I've started furnishing my kitchen by building a trestle table. I followed the instructions here (as this is my first time furniture making) but changed the design of legs so it looks similar to a photo of one in a reconstructed tudor kitchen. I'm going to work on a shelf next and long stool to go along the left hand wall.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
A shiny floor and new table.....
I've started furnishing my kitchen by building a trestle table. I followed the instructions here (as this is my first time furniture making) but changed the design of legs so it looks similar to a photo of one in a reconstructed tudor kitchen. I'm going to work on a shelf next and long stool to go along the left hand wall.
Another welcome
Thursday, 6 May 2010
More Flagstones.......
I've suddenly realised that the overall building of the room box is complete - wow, I wasn't sure I would even get this far. I'm looking forward to the next stage though of furnishing it! Again as I have made everything so far from scratch (apart from the lights), I am going to try and make all the accessories myself. I've armed myself with some wood and some glue and already have a stash of polymer clay, so I'll keep you posted with how I get on.
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Tudor Kitchen .......Flagstone Floor
I've also been playing around with the furniture. I've added some venetian gold and more distressing to the dressing table and painted and distressed a chair to go with it. I'm going to find some suitable material to upholster the chair and make a cushion (all firsts for me so this could be quite interesting!).
I know they both look a bit over the top and I'm in two minds as to whether to remove some of the gold, but I'll wait and see I think. With my recent paint purchases I also bought some crackle glaze. I've been experimenting with it on another piece but haven't quite got it to look right yet - I'll post more once I've played around with it a bit more.
That's it for now. We've got a bank holiday on Monday so I'm hoping I might manage to get a bit more done.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Progress is slow........Tudor walls
Next step - a flagstone floor made from more polyfiller. I'll keep you posted.....
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Welcome, welcome......
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
A revamp update
And this is the after -
I think I need to work on where I put the worn bits as the legs don't look right (I might go back and touch them up) but all in all I don't think it's too bad. One down, quite a few to go!
Monday, 19 April 2010
Masking tape - a girls best friend!
Friday, 16 April 2010
Possible kit bashing......
As the basement is bigger than the house, I was half wondering if I could get away with a mini balcony or something similar with french doors in the middle opening out on to it, otherwise it's just going to look silly with a gap at the front and even sillier with a gap at the back.
Even more followers....
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Not quite going according to plan...
Starting to paint them has highlighted a crucial error - I didn't leave any space between the bricks (and there was me thinking that I was being clever getting them so tightly together) so there isn't any space to see any mortar. In fact when I went to paint it, the bricks all gelled into one and you could hardly make out the pattern - aarghh!
I was a bit reluctant to start again so I've had a go at trying to 'fix' it. I traced the outline of the brick using a pencil which isn't ideal as the mortar now looks a bit shiny lol! Silly isn't it, I'm just typing this and suddenly thought why didn't I use a white or grey pencil (doh!)...
It looks a bit better with the bricks outlined. The next step was to add some black pastel dust....
And I was much happier with this.....until I put it into place......
Errr, it doesn't quite fit in with the existing brickwork lol! Oh well, I'm just deciding whether I can get away it or not. I suppose once I add a cauldron in and add some wood and ashes for a fire, it might not be as noticeable!
I do like this style of brickwork though, much better than my sandpaper bricks.
Welcome!!
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Fireplace taking shape
Sorry it's not very clear. I just need the patience to sit down and cut out a load more bricks now before I can paint it.
Friday, 9 April 2010
Decidedly shabby......
I'm not up to the standard of making my own furniture, although I think it more comes down to the fact that I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try (yet). We also don't have a Micheal's in the UK or, from what I can make out, an equivalent so I've resorted to looking for bargains on ebay to experiment with. This is what I have won so far -
Walls
I'm going to go back to the egg boxes I think and follow New England Miniatures Tutorial. This means that I need to sand all the filler off and start again - arrrggghh. Oh well, I did say this was going to be a steep learning curve.
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Fireplace
Just a short one today. I managed to have a bit of a play with the fireplace. Rather than getting the paints out, I decided to use artists pastels on the surround and to add soot in the fireplace itself. I scribbled on a piece of paper and then brushed the pastel dust into the stones. It actually worked quite well and I'm a bit happier with the fireplace now.
I also finished gluing the fireplace into place and added a hook to the block inside so that I can hang a cauldron at a later date (you can just see it in the picture above). The surround is still loose as I think it would be better to add the wall texture first but knowing me I'll change my mind!
Monday, 5 April 2010
Timbers, Door and Lighting
Next steps -
I'm really not happy with my fireplace surround and annoyingly I'm not sure exactly why. The colour certainly isn't right so I'm going to have a play with it and see whether I can get it a bit more realistic.
The bricks in the fireplace also need 'sooting' (is that a word?!? - but I'm sure you know what I mean).The next stage for the walls is to put some daub in between the timbers. I'm going to make up some polyfilla and mix in some pva glue and see how that works.
