Bluebell Cottage

Are you an impulse buyer? I am, especially online...it's just too easy to buy things...I'll be browsing Etsy or Ebay or any number of other sites, spot something I like and..click, it's mine. I am just as bad in person. At my recent trip to the Kensington Dolls House Fair, I impulse bought a tiny fairy and a automata. Both wonderful things in their own right, but where on Earth am I going to put them? Here is my little Automata it's by St Legers.

Well this project starts with one such impulse buy. Whilst browsing Etsy one day, I found an adorable little mouse in a blue dress on Suzy's Creations. I bought her immediately and was very pleased with her but had nowhere to put her. She sat on my shelf for over a year. I was always worried she'd be knocked off the shelf and hoovered up by accident so she ended up in a box in a drawer and she's far too pretty to be in there so I decided I'd better build her a little house to live in.

My little Easy impulse buy!

If you've been following the blog, you'll know that so far  I've been working through the Petite Properties 'Kit and Book' series. However, the next house in the Kit and Book series 'Washtub Cottage' wasn't quite what I had in mind for my next little mouse house. So, I looked at PP's Basic House range. This range come with construction instructions but don't have the finishing instructions that the Kit and Book series have. Of course you can still use the techniques in the Books to help finish the basic houses. So that's what I did. I bought a Gooseberry Cottage kit and the Washtub Cottage book. The techniques for constructing the Cottage were variations on what I'd learnt before. The challenge for this house I decided would be to make everything for it myself from scratch, not calling on my etsy friends.

First, I had to build the house though. I decided to go for a clay tile floor, similar to the one in Emelia's, but to experiment with the finish. After the claywork was done, I painted it white then I painted every other tile black -which was very cathartic-. Lastly, I sealed it all with gloss varnish. I was pleased with the effect. Then the walls had to go on. I papered and painted the walls before construction hoping for a cleaner finish. The ceiling of the ground floor room was beamed, but I wanted carpet on the first floor room which I was planning to be a bedroom so I used fabric to make a carpet -purchased from Little Trimmings-.

All the pieces ready to put together.

After gluing the house together it was time for the clay work. I've discovered that it's really worth putting in the overtime with claywork to get a better finish. After rolling out the clay and gluing it on to the house, I really take my time to do the scribing but it still looks pretty rough when it first dries.

Unfinished stonework

I start off by sanding the whole wall with very fine sand paper and then I scribe out every single stone again. This does take ages but is really worth the effort. Little bits of clay chip off but it just adds to the effect. I do love working with clay.

Ready to paint!

I went for a white-washed effect by giving the stone two coats of white and dirtying it up a little by dry brushing. The window sills and door were painted a lovely blue.

For the roof I wanted a terracotta effect so after cutting the roof tiles from thick card. I mixed 5 different shades of terracotta and individually painted each tile before laying the strips on the roof.

After fitting them, they looked a little too clean. Bea Broadwood does a great range of pre-mixed paints. One of these is called 'Muddy Paint' and it's brilliant for dry brushing external walls and roofs to make them look more authentic. It was this paint I used to muddy up my roof and it made all the  difference. I added the chimney pot and my house was done!

All ready for an afternoon's mini-ing!

Then my little Bluebell Cottage was ready for furniture. Next time...I build all the furniture for my house...no kits and no cheating by buying ready made on Easy.

Tudor House

My much-put-upon husband, who loves me but thinks I'm nuts, kindly built me some shelves in our bedroom for me to display my mini creations. Secretly, I think he was just relieved that I wasn't going to buy another 1/12th Scale house for him to stub his toes on in the night! I could see the cogs going round in his head when he regarded the shelves thinking 'Well, it will take her a while to fill those up'.  by my estimation I will be able to fit 12 houses on those shelves before he needs to build me some more, challenge accepted 😉.

My third purchase from Petite Propertie's Kit and Book series was Toadstool Hall. This kit expanded my clay work skills as the scribing was irregular stone but to be honest, it was easier than the brick. Freehand cutting the card for the exterior and ceiling beams was also easier than the precision cutting needed for Emelia's. In fact, this was a relatively easy build and went together a treat.

The finished pieces ready to glue together.

Exterior Finish.

Petite properties do a great range of Quarter (1:48th) Scale Tudor furniture kits so I bought the lot. I glued them together and painted them a dark brown finishing them off with a coat of gloss varnish. I dressed the miniature bed using some foam board for the mattress and fabrics from Little Trimmings. I accessorised my little Tudor cupboard with fabric rolled around small pieces of card.

