"All good things take time..." As we all know, all too well - that goes for small things too but I have finally managed to finish the rug for T. Tjørngren's living room. 

I hate to think how long it took me and after all that, you can hardly see it with the furniture in place.

Up until then, he had been borrowing a smaller rug that I embroidered years ago, but this one is a much better fit. 

I couldn't find a rug pattern I liked to the dimensions I needed so I made the pattern or chart using a free online program that I have now happily forgotten what was called.  

The next bit might not mean an awful lot for those of you who don't stitch, but I thought I would share it anyway. Rather than using silk gauze which is most often used for miniature needlepoint, I have worked this rug in full cross stitch onto calico (quilter's muslin). 1) I didn't have any silk gauze; 2) the calico I did have, had a weave similar to Aida cloth only very tiny, making it ideal for mini stitching; 3) by stitching on calico, I was able to make nicely fringed ends which is not really possible with gauze, I don't think. 

I almost regretted using this fabric halfway more than once while stitching it because working full cross stitch instead of petit point, means twice as many stitches - As if there wasn't enough already!

Here you can see it in all its mini glory. Now that it is done, I am so happy, I persevered. 

~ ~ Back in the Loft ~ ~ 

There was so much clutter on top of the chest of drawers, that I made Karl Johan a small shelf to hang above it. Not that he has a lot of stuff, but at least he can now put his toiletries a bit more out of the way.  

So what was the plan for the small drawers? As you can see, Karl Johan has pulled one out and just piled the contents into the empty hole.

Huibrecht was absolutely right when he guessed it had something to do with birds. You see, Karl Johan had found a nest with two tiny baby birds that had blown out of a tree...

He brought the nest home and the only thing suitable he could find to put the nest in was of course his top drawer. Very sensibly has has lined it with a bit of news paper.

To make sure the wee babies stay nice and warm, the drawer sits on the floor next to the stove. I am not sure what he intends to do once they get bigger and start to move about - for now it is ok, cause they are tiny....

... yes, very, very tiny. That big, fat finger is my pinkie. It was fiddley and fun to make. I wasn't even sure if I could pull it off. I haven't made nests.. or birds.. or any animal for that matter before... so what on earth was I thinking? 

My wee birds are fare from perfect. The beaks are wonky and they don't have any legs but overall it they worked out better than I had hoped. I guess sometimes you just have to dive in and give it a go and see what happens. That is what I love so much about making tiny things.

On that note; I have started something new... but I will start a fresh post for that.

Until then - take care and thanks for stopping by.

Anna X

Into the loft

I have been tinkering. 

In fact the loft room has been looking kind of finished for some time. As you would know, there are always little details that can be added, played with and changed, but overall it now looks and feels how I had imagined.

It is a basic room. Karl Johan who lives here is not home much. He is a bright lad and came to town to study, so is lodging in the attic room of T. Tjørngren - the thing is, Karl Johan would much rather be out bird watching than spend time studying and it looks like he was down in marsh again this morning before class because is old pants have been hung to dry in front of the stove.

At the back of room, under the rafters is the sleeping quarters. Karl Johan is quite untidy, and making the bed is not a priority, but I do wish he would stop just slinging his nightshirt onto the bed when getting dressed in the morning. 

Modeled on traditional Danish beds, the little bed is the first piece of furniture I made from scratch for this house. 

I didn't take any photos while making the bed or bedding. The bed itself is made mostly from card stocks, with bits of turned banister for the legs and a length of fine wooden molding for the trim one the side. 

the bedding is made from old hankies - the lightweigth, well-washed cotton lending itself perfectly to old linen. Not sure if I was slightly mad when  spending an evening stitching the pulled thread border on the quilt cover. 

To be able to shape the messy quilt, I knitted the inner in thick soft wool, mixed with a length of super fine beading wire. It seems to do the trick. 

The little chest at the end of the bed is a really special piece. It was made as a special gift for Karl Johan from his 'uncle' Sam (Samantha Burns of Blueprint Minis) to house his collection of eggs and feathers. 

At one side of the small room is the 'kitchen' quarters. The table is a super cheap from the dollar shop, aged and roughed up. The accessories still need a bit of work but amongst the stuff is a little golden cup and blue frying pan from my childhood.

The stove is a Chrysnbon kit that I had great fun aging and wiring up. It was my first attempt at this kind of work and I was so thankful to find Brea's great tutorials on Otterine. 

Anything electrical still scares me, so no need to tell you how excited I was when the flickering lights actually worked.

At the opposite side of the room, is a small chest of drawers. This side of the room still needs a bit of work; it needs a mirror, perhaps a small stool...  

The chest is built from scratch. I had another, really pretty chest that was the perfect size but fare to 'nice looking' for the loft and I soon realized that finding a smallish chest kit was not easy so I built this one based on the same measurements. I have plans for one of the small top drawers...

The latest and last addition to the loft room is outside the window.

As I mentioned, Karl Johan is an eager bird watcher so of course he will do anything to attract them to his humble abode. 

