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You are here: Home / Archives for dollhouse

TSP: Cowboys & Chairs

May 22, 2016 at 9:16 am by Claudia

Don: Keep Out!

It seems to be a weekend for TSP posts. What can I say? Things arrive in the mail and I get excited. Kits arrive in the mail and I finally have time to make them.

First up, the item that I couldn’t photograph yesterday morning.

5-22 remington

It’s still a challenge, but here it is. This is from MiniMyEye on Etsy. The owner of this shop uses postage stamps as art and frames them. This is a Middle Eastern stamp with a lithograph by Frederick Remington: The Cavalry Officer. Perfect for the Top Secret Project. Don has a fondness for the westerns we used to watch on television when we were kids; Wagon Train, Bonanza, The Rifleman (my personal favorite), etc.

Cool, right?

I spent yesterday morning putting together two kits that I purchased for this project. They are from feYerwerks on Etsy. I initially clicked on the shop to look for something else (which I found) but when I got there, I saw these kits. And I had to have them. (I’m getting another one for Hummingbird Cottage.)

5-22 adirondackrocker1

Yes. Don is going to get an Adirondack chair/rocker in his house before we get a life-sized one here at the cottage. (I won’t even go there.)

Isn’t this neat? These kits are laser cut from MDF. This is an exact replica of the Loll Designs modern version of the Adirondack Chair – ferYerwerks is an authorized reseller of the miniatures.

There aren’t any instructions included, which left me wondering how the heck to put this together. But when I messaged the seller, he sent me photos of the steps involved and it all made sense.

5-22 adirondackrocker2

I also made the chair.

5-22 adirondackchair1

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Oh my goodness. These are adorable.

I’m going to paint them, but I haven’t decided on a color yet. In the meantime, here’s where they are going to reside.

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And another shot.

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Interesting view inside the studio: mini chair, life-sized chair and cabinet. When worlds collide.

I am so tickled by these chairs. I really love the chance to make something from a kit. It feels a bit more like my creation, though I obviously didn’t create and design the various parts.

The kits are very well designed, by the way.

Sigh. I had such fun making these.

We took a two-mile trail walk yesterday on a gray day, where it looked like it could rain any minute, but never did.

5-22 walkonthetrail

Things are so lush and green around here.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: dollhouse, hiking, miniatures 30 Comments

What Next?

May 21, 2016 at 9:08 am by Claudia

I ended up being at rehearsal for most of the afternoon yesterday. I really appreciated the opportunity to speak to the actors one-on-one because sometimes distance or lack of time means I have to email my notes to them. This was much better! I got home around 7:15 and had dinner with Don. But I was really tuckered out after too little sleep the night before, so I hit the bed early.

A couple of things came in the mail while I was away: one for the TSP, one for me. I shot some quick photos this morning but I’m going to have to wait on a photo of the addition to the TSP because it was just too dark. Hopefully, tomorrow.

For me, for a future project:

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This chair.

5-21 chair2

5-21 chair3

It’s from the Etsy shop of Alices Miniatures. It came all the way from England. Alice makes wonderful furniture and other minis and her work is beautifully done. I hope to collect more of it in the future.

Perfect little chair in which to read a good book, don’t you think? I’d like a real size version of it in our office!

Some of you have been asking me about what I’m thinking of for my next project. I have some ideas. It will be eclectic modern, I think. I’m not sure whether I will use the Loft that I got from Target – I tend to want to use that to stage photos of minis. I used it for the photos in today’s post.

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(Photo from MIAIMminiatures)

My dream is to buy one or two of the MiPads from MIAIM Miniatures in England. They are very modern in design and you can buy a floor at a time, so you can build your house slowly. Right now, Elaine Shaw, the designer, has four sections of the MiPad available. But they are expensive, so I’d have to save my pennies.

I love the idea of the MiPads and the clean white palette, which would give me all sorts of decorating options. Elaine’s story is very interesting – she had the concept for these individual pads and funded it through a Kickstarter campaign. You might want to check out her site. She also sells them on Etsy.

8015-Fairfield-Dollhouse-UF-400_fs

(Photo from the Greenleaf site.)

