Vintage table clocks

I was recently contacted by a fellow miniaturist on etsy to make a few vintage table clocks for her clock shop project. I gathered my wood bits, jewelry findings and paints to see what I could come up with for her.

First, a tiny red alarm clock that stands just 5/8″ tall. The face is a printed image from The Graphics Fairy. I love this one especially, so I’ll probably make a one for my own project. :D

Second is a black art deco clock that stands 5/8″ tall.

Last is a wood stained decorative clock with pillar detailing. This measures 1″ wide and just under 3/4″ tall.

Categories: Miniatures
March 11, 2012 | 0 comments

Bespaq furnishings and lovely handbags

I was fortunate enough to win Audra‘s giveaway recently. As the prize, she offered a gift certificate to a miniatures shop called Happily Ever After.

Some time ago, I bought a Bespaq Royal Marrakesh settee in walnut and have been searching for a matching chair since. I saw that Happily Ever After that a photo of the entire living room set on their site, so I wrote to Lori there to see if she had what I was looking for. She sent me a photo and a few days later, it arrived! :D

Here’s the new chair with settee I already had. This set will be for a future build.

The wood and painted details match perfectly, though there is a slight difference in the fabrics. No matter to me since they are very close so dollhouse lighting and added accessories should make up that difference. Thank you Audra and Lori for a wonderful giveaway!

Another package arrived with the new chair today. In it were two handbag sets from Dollhouse Ara. The first is a pale pink Chanel replica handbag and wallet. They are so well made and have a nice weight to them. Included in the package was a lovely vase with dried natural flowers. Very pretty.

This set will go in the Heritage since they are a nice classic style that shouldn’t interfere with the era of the house. Grandma has good taste! :D

The other set is a Burberry tote bag with a covered journal. So lovely. This set will be included in a more modern build to come.

Next up, a beautiful green striped Bespaq sofa and matching chairs. Dejoux Miniatures had an awesome sale right before Christmas, and since I’ve had my eye on these for some time now, I took the plunge. I added a Bespaq coffee table to complete the set, though the color doesn’t work all that well.

Quite honestly, I’m considering breaking up the set to use the pieces in separate projects. I could see a fine study with the two chairs. The chairs somewhat overpower the sofa when used as a whole set.

The sofa is beautiful and a perfect standalone piece. It could be easily coordinated with wood carved accent chairs.

The next item is not a purchase but a lucky find…sometimes the best kind of mini. I went to visit Lyssa in Florida. When I returned to the hotel one night, this card caught my eye. It’s a business card made with vintage playing card imagery. It had been run over a bit but the gloss finish is intact.

It reminds me of an old metal sign you’d see on the side of a building. :D Into the mini stash it goes!

Categories: Furniture, Miniatures
March 3, 2012 | 0 comments

Fancy bookshelf

In addition to the banjo clock, I also put together the Jacobean book rest kit from Cynthia Howe Miniatures. It was so delicate that I ended up breaking a piece of the fretwork while removing the excess wood pieces. I cut the other side to mimic the design. ;D

The instructions said to put it together before staining, but I was worried about warping and I wanted to get a good glue hold, often better with bare wood.

I stained the shelf with Minwax English Chestnut, leaving the color light to show off the wood grain. This is some seriously psychedelic wallpaper! :O This is Flower Frenzy by We R Memory Keepers.

That’s better. :D I’m not sure if either of these papers will find their way into the bathroom upstairs, but I wanted to photograph them with some furniture to see what they looked like. This is Cute Little Diamonds by The Paper Studio.

The shelf will likely end up in one of the upstairs rooms in the Heritage, probably the bathroom. The kitchen and parlor are pretty much set for furnishings. :D

Categories: Miniatures, The Haunted Heritage
February 22, 2012 | 0 comments

Autumn fruit basket, handmade rug, kitchen stool

I plan to make some polymer clay food somewhere down the line, but when I saw this beautiful basket from Hungarian Miniatures on etsy I just knew it would be perfect for the Heritage.

