Basement front.

Hello Readers,

It's been a while, I've been super busy. (Wish I could say that it was mini-ing, but alas not). But every now and then I get a few minutes to stick a few more "bricks" to my house. I have finally completed the front of the basement and so its now on to the sides. They will be coated with a brick or stone like paint at a later date.

What do you think? Was it worth the effort. I hope so.

IndyPoppy

Modern Miniatures

Hello Readers,
It's been a while and I haven't had much time to make minis. As you may already know, I am collecting items for my Victorian dollhouse and so far I have resisted other eras but......

Well I came across this set on gumtree and I couldn't look away! This is volume 3 of the "Design Interior Collection". There are 9 items in this collection. I'm quite impressed with their details.

This collection is many miniature versions of Charles and Ray Eames famous designs.

Well its the closest I will ever get to one of their designs.

So the hunt is on. I'll be hanging out on eBay I'm sure to find the other sets.

Do you collect any of these and if so what's your favourite piece?

IndyPoppy

Chimney almost complete.

 Hello Followers,
Well its been a few busy weeks with work but I finally had a few hours spare to work on the chimney for my Victorian House.

From my last post you might remember that I decided to try my own technique to make miniature bricks. After cutting up a few hundred coffee stirrers and sticking them down I have an almost complete chimney. It needs two extra parts to be added to heighten the whole chimney so that it will be just above the roofline.

Now for a big decision. Should I used these technique for the basement or should I make it look rendered?  I probably will brick around the top part of the basement in places like below the bay window and veranda. But if I start it means hours and hours of cutting and gluing and will it look over the top?

Readers I'd appreciate your advice!

3 part chimney

HOW TO:
A few people asked how did I do it so here is a quick how to.
STEP 1: Measure starting from the top of your item lines that are 7mm apart using a lead pencil.
STEP 2: Measure your coffee stirrers. I made my bricks 20mm or 2cm. To be to scale they should be slightly smaller but with 1000's to cut, an easier measurement saves time.
STEP 3: (Optional) If you have a cutter like my Easy cutter, you can place a piece of strong tape on it as a marker. (This trick my boyfriend came up with after looking at me measuring and cutting and measuring and cutting)
STEP 4: Check the cut edges, some might need a quick sand.
STEP 5: Start at top of piece, glue your first 20mm piece, use an old credit card or store card as a spacer. Place it between your two pieces.
STEP 5: When you get to an area where your 20mm piece is too big, cut a piece to fit.
STEP 6: You can decide on how you stagger your bricks, you might it to be uniform or slightly more staggered.
STEP 7: Coat your finished product with a mixture of wood glue and water. This well help to seal your bricks.

Well readers, I'm off to decide on the next step. Don't forget to comment on what you think I should do for the basement. I would love to hear what your ideas are.

Easy cutter with tape.

7mm spaces.

Bricks and coffee sticks.

Hello Readers,
So I finally made a decision on bricks…well for the most part :) After my experiments with different products I'm trying my own thing.

I found these coffee stirrers at a local catering company and thought that they are almost the right thickness and size to make individual bricks.
I have started gluing them down and so far I am pretty happy with the results. I am wanting a rendered/painted finish so you shouldn't see the wood at all.
So I have started with the bottom part of my chimney. The gluing is probably the trickiest part, making sure its straight and equally spaced. Anyway theres plenty of cutting and gluing to do. Guess that's what long weekends are for.

IndyPoppy

Brick Problems.

Coffee stirrers cut to size, glued then a render applied. Using a  drawn line for placement.

Hello Readers,
Again I have been struggling with my decisions on which brick idea to use. So far I have tried a couple of ideas found on the internet.

The first one I tried was sandpaper bricks. I found this one to be just too complicated to cut! One suggestion was to use a shredder….it did shred….the sandpaper to bits.

Magic Bric….Looks fairly realistic, however I'm not entirely convinced about the size of the grout lines.

Coffee stirrers, gaps created using old credit card as spacer.

My first and worse attempt at using paper clay. I let it dry before I carved it, it fell to bits. Don't mind it as a render though.