The furniture I made for the bedroom

I bought a gorgeous little Tudor bed from SimplySweetandSmall and a little icon and table from Morticia. I also tried my hand at making a Medieval chair our of Bea Broadwoods Furniture Book. I was pleased with the results.

This was actually the first house I'd completed that included a kitchen and dining room and this presented me with a new opportunity...food. I discovered a wonderful miniaturist called Signe. Her food was so delicate and beautiful. I immediately contacted her and asked her to make some Tudor foods for me..the results were incredible.

Signe's wonderful food

Inspired, I decided to have a go at a few polymer clay accessories myself.  I thought fruit would be a good place to start as they were just little balls really. I made apples by rolling tiny amounts of clay into balls and putting a small whole in the top with a fine point scribe. Pewter plates were just bigger balls that I then squished them flat with a pen lid to and used a fine scribe to add a little shape.

 made a few more plates for my Tudor hutch and a tiny Tudor tapestry and the dining room was looking great.

Next, I made more plates a bowl and a cup to fill my little kitchen shelves. I have used one of Petite Properties ceramic fireplaces in the kitchen - a little artistic license was used here as the chimney is on the front of the house- and the shelves were made out of off cuts from Petite Property kits. A few beads added to the shelves completed the look and finished off my little Tudor kitchen.

That  was it, another house was finished. On the 3rd December 2016, I was lucky enough to go to the Kensington Dolls House Festival. If you haven't been I would highly recommend it. Whilst there I met the lovely Sally Reader and bought two of her Tudor dolls for my house.

I decided that I needed a bit of a challenge after this so I set myself the target that everything in my next house I would make all the furniture from scratch...no kits, and no cheating by buying things on etsy...gulp 😳

Next time..Bluebell Cottage

Emelia's Opens for Business!

I'm a teacher. One of the advantages of this is the long holidays with lots of time to indulge in hobbies. One of the disadvantages is that, come term time, my entire focus is taken up by not drowning under mountains of paperwork, keeping my house clean -that's actually a misnomer as anyone with children knows, trying to keep your house clean when there are children in it is like trying to shovel snow when it's still snowing- and feeding everybody. My point is, I don't have time to sit and make small things in term time. The building of Emelia's took place in the summer holidays..the furnishing of Emelia's took place in the Autumn term 2015. Therefore, not a lot was made by me. In a future post, there will be a house where everything was made by me, from scratch...but this isn't that! I still had loads of fun sourcing all the bits and bobs for Emelia's and was very pleased with the results.

Being hard up for time, I got in touch with my old friend Morticia at La Petite Maison D'Amour. I asked her to make me a shop counter, display case and side table. I also asked if she could find me some buckets and a till in Quarter (1/48th) Scale. She did not disappoint..and even found me a cute little watering can.

My purchases from Morticia

I filled the buckets with reindeer moss and painted a few bits to look like flowers. I then set about making some larger flowers with the help of a tutorial I found on Pinterest. I was really pleased with the results...but needed LOTs more flowers. Luckily, I found some tiny potted plants on eBay -O Guage Model Railway accessories- so Emelia's filled up nicely.

Some of the flowers I made for Emelia's 

I filled the display cabinet with bead 'vases' and tiny rolls of coloured tissue and fabric. One thing I have learned about Quarter Scale is you just have to give the impression of something for it to work. I turned to my friend Morticia again to make me some ribbon and cellophane dispensers. I needed an 'Emelia' to run my little shop so I sent Sally Reader a picture of my shop and she designed and made a beautiful little doll for me. Such talented ladies!

Upstairs I decided to do an office. I bought the furniture kits from Petite Properties. The sink I decorated with tiles I printed from a picture I found on the internet. I imported the picture into Word then it was easy to resize using picture formatting as you can specify exact measurements. If you're not confident with Word please leave a comment below and Ill post a tutorial. I made the taps from jewellery pins. More bead vases filled the shelves and I made a few more accessories from beads. The rug is made from two pieces of material. I glued them together with the bottom white fabric overlapping and then I frayed the white edge sticking out to make the fringe. The result was really effective.

After printing out a few posters and bills for the desk and signs for the front of the house my little shop, and second project was finished, with a little help from my friends 😀.

I'd love to hear what you think so please leave a comment below.

Next time: A Tudor project - Toadstool Cottage

Emelia's Flowers

My tiled floor painted and ready to go. 

