And more welcomes!

Good evening all, I'm sorry that nasty thing 'work' has kept me preoccupied and away from important things like dollshousing and blogging, and even more sorry when I realise that it seems a bus has passed my cottage and 11 people have stopped by to visit! I haven't had a chance to catch up with you all yet, so please be patient as I visit and add your blogs to my side column where I can keep up to date with you all. Meanwhile, in stolen moments, I have finished a very basic coatrack, based on Jane Harrop's from her 30s/40s book but reduced to fit my tiny entrance, so hang your coats and hats and make yourselves comfortable.

First to welcome is Tallulah Belle and her garden of plants with personality and real life decorating. http://tallulahbelleoriginals.blogspot.com/ I am unable to follow you, Tallulah, 'computer says no', but I will keep trying, meanwhile I have joined up to follow the Twice Remembered Cottage. http://www.littleroseyposey.blogspot.com/

Next is Naomi, who doesn't have a blog at the moment and is also just starting her miniature journey, so I am sure a blog will follow and we can enjoy her work as well.

Congratulations Linda on your recent achievement! Linda now has a PhD yet still finds time to collect (and play with!) miniatures. She can be found at http://lindasminis.blogspot.com/

Glenda is another cat lover and they are just my favourite people, so when I was visiting her minis as well, I knew she was someone I had to keep up with. It is lovely that you have dropped by in return! http://peppercornminis.blogspot.com/

I can't find anything for Александр Раздорский which is intriguing in itself, but I hope you aren't too bored by my ramblings.

minitink is another blogger who makes me realise how the internet has shrunk the world. No matter what country we come from, what background we have and what language we speak, while there is the internet we can share our interests and inspire others. ... and minitinks flowers are truly inspiring! http://minitink.blogspot.com/

Sheltiebud is a DHE friend and if you are quick, you will be able to watch her progress from the beginning, which I love. I enjoy admiring all the amazing work of the experienced dollshousers and miniaturists as well, but there is a definite thrill in watching someone develop. She is an experienced doll person, so I think we can expect great things! http://sheltiebudshobbies.blogspot.com/ 

Margos blog http://labellebrigante.blogspot.com/ is another full of delights and gorgeous cats.  I haven't had a chance for a long browse yet, but that is a treat still ahead.


I knew from her avatar that I would love Taenias blog and so far have not been disappointed http://taeniasminiatures.blogspot.com/ and it amazes me that she is another who has found time to work on a PhD! Anyone who thinks dolls housing is for the simple minded has no idea!


Clever detective work, with a hint from the avatar has led me to Shellby's blog http://anythingminiature.blogspot.com/ Lots of fun items and another house to watch from the beginning. I will be back!


My newest follower, Heather has 3 blogs to catch up with! First is http://topsyturvydays.blogspot.com/ of her family life with twins (I am so jealous! I only have dollshouse twins) Her dollshouse http://diaryofadollhouse.blogspot.com/  (and she is no newcomer to dollshouses I am guessing from a quick look) and http://cupofteaandagoodbook.blogspot.com/


Thank you all for being interested enough to follow. I love followers, I love seeing what they are up to and when I look at how talented and inspirational they all are I am thrilled to be included in this internet community.

Good morning

Good morning everyone! I haven't any new pictures of progress today sadly, my husband has been taking advantage of my decision to cut down my working hours and set me to 1:1 building, tiling and grouting. (it is much more fun in mini scale!).

However I have been popping in and it is about time I welcomed my 5 (!!!) new followers.
So  
Welcome, join me in a cup of tea, if you have time...

Otterine is at http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php. where she is busily stitching the most glorious rug and when not doing that wastes not a minute working on other perfect miniatures!

Marion is next and is almost a local to me which is exciting. Well 2 hours or so away, which in Queensland terms is close! Marion is another busy lady, running workshops as well as working on her own minis. You can see what she is up to at http://marionsminiatures.blogspot.com/ and http://theflorist-marion.blogspot.com/ and http://marion-thewitchscottage.blogspot.com/
Marion was almost chased away as her avatar could be a photo of our hen who hasn't accepted her status in life and firmly believes she is a cat so should be eating and sleeping in the house!

