Blackout

I worked on my dollhouse this week. The windows of the living room, on the ground floor, are ready.

 

I picked out a colour similar to the door, a kind of fake cherry wood. The design matches the first floor windows. The front of the house is squeaky clean.

I decided to finish the decoration of the living room by adding curtains to the windows of the dining room and an Art Nouveau divider between the two rooms.

Everything was ready to take pictures of my "great work"...and Aaaargh... the electricity in the dollhouse isn't working anymore. The living room is in the dark. I didn't check after the moving if the circuit was all right. I think it's the fuse and I don't have any left. I have to wait for a delivery...The poor lighting outside isn't helping, I will take pictures NEXT TIME !

 

 

Meanwhile I have made some new shoes. Fake snake [chicken legs] in a light blue grey for the bedroom.

I hope the light will come back soon, I want to show you the novelties of the curiosities cabinet !

 

Once more Art Nouveau

I'm working on several things at the same time. As a result, nothing is finished yet and sometimes my houses stay as "work in progress" for years.
I finally managed to finish the terrace rail for the front of my Art Nouveau dollhouse. Fortunately, Jean-Claude from "Maison française 1/12" recently made a balcony for his house showing on his blog the technique he used. The final look is really good and it is relatively easy to make. I decided to go with it immediately.
Many thanks Jean-Claude !

 

Comme je commence toujours des tas de choses en même temps, le résultat est que ce n'est jamais fini. Certaines de mes maisons attendent depuis des années la touche finale. Après avoir regardé le blog de Jean-Claude, qui explique sa technique pour faire une balustrade en fer forgé 1/12, je me suis finalement décidée à finir la terrasse Art Nouveau. Sa technique est relativement simple à mettre en oeuvre. Il n'y avait plus qu'à faire !

 

 

Now, I'm back inside. Next time I show you the novelties that I have bought for the Curiosities Cabinet.

Maintenant je retourne à l'intérieur de la maison, bientôt des nouveautés dans le Cabinet de Curiosités.

Absinthe

The end of the XIXth Century and the beginning of the XXth Century have been marked in Paris by the rising of a highly dangerous alcoholic drink : Absinthe was a very fashionable drink with a great popularity among Parisian artists and writers. The green coloured spirit, often referred to as "the green fairy " was The Must of the time. I had to have one Absinthe set in my Art Nouveau House.

" Traditionally, absinthe is prepared by placing a sugar cube on top of a specially designed slotted spoon, and placing the spoon on a glass filled with a measure of absinthe. Iced water is poured or dripped over the sugar cube to slowly and evenly distribute the water into the absinthe. "
                                                                                                                 says Wikipedia

 

Here is my tray with the bottle, glasses, spoons, sugar and absinthe.

 It is when I took a final look at the picture that I suddenly realized that I had forgotten...the water !

For the veneered tray, I used a very popular Art Nouveau design with iris by Gallé. The varnish is way too glossy. I will change this for a matt finish. To be honest I saw a better veneered tray on Josje blog, A Beautiful World. I still have to improve my skills!

Art Nouveau House

Summer is over at last, and so is my moving. My Art Nouveau house has found a new home in my living room. I also had some time to make new minis.

It has been a long time since I posted pictures of my house. The front is not completely finished, it lacks windows and balustrade.

 

I have an Egyptian Mummy in my Curiosities Cabinet. As you can see, it's a royal one with fine linen wrapping and a golden diadem. I'm still unsure about the datation, maybe an unknown king of the XIIth Dynasty.

Little additions before the great migration.

Moving dollhouses and miniatures is worse than moving 1/1 furniture. Some of you are in the same situation, and for me it's not the first experience, but it takes so much time to pack all the little curiosities of "The Cabinet"....
I can't resist to add some little objects before they get wrapped in bubbles and boxes, even if this doesn't help the efficiency of the packing process.

 

During the KDF I bought two birds from Tiny Tails Miniatures  to finish  some display under globe. Actually I made two, one with the birds and one with real shells and a sand rose, decorated with fake coral.

I'm really happy with the colours in the globe, they match perfectly those of the cabinet.

