Need I Say More???

April and Amare came over this morning. We had a good time playing.  Now I should get back to work.... However, I made the mistake of looking at unfinished projects and unstarted ones also...I started in the workroom on the right side as you walk in the door...

From the right and continuing around the room.

Weaver's Cottage(Tessie's)
Russian Cottage(April's)

Fairfield, 1/2" scale.... For Half inch Tessie.  Beside that, five boxes...

Below that, an empty terrarium.

Zar's Clockwork Cottage... An empty room box, like the one that the Elizabethan lady lives in, in the bedroom...

On the plant shelf. Two antique food boxes... A kitchen shelf...An empty box lamp... We won't talk about what's behind those...

A castle corner box.  Another terrarium and another corner box.

Below, and empty glass jar, a display case and at the other end a room box shelf...

Then we adjourn to the bedroom and peek under the bed...

Brimble's Mercantile(future home of Zar's Bizarre Bazaar).

The Vineyard Cottage(Just for me).

 Under the other side, The Magnolia.

And at the foot of the bed, the two wood eating gremlins that guard the Harrison... It's the largest and has the most scraps.  They are getting anxious.  The scraps are running out...

I hope that they haven't started eating houses!

I'm working as fast as I can! Evidently, not fast enough for these two!

See you tomorrow.

Mini Tessie Takes Over...

I promised Tessie that I would redo the Neiman-Marcus Epicure Shop this morning.

So she sent in her other self to make sure that I did it right... This shop is 1/24 scale.

This shop was one that I did back in the 80s... It looks like I hadn't touched it since...I have.  I dust it every now and then.  I usually forget about it because it was sitting on the bottom shelf in a corner.  Bad me!

Anyway, I got out the dust mop and a pail and some lemon oil...

Translate that to Clorox wipes and Old English lemon oil.

Please ignore the outside of the box.  I forgot to use the lemon oil on that.  I will do it as soon as I finish here.

I stripped everything out of the box and started from the bottom, up.  Literally. 

First I put in a new floor.  It's a wallpaper sample from the 80s.

Then I measured and cut new wallpaper. It was also from a sample book. The window is a plastic one from some kit back in the 80s.

The only thing I kept was the old ceiling and that was in good shape, only because it was upside down and couldn't collect dust.

I re glued the shelves and counters, after hitting them with the lemon oil. 

Then after the wallpaper, etc. were dry, I put everything back in. 

All of the food was made out of poly clay.  I was pretty new at using it, but it turned out pretty good.

The chicken right in the center was made with plain old Sculpey and painted with brown acrylic paint and glazed with nail polish... Just think.  Thirty year old nail polish and it still looks good.  It is wrapped in saran wrap and is hard to see.

The tubs of food at the side are from my spice jars at the time.  They are sealed with aluminum foil.  I was so proud of remembering to put in a peg with plastic bags on the wall.  And I even made a scoop from foil.  Maybe I should have made four... Oops.

About the only things that I didn't make in the box are the black pot on the top shelf and the yellow one in the last photo.  Those were purchased at the mini show here in town, that year.

Anyway, I did my duty.  The cheese shop is ready for business again.

See you tomorrow.

Very Old Pencils on the Roof...

Good Morning!  I am in a good mood, because I played with my favorite toys this morning.  I got my first set of 12 Prismacolor pencils when I was 12 years old.... Long ago...

I have been using them continually since then...

Some of them last longer than others.  Like everyone, I have favorite colors.

I use them on every miniature roof that I do. 

On this one, I first painted it with a wash of brown...That was last night.  This morning, I went to work with the pencils.

First I used a dark brown to underline all of the shingles.  Then I dragged down some of the same brown between the shingles on the row above to weather them.  I also did a bit of shading with metallic gold a copper, but that doesn't show much, it just gives the shingles a bit more depth.

Then I go back and hit the edge of each shingle on one side with either a white or cream colored pencil along the edge.  It makes the shape of the shingles stand out even more.

If I do it right, you don't notice the pencil work.  It just makes the shingles stand out more. Not so all one color and flat.

I can still see some spots that need more color.

The last step was to run copper tape down the edges.  I used it in this instance because it is more flexible than strips of wood or paper.  With the Mansard curve, you are twisting sideways as well as curving inward.

I will need to put a bit more work into the color It still isn't bright enough for me... Or maybe I will make the body of the building faded too... Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Speaking of decisions, I have decided what the round rum container is going to be... Zar is very happy about the decision...

Look to the left for clues... any guesses?