If you prefer lemon with your tea, call in at Minnie Kitchen http://minniekitchen.blogspot.com/ where the lemons are freshly squeezed and there is a variety of yummy food to fill up on (if you have a very very tiny tummy)

Kat the Hat Lady http://katthehatlady.blogspot.com/ is where you would go for all your witches hats needs and I have just seen that she is bringing out a range of the most glorious Edwardian hats. Absolutely stunning.

and finally welcome to Christine with the pink rose. I can't find a blog for you, so if you have one, please send a link and I can post it, but I know you must be nice with a name like Christine.

Thank you all for following.

I have been playing with this blog, still learning, and my favourite gadget at the moment is being able to keep track of when everyone shares a new post. The problem is I become seduced seeing what wonderful things others are doing that I don't get back to doing my own!

Ready to relax

Just a quick blog post before I start work in an hour. I had decided during my holidays to try and do some mini-ing each day, even if were only planning projects. I think being creative (and I believe everyone can create, although many people don't in case their efforts are criticised) is one of the keys to a healthy mind and a happy outlook on life giving people greater resilience to cope with what life throws them. So with that in mind, after feeling really burned out a few weeks ago, I have been working on a few small projects for the cottage.

One was this chair to relax in. While simple it brings a smile to my face. I can imagine my dolls house mother sitting in the chair shelling peas in preparation to cooking for her family - did women ever really get a break in the 40s? One of my grandmother's housekeeping books includes sitting down to do your work as a necessity while 'expecting' (anything more descriptive was written in the book's sealed section) but a luxury at other times.
It was made with 2 sizes of cake wires (or possibly florist wire?) which I have had in my craft box forever, so were good to use finally.

The mat is one of a few I have made based on those owned by various elderly rellies when I was a child. I seem to think they were old then, everything seemed to have been made to last forever, so hopefully they fit in. I know that in Australia red and green were fashionable colours during the war, so at least the colour scheme is era appropriate. They were made by coiling garden twine, partly coloured with food colouring onto a fabric backing coated in glue, then stitching to secure. I was pleased with the effect.

The crochet blanket is one of the first things I made while gearing up to build a house. It is made using polyester threads and a 6mm hook with every row a different colour - never again! Tucking in the loose ends was a dreadful job. All future projects will be one colour!

I am planning on putting some of my minis in a craft display for 'e week' at our church craft group ladies morning, so the two photos are while I decide whether I prefer it draped (as suggested by another craft lady) or plain.

As I have no new followers today, I'll direct you to Alennka's blog http://dollshousedaydreams.blogspot.com/ She works at light speed creating far beyond the humble cottage! It is worth going back to her castle from the beginning.

Cheers all!

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, it's off to work we go.....

Holidays are over

Alas, my 3 weeks have flown by and my holidays are over. I would like to say that I got everything I planned done but, I think like most of us, I had many plans and little idea of how long each would take.

While nothing to do with dolls housing (except that it would be useful to have one to check details!) my favourite door painting project brought a wide smile to master 13's face and put me in the top mummy ranks. 

Meanwhile I have noticed 4 new followers! Welcome!

I can't find a link for Meli Abellan, so I'm not sure if you have a blog, but I hope you enjoy mine.


For Nuria's blog http://mininuris.blogspot.com/ google translate is invaluable, although you can fill in a tea break very happily just looking at her pictures


Marie from Belgium's blog http://lepetitmondemerveilleux.blogspot.com/ is another of those really pretty collections that look so effortless.


And most recently is Beatrice http://lesminiaturesdebeatrice.blogspot.com/. Sadly google translate has let me down but visit to see Beatrice's photos of handmade clothing of the finest lace that look like they have been made for fairy royalty.

Another parcel caused major excitement yesterday when an item I purchased from Mick at http://www.etsy.com/shop/micklen arrived! Mick is one of my fellow DHE chatters and I have been able to watch his progress since he bought his first mini lathe (and quick progress to a professional level it has been too!). He had shown this mortar and pestle on the board and I fell in love with it then, so dived on it when he listed it. It is rare for me to buy something handcrafted for my dolls house, it seems so indulgent I tend to make my own or do without, but the pleasure I have received from this little item  has made me realise that an indulgence occasionally is an excellent thing! I would recommend Mick's work to anyone. The photo (which is Micks) doesn't do the perfection or the tininess of it justice and a photo can never describe how lovely it feels, like polished marble.