I have come the conclusion that as much as I love trying my hand at almost anything, I might leave any kind of food making to all of those amazingly talented miniature food artists out there. I felt terrible 'butchering' a beautiful apple made Maria of SolsCreationsAU and tasty looking slice of bread by Bella of belladOllas (both on Etsy) but I think it looks inviting enough so that, hopefully, a bird or two will find its way to the feeder.  

I hope you are all keeping well and safe, and thank you for stopping by. 

Anna X

Hanging curtains

 This weekend, I finished installing the curtains in the apartment.

Unlike all the dollhouse kits I have seen, the spacing between windows in old Danish houses is really narrow. At times no more than 50cm (20"), which translates to just 2mm (3/4"), which is the spacing I had made for The Toy House apartment. 

With such a narrow space between the windows, I had to be quite selective when it came to curtains, so that they wouldn't look too bulky. I have known all along that I was going (somehow) have semi-shear white lace curtains over roller blinds, which was really common for window treatment.

To make the curtains, I bought 10cm (4") wide Swiss embroidered edging lace. It is basically a Swiss voile with a machine embroidered edge. The beauty of it for this project is the fine, lightweight cotton, which draws up to fine, soft gathers beautifully. 

I cut the piece into the six lengths, pressed and handstitched the seams. Yes, you read correctly - handstitched! I know, slightly nuts, but I really don't like the stiffness of glued hems.

I then gathered up the top of each curtain before pinning the drapes into place and giving them a good dose of spray starch and leaving them to dry. 

While the curtains were drying, I made the blinds to go behind them (and of course forgot to take photos). They are basically a bit of fabric, rolled up around a toothpick, cut to length and a wee bit of string attached to the lower edge. You can just see a glimpse of them in the picture.

To assemble the whole thing, I cut three pieces of foamcore the same width as the windows. I glued a blind onto each piece. Once that and the curtains were dry, I glued a pair of curtains onto the front of each piece.

Then I cut a strip of balsa wood, slightly wider than the card pieces and about 1.5cm (5/8") longer than the trio of windows. This piece would both enable me to install the three sets of curtains nice and level, but also provide support for a pelmet.

I hope that all makes sense. You can kind of see how all the layers work in the picture above.

After debating about what to do for the pelmet for a bit, I decided to embroider one. I had (very brief) look around for a suitable ribbon, but an embroidered one would be nicely in line with the 'hand craft' movement of the time. 

 

I embroidered a strip of simple daisies. These are simple stitches (chain stitch, stem stitch and French knots), but I admit the size makes it a little bit fiddly. 

Once done, I cut it out and glued it over a piece of firm card. Before I glued the covered card onto the balsa strip, I stained the top of the wood to look like untreated, aged oak - now it just needs the dust to settle and it will look rather authentic LOL.

I am still undecided about curtain tiebacks. In some ways, it would make sense, but I don't want these windows to look too formal, and looking at photos it was rather common to have the curtains loose and just draw them back around the edge of the window sill... not sure yet. 

I hope you are having a lovely week everyone and hopefully find some time to mini.

Anna X

From wood to terracotta

I have just realized, I completely forgot to show you how my roof tiles turned out. 

Pale wood beading has been turned to 'terracotta tiles'. I really enjoyed the process of these make-believe tiles and am really happy with how it has turned out. 

I started by giving the entire roof an undercoat of black gesso. I wish, I had remembered to take a photo. I think, I am in love with black gesso - it looked amazing! It made me want to build a house with glazed black tiles.

My thinking behind using black instead of the usual white, was that black would tone down and 'dirty' the terracotta paint rather than making it bright as a white undercoat tends to do. In the picture above, the tiles had had just a single coat of terracotta over the black. 

The 'ridge tiles' are made from a length of 'half-round' wood beading with narrow card strips glued over the top for the individual tiles. 

A second coat of paint and the tiles are starting to look like terracotta, but now it was too clean and uniform for an old house so...

Back to the painting. For this last coat, I painted the tiles one by one, randomly mixing the paints, most burnt sienna, with bits of red and various browns thrown in for good measure.

I have never attached the roof to the house. I was going to, but it just rests nicely onto the house, fitting into two notches, so I am not sure I will ever hinge it. One thing is for certain; it came in really handy to be able to lift it off and work on it. 

Next up was the zink flashing. This is just thick foil painted with silver acrylic paint a trick I found in 

'The big book of a miniature house' by Lea Frisoni. I was glad that I had painted plenty of foil because it took quite a few trails before I worked out how to get the foil strips to fit in and around the ridges in the tiles. 

Note to self: use heavier foil in the future.

In the end, I worked out a rough template. It is not perfect, but it looks ok for an old roof. 

After that was all glued in place, I 'dirtied' and weathered the whole roof. It might need a bit of dirt and grime and I am toying with the idea of moss growing here and there. We'll see...

So will I do this kind of roof again? I think it works, so I am pretty sure I will. 

But next time, I might like to try and find a wood beading with a slightly more shallow profile so that I can get a neater finish on the zink. And - if the house is any bigger than this one, I just might have to invest in a better saw (read 'something electrical'), because I am not sure, I would want to cut any more tiles than this by hand. 

And so - I think the house itself is finally finished. Is a house ever really finished? 

