Switching from One Hobby to Another

When or where do you separate the two? Over the past year I have found myself drawn to and enjoying making dioramas for my dolls more and more. In fact I haven't felt a real urge to purchase a doll for quite some time, apart from Sergio & Nadia who were required for a project rather than a desired. And the two impulse purchases in Singapore.

The only dolls of what I call "play sized" who have been bringing me the most enjoyment are my kids: Holly, Primrose, Magnolia, Violetta and Marigold.

Looking at photos of them in the various rooms I've decorated, makes me wonder if these are the dolls I should be telling stories about.

Especially after making the new bar and finding my Integrity Toy dolls far too tall for it! When photographing the IT's in the past, I never noticed how extremely long their legs were compared to other 1:6 scale dolls (they are taller than Barbie & Neo Blythe).

FOUND THIS COMPARISON ON PINTEREST

Not to mention the fact my scaling was completely off, I don't know what got into me, I'm usually very good at mathematics. The bar ended up closer to 1:8 scale and suits my kids beautifully . . . it makes me wonder if perhaps the kids are magically influencing my calculations. What do you think? Can you imagine my five little cuties sitting in the White Panther Jazz Club?

By the look on her face, I don't think Holly is too impressed by these two under-age drinkers!

The Settee

I began tackling the settee just after I finished breakfast on Tuesday. Pulling it apart was hard on my hands and more difficult than the chair, it was glued so tightly together. 

However, after prying and tugging for about an hour it finally began to come apart, but the residue left by the hard glue still had to be removed.

It became really messy when the remaining velvet had to be dealt with. The scraping began on the back, first one way, then the other until it was all gone. I continued scraping the seat and then the sides until I had a large pile of pink fluff sitting on my table! 

It was lunchtime before I reached this stage and I was glad to take a break.

After lunch I began re-upholstering each piece, but I only got this far before it was time to begin thinking about cooking dinner.

Didn't achieve much on Wednesday or Thursday as I had some personal things to attend to. However, I did begin upholstering the settee.

I finally completed the upholstering and assembled the settee this morning.

The photos are not the best, as I quickly took them with my phone, but I'm afraid they will have to do for now.

That's all for today my lovelies.

Furniture Makeover

Firstly thank you to those who commented on my previous post, I've been so busy enjoying myself lately, it's been difficult to find the time to answer everyone.

When I placed my last order from Fairy Meadow Miniatures, I also bought a pre-loved, slightly dishevelled pink velvet settee, chair and footstool which was close to, but not quite, 1:6 scale.

I took this photo of my two little hybrid Monst dolls, to give you an idea of the size.

BTW they finally have clothes to wear and have had their hair re-styled slightly, at least it looks tidy now.

I wanted to cover the set in the green Mid Century fabric I purchased from Spoonflower, but unfortunately the print was too large. I tackled the chair first and used fabric and trimmings from my stash. Next I added some painted beads to make new feet, which provided additional height. Then to give it a little more "personality" I made some cushions and knitted a throw with tassels.

It wasn't the easiest makeover I have done, pulling the chair apart was a challenging to say the least, but aside from the feet looking a bit chunky on the footstool, I'm reasonably happy with the new look. 

What do you think? Does it look okay to you?

Now to deal with the settee, wish me luck. :)

And A Little Bit More

In this shot, where the girls are chatting over a glass of lemonade, you can see the white panther art deco curtains and the gold columns.

The table and chairs which have been featured before here, are available in kit form from the Fairy Meadow Miniatures online store. I gave the table top a granite look and painted the base & chairs navy blue. I also upholstered the chair seat and back.

The Kids Kitchen is Finished!

Primrose has been baking in the Kids Kitchen and is annoyed that "someone" has stolen one of her tarts.

Oh dear, Holly you are a naughty girl! Couldn't you at least wait until they had cooled down first?

The final pieces of furniture have been completed and the wall with the French doors is done.

From left to right: Broom cupboard, bench/cupboard, oven/rangehood, corner bench/cupboard, bench/cupboard, sink/cupboard, double bench (under window), refrigerator/cupboard. Centre: Island bench with two stools.

All the doors open, including the oven, fridge-freezer and French doors.

That's it for today on here, but there's more to read over at  Studio 1283. Happy reading, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. :)

Almost Finished

Finally had some time today to complete the tiling in my dolly kitchen and Holly and Primrose couldn't wait for the new walls which I ordered recently, to have some photos taken. I was hoping to have the other double bench done too, but it was missing a back piece. Fortunately, the piece is being sent with the walls, so hopefully it will all be done this time next week.