See you tomorrow...

Three and a Half Hours Later....

I should know better than to let the Terrible Two plus One volunteer to do a job that I want to get done quick.

They said that they would shingle the Mansard roof...

I forgot that every row had four shingles that had to be custom trimmed.  I had to show them how... Then I had to show them how again.  Then I had to make them put the line of wood across the bottom so that the shingles would all be on the same slant. 

Then they had to break for cookies.  Then there was an epic bathroom break where everyone ran to their respective homes and didn't come back for about a half hour...

Spike just took his place as supervisor on the roof after that and didn't move a muscle to help.

This was about three hours in... Another cookie break...

When they returned, I took the photo to prove that they hadn't done a lick of work in the past hour...

My mistake.  I turned on "Ancient Astronauts".  It's Zar's favorite on the History Channel...  And if Zar doesn't work... Nobody works.

I guess that I am going to have to take over and finish the job.  I looked at the schedule and "Ancient Astronauts" is playing all day long... So much for the help.

Oh well They did pretty good, considering the way they usually work.  Play for 45 minutes.  Then take a 15 minute work break every hour...

I had better set up a couple of comfortable chairs for the Terrible Two and get to work myself, if I want this done any time soon...

See you tomorrow.

One Step at a Time... Again...and Again...

Back to the roof... I glued the curved roof pieces on this morning.  First I did two opposite sides and trimmed them to fit as I went...

Then it took what seemed like hours for them to dry...

I used illustration board for the curved panels.  They have a grain just like other papers and if you cut them with the grain the will bend fairly easily. 

I used fast grab glue to put them on and taped them to hold unitl dry...

While waiting for the glue to dry, I played with the round rum box. 

The sphere is too spherical.  Not short and fat enough.  I am either going to have to do some carving on the Styrofoam(which I hate doing) or get something else to use for an onion dome. 

Right now, it looks like a big Dairy Queen cone... Not a pleasing shape at all!

I tried to talk Zar and Tessie into taking Spike out for a nice long walk. 

They took one look out the window and dug their collective heels in.  It is raining outside and shows no signs of letting up.

I am beginning to wonder if I'm still in AZ.  Although, it is better than other parts of the country.  My friend Jo, lives in Illinois right on the Mississippi River.  There it was -2 degrees yesterday!!!

I am going back and join the others to watch the glue dry... Then on to shingles.

Walter is out playing golf in the rain... I sure am glad that I chose miniatures as a sport.  At least I am inside where it is warm and dry...

See you tomorrow.

Step By Step

OK... The roof is taking shape.  I changed directions in the middle for a more stable roof.

I decided to do diagonal roof lines and then fill in.  These are the two pieces that I ended up with.

Diagonally the box was 9 3/4", tip to tip.

I stuck with the  4" height and did a slit down the middle that intersects the two pieces.

 Then I  cut 1" by 4" braces to fill in the intersection. 

It is now much more stable than it was with the box in the center.

With help from the Terrible Two plus One... I got it together.

I decided to do the framework with quarter inch foam core.  It's not like this is being built for generations to come... It's just for fun and frankly, I am flying by the seat of my pants, trying to get it to work. So far, so good.

Here you can see my pattern drawn out for one side of the roof.  I did it with graph paper.  Now all I have to do is trace four on illustration board and bend to fit. 

Then the real fun begins... Shingles and trim. 

I am going back to work now.
See you tomorrow.

We Have a Choice to Make...

I decided to walk, before running amok.

This morning I decided to try a curved mansard roof on the square rum box, before I try anything on the round one...

I made patterns for two different sizes of frames.

The roof itself will have to wait until I get the framing done...

I feel like Goldilocks and the Terrible Two plus One are the three bears...

First I tried one that was five inches tall and the center was two inches square... We all agreed that that one was too big... It was almost as tall as Tessie!

The second one that I tried was a one inch square center and four inches tall..

Much better proportions than the first, but I can't say that I am satisfied yet...

Tessie keeps yelling down the center.  She likes the echo effect. Zar and Spike are about to cage her again, to keep her from doing it.  And I am going to let them.

I am thinking that about half way between should do it.  That is, 4 1/2" by 1 1/2" maybe.

It is easier to make the mistakes with cardstock than it will be when I get serious with wood.

I am going back into the cold room now... 27 degrees outside, when I got up this morning and now they are telling us that it is going to last another day... I am really tired of living in a jungle in my kitchen/family room area.  Someone send me some heat!!!! I need a bright sunshiny day!!!!!!

