Just a very short post because I promised someone I'd show my costume.
Shenandoah & Stuff
I'm building a dollhouse...and you're welcome to watch. You'll find me talking about other things too, but I hope it'll be fun for everybody.
Friday, November 1, 2024
Friday, July 5, 2024
Walls, Wallpaper & Windows
Man... when you're working over forty hours a week its amazing how quickly a month goes by! I really meant to have this up in June folks. Sorry about that.
I added the wallpaper to the walls and I'm pretty happy with how it looks now that the chair rail is on the wall. You all know my fondness for the color blue but this has some green in it as well so if I ever get the yen to change things out I can try for some green accents.
I didn't do my measurements quite right, there are a few little gaps in the trim at the back but I can fix those easily enough and once I paint it won't be noticeable.
I'm pleased with how the brick paper looks on the bay windows and can easily picture it on the outer walls of the rest of the shop.
I'm going to add crown molding with some little block corners. I really like that look and painted white it won't be too formal.
If you're on my Instagram you'll have seen that I did make a bunch of perfume bottles. I like the idea of china, fancy bottles and maybe some flower arrangements or something in the windows. Clocks maybe? We'll see. But here are some of the bottles I made.
Thursday, May 16, 2024
China Shop - Creatin' Contest 2024
Well it's been a while... I really didn't realize how long I'd gone without posting until I looked at the date of my last post. I've been dollhousing (notice how I create my own verbs) but I just haven't written about it.
I bought the kit for the 2024 contest. I'm still not sure if I'm going to enter or not. I know exactly what I want to do with the kit. And I'm on my way there. When you work for most of the year on one project it feels like a lot of energy for very little return. I'm just tired of being judged maybe?
I work a full-time job, just like most people and its mentally and emotionally exhausting sometimes. Like everyone else's job I imagine. I only really get to work on my miniatures during the weekends and sometimes not even a whole weekend due to other household stuff that needs to get done.
To put in a year's worth of weekends on a project, painstakingly researching and bringing that vision to life... Let's just say that I think I might be happier if I wasn't comparing my build to all the others that are entered. I think I wouldn't mind not getting even an honorable mention if I wasn't spending every free moment working on a build. That happened with my Chapel in 2022. I thought I'd 'transformed' the kit pretty well. I certainly didn't recognize it as the Welcome All Porch kit.
Which leads me to this year.
As I'm sure you've all seen by now, the kit isn't enclosed. I have to change that because cats. The Building Inspector is busy doing her thing beyond the Rainbow Bridge along with her Apprentice. But the cats I have are still curious. So its best for all concerned that I have four walls and a roof on all my builds.
I decided that I wasn't going to make myself crazy this year. I'm keeping it simple and easy to move, in part because I want to use it as a room box for displaying things for my Etsy Shop. I really enjoy making tiny sets of china so primarily the kit will end up being a china shop. Maybe with some pretty glass perfume bottles in a special section of their own.
So I started with the floor.
Then ran out of the right sized tiles so I pried some up and started again. This time with a border of pine board flooring around the perimeter of the floor.
I've also removed the dividers for the small windows on the far wall and made one long large window. I like how high up it is, it'd be good for a bedroom window if I'd gone in that direction.
Sunday, December 17, 2023
Edouard Black's Blacksmith Shop and Home
I am Edouard Black, welcome to my smithy and home. I’m pleased to have your custom. My Aunt Cecelia Alyce graciously gave her aid to build my forge and thus gave me my start in life once I achieved my mastery in smithing.
It may be humble, but it serves my wife and I well. Aunt
Cecelia planted a cutting from her own apple tree so that we might enjoy fresh
fruit and with the village well close by we want for nearly nothing. We suffered from mice for a time but a couple
of kittens from my aunt’s wonderful mousers look to have that problem solved. Thus all our winter stores of food are secure
in their jars and chests.
We recently were blessed with a daughter and Aunt Cecelia
has promised to take her under her wing and teach her to spin and weave once
she’s old enough. For now we all sleep together in our cozy upper room secure
knowing that the thick door with our family sigil and stone walls keep us safe.
Those are my four submission pictures.
And here are a few more with extra details.
At some point I'll put up another post with the sources for all the things in the build that I wasn't able to make.
For now though, I'm going to try and get caught up on my blog reading. I'm really behind!
Hope everyone is having a happy Holiday season!