My entry in the Undersized Urbanite contest hosted by Christina at Little Victorian is The Artist’s Studio.
I drew my concept inspiration from The Thomases’ Rooftop Artist’s Studio (seen in the second gallery in this link) and Nell Corkin’s Summer Studio, created in tiny 1:144 scale.
The basic structure is the Loft kit from miniatures.com (this was their 2012 Creatin’ Contest kit), though I made several modifications to it, including lowering the height by 5 3/8″ and creating an angled front wall.
After the large window, the most prominent feature on the exterior is The Deck, scratch built by me based on an original real life deck by Trex. I left off the railing for my rendition since it’s rather low to the ground and I didn’t want to detract from the overall aesthetic.
I tried to capture the essence of the original while making it my own. Here’s the original from Trex.
A special thanks to mom and the Proxxon scroll saw she gave me for Christmas! I could not have accomplished this deck without it.
The lights on the steps are from Creative Reproductions 2 Scale.
It’s not quite dark yet, so I’ll have to take some nighttime photos another time. :]
Woodrow’s comfortable burrow is hidden under The Deck. Woodrow was made by *Reve*.
The landscaping is simple and serene, with a retaining wall built around the sides and back.
The scratch-built firewood box hides the switch for the wood stove inside.
The shutter garden was made following a similar life sized piece.
On the opposite side, there’s an elegant fountain, but I think I need to do some more gardening on this side. :D
I painted and upholstered a chaise for The Deck. The magazine was made by me, and the mug is by Jane Graber.
The shingles are by What’s Next and it was an adventure finding a supply for the Studio! The chimney is made from bits and bobs.
The window wall lifts off to access the interior. The window sits in front of the opening without any attachment beyond some mini hold wax to keep it from shifting. There’s enough of an angle to the front of the building and weight to the window assembly that it will lean in place otherwise.
The rustic wood floor in the main area was installed piece by piece, and the wood ceiling was created using Southern Pine flooring sheets. The wallpapers are drawing papers: Daler-Rowney Dreadnought Grey for the main area and Canson Ivory for the bathroom.
There is a living area with a daybed from a Realife Miniatures kit, a whimsical cabinet by minisx2 and a scratch built wood stove. I stitched the blue medallion rug and rewired some vintage Lundby lamps, one of which is from my childhood dollhouse. The wall art is a cut section of Feathers scrapbook paper by Recollections, glued to a piece of black mat board. The afghan is by Mary at Roslyn Treasures.
Cross-stitching time for the rug was 154.5 hours on 32 count Jobelan. Final finishing took only a couple of hours. The final measurements are 7 7/8″ long by 4 5/8″ wide.
The wood stove was made from mat board, wood, a plastic small scale window, resin fire, LEDs and jewelry findings. The firewood is from an old tree cut down in its prime. The brick surround is egg carton material.
Cora was made by *Reve*, and her bed is a basket by Al Chandronnait from miniatures.com, though I added my own tufted insert.
The cardboard deer is from Amazing Miniatures. I made the sunflower lamp, plants and book.
The forward area on the left side is the art space.
I wish I had such a lovely setup in real life!
There are rustic crate shelves stuffed with books, goodies and objets d’art perfect for creating interesting still life compositions. Some of these items were purchased, some were gifts and some were created by me. It would be too long of a list to name them all here. :]
The artist paper pads were made by me.
There is an easel made using a pattern from Miniature Room Settings by Helen Ruthberg; I made it from basswood and stained it Minwax Cherry. The stool was purchased from All Small Miniatures. Lyssa sent me some art papers and wrapped canvases for a swap sometime ago. I glued one of the papers to mat board and primed it with white paint.
Right now, mine is an ode to all well loved easels when they were first brought home. :]
The book also had a pattern for a tabouret, which Dictionary.com defines as, “a small, usually portable stand, cabinet, or chest of drawers, as for holding work supplies.” In the interest of time, instead of making my tabouret from the pattern, I shortened a Daisy House floor shelf kit. It is painted Sunflower by Folk Art. Lyssa sent me the bead jars, and I finished with labels left over from the paint tube tutorial.
