New Arrival

A month or so ago, I had a birthday, in celebration of which my mother sent me a card and a check. Now, normally I very responsibly (and boringly) just pay bills with birthday money, or save it for some future use. But my mother specified that I was to use it to purchase something for Myrtlewood Manor. And it's not nice to disappoint one's mother, is it?

Mom, I know you mentioned that I should maybe buy a working clock (and I do want one of those eventually; just haven't figured out which kind yet), but I've had my eye on something for a long time that will remind me much more of you.
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This is a Heidi Ott working sewing machine, which just arrived in the mail today. The little treadle pumps up and down, turning the wheel on the right and causing the needle to move up and down. There's no place to actually thread the needle (which isn't all that sharp, actually), so it won't actually sew (so maybe "working" is a bit misleading), but I just love all the moving parts.

I also bought the matching bench, which opens for storage. I think this machine and bench are a lot like the ones my grandmother had when I was little, at least I remember being fascinated by the "secret" storage in the bench.

Thanks so much for my birthday gift, Mom! And, because I got this on sale, I think I still have nearly enough to purchase that clock, too, once I finally figure out which one I want, that is.

Status Update (and I've Been Tagged!)

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I'm having major computer problems. My laptop decided to stop recognizing my profile quite suddenly one evening. Apparently, there's not a lot we can do aside from saving all the information on my computer, then wiping it clean and starting anew with a new profile. So I've been organizing and saving as much as I can on an external drive. We're still working through the various problems, but I think I've finally figured out a workaround so I can get back to posting.

A few weeks ago, I was tagged by George the Miniguy, who has an amazing blog detailing the various houses he's built. If you haven't had a peek, you really, really should. His craftsmanship is remarkable and his houses and furniture are stunning. According to the rules of the "tag," I'm supposed to pick six other blogs I find interesting and then name six things that make me happy (whoever came up with this was quite the taskmaster, wasn't he/she?).

Being late to the party, it seems as though lots of other blogs have already received this tag, so no one I'm going to mention should feel obligated to do this again. Here are my "six":
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Sans, at Dollhouse Diaries, does amazing things in miniature with seemingly very little and comes up with the most hysterical stories about them. Sans, if you're not using creative writing in some way professionally, you definitely should be.

Ara's Addams Family Mini-Mansion is coming along quite nicely, and I suspect she's having a ball dreaming up all her fantastical and slightly macabre creations. I was a big fan of the Addams family when I was younger (I even dressed up as Morticia one year in high school), so I'm a little envious she came up with this idea first!

Ara's also working on Bentley Manor, where she'll stage a Clue murder mystery. I love, love, love the idea of this and cannot wait to see what she comes up with.

Check out all the lovely minis over at O Mundo de Zaphia. The blog is in Portuguese (I think), but the beautiful pictures require no translastion.

Visit the English Tudor Dollhouse All things Mini is building. I love the realism of the entire house, especially the kitchen.

Christine at Dandelion Fair makes the most adorable little creatures with the sweetest expressions. Puppies and tigers and bears, oh my!

Now, for six things that make me happy:

1. My family and friends
2. My garden in the spring and fall (in the summer, it's a jungle!)
3. My fluffy furbabies, who like to "help" me in the garden
4. My local hardware store; I have become a toolaholic
5. Homemade macaroni and cheese
6. The miniature blogging community (that's all you guys!), who help me to feel not quite so all alone in my enjoyment of this hobby

Inspiration: Real-Life Southern Plantation Houses

I'm currently experiencing technical difficulties with my computer and thus can't post pictures of anything I've been working on lately. While my computer guru (aka my husband) sorts through my computer's various issues, I thought I'd post a few pictures of my inspiration for Myrtlewood.
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Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, Louisiana:


Houmas House, Darrow, Louisiana:

Dunleith Plantation, Natchez, Mississippi:

Drayton Hall, Charleston, South Carolina:

Belle Mead Plantation, Nashville, Tennessee:

I have long been enamored with these southern beauties. When I decided I wanted a dollhouse, I knew it would have to be a southern plantation house. There just aren't many kits out there in this style, though, which is one of the reasons I decided to build my own. My plan is for Myrtlewood to look very similar to the first three homes pictured above, except that it will have columns and porches across the front only, rather than all the way around (wrapping them all the way around would greatly impede access to the interior, unfortunately). At some point, I'll try to post the plans I've drawn up.

Hopefully, my computer will be "cured" in the next week or so, and then we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Globe Makeover

I've been having a lot of fun lately taking inexpensive, mass-produced miniatures and remaking them into miniatures with a more unique look. Here's a globe I finished recently.
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Here's the gobe I started out with - I bought it for US$6-7 on eBay.

Now, to me, this piece looked much too modern for Myrtlewood, so I had to "antique" it a bit.

First, I carefully took everything apart and stripped the finish off the wood. Then I restained all the wood and applied a satin finish. This by itself greatly changed the look of the piece.

I replaced the gold bead feet with mini casters. I absolutely love these little casters! They made their first appearance on my cellarette, and will probably find their way onto several pieces in the future. If you want the piece to roll, be careful to apply all the casters facing the same way. While they actually roll (which I love!), mine at least do not swivel, so they must all face the same direction.

Then I got creative and decided to redo the globe itself. To maintain accuracy, I can't have a modern-day globe in an 1880s library! First I searched out antique globe gores on the internet, resized them on my computer, printed them, cut them out, and carefully glued them over the top of the globe. The result was too horrible to photograph. The paper would not lay flat against the globe, and the more I fiddled with it, the lumpier it got!

I finally chucked the whole thing and started over with a 1 1/4" wood ball, which fortuitously was just the right size. I drew on all the continents by hand and then painted them. This was a laborious process that I do not care to repeat, but I think the end result looks nice, and I'm glad I did it. To me, the globe looks a lot more Victorian, and isn't too recognizable as the modern piece I started with. What do you think?

Books: First Attempt

In the comments to my last post, a few people asked how I was planning to fill all the empty shelves in my bookcases. Realizing this was a sensible question, I decided to try my hand at making miniature books. These are my first attempts.
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I plan to eventually use many different materials and make lots of different sizes of books, so I should have a lot of variety on these shelves. I'll probably buy some, too. I have a lot of shelves to fill!

Library: Bookcases

I'm taking a break from the dining room for a while and working on the library at Myrtlewood Manor. As you can see, I've built a wall of bookcases.
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I didn't build these entirely from scratch; I started with some unfinished bookcases I purchased on sale for about $6.00 each.

I added baseboards, plinth blocks, fluted casing and crown molding on the top. Then, because they were only 7" tall and I wanted them to go all the way up to the ceiling, I built the extensions on the top. For the top, I tried to mimic the construction of the bottom bookcases; it's not exact, but pretty close. I cut the arches using my scroll saw, and it is evident to me that I need a LOT more practice with this tool. It took me several attempts to get those arches even.

I'm still trying to decide whether to add cabinet doors to the bottom two shelves of each bookcase. It would involve working with those fiddly little hinges again, but it might look really good. Let me know if you have any thoughts either way.

I plan to add a brass rail about 7" up and build a ladder that hooks over it and rolls along the length of the shelves. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that, but I have some ideas.

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?