You would not believe the amount of detail! Bözse makes beautiful minis, and I am proud to display this wonderful creation in the Heritage.

I found this beautiful rug by Katie Arthur of Dollhouse Littles on etsy and loved it. The texture of it is amazingly lifelike.

I really hadn’t intended for it to be for the Heritage, but when I put it on the wood floor to photograph it the room felt complete with it. I added the furniture and discovered that the round shape worked perfectly. It didn’t cover too much of the floor and didn’t interfere with the legs of The Sofa. The legs of the coffee table are thin enough so most of the rug shows underneath it.

The soft colors and light tone of the rug work well to tie in the fireplace in an otherwise dark room.

I started making a small Chrysnbon plastic stool for the kitchen. It’s from the Victorian bathroom kit and had been originally intended for Baxter Pointe Villa, but I ran out of time with that build. I needed something to keep the flower pot off the floor and in case grandma needs to reach for something up high. Right now it is just plain white plastic, but I’ll paint it to give it an old, well worn look.

Categories: Miniatures, The Haunted Heritage
February 16, 2012 | 0 comments

Perfect mitred baseboards – a tutorial

One of the best ways to achieve realism in a miniature setting is to add baseboards. But, nothing ruins that illusion more than big gaps at the joins. With a little patience, there’s a relatively quick fix to achieve perfect mitre joins, even if your cuts are off. (Note: for my tutorial on the electrical outlet, see this post.)

Here’s the process I followed in the Heritage kitchen, where the uneven angles of the bay window left rather noticeable gaps in the cut baseboard. Dollhouses are not often square, even with the best of intentions.

I use an Easy Cutter to make my mitre cuts in the first place, though this tutorial doesn’t cover that part of the process since I can’t photograph myself working on something that requires two hands! :D I’m starting at the point where you already have the best mitre cuts you could make. The baseboards need to be finished, cut and glued in place, matching the mitres as best as possible. I’ve left my baseboard relatively rough to reflect the age of the house.

Inside corners usually have minor gaps, if any, and are the easiest to fix.

I take a tiny paint brush dipped into the same paint used on the baseboards and dab small amounts of paint into the crease.

Be sure to blend the paint outward to eliminate bulk and obvious brushstrokes. In the photo, I could see I missed the very bottom – so I went back and filled that in later. :]

Be careful not to get any paint on the wall or the floor. If I get some stray marks, I usually wait until the paint has dried and gently chip off the paint from the wallpaper or flooring with the tip of an X-Acto blade. Wiping it while wet can often cause a bigger mess that’s harder to clean up.

For outside corners, minor gaps can be filled in the same way, with paint. For larger gaps, I apply spackling compound into the gap using a palette knife.

I then smooth the material with my finger and reapply as necessary. It’s better to build it up a little than to use too little.

Before the compound dries, I use a toothpick to mimic the grooves of the baseboard. It doesn’t have to be perfect since sanding will take care of that.

Once dry, I sand the spackling to a point at the corner. I do this by sanding the flat surface of each board toward the corner without sanding directly on the corner. I also fine tune any routed details with sandpaper in the same manner, though this time I follow around the corner.

I make sure the top is level by sanding.

Using a clean, dry brush, I remove the excess dust from sanding and refine further. You can add more spackling if needed, let it dry and sand more.

I use a piece of masking tape to pick up the dust.

Since this is an old house, I decided to leave the baseboard a little imperfect as though the corner has been knocked into repeatedly over the years. ;]

Once I have good form to the corner, I paint over the spackling compound, blending the paint along the baseboard.

Now, the gaps are nearly invisible and won’t interfere with your miniature scene.

Your furniture and accessories become the focus, not bad mitre cuts! :D

This method is for painted baseboards, though it might be possible to use stainable wood filler to achieve the same results on stained wood. I’ve not tried that yet, though.

Categories: Miniatures
January 10, 2012 | 0 comments