Where's Your Workspace?
On beautiful summer mornings, I dream of having a light filled studio in my garden. The reality is that while small projects fit on a dedicated craft desk in my basement, larger projects seem to take over the entire house. That's the downside of investing in moveable craft drawers! Where do you do your best miniature work?
Make a Miniature Toy Lion from Pipe Cleaners.
Making all the printable Paris souvenirs got me thinking about Paris, and as the Tour de France is on, my mind switched over to the stuffed lions given to the day's stage winner at the tour. Now you can make your own miniature lion toys for a dolls house nursery, (or your Parisian souvenir stand). My little dolls house child (from a Josephine Parnell Kit) is happy to be sitting next to a toy scale King of Beasts.
Like most chenille stem or pipe cleaner animals, these little lions take very few materials and only a few minutes to make. Have fun, and reward yourself with a miniature lion the next time you bike!
Photo copyright 2009 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
Where to Find Scale Lumber for Miniature Projects
There's a wide range of fine scale timber and sheet wood suitable for miniature building projects, dollhouse furniture, model boats, and other miniature uses. Specialist scale lumber yards sell everything from tiny pieces of cherry wood ship grating to miniature furniture made from original wood from the H.M.S Victory or the Brighton Pier. A model builder shouldn't have to resort to 101 ways to stain basswood to look like exotic flooring. Find a specialist supplier and your imagination can take wing!
Wood is available in everything from raw blocks through to laser cut gingerbread detailing. Which wood is your favorite for miniatures? Where do you find it?
Printable Dollhouse Scale Souvenirs From Paris
French Dollhouse miniatures are popular. Printable souvenirs of Paris were requested so I've set up some files for flags, bumper stickers, T shirts, scarves, and postcards, along with some coordinating paper and fabric designs so you can make your own miniature mugs, shopping bags, and pillows. With Bastille Day on the 14th, and the Tour de France on daily for the next three weeks, you can send your doll's house residents on a French trip for the cost of printing paper.
These printables work well for French themed scrapbook layouts as well. With four scale sizes of printables you can mix and match fabric or paper scales to make a wide range of items. If you need more French miniatures the list on the site is growing:
- Printable French Themed Paper Plates and Cups
- Printable Bunting in Red, White and Blue
- Printable French Pastry or Bakery Boxes
- Printable French Themed Wallpapers or Fabrics
Photo copyright 2009 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
Mini Blacklights and Halloween Minis Hit the Stores
I'm always amazed that the day after everything red, white and blue goes on sale, it's time to start looking for Halloween items. Today my big box craft store has half their Halloween stock on display, including the Mini blacklights Lemax sell as purple lights. If you couldn't find any last year, start looking now!
These little floodlights are great for lighting miniature disco scenes, or anywhere you want glowing neon effects from bright white materials or items like fluorescent markers, even white paper like these printable ghosts. I'll start plotting and planning how I raise the scare factor this year, but I'm still not ready to jump right into Halloween yet. What about you?
Photo copyright 2009 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
Make Miniature Wobbly Jellies, Gelatin Desserts and Salads From Scenic Water
Jello and jellied salads are not anything I remember with fondness, but the first time I saw dolls house wobbly jellies, they caught my attention. There is something intriguing about a miniature dollhouse gelatin that wiggles realistically. These jellies are all made from Scenic Water, one of the many products for scale scenes made by Deluxe Materials.
Originally intended to replicate water in scale scenes, the low temperature melting resin has such a natural gelatin consistency that it is the go to product for miniature gelatins. It works easily with polymer clay, so you can add cut up carrots, raisins and cucumber to your jellied salads in miniature the same way you can in life. Like the real thing, it melts in sunlight, so keep your miniature jellies in a dust free, cool environment and bring them on for special celebrations in your dolls house.Photo copyright 2009 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
Use Wood Veneer Banding Tape for Small Scale Trims and Flooring
Finding wood trims to finish smaller scale buildings can be hard. If you want to try making something a bit longer lasting than cardboard trims, try using wood veneer edge banding This heat set tape is easy to cut and iron into place on quarter or O scale buildings and interiors. It is thin, pliable, and comes in a variety of widths and wood types.
You can also use the tape glued to itself to make smaller scale bookcases, table tops and other items. In larger scales it can be used for dolls house parquet or wood tiled floors. Then again, you can always use it for the use it was intended for, finishing the edges of shelves and other plywood structures, as it was used to finish the edges of the simple dollhouse / bookcase. In the next few weeks I'll be using it for the floors and trims of my Quarter Scale Corner Shop Kit. Watch for more photos!
Photo copyright 2009 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
Corner Shop Kit in Quarter Scale from Petite Properties
Fans of half scale are probably well aware of the entire towns created in this scale by Petite Properties, but now quarter scale builders can enjoy the same details in a new series of quarter scale kits the company is producing. These kits are priced reasonably, have simple, sturdy, precision cut parts, and include a booklet with details on how to create beautiful finishing details from air dry clay and card. With the widening range of quarter scale kits and accessories, this is a popular scale for small scale dolls houses, but is equally useful for O scale railroads, gamers, or anyone who wants to build a Christmas village.
The advantage of the Petite Properties kits is the amount of building and finishing techniques you learn from the kit's full color booklet. This is a great way to create your first building in this scale, the techniques you learn will be applicable to many other building projects.
Photo copyright 2009 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
Barbie Exhibit Opens Today at the Strong National Museum of Play
Today is opening day for the new America's Favorite Doll exhibit at the Strong National Museum of Play. More than 500 Barbies are on display, showing how the doll has evolved and changed over time, beginning with the German Bild Lillie doll that inspired the original Barbie. The exhibit includes a giant Barbie house where children can go to dress up, as well as a wide range of Barbie fashion and accessories, including her airplanes, boats, cars and campers and motorcycles.
Who Lives in Your Scenes?
I've been searching out more doll costume patterns recently like this elegant one from Cynthia Howe In looking for patterns it's interesting how many of them are for elegant female dolls or conversely servants. I've seen a few for knights, santas, doormen, butlers, and various historic periods, but clothing in general seems to be something many people leave to the pros. I'm wondering what types of figures do you use mostly for scenes? Do you make your own or buy them?
Just so you can see the wide range, here are a few of the sites that offer alternatives to standard doll figures
- Josephine Parnell's Dolls House Bears
- Jill Bennett's Character Dolls
- Rob Bennett's Busy Bodies in railroad scales
- Ladybug Fairies by Sue Twaite