Thank You!

I just wanted to offer a belated thanks for a few awards I've received:

Thanks Marlene!


Thanks Sans and Ara!

I'm so honored ya'll think my blog is cool, because I think you both have two of the coolest blogs around!

I think I'm supposed to award this to other blogs, but I'm not sure how many (Sans did 10; Ara did 3), so I'm just going to try to pick blogs it doesn't appear to have been awarded to yet:

First, to Teresa at Inside the Mind of a MiniMadWoman. Teresa's relatively new to the blogging world, but I've been a fan of her work for some time now. Check out her adorable houses, including Pennethorne Manor (my favorite!).

Next, to De, at De-Lightful Minis. She sometimes does several posts a day. I have no idea how she manages to be so productive!

Then, to Marlene, over at Somerset House. She's working on an 1820's townhouse, among other projects, and I just love her attention to detail!

Finally, to my sister, Amanda, at Amanda's Adventures in Sewing. Her blog's not about miniatures, but you should definitely check it out if you're at all interested in tailoring, fashion, shoes, witty writing or looking at pictures of cute girls modeling beautifully tailored clothing.

Dining Room Wall 2

Here's the second wall I've finished for the dining room. This one took less time and went much more smoothly than the first wall, both because it's simpler in design(the only panelling occurs in the wainscotting) and because I think I'm starting to get the hang of building these.
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I purchased the baseboards, chair rail molding and assorted parts for the crown molding, but I built the panelling myself out of 1/16-inch basswood. I also built the pediment over the door. Note how it matches the pediments over the china cabinet and the door to the butler's pantry. I purchased those pediments ready-made, but then couldn't find a similar one in the larger size I need for this door, so I ended up having to build my own. I'm pretty proud of it, actually.

The door leads out to the entrance hall. I was originally going to put double doors here, but I couldn't figure out which way they should swing; there just isn't a lot of clearance for swinging double doors on either side of the wall. Sometimes when I can't figure out how I'm going to do something, I try to forget about it and work on other things for a while, and then the answer just comes to me: pocket doors! They were quite common in Victorian architecture, and while Myrtlewood was originally built in the early 1800s, there's no reason her owners couldn't have installed pocket doors when renovating in the 1870s-80s.

Of course, now I have to tear out some of the framing and figure out how to build and install the doors so they slide in and out properly. Details!

Cellarette Redux

Some months ago, I built a little cellarette from a kit. As I mentioned in my previous post, I wasn't altogether happy with the way it turned out. I spent a little time recently reworking the piece and like it a lot more now.
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First, I added some higher-quality hinges to the lid so it would open and close without binding. Then I added a lock to the front and built and installed a divider in the main compartment, similar to those I've seen in pictures of real-life cellarettes.

I beveled the top ege of the lid for an overall less boxy appearance. This little detail isn't very noticeable from a distance, but I think it makes a big overall impact nonetheless.

I found these adorable little casters (the wheels really turn!) and added them to each leg.

Finally, I lined the drawer with green "leather" (actually, just some scrapbook paper I have in my stash).

I think it looks a lot more realistic now, and that's one of my main goals in my miniature endeavors. What do you think?

Dining Room: Built-in Cabinet

As you can see, I've finally finished the built-in china cabinet in the dining room.
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I completed the shelves and cabinet doors weeks ago, and thought I was nearly finished with it. When I tried to affix the hinges, however, I ran into one issue after another. They really are fiddly little things; here's a picture of one of them photographed with my thumbnail:

I promise you, I do not just have huge thumbs! They really are that tiny. The worst part, though, was getting them to stick to the cabinet walls; I've now learned that even superglue doesn't always like to stick to paint. From now on, I will be affixing hinges first, and painting later.

Anyway, when something is really frustrating me, I've found it helps to take a break from it for a little while, so I spent the last few weeks working on a few other projects, which I'll post soon. Sure enough, when I finally got back to the cabinet doors, they didn't seem so bad after all and I finished in a jiffy.

Oh dear. It looks like Mary has started putting some of the family's tableware away in the cabinet. Don't you think someone should tell her it's likely to get quite dusty from all the construction to come?

Mary Moves In

Meet Mary, the maid at Myrtlewood Manor (I seriously didn't name her for the alliterative effect, but it's kind of cool - perhaps I'll give all of Myrtlewood's inhabitants "M" names).
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My husband is rolling his eyes right now, because I swore up and down (rather vehemently, I admit) when I was planning Myrtlewood that I'd never have dolls. I still mostly feel that way - unless they're very well done (read, super expensive), dolls tend to ruin the realism of a miniature scene, to me at least. Strangely, I don't feel that way about miniature animals, just people.