Once I'd taken this photo I noticed the gap between the corner unit and the sink. I'm not sure what I can do about it though. I may try painting the new walls (ones without windows) white and see if that makes a difference, before re-cutting the tiles. The black & white papered wall shown here, will be replaced with a window wall and drapes.

Holly could also do with a little blush on her cheeks, she's looking a little pekid. Primrose does have a faint hint of rosiness, but if I'm going to blush Holly, I may as well do Primrose too.

Primrose is wearing rompers and cardigan which I made for another doll (can't remember which) but they fit her perfectly. Both girls shoes are slightly too big, but they'll do for now.

Anyone else working on any projects?

P.S. Michelle Bogart! Welcome to my blog, do you have a dolly blog of your own?

New and Updated Furniture

I've been on a painting roll lately and after I finished with my kitchen, I found a bookcase which needed a coat of paint. I used another couple of the Porter's sample pots, Gulf Stream and Volcanic Ash to paint it.

Hatsuko liked the Gulf Stream colour so much she thought it would be a suitable colour to update the daybed.

 

They turned out better than I expected and suit the "Paris Apartment" diorama rather well.

Ugh! Now she's wondering what else she can get me to paint. With any luck she won't see the other pieces I have hidden away.

At last she's settled down with a good book! I think Alice in Wonderland should keep her occupied for a while, I hope so.

Well that didn't last long!  Perhaps she'll enjoy a little dolly time of her own now and let me get on with other things. :)

Diorama Progress

It's been a little while since I last posted and I am aware I have been slack in replying to all your comments, for this I apologise. At this late stage I probably won't get round to it, but I thank you for them and for continuing to drop by.

I have finally found a few moments to take photos of my diorama progress so far, though they are not the best. However, they will give you an idea of what I have been doing so far . . . and there's so much more to come.

This is the gold room, with a salmon coloured carpet which I have decided to use with another room in future. I am also working on a small half round side table with a pink marble top to go under the back window.

I'm happier with this carpet, though it's only made of paper as a test run. I will re-print it on fabric at a later date.

I still need to re-paint the skirting boards so they are nice and white like the window frames. I am really happy with the marble floor though. The gold and grey furniture is available in raw form from Fairy Meadow Miniatures.

With the room box walls reversed and the grey furniture which will eventually be used in my Fleur & Ruben diorama. The ice mint furniture below, was made from kits I purchased from Etsy (sorry I cannot remember the name of the store). The carpet is also made of paper, and which I will re-print on fabric.

You can see more clearly the garden scenes I have used outside the windows. I made these by using photos of gardens I found on the internet, printing them out on A4 paper then gluing it to crocodile board. Hubby made me wooden stands to slot them in, which is great, because I can change them as I need.

My models were my Kurhn Fashion Week Sweet Lolita and my Integrity Toys Poppy Parker™ Gardens of Versailles. Well that's it for today my lovelies.

Happy New Year!

Fireworks were shot from 22 city rooftops to herald in the new year in Melbourne.

As you can see from this news photo there were crowds of people everywhere . . . and we were nowhere to be seen. Hubby and I spent the evening with friends at the Victorian Jazz Club, Clayton RSL, where we enjoyed a lovely three course meal and more than a couple of glasses of wine, while listening and dancing to Shimona and the Cats Pyjamas.
It was a fabulous night! :)

-oOo-

Now to what's been happening in the studio.

Buttons the tailor received his custom clothes for Christmas, courtesy of Gugu Moda, and I made him the white apron with a little pocket to store his scissors in. He wanted to show you the sign which will be mounted on the outside wall of his shop. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

I also completed crocheting the little clown's hat. As you can see, these two have become friends.

And the shop furniture is finished. I gave each of the  pieces a base coat, then a coat of crimson red, and a coat of beige, before rubbing it back with sandpaper to give it a worn look.

I then added a final coat of matt sealer and it was all done and dusted!

I also ruled lines on the table top to make it appear like it was made from planks, rather than being a solid piece of wood.

I think it looks like old furniture that has been painted several times before,

so hopefully it appears to everyone else, like it's been knocked about through years of hard work.

