Peacock & birds rug - Tapis Paon et oiseaux

J’ai enfin terminé mon tapis ! Ça m’a pris environ 2 ans et même plus, je ne compte plus les heures de travail. Bien sûr je n’y ai pas fait des petits points tout le temps, j’y vais plutôt par phases. Tous les jours pendant un mois, plusieurs heures, et puis j’en ai marre et plus rien pendant plusieurs mois.

Enfin ! C’est terminé ! On ne m’y reprendra plus à faire un tapis aussi grand avec des points si petits. Je dis ça, mais je suis certaine qu’un de ces jours je vais trouver un autre dessin qui me plait. Je me dirai : bah ! je l’ai déjà fait ….c’est pas impossible.

My big rug is FINISHED ! After 2 years and even more. I can't remember how many hours it took me.
Of course, I didn't work every day. I go rather by phases. I will work every day during several hours for a month, and then I'm fed up and I do nothing more for several months.
Finally it's over ! I will never stitch such a large carpet with so many tiny points anymore. That's what I say today, but I'm sure that tomorrow I will find another beautiful chart. I will say to myself : "Bah , I have done it before.....nothing is impossible".

Il manque toujours le lit dans cette chambre .
By the way, the bed is still missing.

Le dessin a été fait par Nicola Mascall www.nicolamascallminiatures.co.uk . C’est un canevas soie de 48 count, donc 48 petits points par inch. Il s’appelle «  Paon et oiseaux » d’après les tapisseries de William Morris. Ce grand nom du Arts &Crafts tombe pile dans le style de ma maison.

The chart is by Nicola Mascall, on a 48 count silk gauze www.nicolamascallminiatures.co.uk .
The design is called "Peacock and Birds" inspired by William Morris. This top name of Arts & Crafts is exactly what I need for my Art Nouveau bedroom.

Light

The light is back in the house ...but not for everyone.

Il a fallu fouiller les fondations de la maison pour trouver d'où venait la panne d'électricité. Finalement j'ai trouvé des fils déssoudés dans la barrette qui reçoit les différents fils électriques. Comme les fils sont bien sûr trop courts...j'ai du attendre la livraison de la nouvelle barrette.
Enfin la lumière est de retour et j'ai quelques photos qui rendent pas trop mal la couleur des pièces, malgré le temps grisâtre de Londres.

 

Le living room est presque fini. Les fenêtres sont en place ainsi que la séparation entre les deux pièces. J'ai fabriqué une petite colonne très Art Nouveau qui soutien une sorte de console en arabesque et qui se place entre les deux parties du plafond. J'ai ajouté des draperies en soie aux fenêtres. J'ai mis longtemps à me décider pour le modèle. Il n'y a pas vraiment de décor de fenêtre très caractéristique de ce style. Les draperies souples c'est encore se qui se rapproche le plus du style "nouilles".

La console est maintenant garnie d'un cache pot à grenouilles [ Emily Art ] qui était dans mes placards depuis des années. Il n'est pas du meilleur goût, mais il a un côté parfaitement kitsch qui va très bien dans ce style.

Il me reste encore à modifier les dossiers des chaises qui ne me plaisent pas vraiment. Je garderai cependant le même tissu, il doit me rester quelque part quelques morceaux de soie.

 

 

The light is back in the house. I had some difficulties locating the problem, it was a soldering issue in the connectors. I've bought a new block !

Now I can show you some pictures with good lighting and reasonably good colours.

The windows and the divider between the two rooms are in place. I made a fine column, bearing a very Art Nouveau arabesque shape just between the 2 parts of the ceiling. I wasn't sure about the window curtains, I couldn't find any definite model for the style and the period. The best solution is those loose hangings, in very "fluid" silk.

 

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.

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 to the Art Nouveau

I didn't like the bedroom of my house. It wasn't really Art Nouveau, the colour was too yellow and the whole thing was a little bit tacky, so I tore it all off...

 

 



It's much better now. I only kept the door and the floor, and reused the wiring. I changed the colours, a greyish blue and a champagne that are more in the tone of the era. I bought a beautiful wallpaper by Susan Bembridge, called "golden lily." It's a William Morris design with blue lilies. But unfortunately, the room is too small and the print is way too heavy, so my bedroom looked like a candy box. I decided not to use it, but I kept the matching fabric...

 

I made my own design for the new "Iris bedroom"and the window frame that I hadn't done before. Now the walls are ready.

 

 

The electricity and the furniture are back in place, but I still have no bed. The next step will be : me making an Art Nouveau bed.

 

 

That's the house now, still a lot of work to do !

 

 

 

New curiosities

I came back this Sunday from the new City of London Dollshouse Festival with some new findings.
Today I'll show you the pieces I bought for my Curiosities Cabinet.

 





Once more, Cilla Albert, from Minst.com, has made just the right thing for my cabinet. I already had two coral pieces, and now I have the shells under globe. I had to change the shape of the shelves and add a nice curve to be able to put the three items together. On the picture, one of the corals is almost hidden. I'm a poor photographer !

 

On the lower shelve, I have two new curiosities : a shell fossil and a dinosaur spine. The latter is in fact a part of a squirrel spinal column, but nobody knows it. That was a gift from my daughter. I've made the setting this morning.

 

 

 

I also got the perfect armchair for my cabinet. The original is the Swan chair designed by Charles Voysey, an English architect and furniture designer. His work was influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Art Nouveau. His famous Swan chair was designed between 1883 and 1885. The tiny one in my Cabinet is the work of Small-time miniatures. A master piece !

 

 

Here's a new picture of the whole cabinet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art Nouveau carpet

At last I finished this carpet. I can't remember how many hours I have worked on this one, but I'm satisfied with the results. I eventually have the colours and the the design I planned.