William Morris rug – completed

I’ve finished with the red border of the William Morris rug! At 97 hours (29 hours for filling in the red border alone), the rug is really taking shape. The interior color will take a good deal longer and I imagine working in a very light color will be challenging in its own way.

I began filling in the center with DMC 712, which was supposed to be cream. I had barely stitched a full corner when the color went from vanilla cream to flat tan. Bleh! I expected the cream and the peach/pink tones to compete a bit, but the 712 flattened out the pale green, too.

I thought I would have to use white since the 712 cream color was about as light as the colors come. From seeing the design with the white fabric background, it wouldn’t look bad stitching with white floss. When I went through my stash of floss, however, I found DMC 746, the bright creamy tone I was looking for to begin with. Before removing the 712 stitching, I did up the opposite corner with 746 just to make sure. As expected, the peach faded slightly into the background, but the pale green stayed prominent.

I went through my thread stash and found what I dubbed “secondhand smoke white.” Of course, that’s not the official name on the DMC chart, but that’s the color I’m going with. It was once white, but after years in my grandmother’s home, it became not-so-white. I’ve inherited many of her craft supplies since she’s no longer with us, and I found a whole bunch of this “white” embroidery floss.

After removing the stitches of the 712 and 746, I needed something a little brighter. I looked at the overdyed, 4150, ecru colorations a few blog readers suggested, but they were all as dark as the initial 712.

Here’s the new white…er…smoky white (upper left corner). It fills in well and doesn’t compete. We had a winner.

Also, strangely enough, it seems thicker than the dyed flosses, so I need only one strand per square instead of the two I had used for the rest of the stitching. This is 4.25 hours of white stitching, 101 hours total stitching.

The entire rug consists of 142 hours of stitching time including 29.25 hours for filling in the red border and 42.25 hours for filling in the white background.

It measures 5 5/8″ square.

The shoes and purse are by Patrizia Santi. I made the bedspread from venise lace; tutorial is available in my etsy shop.

Categories: Needlework - French knot rugs
October 2, 2010 | 0 comments

Newport – guest room

Though the Newport was sold eventually, I’ve compiled some of the posts I made when I first started building it.

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I started building the furniture for the guest room to go with the scratch built bed made from a pattern in Thirties and Forties Miniatures in 1:12 Scale by Jane Harrop and the House of Miniatures dresser. For the bedside table, I used a House of Miniatures candle stand kit. It came from a set of two; the other is in Baslow Ranch.

I like the copper table lamps in here, but I am undecided on the ceiling fixture. I tried a couple of others, and this one seemed to be the best fit for the most part other than the color. Whichever fixture I end up using, I’ll likely paint it copper to match the other two as close as possible.

The wall art prints are both by Edward Raymes: Today and Crimson Dusk (left to right). I need to make frames for them.

I find it amazing how the addition of baseboard, windows and trim can turn a dollhouse room into something so seemingly life-sized. The print is Today by Edward Raymes. In a previous post, I showed you how I made the mock outlet and plug for the table lamp. I made both sunflower table lamps.

Below you can see the second print by Edward Raymes called Crimson Dusk.

The flowers are Bonnie Lavish dahlias. I made the dresser with mirror, bed (and bedding) and side table as well as the llama rug and the peacock pillow. The only things left for this room are window treatments and a few other accessories.

The Novalyte LEDs in the sunflower lamps cast a wonderful light that transforms the room in a nighttime scene.

Categories: The Newport
September 14, 2010 | 0 comments

Hard wiring table lamps

For the usual light fixtures — wall lights and ceiling lights — the wires are usually easy to hide. Holes are drilled through boards and channels are made to hide the wires.

The same thing can be done with table lamps, but what about the times when there isn’t a piece of furniture to hide where the wire enters the wall? In the guest room, I had just this situation; the table next to the bed had a thin base. I could have pulled the wire behind the bed and hid it there, but where’s the fun in that? :D

So, I decided to make a mock outlet. First, I slipped a white bead onto the lamp wire; this will mimic a plug.

I cut a channel in the wall behind the table to feed the wire up the wall and through the ceiling (eventually, when the ceiling is put on).

