Project: A Touch of Dark Academia

Last Christmas my hubby bought me a doll house, and while it's been sitting in my doll room gathering dust, I have been hatching a plan. I want to turn this house into a derelict house, one that was once owned by a man of magical talent . . . a man of interlect, who might have been a master of chemisty, a wizard, a sorcerer, a scribe or to put it simply . . . a combination of them all.

It will take me forever to finish it, but I am determined I shall!

After all the sewing I needed a change, and so for the past few days I have been creating some pieces of furniture for one of the rooms. Non is complete yet, but I wanted you to see where I was heading.

The eyeballs you can see in the left hand dressed (pink jar) are from some inexpensive dolls who's eyes I replaced with better ones. I experimented to add webs and this was done by using my glue gun, some tiny stretched bits of cotton ball and green flocking. The jars are filled with herbs, spices and metallic flakes. 

I made the birdcage hanger from three stacked washers for the base, a small piece of dowell, a paperclip and some jute string. The bookholder is made from card, dowell and washers. Both are decorated with sculls, doll hands and more green flocking. To make the candle holders I used the brass backing plates from small door knobs and plastic noteboard tacks which I painted gold to match the brass . . . the candles are birthday candles which I cut to size.

The other pieces are from my 1:12 scale stash. I am currently working on a Grimoire for the stand and some other books for the dressers. I could have purchased some but that wouldn't be as much fun would it?

Defeated, Deflated, Relieved and Revivied

After several months of fiddling, putting up wallpaper, removing wallpaper, remodelling the rooms in the tree stump and finally realising no matter what I do, it's not working out to my satisfaction, I have finally given up!

I have always believed that I am not a quitter, but I am so overcome with frustration that I have given up on the idea of ever completing this project. I'm afraid my natural abilities do not extend this far, I just don't have the patience or skills of Giac or Sam. From now on, I'll leave the miniature mansions and dolls houses up to them.

You may ask, where are my little elves going to live . . . well they have found a nice comfy greenhouse, just down the road from the biscuit barrel and not far from the gingerbread house. I think it may have fallen off an Ikea truck!

All kidding aside, this little greenhouse from Ikea is perfect for them, it was a reasonable price (just $19.95) and has a metal floor, which gives the Real Pukis little tootsy magnets a firm foot hold. I have tested the magnet grip through a sheet of paper and it's quite good, which means I can easily use a piece of timber look scrapbook paper for the floor.

The walls are straight and all relevant angles square (apart from the roofline) so we should have no problems in doing the same with the back and side walls.

Also being rectangular, (very much to my relief), it should make it so easy and much more fun to arrange the furniture in this house. :)



Penthouse Bedroom

Things have been moving along slowly with the Tree Stump and have finally furnished Misty's room. I wasn't keen on the sheets that came with the SF set so they had a little make-over.

It wasn't the only thing that had a make-over though. The more I looked at the kitchen and sitting room, the more I felt it was far too dark and gloomy for a bunch of happy go lucky elves, so it all had to go! It took me ages to remove the wallpaper from both the rooms, but I completed it yesterday and they are now ready for a new, brighter decor.

Sneak Peek at the Tree Stump House

My inspiration for this tree stump home and it's story, comes from recollections of the wonderful illustrations by Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) and E.H. Shepard (1879-1976).

Penthouse bedroom has pretty pink rose wallpaper on a cream background and cream carpet extending to the timber balcony.

The drawing room has a timber floor, elegant period wallpaper and the rug which I completed earlier.

The kitchen at floor level has a tiled floor with the traditional green and cream walls of Victorian times, which I have done my best to make look aged.

All rooms are yet to have skirting board and cornice installed, before I add furniture and fittings.

When Does A Biscuit Barrel Become a Tree Stump?

When  I make a big mistake!!

I purchased two large round gift boxes from Wooja, which I thought would be perfect for the Biscuit Barrel home. However, when I brought them home and put them next to my PukiFees, I realised they were way too small.

I didn't want to waste them, and recalling the in depth tutorial I saw on Once Upon a Doll, I decided to make a tree stump house instead.

I'll just have to keep my eye out for larger round boxes to make the Biscuit Barrel or perhaps make a square Gingerbread House for the PukiFees instead!

Using a Stanley knife, I carefully cut away a portion of the side on each one, so I would have access for installing furniture etc. Then popped the the cut out pieces aside in case I wanted to use them for something later on.

The next step was to stack one on top of the other, to see how they looked in place. Then after I had cut out a couple of arched windows (one on each floor), hubby came up with the wonderful idea of adding a penthouse bedroom using the lids and the left over pieces.

I turned one lid upside down, added the two off cuts, leaving a space for a long window and popped the other lid on top. The upside down lid, looked like a little balcony, so I thought I would incorporate that into the design somehow.

-oOo-

Then I got a little sidetracked and decided to make a round rug for the RP's drawing room on the second floor . . . a very simple rug at that, made from Ultra Suede and bobble braid which I already had on hand.

First I cut out a circle using a bread and butter plate as a template.

Then keeping the rougher side up so it looked more like carpet, I carefully stitched the bobble braid around the outside, using running stitch and thread the same colour so it couldn't be seen.

And voila! There you have it! Simple, and one can vary the size to suit any room, just choose a can, a cup, or anything round to use as a template.

One could also use glue, but I always worry about glue getting brittle over time or staining the Ultra Suede, and besides that, I like sewing better than getting glue stuck all over my fingers. :)