So readers as you can see my experiments are not having much success. Any ideas? Help Please!
I like the stirrer idea, but it would require literally thousands to be cut up as my basement and chimney are huge.

IndyPoppy

Busy on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Worldofdollhousesandminiatures/

Hello Followers,
Well it's been a week and my Facebook group is up and running. So far we have 55 members and would love more. If you would like to join all you have to do is have a Facebook account, click the link and ask to join. If you know someone else with a passion for dollhouses and miniatures tell them about it as well. If you have a blog please share the link so we can get the word out. The more the merrier!
Have a great week,
IndyPoppy

Want to join me on Facebook?

If you are like me, you probably have a Facebook account and use it fairly regularly. But do you use it to communicate with other's in the dollhouse community?

Whilst attending the Sydney Dollhouse and Miniature fair and speaking to other bloggers and miniaturists.  I thought wouldn't it be great to have a place to go to see other peoples work, share ideas and just have fun.





So I decided "Why not start it myself?"

So what do you think?

Who wants to join me?


If your a dollhouse or miniature enthusiasts from anywhere in the world. I'd love to hear from you.

I'd love to see you there!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Worldofdollhousesandminiatures/

IndyPoppy

Sydney Dollhouse and Miniatures Fair: Part Two.

My Mum purchased this for me for my Hallway. Thanks Mum.

 Hello Everybody,
As promised I thought I would share with you my purchases from the fair. As I am working towards furnishing my Victorian Dollhouse I purchased with that in mind. If it wasn't from this era (or as close as I could get to this era) I wasn't buying it.

However for anyone with a vintage or modern dollhouse the Sydney fair has plenty for you too. I have to admit, it has made me think…is one dollhouse enough? I'd really like to get a vintage Triang 1930's/40's and a modern dollhouse to add to my collection. Ahh the possibilities!

Anyway to the purchases:

It's a pencil sharpener. But with a bit of paint and some records it will be perfect

A Phoenix Miniature (old stock?) Mangle for the laundry.

Parts of the white-metal kit….lots of gluing and painting ahead.

Croquet Set for the children's room.

A fresh fruit delivery. I will probably change the labels to vintage Australian ones.

Silk prints.

One of my favourite finds.  A Lidi Stroud (Basketcase Miniatures) fishing creel.
This has to be seen in person. The weaving is teeny tiny and FABULOUS!

A closer shot of the Fishing Creel.

Cruet Set

Duelling Pistols. These will need a little case. So another DIY project is on my never ending list of DIY.

I met the lovely Michelle from Michelle's Miniatures at the fair. Her books are magnificent! 

Another Phoenix Kit. Sewing Machine.

Toys for the nursery.

Handpainted by Margaret Crosswell.

Sydney Dollhouse and Miniatures Fair. Part 1

Hello Everyone. Well it has been a very exciting week for me as it was time for the annual Sydney Dollhouse and Miniatures Fair at Homebush.

It has been two years since I was last at the fair and was so dissapointed that I couldn't attend last year. So rain, hail or shine I was going this year.

After convincing my Mum that she needed to come (after all I needed someone to stop me if I got mini-itis. The need to buy every mini you see!) We headed to Homebush.

I loved this cutout so that you could view all the contents!

Our first stop was to look at the wonderful displays. The houses were in multiple scales, some 1/144, 1/12 1/24 etc. Below are a few of my favourite houses/ideas from the show.

Flower Shop

Steam Punk Extravaganza!

Tudor Kit

Kitchen Room box

This shop was one of my favourite room boxes at the fair. It held a wonderful secret! Can you see the Baker in the back room? Well this miniaturist came up with a great idea so that you could see the items in the back room. It's a mirror! Fabulous idea. You could use this idea for those rooms that are just too hard to access, but you still want to be able to use and see!

Mirror placement in back room.

Lots of handmade treats.

Grocery Store

Jewellery Shop

Haberdashery Shop. I just want that cotton display cabinet!

Readers of Basketcase Miniatures will recognise this beauty.  Willunga . If you would like to see more of Lidi's work, check out her great blog.

                                              http://basketcase-miniatures.blogspot.com.au

In my next post I will share pictures of my favourite purchases. 

Take care

IndyPoppy