Anyway, despite my aversion to placing dolls in my miniature scenes, I was having a bit of difficulty visualizing Myrtlewood's scale: Is the dining room actually large enough to seat 10 people and have others moving around to serve them? Are these doorways tall or wide enough? How high up should I afix the candle sconces?

To aid in such visualization, I purchased a very cheap 1:12 scale doll off eBay. She was advertised at 5 1/2 inches, but when you add her heels and rather ridiculous hairdo, is almost 6 inches. That equals 6 feet in 1:12 scale, which is taller than most men of that time period! So Mary's a little taller than I bargained for, but that's okay - I didn't pay very much for her, and I figure if she fits well into a scene, it's probably close enough in scale.

Thus, Mary will be residing at Myrtlewood for now, cleaning up construction dust, and appearing in photographs now and then. Poor dear, I fear it may be several years before she actually gets a roof over her head, though.

Panelling, Texas Belle Style

In a previous post, I promised to explain how I achieved the panelling effect on the dining room wall I built. There are probably easier ways to do this, so please let me know if you've developed a simpler technique.

Texas Belle's procedure for tackling a project:
1. Decide you want to do something that you've never done before, don't know how to do and have no business doing;
2. Think, draw and research A LOT to come up with every possible way under the sun to accomplish it;
3. Figure out which way will be the most difficult and complex; and
4. Pick that one. And strongly advocate that everyone else do the same.

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Still with me? Well, you've been warned.

Before we start, I want to note that there are several companies that manufacture 1:12 scale wainscotting, out of resin generally. None of these worked for me, as I really need custom sizes to fit between all of my windows and doors. Also, I want some of my walls to include matching panelling on the upper portion of the wall, as you see on the dining room wall and, as far as I can tell, that's not available commercially. Plus, I just derive a lot of enjoyment out of building most of my own stuff, and it ends up much cheaper, too.

Okay, let's get started. For this project, you'll need posterboard (I use 1/16 inch), 1/16 inch basswood sheets, and 1/16 inch quarter round molding.

I drew the entire wall out to scale on graph paper first, which really helped me to figure out where to place each panel (so they would be even with each other and ultimately visually pleasing) and the trim.

As I explained before, I built the wall out of posterboard and basswood sheets. All the white recessed parts of the panelling you see in the picture above are posterboard, and all the raised parts are basswood. I was able to use posterboard for the recessed parts because I painted the entire wall; if you're doing stained wood panelling, as I plan to do in the library, I think it would be best to use basswood for both the recessed and raised parts.

After trimming the basswood sheets to cover the entire wall, as discussed in my previous post, cut rectangles out of the basswood where you plan to place each panel. These holes should be aproximately 1/16 inch larger on all sides than you want the actual finished opening to be. Save the rectangles you cut out, because you'll use them to form the interior portion of each panel (and you might want to lightly label them in pencil, too, so you'll know later which one goes with which hole).

Once you've cut out the rectangles, you can glue the basswood to the posterboard. Then trim around the interior of each rectangle with 1/16 inch quarter round molding, mitered at each corner.


This is indeed a tedious process, but I find it doesn't require a lot of concentration, so I knocked out a panel or two each night watching the news. If you're like me, there will likely be some small spaces between the basswood and the quarter round molding because you didn't cut the basswood exactly straight. That's no problem, though, because they pretty much disappear when you sand the whole thing smooth.

Then take the cutout "panels" you saved and match them up with their corresponding holes. You'll notice they're now 1/8 inch wider and longer than the holes, because of the quarter round molding, so now we need to reduce them. I wanted about 1/16 of the recessed part of the posterboard to show around each panel, so - doing the math - I needed to reduce my panels by 1/8 inch on each side. Doubling that so I only have to make two cuts (one for the length and one for the width), I reduced each panel by 1/4 inch along adjacent sides (top or bottom AND left or right).


You could just center and glue the panels at this point, and that would probably look pretty good. I suspect I may be physically incapable of doing such a thing, however, as I was certain it would look better if I beveled around the edge of each panel. To bevel the panels, I simply held an emery board lengthwise along each side of each panel and sanded at an approximate 45 degree angle. This took a long time to accomplish, but is another process that doesn't require a lot of concentration, so I did it mostly while watching TV or listening to the radio. Once you've beveled each panel, just center and glue it in the corresponding opening.

I'll let you decide whether the extra time and trouble is worth the effort - for me it was, and I plan to bevel the rest of the panelling throughout Myrtlewood.

