Happy Christmas.

Happy Holidays

I grew up in the Highlands of Scotland so there was always snow at Christmas and we made snowmen and we sledged down the hill opposite our house in the 'horses field' in the dark wearing home knit balaclavas. Up that far North night-time comes at 3 pm but in the summer there is almost no darkness! We put up our tree Twelve days before xmas and took it down Twelve days after and we kept the same décorations for many years. I then grew up and moved away to places with no snow and where Christmas was full of 'commerce' and flashy décorations that were changed each year and tradition held no sway. Today I live in a large old house with a huge fire and although there is no more snow at Xmas I go back to those good times and remember the smells of pine needles and gingerbread and crackling logs and I watch kitsch movies and listen to Bing Crosby. This year I will be in the Highlands with my mum and there might be a tree and there might be snow, so I wish anyone reading this a happy time with jingle bells and gingerbread. God Bless.

Sitting pretty

A couple of days ago I saw some small stools on Pinterest and thought that they could be fun to make and quick ! SO as usual, sketches then patterns and again poplar wood.

 Easy to cut out in this wood on my Dremel table scroll saw. 

 This cute little vice is useful for this kind of thing. It cost a few euros on Amazon.

 I chose three different styles and they will be aged and painted eventually.

 This is the more complex one of the three, if not it won't be fun will it !

 Three styles and heights, a quick fun project.

 They now sit on a shelf along with the previous table and bed awaiting paint and wax in the new year.

A clean slate

After making the small blue cupboard and photographing it inside that lovely old box I began seriously thinking about starting 'the house', somewhere to put all this! So here is my table before the onlsaught ! It has never been this tidy in a year at least. I am not a tidy worker as when I am making something where it be miniatures or framing or sewing I am all over the place like a mad woman, hence the title of my blog ! In the new year I will begin drawing out the plans and updating as I go whilst still making minis of course. After all there are 48 hours in a day, no ? 

The blues Cupboard

There is a saying ' never get ahead of yourself' ! well I did ! I decided to make a small Swedish country cupboard and thought it would take say a day at most, stretching it! Wrong!

It begun as usual with the scale drawing and the choice of Venetien blind wood which from now on I shall call poplar wood. I knew I wanted it to be lined in wallpaper and chose a blue theme.

 Here I assembled the door with fine obeche in the center and poplar for everything else. You can see that I cut the front trim twice, too long first time. In miniatures each millimetre counts. I taped it to the drawing as it was glued.

 Here the base is balsa surrounded by poplar. The top you can see on the left is fine obeche but it seemed to thin so I chose some birch ply instead to give it a chunkier feel.

 The base close up, balsa is sometimes useful.

 I fitted hinges which was a nightmare and if ever a piece almost went out the window several times this was it ! Luckilly it was raining and besides I didn't want to be defeated by such a tiny thing. You can see if you look carefully that the door clasp is split to I made it again using three layers of 350 gram kraft card, drilling the hole before trimming it down . 

 The Inside before fitting some heavy kraft card to 'clean up' the interior as you can see below.

 The lining paper being fitted and sanded to age it and make it less 'white' and shiny. I painted it all with F&B New White as a base. It was easier to do all this before fitting the back panel.

 Fitting the shelf ready for the backing.

 A few pictures missing but I felt like I had been working on this for years by this time. Slight exageration ! Here I photographed it against the lining of a beautiful early 19 th box found in our local Junk shop for a few euros on saturday. I made up a mix of Indigo and Burnt Umber for the body and left the top mainly wood stained. I then re stained the whole thing over the paint with Walnut stain and it aged is quite well. I did this after much sanding. A tip here NEVER use indigo paint ! In textiles it is already a pain but as paint it's terrible. Next cupboard will be RED !

 The back, quite plain, just stained, sanded and waxed.

 It's fun when you can begin to play with scenes and the lining of this box gave me ideas. The chair is shop bought but much much sanding and trimming then painted Ochre over off white then sanded and aged then waxed. The profile on the cupboard is a 19 th century ' lava cameo' found on etsy and placed on a stand. The vases are the same as another post, found amongst a 'lot' of small items on eBay. They are two of my favorite pieces and a good 'standard' to compare other things to when collecting. 

 I decided that my 'house' although not yet build belongs to a woman who travels the world, bringing home things from many countries and who is not too fussy about things being neat and tidy. 

 I think that it is important when making a house to have a back story, it helps create and define.

A quick addition here. At one time I began making miniature cases of birds eggs and shells and even stuffed fish but that is the subject of another post ! 

Tea time

I thought that I would have finished the small cupboard I began yesterday to post but it is proving a lot trickier than predicted, almost flying out the window twice! 

So here are some photos of one of my first projects, Tea Caddies.

I love antique Georgian style tea caddies and boxes and thought that it would be fun to try to make one. I still hadn't mastered the small gestures needed but as it was only a test for myself and not for 'show', it didn't matter. Here is a small collection of what I did around the same time. I had first found, photoshopped , miniaturised and printed out many different 'Domino Papers' and assorted antique wall papers, mostly taken from an old sales catalogue.

 This was one of the first one, make from card with a card lining and lids. The top nobs are the glass heads of sewing pins cut to fit and glued in place. This card can be sanded so makes a good base.

 In this one you can see the scale, something I don't always think of doing.

 Here I covered it in miniature 'Florentine book end paper', rubbed down and waxed up. The pin head nobs I painted gold.

 I painted the insides ochre yellow and filled them with real tea that I chopped up fine, Black Russian in one side and Orange Peeko in the other.