There are still empty shelves in the shop, the curtains in the apartment needs to be hung and Truffle is still waiting for his basket. But the house itself is finished. 

Have a great weekend everyone,

Anna X

Toys for the Toy House shelves

Four months ago, I (mostly) finished the exterior of my little Toy House. I felt, I was on a real roll and so excited about how it was all coming together. What happened, you may wonder? 

I have been tinkering a little bit, but haven't made any major progress. Having said that, the shelves in the shop are filling slowly with toys that I have gathered so far. Some I have bought, some are made from kits and some from scratch.

I thought I would start listing them here as a way to somehow log what they all are so that I can look back and remember what they all are when where I found them. 

These three little pieces are some of my oldest tiny toys. I bought and painted them.. many, many moons ago. I am guessing they are phoenix miniatures. I rediscovered them in a box when I was cleaning out the shed and almost threw out - before deciding to play with them instead. 

I painted this family of teeny wild animals more recently. As you can see, they are the tiniest of tiny. The Ark is from a very basic little kit. I made groves in sides and roof to add just a bit of details before painting it.

The toys look cute when piled in on the shelf. Time will tell if they stay there. 

The polar bear is just a cheap plastic micro mini - I think he might need a bow around his neck to make him look a bit more friendly. 

The Humpty Dumpty Circus boxes at the back are made with the graphics from original lids that I found online and scaled down. 

One day, I might like to make some tiny Humpty Dumpty circus figures to go in the boxes.

Some of the first toys, I made from scratch are these three. It started with the monkey seesaw, made mostly from paper, with a little bit of balsa for them to sit on and pins for the mast and for securing the wheels. The little seesaw boat is made from a bit of balsa with the tops of fancy toothpicks for the little sailors. 

I love antique toys, so I have had a lot of fun looking for ideas for toys to make for the little shop. So when I saw this pull-along monkey, I just had to make one like that too.  

Another paper toy - a tiny merry-go-round. I found this brilliant download and tutorial HERE. Although it is in French, the pictures are excellent so it is pretty easy to follow. 

Next a few little dolls made from kits from Tower House Dolls (the website is currently under reconstruction). The larger doll was a full kit and my first attempt. For the slightly smaller doll, I just got the porcelain doll and made up the costume from silk ribbons and fine lace trim. I am not overly excited about the hair, but it will do (for now).

I had so much fun making these little ladies and I can highly recommend Sandra's kits if you are ever looking for a really special mini doll for your mini people. 

The dolls house is also from a kit - well partly. This one  is from Jacominis. The print is really excellent, but I was so disappointed when I discovered the beautiful front was just to be glued onto a wooden block! That wouldn't do. 

After a bit of trail and error, I managed to create a paper interior on the computer, that when folded made four rooms. Looking at the photo, I now see the front edges are a little bit wonky (another thing I need to fix) but I still prefer this to a wooden block. Notice the wallpaper in the upstairs bedroom is a scaled down version of the living room above the toyshop :-)

I have been looking for some 1:144 furniture, but have yet to buy some to fill the house. 

There are many more toys on the shelf already, perhaps I need to pull them out and log them shelf by shelf. 

Take care everyone,

Anna 

Stacking boxes & Bashing a stove

It finally happened last weekend... 

I stacked my three boxes and had a house. 

There is still a bit of construction to do, before I can attach the front, but at least it is now all stuck together and is looking more like a house.

The apartment on the first floor has been almost like this for quite some time, but I wasn't able to attach the ceiling light until now, which is why I didn't share it earlier. 

The other reason was that I was really unhappy with the stove I had. 

The resin stove was one of my early purchases and it was just too shiny and 'resin' looking. Besides, most Danish stoves were round (as I found out later). For my mini budget, this was not a cheap purchase, but he more I looked at it, the more wrong it looked and it was putting me completely off finishing it room. Until...

... I came across this picture from Fjellerup Østergaard (I of course forgot to save the link to the page where I found it) and it made me think that I might be able to 'up-cycle' my little stove to something I felt more happy with.

I liked the idea of a some kind of urn-looking decoration on top of the stove (a pot belly just didn't quite cut it). Without any exact plan for how I was going to make a 'cast-iron-urn' I pulled out a few different timber turnings and cut a few bits and pieces.

It was very much trail and error, stacking bits and pieces in different order, sanding, fitting, adding and taking away. It slowly started to take shape and once I added a couple of jewelry findings, I had something that with a bit of imagination could look like an urn.

Testing it on top of the stove, I begun to think that perhaps this could work after all.

After a bit more sanding, to straighten it up, I have it a coat of gesso and then more sanding.
I then painted it with acrylic paint stippled on to avoid streaks but mostly to get that cast-iron look. I glued it on top of the stove and then gave the whole thing two coats of mat black mixed with a wee bit of white and a blob of silver.

Once it was dry, I rubbed it down with very fine grain steel wool and felt so much happier with the look of my little square stove. 

Seeing it in the room, it might be a little elaborate for such a little apartment room, but I still think the overall look is so much better. 

Truffle the dachshund is curious as to when he can move in...

Enjoy our week.

Anna X