After Mulberry House I was totally hooked on Quarter Scale. For my next project I decided to do a shop. I was inspired by a flower tutorial I found on Pinterest and a picture that was posted on The MiniatureBeehive -Bea Broadwood from Petite Propertie's yahoo group-. I duly purchased The Corner Shop Kit and Book from Petite Properties (this kit has sadly been retired now but there are still lots of shop kits available). On arrival of my kit, I read the instructions thinking it would be similar to Mulberry House and have cereal packet bricks and soon realised that the bricks were in fact clay 😱. This was the most scary prospect yet. I had flashbacks to pottery at school...I was not good at pottery. Everybody in my class made beautiful regal coil pots but mine looked like a plate of spaghetti.  Still, I had faith in Bea's expert tutoring so I took the plunge. The first job was the terracotta flooring. I rolled out my clay and scribed the tiles. Far from being stressful, it was very satisfying and quite cathartic. I was so pleased with the results. 

This was pre-touch up!

Next job was the mouldings inside and out. Bea's Kit and Book series give you step by step instructions and are really easy to follow. I didn't take long to do. I completed the shop front -this was mainly card- and the interior panelling, skirting and doors (more cereal box card). I decided to wallpaper the downstairs. I found some lovely card making paper in Hobbycraft with very small designs. It was perfect. After decorating the shell of the shop, I glued it all together and was ready for the brick clay work. 

 I want to share a few tips I've picked up with regards to using clay. I use a Perspex sheet with a sheet of greeseproof paper to roll my clay out on. The paper makes it easier to lift thin sheets. If the clay is too wet it will warp the MDF of the kit so leave the rolled out clay to dry for a few minutes before gluing it into place. I tried DAS air drying clay to begin with but didn't like the consistency. I like Scola clay which is a little drier and thicker, but experiment to see which one suits you. Take your time doing the scribing and be accurate with your measurements. Don't rush the drying process. I leave mine at room temperature for a couple of days before painting. The clay will shrink when it dries so slightly overlap the edges if you want a tighter fit. It can crack too, but these can be filled using a little clay mixed with water or just left to add to the effect.* 

After scribing the clay bricks and leaving it to dry it was time to paint them. I used a sandstone crafters acrylic and painted the clay all over with a brush. Then I mixed a brick coloured paint and sponge painted the bricks. The roof was made out of strips of card. To finish my exterior, I made a sign on Word, printed and laminated it (I named the shop after my beautiful daughter). Then I used a seed bead for the door knob, a gold sticker for the letterbox and  Emelia's was ready for business!!

Next time: Filling Emelia's with flowers.

*If you have anymore hints and tips please leave a comment.

Moving in to Mulberry

Having completed my first quarter scale (1/48th) house I was then faced with the problem  of where to get furniture. I discovered that whilst quarter scale was growing exponentially in popularity it is still not anywhere near as popular as the traditional 1/12th scale. So, my usual tactic of ambling around fairs and shops would have to be modified. I trawled eBay for Quarter Scale items but there wasn't that much available and then I discovered Esty. 

For those of you who, like me, have hitherto missed the hidden treasure that is Etsy, it's a site chock full of hand-made delights including a great selection of Quarter Scale furniture and accessories. I made my first furniture purchases of a clock, desk and chair from Morticia at La Petite Maison D'Amour.

Soon after I bought a gorgeous little bookcase from SDK Miniatures. My beautiful Sally Reader maid needed more furniture to dust though so I looked for a Georgian settee and chairs. I disovered the lovely work of Jacquie at Simply Sweet n Small but she had nothing that fit the bill so I contacted her and asked if she accepted commissions. Most miniaturists are more than happy to accept commissions so if you can't find what you're looking for, just ask. Jacquie was more than happy to help me, and made me a beautiful settee and chairs at a very reasonable price.

Jacque's sofa and chair. I made the table from a Petite Properties Kit and a few beads.

My little house was filling up now, but I couldn't find any bedroom furniture so it was back to Petite Properties to look at their range of furniture kits. Another first for me having brought ready made furniture for my 1/12th house. When my kits arrived they were a little daunting, so tiny, but I needn't have worried, Bea's instructions were so clear and the kits went together easily and were so fun to paint and decorate. Here is the finished set (the accessories are made from tiny beads I picked up at hobby craft):

I was pretty chuffed with my first attempt at kit furniture so I got all brave and decided to make the bed from scratch. Petite Properties do two books on making 1/48th Scale furniture and I bought them both. 

I feel I need to interject at this point to discuss cost. Thus far I sound like I'm throwing money around like nobody's business...I'm not, I'm a teacher and have 6 children which means I'm pretty skint most of the time. There's two things you need to understand. First, I've had to play with the timeline to complete this blog. It actually took me nearly a year to build and fully furnish Mulberry House as I started other projects. Secondly, and more importantly, Quarter Scale is -well can be- dirt cheap!! Furniture kits are £1 - £3 on Petite Properties..The house kits are under £30 (some are under £20). Beads and bits cost very little and you only need snippets of cords and fabrics and tester pots of paint. So Quarter Scale is great for those hard up for more than space.

