Endora

Endora is a beautiful black and white cat from agzr*studios. Here she is resting on a custom afghan by Woodland Miniatures draped over a Bespaq striped sofa. The wise owl pillow is from Katie Arthur.

Categories: Animals and birds
June 1, 2014 | 0 comments

Baa, baa, brown sheep, come on over to my house!

There’s this delightful etsy shop called Motley Mutton, and the artist creates wonderful needlefelted animals. I’ve been stalking…er…watching for awhile now and finally found a friend of my own. This is Isla, and she’s a lovely little sheep.  :D

Nancy makes the animals so they sit on satin cords so you can wear your new friend as jewelry if you like…or hang as an ornament.

It would be simple enough to remove her from the cord to use in a miniature scene, too.

Categories: Animals and birds
May 20, 2014 | 0 comments

English Country Miniature House

This was a featured build in Decorating & Craft Ideas magazine, spreading out over three 1981 issues in January/February, March and April. I ran across this build in Greenleaf member Debra’s album. The house was designed by Jack E. Cavender, A.I.A., of Doll Domiciles, as noted in the magazine.

You can find these magazine issues on amazon and eBay, but you were to send away for the plans. They are not included in the magazine.  :\

Luckily, Debra had them and decided she would most likely never get around to building the house, so the plans are now in my collection.

She also sent me the April 1981 magazine that shows the completed, furnished house. Here is a sampling of the fine detailing found inside. There are six main rooms, so it is open on one side and in the back. This is the back view.

I picked up the other two magazines on eBay to complete the set. It’s easier to store dollhouse plans than actual kits.  :D

The March 1981 issue shows the landscaping details. The base is almost 60″ wide if you include the shed and side garden.

As an aside, old magazines are a hoot to look through. Mom has a bunch of old craft and knitting magazines she plans to keep. We flipped through one of them, and the thing that jumped out at us the most were the cigarette ads. You don’t see those anymore. First page of the Decorating & Craft Ideas magazine from 1981…a smiling dude smoking a Golden Light.  :O  There was even a cigarette ad on the back cover…with one more somewhere in the middle. So strange to see these now.

There was also an ad to sign up for the House of Miniatures kit-of-the-month club! Now we scour eBay and garage sales looking for these treasures.

Categories: Tudor
May 19, 2014 | 0 comments

The Victoria by Carlson’s Miniatures

I recently purchased a set of four plans in a lot on eBay.  I’ve since resold the other three, but this house is why I bought the lot in the first place.

Its footprint is 2′ x 2′, which is pretty impressive for the amount of detailing involved.  What an interesting structure!

I could see it being done to historical perfection or modernized on the inside as a museum. I wonder if there are any built versions out in the world. :]

Categories: Tudor
May 19, 2014 | 0 comments

The Brownstone – timber grid, part 4

Continuing work on the timber grid. Slogging along is more like. Oy, this is mind-numbingly dull work. :\

The side wall opposite the addition is the largest solid wall in the build. I used the same technique as the side wall of the addition, with 5/16″ x 1/8″ grid boards and 1/16″ thick filler pieces. Here’s the initial grid.

And, with the filler pieces.

I thought about adding a window in the kitchen but decided against it mainly because of how the other windows in the build are constructed. It was simpler to leave it out, and having a solid wall would give me greater flexibility in decorating. We’ll just imagine there’s a window on the invisible back wall. :]

I numbered the backer board and the filler pieces to make it easy to reassemble after painting.

I filled in the gaps in the grid with spackling and started bricking the bottom portion.

After this, there will be a partial wall on the other side…then no more grid work for this build! Is that a light at the end of the tunnel? :D

Categories: The Brownstone
May 11, 2014 | 0 comments