My house gained stairs which was something that had been troubling me, although this turned out to be so easy I wondered why I ever worried. When I look at the photo going down the stairs, I can imagine small children's feet pattering up and down. Sometimes the house takes on it's own life and I don't do things I had planned at the beginning. I think others find the same with their creations. (at least I hope they do!)

Once the stairs were done the plan was to secure the middle floor and get onto the externals, but I have now realised that I need to stock my larder while I still have easy access! (actually I need to finish building my larder too).

The more I need to do, I begin to realise that this house for me is a journey. Obviously there is a destination (which I had expected to reach 3 months ago!) but the process is so enjoyable, worrying out problems included, that I have become more relaxed about it and if it takes 5 or 10 years, well that is 5 or 10 years of pleasure I will have while building it. It has been interesting to feel that way in this achievement oriented world.

An excellent day!

Today was one of those days when everything goes right! My full size painting is nearly finished and I have had to make lots of trips to put painting paraphenalia away, happily to our back shed where I work on my dollshouse, so each trip was able to include a bit of mini-ing time. This kerosene light, based on one my husband had in his electricity-free childhood, was one of the mini projects I was able to complete and the moment of actually having light was thrilling!!!!
 
The postman brought my next excitement with a parcel all the way from Canada from my online dollshouse friend, Margaret who had made a tablecloth, placemats and napkins for me. The napkins are folded and so tiny it hard to believe they were made by human hands. They have inspired me to start dreaming about a room box with a romantic theme, maybe a proposal? Margaret actually made a setting for 6 but my takeaway container table is more suited for an intimate dinner for 2. I hunted for my silverware with no joy but found so many other treasures I had forgotten about it so was time well spent.
The roses on the table are from my garden - 'The Fairy' for those who love horticultural minis as well.

I have heaps of new followers to welcome now as well:

Going back from most recent is Lainie from http://lainieslittlethings.blogspot.com/ I haven't had time to fully explore her blog, but the glimpse I have had shows promise of much reading and admiring to do.

Next is Kim with 2 blogs and my mouth waters just thinking of posting the link to her mini blog, full of exquisite mini cakes and pastries http://kimsminiatures.blogspot.com/ and her other of gorgeous little dolls. http://itsaminiaturelifedolls.blogspot.com/ . I had no idea of the variety of small dolls about until I began this journey.

Then there is Susan who made me chuckle because I have been unofficially following her blog for a while, and when I saw her small handcrochet bear as a follower here I couldn't remember where I knew it from until I went in for a peek. Needless to say her avatar bear is a hint of the delights and inspiration you will find at http://minicrochetmad.blogspot.com/

Carolyn's work at http://carolynslittlekitchen.blogspot.com/ I just love! I went in expecting food but found so much more and everything is so pretty! I seem to manage practical and cheerful and envy those who do pretty so apparently effortlessly. My friend Cherie (she who can make an egg carton a treasured gift) has the skill too.

Cheryl is at http://aminiatureplace.blogspot.com/ and we share the same loves of antiques, decorating and miniatures. I love her 1:48 storybook cottage in particular.

I visited Daydreamer and saw so much of myself on her blog pages - we even have the same wallpaper! http://aboutmydollhouses.blogspot.com/ She is branching off to the world of castles now while I will be in my cottage for a while yet and I look forward to watching her progress.

The Dangerous Mezzo is a name I trip over every time I go blog browsing! Not only does she keep up with everybody's blogs (I know this because she comments as well) but she makes the most amazing creations and runs several blogs, a shop and a website! http://tudordollhouse.blogspot.com/  http://lunenburgartist.blogspot.com/ http://artfiredup.blogspot.com/  http://www.artfire.com/users/dangerousmezzo  http://ninascottstoddart.com/  Wow!

And http://kilmouskiandme.blogspot.com/ is just beautiful. It is full of miniature pieces of gracious living, maybe as you would expect from an artist and metalsmith. I go just to sigh over the perfection that can be found in the miniature world from the top artists.

Now to go to some of my earlier followers, there is Eva Krog, who I know has a blog because I visited it a couple of days ago, but she isn't showing from here. When I track her down, I'll post a link.
Addit: Found it! http://evasminiaturehobby.blogspot.com/

Also known to many here, from what  have been reading, is a lovely lady from My Wee Life http://my-wee-life.blogspot.com/ and Debbie, lover of all things mini including horses! http://hericusminiatureshetlandstud.blogspot.com/ and blogging with several other blogs including http://debbiestinytreasures.blogspot.com/ http://magicalminiatures.blogspot.com/ Looking at various posts, I think Debbie may be a number of people's technical support.