See you tomorrow.

Two Little Words...Summing Up the Year...

Done and Undone...

This is what my workroom looks like today...

We went to a movie this morning. No mini-ing or cleaning.

See?  I did manage one "done" thing this year...

Undone... almost done though.  If I could just get the dragon out of the way...

The Weaver's Workshop and Woodworking... Undone for more than two years...

















I don't even want to talk about the Clockwork Cottage!  Un Un Un done...

I don't even know how to categorize this display case... It has been done so many times I have lost count.  Right now it is undone, once again...

That's not even half of the undone ones... I guess I have to make a New Year's resolution!  But... I do have a lot of finished ones too...

Well... Maybe I will resolve on January second... April just called and wanted to take Walter out for lunch, for his birthday tomorrow.  So much for the first!

See you tomorrow.

 

 

 

No More Fooling Around...

Well.  Maybe just a little.

These were one of my stocking stuffers from the kids... Tiny flashlights that fit on the end of your finger.  They are held on with a little rubber strap and you can work the light with the finger that you are wearing it on. 

I think that they might come in handy for minis.  I'll have to think about that one for a while.

Meanwhile, we are already trying to think of things to make with the new container. 

If I do some other kind of finish on the outside, I am not sure if I want the Buddha there or not.  From the inside he is quite commanding and takes over the whole room, so there is a debate going on...

Zar says that it looks manly and Tessie says he's overpowering.  I am tending to agree with Tessie. All you see is the Buddha.

I imagine that I could try using him as a window, but still he distracts from anything that I could put in there.

I love the container though, so we are trying out ideas right now. 

So far, I have done a top on it that looks like a castle.  I am leaning away from that one.  It seems like that's all I have done lately.

Then there's the onion dome.... And a tent top, maybe with curtains...

I got really desperate and put a square Chinese roof on the last one that I did, with dragons on the corners... As I said... Desperate. 

I need to think on this a bit.  So do the Terrible Two plus One.  They are being no help at all... Tessie is in charge of holding the pencil when not in use and Zar is using one of the finger flashlights to illuminate the sketch pad.  Spike thinks they are both crazy... And I tend to agree.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Proof!

I promise to go back to minis tomorrow...I have to clear a path today.

I am sequestered in the workroom.  Tessie and Zar refused to even stand at the door with the other end of the string that is tied to my ankle.  That's how bad it is. 

They were in fear of getting sucked in...

As I cleaned, I found a few things that might be of interest.

First of all, this CD case.  Another one of the garage sales finds.
It might just become one of the temporary displays for errant minis.

I found it interesting, since not all of the shelves are the same size.  The larger ones could be for furniture and taller pieces and the shorter ones could  be for individual pieces or collections of accessories.

Phyllisa mentioned in a comment yesterday a few of the unusual containers that she has turned into mini rooms...I told her I stopped counting at 60.... 

This is my "attic".  There are a lot of containers up there.  Some, I have used and then put away for later and some have just been collected for later....The antique wooden box at the right will someday be turned into a general store.  It's only been there for about 15 or 20 years...Someday.  I am still collecting things to put in it.

There are two shelves inside the closet that have containers ready to be sacrificed....

See what I mean about having to clean? Ick!

I was cleaning out the top shelf of the bookcase and getting rid of some notebooks that are no longer needed...

I found eight pages of future purses.  I was on a kick of making my own purses at one point or maybe it was two or three points.  Every time I would get an idea, I would do a small sketch.

None of these have been made yet...Actually, I have been looking for these pages for a while now.....They were in a notebook, filled with mini sketches. 

Remember?  I told you I need to clean out.

One good thing that I found was this list.  I made it a year or so ago...  Unfinished projects.

At the time, all of these projects needed to be done...Some of them were multiple, three boxes or two birdcages....

I started X-ing out the ones that are finished.  I got NINE!  See, I do finish things sometimes...

We won't discuss the other things that aren't on the list.  Most of those have not even been started.

Tessie braved her way into the room about three feet...Now she is yelling for me to come and rescue her.  She swears that something on the top shelf is moving...She keeps shouting, "Spiders and snakes!  I tell you they are up there!"

I guess I should go get her out of there.  I saw Spike up on the top shelf...He's probably up there, with a rope in his teeth, dangling it over the edge.

"OK Tessie!  I'm coming!!!"

See you tomorrow.

The Buddy System...

OK.  I found out why Nellie let Tessie and Zar in her abode yesterday.

