It's alive!!!

After a couple days staring hopelessly at the Worthington, it's started telling me what it wants to be. It isn't whispering - it's shouting so loudly I can hardly think straight.

There is a famous chef married to a well-known author and they have a couple teenage kids. They bought the house for cheap and have spent the last few years restoring and modernizing the interior. A state-of-the-art kitchen with a bay window breakfast nook, an entertainment parlor with old-fashioned marble fireplace, a library with a fireplace and a book nook, a master suite, a guest suite, a rounded southern portico with widow's walk, a solarium, a small attic storage place, and a mud room / laundry room. I am kicking around the idea of a servant's staircase and a dumb waiter.


As for now, this is the color scheme and general idea for the kitchen.

Rockin'

I've spent a large portion of the last couple weeks working on laying rocks and grouting. This isn't the clearest picture, but it gets the idea across.

If you're wondering, the candlesticks were regular brass. I painted them with self-etching primer from Rustoleum (wrap the electric parts in masking tape first), then coated with matte black, and a coat of matte sealer. Later I dabbed them with a mixture of Americana acrylics in Bittersweet Chocolate and Fawn. I still have to work on the candles themselves, but I had to let the sticks dry for a couple days without touching them so all the paint wouldn't come off.

The wire that is hanging down in the firebox is from one of the candlesticks. It is now routed through the wall and taped down. To do the grouting and painting around the candlesticks, I left the wires loose through the hole so I could slide them in and out as I worked. By now, most of the interior walls are painted and sealed. I still need to seal and grout the base of the firebox before I can put the fireplace in permanently. As soon as it's glued in place I can add the side bricks before painting and sealing and grouting. After the grout is dry, I will cover the whole thing with matte sealer before I begin work on the second floor. 

Waiting in the wings...

I have plans to go pick up a new house tomorrow evening. This is the photo from the listing I found.

Some lovely people on the miniature forum kindly identified it for me as the Artply Worthington. It's about 4' wide and 29" high, so... big. I won't get to it for a while but... Maybe I'll have to bump the Victorian for this. I looked at the listing a few times and passed it by because I'm not a huge fan of Georgian mansions (because I'm a huge sucker for Victorians) and, quite frankly, I think the exterior is ghastly. But it's up for sale for $40, so... the worst that can happen is I'll ignore it and re-sell it in the future. But I'm finding that the more I look at it, the more it screams ideas at me and I'm getting really excited about it.

I've been hard at work on my HBS Creatin' Contest entry the last few days, but as it were, I can't show it. Truthfully, it may not be finished on time and I'm decidedly okay with that - plus it has a forever home in Florida as soon as I get it done and photographed so it's all good either way :-)

Also, I've been cutting egg carton bricks once in a while so I can build up my stash for my Victorian project, but that isn't anything to show just yet. 

So anyway, I just thought I'd drop in and update since I haven't been posting much. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Have a seat and stay a while

These are a table and chairs that were picked up in an antiques shop in North Carolina. Going to re-stain and re-upholster them and use them in my San Franciscan.

No other news to report currently, but I did work on exterior painting last week.

Framing Square - The San Franciscan

I made a little progress on my window frames yesterday morning, though it seems wood stain and sanding sealer don't play exceptionally well together- but the result has definitely given me some ideas for my F. W. Know / Old Hickory Tavern build I want to do in the future.

They are completely inappropriate for my San Franciscan at this stage so some experimenting is in order to get them the way they should be, but it's certainly useful knowledge for a run-down or abandoned house. 

I spent yesterday afternoon working on cutting out bricks for the foundation and chimney for the house. I haven't decided on a color for the brick work yet or if I'll do like some Victorian house owners and paint them to match or coordinate with the house. 

Each day I think "I should be able to get such-and-such amount done today" and then the kids need me, or a million other things come up, or I just don't work as fast as I think I should - so I've decided that I'm going to just take it as it comes, hope I get most of it done correctly on the first try, and enjoy the process a little more. If it takes years, it takes years. Over all, it will be a process of gaining a lot of experience, making an individual piece that's never been made, and eventually it will be fully finished. I am not in a race. I am not in a race. I am not in a race. 

I've Been Framed - The San Franciscan

My San Franciscan has 15 windows on the front. Each window has four pieces - two sliders that fit into the wall frame sections to allow the windows to move, and two front frames that sandwich the glass to the slider sections. So sixty pieces total that have to be trimmed, primed, sanded, and painted. I think I have almost all of them primed and now I'm moving on to trimming and sanding. I even got the first coat of paint on a few of them yesterday - I decided on a purple that was left over from recently painting my youngest daughter's bedroom as it goes perfectly with my other color choices.