There you have my panelling technique. It's admittedly tedious and requires a bit of planning and measuring, but I'm quite pleased with the results. I hope it works for you, too.

Ballroom Columns

I plan for Myrtlewood's ballroom to be quite grand and, in keeping with its general Greek revival style, wanted to include columns marking the transition from the ballroom to the music alcove. I think I've seen some for sale on specialty miniatures websites, but I'm really trying to make as much on my own as I can (and saving money never hurts, either!). So I made these columns out of some wedding cake decorations, polymer clay and wood blocks.
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I found these Wilton wedding cake columns - four for about $5.00 - and thought they were absolutely perfect! They're only 7 inches tall, however, and a quick internet search showed they're the tallest Wilton makes. I needed columns at least 8 inches tall for my plans, so I decided to raise them using wood blocks. The blocks looked a little plain, however, so I decided to glamorize them a bit.

I used polymer clay and this nifty mold to create raised flourishes for the sides of the columns. This is a great use for scrap clay, by the way; I used up a fair amount of all the scraps I had from my marbling experiments.

As you can see, I simply glued the clay (after oven hardening) to the wood blocks, glued the columns on top and painted everything white.


This worked out so well that I'm considering ways to use polymer clay for other architectural embellishments at Myrtlewood.

Dining Room: Fireplace

I've been really busy lately with family visits, work and springtime gardening, among other things, so I'm afraid I've been neglecting this blog a bit. I have managed to squeeze in a few projects in Myrtlewood Manor, though, which I plan to post over the next few days.

Last month, I finished a fully panelled wall for the dining room. This was my first wall, and probably one of the most difficult to make, but that's pretty much my personality - pick the absolute most difficult project to try first. (The easier stuff is boring, you see!) The wall was missing a door (into the butler's pantry), the fireplace and the built-in cabinet. As you can see, I've finally finished the fireplace.
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I added some molding to create the fireplace surround.

I created the interior of the fireplace from posterboard, braced with basswood, and bricked it using cardboard egg carton "bricks" and mortar.

I made the "marble" hearth from polymer clay and trimmed it out with 1/16 quarter round molding.


I think it turned out pretty well!

I've been working on the built-in cabinet to the left and am almost done; I'll post pictures of that once it's complete. It has cabinet doors on the bottom, and the hinges are a bit tricky to work with, but I think I've about figured it out.

Wall Building

Before beginning construction on Myrtlewood, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to build the walls. My major goals here were to get as realistic a look as possible while keeping weight at a minimum. I thus settled on a construction technique similar to that of a real house: framing and drywall, using 1/4" stripwood for the framing and 1/16" posterboard as the drywall. I've now built my first wall, which I discussed in my last post. The wall is fully panelled, built completely from posterboard, basswood and purchased mouldings, and looks pretty realistic, I think.
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First, I measured and cut out posterboard to fit the specifications for the wall I wanted to build. I cut out openings for the door, china cabinet and fireplace, and then framed them using stripwood. I used 1/16" basswood for the panelling, which I measured, cut out and glued onto the posterboard.

I developed a method for creating the beveled panelling on this wall, which I intend to use throughout the house, but I'll detail that in another post.

I made the plinth blocks (at the bottom of each strip of casing) myself from stripwood, but used purchased mouldings for the baseboard, chair rail, door casings and crown moulding. I'd like to think that I could create these myself given the right tools and about 100 years, but they only cost between $0.50 and $1.50 a foot (and I only need 4-5 feet of each to complete the dining room), so I consider that money well spent.

Once I had all pieces of moulding measured and cut, I glued them in place.

Now comes the tedious part. I spent at least twice as long sanding, wood filling, priming and finishing the wall as I did in the initial building phase. I used a coat of primer and three coats of paint, and I'll probably add another coat of paint just because I'm a perfectionist.

That's it! This took me about 2 1/2 weekends to complete. I don't expect most of the other walls to take me so long, because I don't plan on fully panelling the others or creating many more built-in cabinets. It's very typical of me, though, to start out with the hardest project first!

First Wall

Now that I've finished all the floors on Myrtlewood's first floor, I'm moving on to building the walls. Actually, I'm putting off the windows, which I still haven't figure out how the heck I'm going to build.
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Here's a wall I've put together for the dining room.

Over to the right is a door leading to the butler's pantry.

To the left is a china cabinet which will eventually display fine china and other tableware. In between is the opening for the fireplace.

I still need to build and hang the doors for the lower part of the cabinet, build and hang the door to the butler's pantry, and build the fireplace interior, but I think this is a pretty good start.