My first attempt at a four poster bed!

Back to the bed. I adapted a plan for a tester bed to make a four poster. I collected the supplies I needed such as foam board, beads and matchsticks, but I was finding it difficult to find fabrics. Bea uses tissue paper in her design but I wanted proper fabric. I found another gem in the shape of Little Trimmings. I found all the fabrics and trimming I needed on there and was ready to build my bed. Again it's not perfect, but I don't care, it's incredibly satisfying to build a mini from scratch and my little bed is more precious to me than anything I could have bought. Try it, if you haven't already, and you'll see.

So Mulberry House was furnished and I was over the moon with the results. I'm sure I will go back and add bits and pieces over time -I'm going to have a go at painting some minute paintings to liven the walls up a bit - but I was really chuffed with this, my first attempt at Quarter Scale. If you have any other suggestions for my Mulberry House...or any other comments...I'd love to hear from you so please leave a comment below.

Next time: I tackle clay bricks in Emelia's Flowers...

Mulberry House

I've always had a fascination with all things small. When I was a child I desperately wanted a dolls house, and my Dad and I built one out of scrap wood we found at the tip (by we, I of course mean 'he', even though I was present I deserve little of the credit). When I had grown up and had disposable income I bought my first Dolls House Kit. It was a Dolls House Emporium 1/12th Scale Shop, but, after many years of happy miniature shopping, I had to admit to myself that there was little more to do to it and name it finished. 

Here in laid the rub....my long-suffering husband was reasonably tolerant of the massive dolls house in our bedroom, but we genuinely had no room for a second...was I to sell my creation? Or hide it away in the loft to make way for a new project? Luckily, while I was pondering this problem I discovered 1/48th or Quarter Scale. It was a scary prospect though. Obviously I had a little experience, having built, decorated and lit a 1\12th Scale house, but the smaller scale looked a lot more daunting and seemed to require a good deal more skill than I credited myself with. It was about then that I discovered Petite Properties run by the lovely Bea Broadwood. PP had a 'Kit and Book' series which seemed to me to be the perfect entre to the Quarter Scale world. So I took the plunge and bought a Mulberry House.

Here is my little Mulberry House next to it's big cousin! See the advantages of Quarter Scale!

My little package arrived with the basic MDF shell and a full-colour step-by-step instruction book. I did have to collect some basic craft tools and paints together but nothing you can't pick up at your local craft store. Bea's instructions are so easy to follow and the techniques very simple but so effective!  I have to admit I was hooked from the start. The shell went together like a dream. I was feeling like an expert miniaturist and was having daydreams of starting my own miniature business...and then the staircase brought me down to Earth with a bump!

My wonky staircase

It was tricky! Quarter scale is 1inch=4 feet...so a staircase is just 2 inches tall. It's really fiddly! My first attempt was rather humbling... it looked like it had been chewed by the dog. I tried again though. This time I was more precise with my score lines and took more time with the folding and this was the result. Now I know it's wonky, and more talented artisans will mock me, but I was so proud of my little staircase! It was the first bit of the build that made me feel like a genuine miniaturist in the making and still, to this day (because I've got a lot better) I love my little bent staircase. Once the staircase was done, the landing was a doddle.

Most of the cardboard for this house came from cereal packets

I'd like to take a moment to mention the very talented Sally Reader who made the dolls for my house. I discovered her at The Kensington Christmas Dolls House Festival. She makes the most gorgeous little wooden dolls and other toys in 1/12th, 1/24th and 1/48th Scale. She also accepts commissions (you'll see one in a future post).

A touch up here and there and my first Quarter Scale house was complete. It was so much fun I had ordered another two Kit and Books from Petite Properties before I'd finished. So I had a house..and two lovely dolls, but no furniture...

Next time:     Moving into Mulberry. Finding furnishings for my first creation.

Quarter Scale Creations

I would like to point out, just so you won't be disappointed later, that I am really not an expert miniaturist. In fact, that's the purpose of this blog really, to show what an average Joe like me can do with a little patience and the guidance from all the really excellent miniature artisans out there. The first few posts will be retrospective as I've now completed 4 houses and am getting more adventurous so bear with me, I have improved! There are links throughout to all those who are helping me along the way. I hope this blog will inspire others to take the plunge into Quarter Scale minis. You'll never look back!!