It seems that Nellie was not without food, drink or for that matter a chamber pot, night before last.  Tessie let her use the bathroom in the townhouse. 

I fear that Tessie is creating a monster.

Now Nellie is talking larger structure with separate bath and kitchen...

To keep their minds off of larger houses, I showed them both where Tessie used to live and threatened to put both of them back in there permanently.

The first photo is Tessie's first home.  She doesn't want it back....That's the one structure that she religiously avoids.  At all costs.

The point of the story?  Someone on the Greenleaf forum posed this question a couple of weeks ago and I thought you might like an answer...There were lots of them, but this is mine.

"How do you display miniatures that are waiting to be put in a dollhouse or room box?"

Having been in minis for around 30 years, they accumulate.  They are stuffed in drawers and boxes in the workroom, but when I get new furniture and other goodies, I sometimes like to be able to see what is new.

When Tessie vacated the Cortland Doan display case, she took all of her belongings with her.  Including Friskie the Alligator.  Actually, I was happy to see him leave.  He gets testy and snaps at people when in a bad mood.

Someone spelled his name wrong on his food bowl...I got it at a garage sale and Tessie decided she wanted the bowl.  So she changed the gator's name to match the misspelled name.  He used to be Albert....I don't know which is worse.

Anyway, the display box became a great place to showcase a few pieces of furniture.

When it gets messy, I simply take off the back and change everything inside.  I have permanent wallpaper and rug in it that are left from Tessie's time, but they are very neutral and go with just about anything.

I also have the lantern that is next to it.  The rug and wallpaper are not quite as neutral.  They are colors that I like a lot and I know that they will go with a lot of the things that I buy or have in the drawers. I just opened the door, took out the chair.  Swept the floor and cleaned the windows and it was ready for a new chair, table and cat....Maybe the cat wasn't such a good idea.  He may have mini fleas.  He scratches his left ear a lot.

Tessie and Nellie volunteered to pose in her old home....On the condition that Tessie got to hold the screws that keep the back on.  She's not taking any chances.  She hated being confined in that pretty little case. To quote her, "There's not enough room to swing an alligator in there!" 

Now I know why Friskie is in a bad mood most of the time...

Another piece that gets changed often is this three tiered shelf.  I got it at a going out of business sale at a local craft store....Very cheap.

I simply put a panel of wallpaper in the back of each of the shelves.  I made a template of poster board for each one.  Now I can change the wallpaper in a flash.

All I have to do is cut another piece of poster board from the template, cut out a piece of wallpaper to match and wedge it in the back.  They aren't even glued in.

I don't have to put down flooring, the wood of the shelf is very nice, with not a lot of grain running through it.

This one gets changed more often.  It is open and easy to pull stuff in and out of.  And besides, it does need dusting every once in a while...

Maybe I should go do that now.  It hasn't been tended to for a while.

So now you know what to do with all of that leftover furniture.  There are a lot of other ways to do it.  Look around.  Lots of empty containers and boxes, just waiting to be filled.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Moving Right Along...

Yesterday, Walter brought home a present...He said that he bought it for my benifit... He neglected to add that he would have to drink what was inside.(rum)

He found this case at Costco.  He needed a gift for the Christmas party exchange at Raytheon.  Then he decided that we needed one too.  He knows what I like.  Now all I have to do is figure out how to get him to choose his own gift at the exchange and I will have two.  I wonder if that's legal?

For some reason, this reminds me of Doctor Who's Tardis.  Now, if I could only figure out how to make the inside larger than the outside...

Zar is trying to talk Tessie into trying it out....Notice his hand firmly on the lock...Notice her hand securly on the knob that the lock will have to go on....Complete standstill in negotiations.

I spent the morning finishing the trim on the backside of the Russian cottage.

I cheat a lot.  I cut the wood to size and paint it before applying it to the house.  It saves a lot of touch ups.

What did we do before the invention of painter's tape?  Love that stuff.

 I "watched" six episodes of "Castle" on Hulu, while working.  They are a lot shorter without all of the long commercial breaks, so they don't take as long as you would think.

Anyway, the back side is essentially finished.

It's a good thing.  I was running out of lace for trim.

All I have to finish on the outside/inside is the two windows and the door.

I did a bit of finishing on the fireplace alcove.  I am going to have to start making furnishing decisions soon. 

I need to hunt up the Russian cottage websites that I found when I was originally working on this.  I think that the URLs  for them are in the original entries about the Russian Cottage. 

You will have to entertain yourself whilst I go look.  It may take a while.

See you tomorrow.