For the floor, I'm going to try and make some separate flagstones from polymer clay (unless anyone can give me any other suggestions) for the fireplace and for the main floor, I've amazingly found some 'dry wall compound' sitting in our garage so I'm going to have a go the flagstone floor tutorial at New England Miniatures - it looks fabulous.
That's it for now. I hope it won't be too long until I can report back with a bit more progress.
Friday, 12 March 2010
The Fireplace
Next up was making the fireplace surround. My woodworking skill really aren't that good yet, plus I don't have the right tools to do precision cutting so I cut the surround from thick cardboard.
I'm really pleased with how well it turned out. I've decided that the back of the fireplace should be brick and as I have no brick moulds or anything similar, I've improvised!
I've cut another large piece of cardboard which will fit on the back wall of the fireplace (you might just be able to see it in the photo above). This means that I can put bricks on this card and glue it into place rather than trying to fit them straight on the back wall. I painted this card a creamy colour (it's still unpainted in the photo below) and then painted some sandpaper a reddish brick colour -
Once dried I cut out thin strips and then cut them into brick shapes and voila....
(It's a good thing tudor bricks were different sizes!) I still need to finish it and then do the same for the inner left and right sides of the fireplace. Once I've done that I will glue it into place.
While I was waiting for the paint on the sandpaper to dry I whizzed over to Casey's Minis and got some fabulous inspiration from her egg box tutorial for the fireplace surround -
Once again it still needs to be finished, I will try painting it a darker stone grey colour I think.
This is the final picture of it all together so far.
I will be putting anothe piece of mdf aboce the fireplace so it looks like one long wall. That's it for today, I'll hopefully be able to finish the bricks later so I'll post more pictures once it's done.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Construction complete....
I sanded all the pieces, test fitted them together and discovered that they weren't perfectly straight so wouldn't fit together as tightly as I had hoped. This was especially important as I was just intending to glue the pieces together. So this time, rather than abandoning the project when I hit the first problem I decided that I would also use small nails to hold it all together as well as the glue. This meant that I could eliminate the need for corner clamps (I still hadn't found any to borrow anyway) as the nails should hold it together whilst the glue dries.
As the MDF I am using is only 1/4" thick, I was worried that just hammering in nails would split the wood, so I pre-drilled the holes using a pin vice and this is the result -
It's not perfect, but I'm really pleased how it's turned out. I haven't fixed the top permenantly yet so that I can access the inside more easily. Once I have completed the room box I will just glue the top on -
The next step is going to be constructing the fireplace. As the box has ended up slightly bigger than I expected I am going to include a false wall at the back so that the fireplace will look more realistic and have depth to it. New England Minatures have put a wonderful step by step tutorial together for doing this in their Kitschy Kitchen Part 1 Post. I am also going to be using their fab tutorial to create a flagstone floor.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Baskets
I'm planning on having several different sized backets in my room box, filled with seasonal fruit and vegetables. This one is the log basket - I think I may need to find a few more logs to fill it.
There will also be a trestle table (I need to get some wood before I can start on this), stool, shelves, food and fireplace. All of this I intend to make myself, so I will update you with my progress.
On the room box construction front, I found this great website which gives you step by step instructions on how to put one together - Plan for a Dollhouse Room Box. I've measured and cut my pieces, I just need to sand them down and fit them together. The tutorial suggests corner clamps to hold it together while the glue dries, so I need to try and borrow some before I can stick it all together.
Saturday, 6 March 2010
A very nervous hello...
Then a couple of years ago a newspaper was doing an offer on a dollshouse and we decided to purchase one for our daughter. However when it arrived it really wasn't going to be suitable until she was alot older so I decided maybe I could start my minature journey with this dollshouse. It really wasn't the house I would have picked for myself, not enough rooms and with really cheap outside windows and front door that weren't in proportion (I think it's because it is a childs house really)and small rooms.
Then I got a bit carried away and wanted to redo the roof with proper tiles, but on a brick exterior, have a basement for a kitchen, add skirting boards, ceiling roses, wall paper, wooden floors, lights, lighting, a new front panel etc. etc. and that was before I started furnishing it. Well I got as far as buying a basement (so much for making everything lol!) and then having looked into the cost of 'above' list, my dolls house conversion came to a very abrupt halt! I told myself that it really was 'just' a childs house and really didn't warrent that amount of money being spend on it especially as I didn't have a lot of money to spend and the fact that if I ever had a dolls house I really wanted it to be set in the time of the Tudors.
Fast forward another 2 years and whilst web surfing I came across a number of 'mini' blogs. These amazing blogs offered me inspiration and fabulous tutorials and I suddenly I realised that I didn't have to spend a fortune on those 'essential' items I listed, I could easily make a lot of things and rather than starting with my 'daunting' dollshouse I could start with a room box and then I could build my longed for Tudor kitchen!
And here's where I am...5 pieces of mdf! OK it is dawning on me that I may be completely mad but I'm hoping this blog will keep me motivated and I know that all those other great blogs will keep me inspired.
So here's to a exciting venture into the world of minature and please bear with me whilst I learn 'the ropes'.