Miniature work has been slowing down a little as real life home painting (not to mention happily reading other people's blogs!) takes priority, but I have managed a small side table based on one owned by an elderly relative in my childhood and remembered very vaguely. Actually my strongest memory is of my sister and I playing 'house' between the top and the bottom. It must have been a very tolerant Great Aunt I think.

This one is made from a strip of walnut cut into 2 lengths and was satisfying to work out how the wood should be cut for best effect. Even though it isn't as ornate as the one I remember, it has that solid 40s feel about it, so I am satisfied.

Cheers, to all, Christine

Making a dresser

Welcome to my 2 new followers, Alafosca who has the most delightful little people she makes as well as a host of other gorgeous minis.
  http://nocturnacottage.blogspot.com/ http://altafullaminiatures.blogspot.com/  
I plan on following Alafosca as soon as I can work out which password I need to use!

The other I doubt needs introduction in the mini world, being Mags from Magsnificient Miniatures. I knew her name from magazines when dollshousing was just a dream I never expected to eventuate so this was a particular thrill!
http://mags-nificentminiatures.blogspot.com/

It is such a small world, this small world and I have noticed a few familiar 'faces' with the same interests following the same blogs as I wander around blogs. Strangely many of those faces are cats, so I suspect miniaturists also have a fascination with the most inconvenient animal in existence for those wanting to work on something fiddly!
I will introduce some of my older followers as well in the next few posts, so don't feel forgotten.

As happens when you look at your long weeks of holiday ahead of you, free to do as you wish, nothing goes as planned. However I have had odd moments, while waiting for full size house paint to dry, to duck out to the back shed and play with my dollshouse. While I should be working on getting the stairs done so I can secure the middle floor and get onto the outside, this week furniture making had more appeal. I have made a few bits over the past year, but wanted to start on some kitchen furniture, so the obvious piece was a dresser. By rights it should have been a 1930/40s drop front style, but I was in a romantic mood and decided to go for the traditional type. I'm sure my family would have had pieces they had inherited so that is still in keeping.
I used a wide selection of materials, pine strip, lolly sticks, tongue depressors (or is that depressers?) pieces of an old wooden blind, obeche, commercial spindles and commercial knobs, all stirred together with tacky craft glue. As I didn't have plans, I worked out rough measurements, partly based on our real life built in 1930s dresser. Height had to be fiddled with - we have 10 foot ceilings here while the cottage has a bare 8 inches, possibly only 7 1/2. I wanted an open style to save having cupboard doors open for display. I think the style is known as a Welsh dresser?

I began by making up the drawers (pine strip front, obeche base and lolly stick sides) and lots of lego blocks then made a top with legs, adding a bottom under the drawers to fit (obeche, square stripwood and comercial spindles) Next I added the bottom shelf (obeche) and taped it in place to set, realising when it was dry that the sturdy rubber band I had used to hold the top together was trapped and had to be cut off. A couple of drawer dividers and commercial knobs and the base was done. The top (pine strips, old blind and tongue depressers) was a bit more challenging. I rebated the shelves using my small hand saw and a needle file and 'carved' the top and side pieces with sandpaper, emery boards and files. Once glued together I was pleased with the effect.

The back boards were glued together and sit nicely in place at the back of the dresser while I decide whether to paint or stain. I have left them long and they sit against the back of the bottom half where it has been rebated to fit, just like an antique.

One day I may have to make it more secure. Despite careful measuring, remeasuring and double checking measurements, it is taller than I had planned, but thankfully, as you can see, it just fits!

Holidays!!!

Hurrah! After several months of overnight shifts, working weeks of up to 100 hours and being called in everytime I expect to have a free day, I have 3 weeks holiday!!!!

I have a million things to do and go from one to another in excitement but hope to be able to report some progress here.

Now what to do first...!

From the floor up

This post is to try and get the blog up to date with the house so lots of pics and a few basic explanations.