I cut a small hole in the wallpaper where I want my outlet to be, making sure it was in line with the wire channel.

I used a small piece of bass wood painted gloss white to mimic the outlet cover. For the “open” outlet, I drew on the outline, indented it a bit with an X-Acto knife and then brushed a bit more paint over the drawing. On the other side, I made a hole to feed the lamp wire through.

I slipped the outlet onto the wire behind the bead and then fed the wire through the hole in the wallpaper.

I determined the length of cord I wanted and taped the wire into the channel in the wall.

I glued the wallpaper in place, glued the outlet in position on the wall and then moved the bead to sit flush against the outlet cover.

Categories: Miniatures, The Newport
September 11, 2010 | 0 comments

The Alpine Chalet

I found this gorgeous dollhouse online from a shop in the UK – The Alpine by La Maison Dollshouses and Miniatures. Back in the day, I tried contacting them about the house numerous times by e-mail and telephone to no avail. Their website was also defunct, so I am guessing they went out of business.

There were no other photos showing the interior, but I figured it was a simple two story house with maybe one small room upstairs and a large open room downstairs. Looking at the structure, it seems pretty straightforward in design – a box with an angled roof line. So, I put it in the someday file but spent a little time mulling ideas.

My plan for the first floor included an efficiency kitchen with an eating area, a staircase and a living room with a large fireplace. The second floor would have a bedroom with a balcony. Where I could fit a modest bathroom was anyone’s guess. I might be able to split the loft area with the bed or find a corner for it on the first floor. That’s the drawback of open back dollhouses – something is always in the way.  :\

My initial thought is to make a small bathroom for the basics and put the big tub in the bedroom with a privacy screen (I stayed in a nice resort that did this and it looked very nice). It’s the angled roof that will determine a lot of this placement.

Update 2013: I bought the Greenleaf Dollhouses Spring Fling kit in hopes of making this house but didn’t end up building to completion for the contest.

I did a fair amount of work including a turnaround staircase.

I altered the kit, added siding, windows and a French door that would lead to the small balcony.

In keeping with the original inspiration, I started the long skinny chimney, but mine would be assembled in two pieces – one under the roof and one on top. I have the lower portion built, bricked with egg carton, painted and grouted. Here it is in progress, before the painting and grouting.

The Mackintosh light by the door came from The Dolls House Emporium. These are no longer made, which is a shame. The doorplate was brass, and the silver knob is from Sussex Crafts.

For the window, I printed an image of the Parker Poppy stained glass panel on transparency film after altering the image to fit the window opening.

The first floor will have a living area and kitchenette. The flooring is Houseworks Southern Pine sheet flooring and Greenleaf vinyl tiles for the kitchen area. I added cross beams that will actually serve as structural support for the upper floor.

This is the fireplace I built for the space; the inspiration was found on a decorating blog.

After a few rough sketches on the wall, here’s the final outline drawing I used to make my pattern pieces for the scroll saw.

It was cut from basswood and mounted on thick foam board.

I used my favorite IKEA stain, called “antique.” Well, the can was a little old and had bits of coagulated stain floating in it. I didn’t realize this until after I started to apply it, of course. By then, I had to just go with it and stain all of the pieces to match. Once dry, the ratty bits smoothed out with a light sanding but left darker spots as expected. This ended up being a happy accident since the basswood looked like knotty pine. Not a bad finish after all. (This fireplace was later altered and installed in my witchy cottage, Hocus Crocus.)

The upstairs had a bedroom and bathroom planned.

Eventually, I decided I didn’t like enough about the build and abandoned this structure. I removed the components and lights to save for later. I still want to make this house one day, but I would likely scratch build after making a full mockup from foam board.

Categories: Mt. Sydney Chalet
September 9, 2010 | 0 comments

Bishop Show – Aug 2010

The fall Bishop Show is being held at a hotel near me, and I went over there tonight.  I didn’t take photos at the show, but here are the items I bought.

The first is a Bespaq loveseat.  I love unusual items like this.

These are kits by Kari Bloom at Miniton Miniatures.  I bought two of the chairs to make the library table a dining table.  I also bought two of the end tables to make a set.

Categories: Miniature Shows and Shops
August 27, 2010 | 0 comments