace and quiet for the rest of the day. She shows no signs of leaving any time soon.

Ahhhh...Blessed silence....

See you tomorrow.

Down Sizing....

Rather than bore you with photos of shingles being glued, one by one, I decided to bore you by showing you how the 1/4" furniture starts. All of the sketches are done on 1/4" graph paper. Don't forget to poke the photos!

Yes, Tessie gets in on the designing once in a while, when I will let her have a pencil. She gets distracted and doodles a lot. Note the design to her right. She would rather do charm symbols than furniture. There are three on this page alone.

I have a notebook full of design ideas for quarter inch houses and furniture....You never know when the urge to build will hit.

The page that Tessie is playing with has, among other things, a hammock that I did for the cigar box mansion years ago. There are bent wire chairs and table. I did those for the same house. Made from ladies' hairpins.

If you look closely, you will even see a design for a bonnet...That one is yet to be built.

Here's a page that I was playing with later. It has several pieces that I used the plastic furniture stencil to get the exact size that I needed. The chase lounge pattern in the top row was done with that.

I must have had an idea for a curved sectional sofa....See top right hand corner.

The third page has some toys, people(for size), a staircase, golf bag, and a pattern for a couch and wing chair.

This is the way I get all of the garbage out of my brain and onto paper. Even if I don't execute the designs, I have them for when I need them. There is even a rough sketch of a spinning wheel at the lower left.

This page is just more random sketching. I am not sure why I drew a modern kitchen. It's there if I need it.

Are you getting the idea now?

Last is a partial page that has a bed. Does it look familiar? The draperies and the crown on the bed are the ones that I used on the second French daybed. I might just have to make a regular bed like this one.

I have pretty much decided that the Half Timber Wall House will be an updated house in the Victorian age. That gives me permission to use a lot more different styles of furniture than the Tudor style would give.

Now. About those tiny, little, stinking shingles.....Back to work. "Come on Tessie. Put the pencil down. Enough doodling. I need help!"

See you tomorrow.