 Here is a single tea box with a small copper finding and ring with an embroidery thread tassle.

 A view of the interieure before I added the lapsan souchon tea!

 Here is the first one and in front a small one as when I scaled up the first one it seemed too big for a tea box. Tea was expensive back in the 18th century so they didn't keep it in large containers. I then made the smaller one using the same method but taking more time as it is smaller and more fiddly. It measures about 12 mm high.

My old black drawers

Just posting this makeover from last year. I bought this small drawer unit at the Emmaus for 2 euros and decided to try a makeover in the sun.

 I found two pots of blackboard paint lying on the street in Paris and I must say that the quality is fantastic and I have used them a lot. Here I masked off the wood areas and gave two coats although this paint covered in one!

 Here I rubbed down the edges of each piece and waxed them up to give an 'ebony' sheen.

 In this photo you can see how I added some name plates bought wholesale on AliExpress for a few euros.

 Here is where I put them on top of the desk in my bedroom on which I display a lot of miscellaneous objects from different sources. The glass pyramids and just upturned candle holders and the skull bronze I bought in one of the flea markets in Sao Paulo when I lived there. The photo is of a dear friend and the plaster head of Jesus you can just about see was 5 euros in the Paris flea market.

Peacock table

I found this photo of what I call peacock blue table on Pinterest the other day and thought that it was so pretty I would try to make it.

 First of all as usual a scale drawing and choosing wood. Easy choice for the wood, more venetien blind wood as its fine and cuts well. Here I glued two pieces together at the ends to scroll out the front decorative panel. I had already done the sides which I had to imagine as the original photo was frontal. For the legs I used some square section mahogany wood I had in stock. It is much harder to work than the usual wood but as the legs were going to be spindly it was better to go stronger.

 The front panel in detail with the sides already done.

 Here you can see the legs which I fluted on two sides, a very tricky business! Almost gave up! I strengthened the decorative panels with strips of wood and then glued a tongue depressor to the drawing to use as a guide for glueing.

Here I sandwiched the pieces between blocks and then used clamps to keep it all in place.

 In the background you can see two sections of wood assembled for the top. I cut out the top in a finer Obeche wood at first but it felt too fine and the venetien wood was a better choice. Before I discovered this source of wood I would be very mean with the use of my wood stock as its so expensive usually but with this wood you can really go to town!

 The almost finished table with added top supports in mahogany.

 Here are the two proposed tops, the first one is Obeche and although a pretty grain is a bit too fine in thickness. This table is a country piece albeit a slightly posh one! In much of this type of furniture the large pieces would be assembled from planks.

 The finished table sitting on some printed parquet flooring from a dollhouse kit and with a mirror sitting on top. The tiny french porcelain jug was a gift from my friend Chantal along with a lot of other goodies!

 The full frontal to compare with the original. Nothing is yet fine sanded and painted so there are slight areas of 'unfinish' !

 Sitting against the page of a catalogue pretending to be in a Swedish manor house. This was a tricky project but I learnt a lot doing it which will make any more tables easier to make. I am pleased with the spindlyness of the legs which make it look like its floating. The finished painted version will be up soon.

Metalica

Something that probably everyone in the mini world knows already but sharing all the same. I wanted to make a zinc topped farm table and had the idea of using a soda drink tin to immitate the zinc. The mini ones, like here, seem to cut easier with a scissor and after flattening out look quite good. Not sure how to age it, maybe sanding as there is a 'food' finish on the inside. 

Venetian Bed

Yesterday's project, the copy of an antique Swedish bed found on Pinterest. Not sure if I am allowed to post this picture but it's from Hargaantik in Sweden.

I began as usual with a scale drawing and again some slats of Venetian blind wood, hence the title!

 After choosing all the materiels I then glued four pieces of wood together at the scrap end ! so I could fret the four at the same time on my table Dremel. When I first used this saw it terrified me ! Now I know what it can and cannot do and it's actually fun if you have the right wood and patience.

 Here you can see just how fine this wood is to cut, the grain is almost invisible which is great for miniatures. This picture was taken before I cut away the scrap end, freeing up the four sections.

 Deciding on the trim that goes under the scrolls. Fine obeche strips via Etsy.

 Here I began cutting the fluted lower legs of the bed. I taped the leg each time to a piece of scrap so that the blade would not damage the end of the cut. I did this twice as the 'flute' is on two sides of the leg.

Here is my saw and a detail of the cutting proceedure. Again the sawdust is fine and irritating. I do have a vacuum attachement but when cutting small bits they can sometimes be sucked up !

 Just glued one side of the bed, I then added a second trim under this one that you can see in the next photo. You can see the fluted lower legs of the bed, it makes it visually lighter.

 The finished bed, still un sanded or painted. It will be slighty stained and then given washes of grey and then 'dirtied' up and waxed. The popsickle stick glued to the drawing for a guide for assembly.

 Another view, I added a small trim, again Obeche strip to the bottom of the end panels to finish it visually.

 The underside showing construction. It was a bit fiddly but quite easy amazingly. As I am still very novice at this I do learn a lot as I go. The slats are of course tongue depressors, cheap and easy! I was going to make the base frame removable but I decided to glue it in place for stability.

 Now to make the bedding. I often buy tiny check shirts and childrens clothes at the flea market for generally 50 cents to 1 euro and once washed and cut up they make good mini materials! I might make three thin mattresses to pile up like the princess and the pea!

 One last look at the sketch for dimensions. If ever anyone sees this blog one day and wants patterns I can freely give them! For now still no one has seen this blog which might be a good thing until I work it all out!