 

Je commence à empaqueter les miniatures du "Cabinet de Curiosités". Ce n'est pas très rapide et, comme je retrouve de petites choses en attente, je fais encore quelques dioramas sous globe...côté efficacité, je ne suis pas sur la bonne voie. Des oiseaux de Tiny Tails Miniatures, une rose des sables et des coquillages, du faux corail....Je suis assez contente du résultat. Il ne reste plus qu'à les emballer !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woodworking workshops at KDF

The Kensington Dollhouse Festival is now over. I took workshops with Geoff Wonnacott with the intention to improve my skills in woodworking. I'd like to be able to make some furniture for my Art Nouveau dollhouse. As it would take more than three days to learn all those techniques, I'm still a long way from the goal...but I keep training ! The knife box and the Chippendale corner cabinet are far from finished but I will fix the problems soon. I think that my inlay is not clean enough, on the box, and I have hinging problems on the cabinet.

But, these are little trifles, as, on the bright side, I have met a lot of very nice ladies during this time. Yes, mostly ladies, with the exception of Geoff.

I've bought a new chair by Kim Selwood, a model from Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, going back to 1883. But I didn't like the leather and I replaced it with a William Morris design - a kit I bought from Nicola Mascall.

For now, I have made some improvement in the Cabinet of Curiosities and they will be the last before September. Once again we are moving - from London to another borough of London - and the house will be packed soon.

 

 

 

 

Adding life in the bathroom

The bathroom, I mean the walls, the floor and the essential furniture were set up a long time ago. Nevertheless, no one ever took a bath here...it was lacking this extra bit of life which is essential to make a miniature interesting. And, by the way, there were no towels !

I made a Art Nouveau corner cabinet, filled with towels, soap, wooden boxes, and a shaving set. I added a towel rack with embroidered towels, soap box, perfume bottle, bath sponge and a bathrobe with slippers.

The shaving set is by Saint Leger, the wooden Shaker boxes by Bearly Big Enough Miniatures, the razor by Danny Shotton. All gifts from my daughters.

I used silk printed with Japanese designs to make the kimono/bathrobe and the slippers.

 

As a final touch I have cut a real sponge to miniature size.

 

 

J'ai finalement terminé la salle de bains. Même si la mosaïque était faite et les murs en place, elle n'avait jamais été utilisée et, pour cause, cela manquait un peu de mobilier ....et de vie aussi.

 

Dans le meuble d'angle Art Nouveau j'ai intégré des cadeaux de mes filles : un set de rasage de Saint Leger, des boites peintes de style Shaker par Bearly Big Enough Miniatures et un rasoir de Danny Shotton. Tout le reste a été réalisé par mes soins : serviettes brodées, vraie éponge, boites à savon et vrai savon, peignoir de bain genre kimono et mules assorties en soie à impressions japonaises.

Back from the golf course

The entrance of my Art Nouveau dollhouse lacked a little bit of life. Only marble and a small plant on the bamboo table. The entrance is tiny, no place to add a chair or a hallstand.
Back from the golf course, I just left my golf set at the bottom of the stairs.... I hope that they had this kind of golf bag and sticks in the 1920th !

Shoes and bag are made of leather and canvas. For the sticks, I customised a white metal set from Phoenix Models.

 

 

Je viens de terminer un petit set de golf pour rendre un peu plus vivante l'entrée de ma maison Art Nouveau. Chaussures et sac sont en cuir et toile, un peu vieillis. Pour les clubs, j'ai utilisé un set en métal de chez Phoenix Models.

Maintenant il ne reste plus qu'à espérer que mes renseignements sont bons et qu'on avait déjà ce type de matériel dans les années 20.

Ice skates

Some time ago, a customer asked me for some vintage ice skates. I was really bothered not to be able to make good metal blades. I didn't have the tools and the technique to cast metal. Now I have found the perfect blades, coming from Warwick Miniatures. I just had to cut a part of the sole to adapt it to a pair of leather boots. I think these are quite good skates. I hope I will find some ice cube to try them.

Il y a quelque temps on m'avait demandé de faire des patins à glace, sur le modèle des boots en faux cuir que j'avais dans ma boutique Etsy. Ça m'a bien contrariée de ne pas être capable de faire des lames en metal acceptables. J'ai fini par en trouver récemment chez Warwick Miniatures. Il n'y avait plus qu'à scier une partie de la semelle pour que ça s'adapte mieux à des boots à petits talons.
Les boots sont en cuir beige. Je me demande encore s'il ne faudrait pas les vieillir un peu. En attendant je vais les essayer sur un glacon.