I don't have pictures because everything still looks pretty much the same as it did last update, but hopefully as I get a few on them painted I can put them together and give them the leading and stained glass. Most old houses had rolled or cast plate glass windows, so I plan to do a bit of effect work for that too. I will probably do the windows as I get the frames put together just to break up the monotony of trim, sand, paint, repeat. I will take pictures during leading and staining, of course.

Anyway, that's what I got done yesterday. Exciting times ahead - I can feel it :)

Sands of Time

I spent most of yesterday doing laundry so I only got a short time in the studio. I didn't bother to take pictures since there would be no noticeable difference from my previous entry - but I've begun sanding the slider frames for the windows. It may be a couple weeks before they're all done as a lot of them are pretty rough after being punched out of the main piece boards.

That's all I've got for today. Hopefully more over the weekend or early next week. Thanks for stopping by.

Painted Lady - The San Franciscan

I spent most of my studio time yesterday painting exterior walls for my San Franciscan. First picture is a blurry shot, but it was taken simply to show my main color and one of the accent colors. In addition to the teal, I also have a cream color and I'm thinking about adding in a purple.

Second picture is most of the main exterior walls for the front (there are a few pieces not shown, but this is the gist of it). Still at least one more coat to be added.

This picture shows the primer on my window sills and frame pieces. I'm missing a window sill piece, but I'm pretty sure it's still in the main wood stack and I've simply forgotten to punch it out.

Now that most of these steps are done, I'll move on to dry-fitting and getting the interior floors marked for placement.

I do not like the big blank sides so I'll be adding a chimney to one side so I can put fireplaces in, and a bay window or two on the other side. I'm still debating whether the second floor will have a bay window or a balcony on top of the first floor bay window. 

Anyway, a little progress is better than no progress. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Thread Head

No post in a while, but I have been working on things. Most of the lights for my HBS competition piece are here and will be installed soon.

As for the other house, I have some tentative plans but am still in the process of deciding on lighting and I can't move forward with construction until lighting is taken care of. I could be working on painting the exterior of course, but I have A.D.D. (yes, really) and I get distracted easily. Also, I have a rug pattern printed out for the Victorian house. I'm going to do it in punch needle and I'm sure it will take ages but will hopefully be well worth it in the end. I plan to trim some of the edges so it isn't quite so huge but this is the general size. The pattern is from Urban Threads.

I spent most of last week working on replicating a gothic wedding cake in 1:12 scale for a new Etsy shop that will be opening soon. I have tools on order so I can start miniature flowers and things too. Just this morning I had a genius epiphany for some stonework that I want to experiment with also. So hopefully lots of new stuff to show in the coming weeks.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Queen Victoria

I spent most of the day yesterday working on my HBS Creatin' Contest piece, so nothing to report on the San Franciscan right now. I have a real desire to make a Tim Burton - inspired haunted / gothic / dark dollhouse and after careful consideration I've come to the conclusion that a Heritage, a Pierce, or a Beacon Hill are my favorite options for it. I've been looking at Heritage auctions on Ebay for an hour or so. I'm leaning toward the Heritage or the Beacon Hill for different reasons.

I've also got an itch to make miniature foods and things again, so I may do a little of that in between house building stages. Anyway, this was mostly an update to let it be known that just because there hasn't been much posted here the last couple days, I have been working like crazy on my projects. :-)

Stalemate - The San Franciscan

I seem to be nearing a speed bump in my San Franciscan construction. I've got a lot of ideas and the skills, but I'm at a crossroads of whether or not to make the inside of the house historically accurate or more modern. I've been slowly priming and painting the window frames and trim while I try to decide what to do. I have to decide before I can continue with construction because I have to have the house wired before I can do any permanent work.

I didn't work on it at all today because, on day four on constant howling wind, all my joints in my arms and legs were sore and screaming. So I took a nap. Now I'm getting ready to pack up and ship out a large Etsy order and head to the hobby store so I can buy some foam core for chimney and bay window mockups. Hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to write about tomorrow or Saturday.

A Painted House - The San Franciscan

I started dry-fitting today! The first picture shows the base (or "footprint" of the house. The beveled sides on the left are the front of the house. The second picture shows a picture of one boring, blank wall that I will be adding a chimney to. I took the second picture primarily as proof that I am, in fact, still working on it.

