Sundial & Birdbath

A few months ago, I bought a matching pair of pedestal sundial and birdbath by Mark Evans of Island Crafts and Miniatures. They are cast in heavy gun metal and finished to look like aged bronze.

They were listed at $15 (+$2.79 s&h).

Painting the Bricks

I have finally painted the bricks after four years; I had finished sculpting the brickwork right before I had my son. The walls are parchment -- warmer than the natural color of paper clay. The brick borders around the windows are now rusty red. I am not sure how I feel about the color scheme yet. I was so used to the white.

 

This is a house in our neighborhood that inspired the colors.

 

Working Grandfather Clock

I have been away from mini-making for a long time. I was sick since last November, and had to undergo surgery which kept me home for six weeks this summer. I ended up buying way too many miniatures on eBay -- will share photos when I can.

One of my most favorite finds was the working grandfather clock kit by Arrow Handicraft Corp. The kit was from circa 1975, and the clockwork is still working after 40 years.

The glue and the stain was obviously dry, but the rest of the kit was intact. I had so much fun building the kit!

I love watching the pendulum swing ... so mesmerizing!

The Adventures of Moving a Dollhouse

We moved the dollhouse to our new house, but the base was too big to pass through the doorway of the inner rooms. My previous house had an office with French doors, so I did not need to worry about the size of the dollhouse. But the new house has narrow doorways which are about 32 inches wide I believe.

I had to cut the base of the dollhouse on one side. It felt horrible because I spent so much time creating the perfectly even lawn only months ago. But leaving the dollhouse out in the family living room was not an option either. I had too many close calls from toddler nieces and nephews who have not mastered the concept of playing "gently."

Even after cutting the base, we had to take the door off the hinges so that the dollhouse would pass through into one of the smaller bedrooms which we are using as our office/workroom. 

Dancing in the Courtyard

We moved houses recently. The Garfield arrived safely at the new house, but with its base, it is too wide to pass through the smaller work-room door. Right now it is in the living room, which makes me nervous due to the small nieces and nephews I have visiting sometimes. My three-year old has left it alone so far, and I hope, will continue to do so until I find a safer place for it.

No new photos of the dollhouse to share for now, but I did take photos of my dolls in the courtyard of the Garfield a few months ago, so I thought I'd share them here too. I do love the how the tiles look.

Herringbone Brick Pathway

I settled on a herringbone brick pattern for the pathway that leads to the front stairs. At first I thought I would use sand to create a cemented pathway, but I like this so much better!

Right now the brick is white, but I need to decide on a color eventually. I am leaning more towards gray tones than red. Maybe I should create test strips of paper clay brick and experiment with colors.

Dining Room

Pretty sparse right now. You can see the what-not stand in front of the staircase. Wanted to share the photo.

Beef Stew & Potatoes ~ Naomi O'Farrell

I bought these prep boards by Naomi O'Farrell in 2008. They are very dear to me. I am not sure if Naomi makes these anymore, but I wish I had more of her work in my collection.

Kitchen Shelves and Copper Pots

The shelves that were assembled over winter break are now in the Garfield kitchen. The two shelves are in the back, and the spice chest is beside the stove.

I bought a set of old copper pots for $5.99 on eBay. They came glued to a display shelf which was too big for the dollhouse.

I love the aged patina on them. They look like they are regularly used in the kitchen! My favorites are the two karahis on the top; they are traditional south Asian cooking pots, and fit in with the Asian theme of the dollhouse.

Chrysnbon Furniture

I love the details on Chrysnbon furniture kits. I love painting them, assembling them ... I love it all!

Months ago, I bought some Chrysnbon furniture from eBay. I bought the prebuilt tea-cart and china shelf for $3.74 and got the kit for the what-not stand, phone and spice chest for $8.50.

The what-not kit was old, and the paint that came with it had dried up. Also, the preassembled tea-cart and shelf came unpainted.

So I used chocolate acrylic paint, and when the paint dried, I used a thin coat of wood varnish to bring out the wood-grain texture of the furniture. I used a darker brown on the tea-cart.

Then I remembered that my aunt had given me a plastic dollhouse shelf a long time ago. It probably belonged to my baby cousin at some point, but now she is a beautiful young lady, and has no use for plastic dollhouse furniture I assume.

It was a pasty tan color, and had plastic tabs that extended out from the back of it.

I decided to cut off the extra plastic bits so that the shelf could be glued flat onto the wall. I used the same chocolate paint, so that the color would match the Chrysnbon furniture. With the carved details, this random shelf blends right in with the rest of the furniture.