The other project I have in mind is to tackle a Greenleaf kit that I’ve had around here for several years. It’s the Fairfield dollhouse which is in ½ scale rather than 1″ scale. I’m not especially enamored of the smaller furniture available for ½ scale – it’s hard to get believable and/or intricate detail – but building the house would be a challenge, much more complicated than the TSP, and I’ve been looking at a lot of finished Fairfields lately. Plus, it would take up a lot less room in this small cottage! I can only have so many dollhouses. I think that’s also why I like the MiPads. I can play with them and configure them and I wouldn’t be locked into one finished, permanently wallpapered design, if that makes sense.

I’ve been doing a lot of research online because I want to start a new project soon. The TSP just needs a few additions, and it’s done. Actually, it will be done well before the June 24th deadline!

Now you know what’s been swirling around in my head lately.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: dollhouse, miniatures 26 Comments

Princess

May 17, 2016 at 9:11 am by Claudia

Wind, wind, and more wind yesterday, which kept going until around 8 pm. I had to run a quick errand, but otherwise, I stayed in. My allergies are making me a not very happy camper. Maybe it’s just me, but they seem much worse this spring. Avoiding flying pollen seemed like the wise choice for yours truly.

So, I puttered around, mostly playing with the Top Secret Project. Don: Stop Here.

Actually, nothing big happened. Just a couple of tweaks. I’m waiting on a couple deliveries and one kit that I have to put together. Otherwise, friends: it’s almost done! And I find myself dreaming of my next project, searching eBay, searching Etsy, thinking of houses, thinking of style (modern, I believe) and knowing that I have to have something to work on.

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I added a Beatles poster. Mini Don finds the Fab Four a source of inspiration.

And, because I think I’m not  adding a roof, I thought the top of the fireplace pipe needed to be finished off a bit more.

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I didn’t place it against the wall, so it’s a little crooked, but you get the idea. I painted the inside of the pipe black and I made a little bit of black trim to finish it off. That way, when someone is standing and looking down into the room, the fireplace will look ‘finished.’

Side note: Do you ever take pictures, think they look fabulous, and when it comes time to edit them you realize they don’t? That happened with both these pictures. But I’m not about to go upstairs and take them again, so I’ll just hang my head in shame and keep on going.

So, as for the TSP, I have to add some chairs to the deck/porch. I need more albums. I’ve ordered another guitar, as well as a piece of art. I’ll probably add some food to the inside of the refrigerator. And there will be a tweak here and there.

We are close to the finish line. Very close.

I need another project!

Do any of you remember the Petite Princess dollhouse furniture that was made by Ideal in the sixties? Gosh, I wanted that furniture! I remember bugging my mom about it to no avail. I never got any. The line of furniture consisted of about 30 pieces, as well as dollhouses and room boxes. It was fancy fantasy furniture done in ¾ scale, rather than the 1 inch scale most commonly found in dollhouse miniatures. That means the pieces look slightly off scale, but you can often work around that.

sundhcorner11

That fancy dresser you can see as you enter the door of Hummingbird Cottage is Petite Princess. I found it in a local antique shop many years ago – mint and in the box. It’s on the petite side, as befits the name, but it works in the dollhouse. It’s made of plastic, but you’d never guess it, and the drawers open. I liked it so much that I found another one on eBay and it is in the bedroom.

sundhcorner7

Along with that lamp, which is also Petite Princess. (I’ll have to take a picture of the boxes they came in.)

At the same time that I found the dresser in a local shop, I found this:

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A fancy Petite Princess chair done in brocade. See those little gold legs? I found this in one of my bins the other day and it’s now on my desk because I like looking at it.

Let’s stick it in the TSP.

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A bit too fancy for this guy’s music studio, but it does  pick up the orange, doesn’t it?

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Girly chair. Guy chair. Both of them ever-so-slightly smaller in scale.

I’m going to use that Petite Princess chair in some project. It’s in perfect condition. Maybe in a bedroom? There are people who collect this line and I, being a collector, could see myself falling down that particular rabbit hole quite easily. But I won’t.

It does, however, take me back to my youth and my ever present hope that I’d find some Petite Princess furniture under the Christmas tree. I never did. But then again, I would have probably lost track of it all as I have of so many treasures from my childhood.

At least I have some of it now. Always a little girl, no matter what my chronological age.

Happy Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

 

Filed Under: dollhouse, miniatures, Top Secret Project 44 Comments

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Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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