That streaky white on the walls is sanding sealer, not the paint I am using. At this stage it kind of reminds me of the house in John Grisham's "A Painted House". I have plans to add something to the other side wall that has nothing in it, but I'm not sure what's going to come of that yet. I've realized that the solid walls bother me considerably more than they did when I did a Dura-Craft house as a teenager. 

Anyway, this might be the last picture for a couple days. I'm going to make a major push to get the sides painted and stabilized before any more exciting news. 

Dramatic Distraction - The San Franciscan

There have been a lot of dramatic things happening at our house this week and I haven't gotten as much done on my San Franciscan as I would have preferred by now, but I have made some progress. All of the wall pieces are glued (which I'd hoped to have done by Wednesday but just finished yesterday) and most of them are primed and ready for sanding. Most of my window frames are primed and ready for sanding, then I can paint the frames and put the "glass" in and start the leading process.

So far, everything has been at a slow pace that I can mess with it as I have time, but now I'm coming up on the dry-fitting stage and that will need a considerable piece of time as I want to get the whole shell up in one go.

I've also decided it's time to put my desire to learn some woodworking into action and I'm going to (hoping to) build all my kitchen pieces from scratch and have working doors and drawers in all the cabinets. But of course, the house itself comes first. I have ages to work on the interior, so I'm trying not to get ahead of myself.

Anyway, here's a not-the-most-recent picture of some of my pieces with primer drying on them.

Strong Like Ox - The San Franciscan

I do not have any pictures today, but I wanted to stop by for a second to update that all but one of my walls are glued. They have to dry for 48 hours and then I can do the wood filler and sanding sealer. Hopefully the last wall will be done by tonight and I can move on to the next step for the walls by Friday.

I've been avoiding the corner post work because I really wasn't wanting to work on cutting all those big long strips of wood, but I cut them last night while Husband was out running errands for me. I glued most of those this morning - though I did glue one wrong and had to go back and pry the pieces apart with a butter knife and in turn I've learned that Gorilla wood glue sets up REALLY fast.

Just a couple more days until I can begin dry-fitting and exterior painting, hopefully!

Windows to the Soul - The San Franciscan

I worked yesterday on cutting the pieces for window jambs for my sliding window sashes. All of those parts and the door jambs for the outside doors are cut and in the beginning stages of priming. Half of one of my major side walls is glued and my outside wall edges are cut. Husband and I went to Home Depot yesterday for paint for the exterior of the house. I think, in the end, it will end up looking like an typical Easter egg Victorian (which is fine) and I'll have to save my gothic decor for another house. Luckily I already have another house picked out for when I get done with this one. We also picked up the base support board for the saloon and the Victorian, so I can start major construction as soon as I get the walls done.

Window and door jambs with fresh primer

Bright Beginnings - The Sanfranciscan

Welcome to my new blog all about miniatures. I built my first dollhouse about 13 years ago and did a couple rehabs after that, but nothing in at least ten years. So after many months of struggling with motivation and ideas, I decided to venture back to my first artistic undertaking and construct a dollhouse... or six... or twenty. We'll see what happens!

My starting project will be the Dura-Craft SF 555 San Franciscan with some minor modifications but no major bashing. I got it for a steal from a listing on craigslist about a week ago. 

Right after bringing it home - Phantom cat is very curious

Anyway, yesterday I finally really started on my house. This has been sitting in a box for close to twenty years - the wood is slightly warped and reeks of stale cigarette smoke, so I've got some wood glue, an army of clamps, various things to use as weights, and some sanding sealer painting primer to start with.

In the beginning, it was going okay - until I discovered that I don't have the finger strength to hold the pieces together and weight them to lay flat at the same time.

So I got clamps out. Then came a bunch of experimenting to see how to get the clamps on without letting the walls buckle all crazy-like. 

I have a backup plan though - if the walls are buckled when I go for the initial fitting (taping pieces instead of gluing), then I will add the wonky factor in and make it into an old rickety haunted house. So we'll see what happens. 

As for that front door piece that's out in the open when I'm nowhere near ready to use it, I'm going to finish the door early so I can make a stained glass window in the door using Glorious Twelfth's stained glass technique, and I started that earlier while I was waiting on other supplies I needed to get started.

So now we're off and rolling. Hopefully there will be more exciting things to report in the next few days.