The tiny paint tubes were made from a tutorial by Carol of true2scale.
The lamp from The Dolls House Emporium is wired with one of my signature faux outlets. :] The sunflower lamp is also wired this way, but the cabinet hides the outlet.
And, of course, you can’t have a cord stretched about waiting to trip you. I made a cord cover from half round trim with a channel cut to cover the cord. It is held in place with mini hold wax.
The bathroom occupies the right back corner and has a removable front wall. The lighting, shower base and toilet are from The Dolls House Emporium. The tile floor is Greenleaf vinyl tile. The radiator was made from a Chrysnbon kit.
The wall sink and soap holder (it has a magnet to hold the soap on) are from Bibian’s Poppenhuis, and the mirror is a vintage Lundby piece from Vintage Lundby with a replacement insert made from Darice plastic mirror sheet.
The kitty tea towel is from Marlene.
I made a wood shelf for accessories and toiletries to sit below the octagon window. I made the pet hair roller and loofah. The bottle came from Fran, the fox is by Barbara Meyer and the vase was purchased from All Small Miniatures. The GFCI outlet is a sticker from miniatures.com…love these!
I used a half scale shelving unit for some cleaning supplies, a lightbulb pack and some extra toilet paper. In real life, you’d want to hide all these necessities, but in mini we just delight in seeing them out in the open. :D
The chrome hardware was purchased, and I made the terry towel and bath mats. There is real tissue around the toliet paper holder, and I made the tissue box as well. It rather matches the shower, doesn’t it? The small metal waste bin is the largest from a set of kitchen canisters.
The hummingbird shower was made from scratch using original artwork drawn by me.
I photographed the artwork, added the grout lines in PhotoShop and made the tile teture with gloss glaze scored with a stylus. The shower head and water control lever are from ELF Miniatures.
I used a simple washer to serve as an escutcheon for the water control lever. I added lines of red and blue paint to indicate the hot-cold adjustment. :D I glued a Chrysnbon soap dish to the shower wall. The blue soap and drain cover are also from ELF Miniatures.
Here is my drawing.
And a detail shot.
The baseboard for the bathroom is cut in pieces for inserting the removable wall, which also has a set of baseboard trim pieces.
The wall plaque is from Fran at FranMadeMinis. I was having a fit trying to find just the right thing for this space, and Fran came through as always! Fran also made the vintage overnight bag – more on that later. I made the muslin apron using a pattern from About.com. It has tiny laser cut wood buttons from Dragonfly International.
In front of the bathroom is the kitchenette. I envision this building to be an extra space built on a larger lot with a residence…like an efficiency apartment. So, it wasn’t built with the idea of its being a studio, per se, but a small retreat or guest cottage. Now, it is occupied by an artist, and the cozy warmth inside inspires creativity even if it’s not designed to be the most efficient artist studio with the best possible lighting and tons of storage. To that end, I was very limited with what I could do in the way of fine dining.
The Miele half fridge is from ELF Miniatures, and I recently purchased mini food items to go in and around it. It’s mostly snack foods and refreshments. There’s some wine in there! :D
Cora has spotted something.
I made two modern block shelves for groceries and dishes to sit on above the fridge.
In order to heat up the soup and make instant oatmeal, I fashioned a hot plate to sit atop the fridge.
And, yes, it has a UL label in the back. :D
I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour through The Artist’s Studio! I have a few accessories I didn’t have time to complete before the deadline, so this is not the last you’ll see of it. :D
It got dark while I was writing this post! :O
Time for a midnight snack…
Update: Hooray!!! The Artist’s Studio won first place! I get to choose my $100 gift certificate from Michaels, Home Goods or Etsy. Decisions, decisions! We winners also will receive a one-year subscription to Miniaturas, a delightful Spanish miniature magazine, along with a feature in the magazine!
Thank you to Christina for a wonderful contest and congratulations to Lyssa and Audra (the other two winners). I love both their projects! A big round of applause for all the other contestants, too, for a job very well done!
And a very special thank you to everyone who voted for me! Your generosity and encouragement mean the world to me! Thank you!