 After gluing the beams in place I plastered between them using a mix of water, PVA and standard hardware shop plaster. If you are doing this, use masking tape as if you own shares in a tape company! I found the only way to clean it off was to sand it (although as I had used outdoor cement grade plaster at first this may be why) It was then I discovered that I had placed the beams the wrong way around.  For anyone interested in historical accuracy, they should be put in 'flat' so that the widest side is against the structure they are supporting, not the modern way which positions the beam on its edge using the width of the beam as its strength. This is why floors sag in older buildings.

Next were the fireplaces which were bricked using this wonderful tutorial:

http://www.thechinadoll.com/bricktutorial.htm  I remain in awe of the talented people online and how readily they share their ideas. After a few false starts with the kitchen fireplace (I had cut the hole too big and too close to the scullery door way for a solid effect, the walls were ready to be papered (in the sitting room) and timbered in both downstairs rooms. The paper I chose was Acorns which seemed fitting for an 'oak'framed cottage and was bought from http://www.minimumworld.com/ who is my favourite online retailer for price, variety and service for DIY.

The timbering is being made from a stained and damaged set of wooden venetian blinds which had been destined for the tip. Each slat is about an inch wide and about 2mm thick, so is really easy to work with. Because of the water staining, after cutting, I have restained the slats with oak stain which has come up darker than I planned but I think in the 30s dark oak was fashionable so that is okay. Papering with timbering is the easiest thing I have done so far. You don't have to cut the paper perfectly as edges will be covered. Papering after timbering is a different story! I did one wall of having to trim paper to fit between wonky timbers before realising that.  I cut each slat in half lengthwise, (can be done with a ruler and craft knife) roughed up the edges and stained, trimmed to fit and glued into place. Unlike cornices and architraves, you don't have to worry about angles.

The kitchen however was another plastering job, so it was slats first then plaster again with lots of cleaning up, retouching the woodwork (it had gone a beautiful weathered finish which would be perfect for outside but looked unloved and faintly 'haunted' inside) and painting the plaster ('Double Glaze' by British paints) As it was a bit pristine, I have given it a dirtying teabag rub which shows in real life but disappears in a photo.

While working on these bits I started the 3 doors off these rooms, scullery, sitting room and larder. I decided these would be painted so was able to make them from 3mm MDF,  scoring the boards and using craft sticks as bracing.

Flooring was the next step. Again I wanted to use the egg carton method but as we have hens and no egg cartons, I had prudently saved the packaging from Mr 13's electronic pride and joy. Cutting the random flagstones (with help >>>) was reasonably easy. I had charted up an eighth of the floor with plans to make 8 panels and just rotate each around for effect. In theory that should work perfectly, in practice I ended up with piles of miscellaneous shaped cardboard blocks and had to fit each one in place individually. Gluing them down was my first indication that this wasn't going to be as easy as the egg carton bricks. The edges curled, the middles swelled randomly and they began to split. More glue and a flattening with an old flatiron helped. Work got in the way, so I only had brief half hours to play with the house, no time for troubleshooting.
The day of painting arrived. A special trip to buy some slate grey paint held the disastrous moment up. As soon as the entire floor was coated, I noticed that as it dried the packaging was splitting away in layers. There was nothing to do but let it dry and hope for the best. The split layers peeled away giving a touch more 'rusticity' but didn't look too bad I thought, until my daughter told me (with no softening platitudes) that it looked cold and institutional. Sadly I could see that she was right, so out came more paints in brown shades and I wondered if there would be any flag stones left when these split too.

Miraculously they painted beautifully! Grouting was fiddlier. Because the surface was so rough, I knew I couldn't just smear grout (made from watery plaster with paint added) all over, so I carefully found a used cliplock bag for a piping bag, only noticing after I had started and the grout was oozing over my hand that the bag had a number of other holes. It was easier by then just to smear it over, clean up what I could, touch up the centres of the flagstones and walk away!
A couple of coats of flat folk art varnish and approximately 6 hours (total) of working on it and the downstairs floor was finally finished!  I am tempted to add a metal ring to one of the flagstones, but as there would be no mystery about it, won't.

My neighbour and friend, Cherie, then gave me something she thought I would like because she was pretty sure I wouldn't have one: an egg carton! Little did she guess what a welcome and multipurpose gift it was.

To finish off, I have been playing with the doors today so that they can be hung and putting a brick floor in the larder. Satisfaction has returned and the house is once again online.