I have had little motivation to do much else, but I did manage to book and pay for our airplane tickets for our London/Paris trip later in the year. Now it's time to catch up on some blog reading. :)

Project: Diorama for Mia Mary

For some time now, Mia Mary (Liz Frost's 14" Mia) has been wanting of a room of her own. So it was up to me to provide one for her . . . we can't have unhappy dolls living in this house. :) The diorama is the largest I have done so far . . . measuring 80cm/31.5" wide x 50cm/19.75" deep x 50cm/19.75" high.

This chair, footstool and table was purchased as a raw flat-pack from Le Quak on Etsy, then I assembled, painted and upholstered it all myself.

As this was a bedroom, Mia needed an outfit to sleep in and so I knitted her a set of baby doll pyjamas. They were designed by Jacqueline Gibb of Jacknitss and the pattern is available on Ravelry.

Hubby had made and painted a bed for her some time ago, but I only finished the duvet (using the same fabric as the upholstered chair) just recently. BTW do you remember me showing you these fabrics? Then I made cushions and knitted the throw to co-ordinate.

Had I known when hubby made the bed, that I was going to paint the chair this pretty Spring White (which is really a very pale shade of aqua), I would have told him not to paint it, so all her furniture would be the same colour. But I guess the white bed doesn't look too much out of place, seeing that the pot that the plant is in, is also white.

The fireplace, which you have seen before, also has the mantel painted Spring White. The blue wall and green flooring is fabric stuck to foam-core board. However, I am thinking of re-doing the floor with wood planks and adding a rug to give the room more texture.

I also need to do something about providing a window for her to look out and finish her standard lamp which I am currently working on. The little tea-set is miniature bone china by Wedgwood.

Well that's it for today. Hope your weekend is happy and creative!

Big hugs,

Tutorial: 1:6 Scale Table Lamp

Requirements:
3mm dowel (or a bamboo skewer)
Something to use as a base (I used an upside down large flower bead)
Beads (size of your choice with 3mm hole)
A cardboard toilet roll inner
Scrap-booking card (not paper)
Elastic bands (optional)
Flame-less tea light
Foam-core scrap
PVC glue
Trims (ribbon and/or braid)

I wanted to make some lamps to go either side of my kidney shaped dressing table. At first I tried using wire with some beads I had in my stash to create a lamp base, without a great deal of success I might add, they ended up leaning like the Tower of Pisa. So I changed my thinking and began with something a little more stable . . . some 3mm dowel which I had previously purchased from Riot Art.

Then I found some hard plastic flowers in my odds and ends box, which were off a set of earrings from the Op-Shop. They only had a small hole, so  I asked hubby to drill it larger to insert the dowel.

Now I needed beads with holes large enough to take the dowel, so I ordered fifty 6x8mm brass spacers and ten 14x10mm faceted glass rondelles online from the Australian based Over the Rainbow as I knew I would receive them quickly.

Prior to this, I had purchased a set of 6 flame-less tea lights (and batteries) from Ikea, one of which you can see in the above photo. I find these are handy to have for various projects, another of which I have already shown you when I made my fireplace.

To make the lamp shade, I used the toilet roll inner to wrap a 13.75 x 7cm piece of scrap-booking card the outside, glued the seam and held it in place with elastic bands until it tried.

Then I selected some pink all purpose craft ribbon to match the base and some gold Ric Rac which would pick up the gold spacers, to trim the shade top and bottom.

This is quite fiddly and I didn't want glue everywhere, so I tipped a small amount of glue into a small bowl and used a toothpick to spread the glue where it was required . . . no drips and no mess!

After assembling the beads on the dowel, I cut two small a round pieces of foam-core, the same size as the tea light (just trace around the light), glued them together and made a small hole in the centre. This becomes a platform to sit the tea light on.

You could use a single piece of thicker foam-core if you have it, but I only had a thin piece of scrap.

I also needed to shave a little off the circle to fit it securely in the lampshade, so I did this a tiny bit at a time, checking after each shave until it fitted perfectly.

After trimming the dowel with my side cutters, I gently eased the dowel with the foam-core platform attached inside the lampshade about 1cm from the bottom, making sure it was secure with glue. I then switched the tea light on before placing it onto the foam-core platform . . . and there you have a working lamp. You can take the tea light out to switch off the lamp when you don't want it shining.

Incidentally, my collection of vintage micro miniature perfume bottles turned out to perfect 1:6 scale and came in handy for this display . . . the round one is 3.5ml Karl Lagerfeld Chloe Au De Toilette and the square one is 1.5ml Chanel No5.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, I certainly enjoyed making the lamps. :)

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Big hugs,

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