Welcome to all our new followers!

Wow!  So many new followers -- thank you all so much :)

There's miniaturist Heather Cutting-Rayl from New Mexico in the United States. Her blog is This Little Doll House, and she has a special interest in witch and wizard minis.

There's Susan from Istanbul in Turkey, whose blog is Kankadolls and Miniatures.  She makes incredible papier-maché dolls that have to be seen to be believed!  She also very generously offers all kinds of tutorial on how to make them.

There's Jeanette from Germany whose blog is Garden of Miniatures.  She doesn't just make flowers, she makes whole gardens (and graveyards ...)!

There's Ingrid from Belguim, whose blog is mijn droomwereldje.   Her aesthetic is soft, slightly shabby, turn of the last century (what the English might call Edwardian) interiors. 

There's Daydreamer who has a brand new blog with some wonderful photos and musings about the connection between her dolls' houses and her childhood.  Very evocative.

There's Flora from Italy, whose blog is la casa delle bambole di flora. Her header image is an Ingres portrait that I've always loved, which sets the tone for the pretty, slightly shabby mini objects and scenes she photographs. 


There's My Small Obsession, run by MiniMaker, who also runs the video site Creating Dollhouse Miniatures.  Her blog has tons of helpful advice and how-tos.

There's bogna from Poland, who has a number of blogs and interests, including I Love That Doll.

There's Cheryl from Hawaii, whose blog is A Miniature Place.  She shares lots of photos of beautiful, tasteful mini objects and decorating, and, in addition to work in 1:12 scale, shares pieces in quarter scale, too.

There's also Peggy Fowler, KLC,  Susanne and Mary, whose profiles didn't seem to be linked to a blog of their own.  If you do have a blog, please let me know and I'll correct this :)

Welcome, all!

And the winners of the giveaway are ...

I decided that since there were 36 entrants in the draw to celebrate the blog reaching 50 followers, there would be three prizes :) (That made sense to me at the time ...)

According to random.org, the winners are ...

Thank you all so much for entering!  Would Cynthia, Julia and Old Maid please email me their mailing addresses, and I'll start putting together their prizes :)

My email address is nina [at] ninascottstoddart.com.  Just replace the [at] with the symbol @ :)

Cob irons and more clay stuff

In an effort to avoid working on the bake ovens, I decided to work on the main roasting fireplace :)  Yesterday I cut some 3/8" plywood to the correct shape for the cob iron supports.  (Cob irons hold the spit at different heights from the fire to help control the roasting of meat. ) 

 Here's a photo showing a huge fireplace with cob irons at Hampton Court:

The cob irons for my little fireplace are about 4 inches high and 1 3/4 inches deep, angled from front bottom to back top.  Again, I took all this from Brian Long's Tudor book. 

These are the plywood forms in place.  The spaces to the outside of each cob iron will be for the wood stores.

Then I rolled out some grey polymer clay (see, I'm getting smarter -- grey means I won't have to paint them grey for grout!) for the brick impress.  Again, learning from my mistakes, I made the clay sheets thicker, this time :)  I cut them out to the shape of the supports.

Then I impressed the clay with the molds I bought from Malcolm's Miniatures.  Again, I used the Tudor brick.

The thicker clay took the impress so much better, as you can see.  Then I baked and painted them and trimmed the clay appliques to more precise size (using the impress molds, of course, distorts the size a wee bit).

And here's what they looked like this morning:

I also made a few bits and bobs last night while we were watching dvds --  mostly knives, another pheasant (this time designed to drape over the chopping block) and an "iron" hanging rack for all the game storage.

I'll be back to do the draw for the books a little later :)

Kitchen storeroom

Yesterday I built a little platform in the storeroom and framed in the door to the kitchen.  I shaped each of the boards that make up the platform (they're just offcuts of pine I stole from my husband's workshop) and I really like the effect.  Now I want to build a new table with a top actually constructed from boards!

There's going to be a little ladder up to the platform and then another ladder up to the room above.  See the little stool I made?  Katie Cat has curled up on it, to keep an eye on the pheasants.  Or perhaps she caught them.  We may never know.

 

Thursday evening, while David and I watched a dvd (New Tricks -- do you know it?  A great police procedural from the UK) I made my first attempt at making dead pheasants out of polymer clay :)  Then last night, while David and watched a dvd (State of Play, a thrilling BBC series -- I know, there's a theme developing here :) I made my first attempt at painting dead pheasants made of polymer clay :)

They're a little garish, but I'm quite pleased for my first attempt.  Not as hard as I thought they'd be, although I felt very sorry for them, making them dead and all.  Next time I'll actually go back upstairs and get a small brush for the markings, instead of being lazy and using the brush I happened to have in my hand!

The blue embroidery floss is temporary.  I doubt even wealthy Tudors used blue cord to hang up their pheasants.  But I had to hang them up right away, and shove them in David's face.  "Look!"  I said.  "Dead pheasants!"  "Yes, I see" he said, politely (he's English).  "How fascinating."

He's really very patient with me and my enthusiasms :)

Finally, here's a view from the storeroom door into the kitchen itself.

Tiddles's embroidery and the Tower bedchamber window ...

We took some photos of Tiddles's masterpiece of needlepoint on Thursday, but I haven't had a chance to share them with you, yet.  This is her tapestry:

She followed a pattern from Sandra Whitehead's book Celtic, medieval and Tudor wallhangings in 1/12 scale needlepoint.  It's stitched on 32 count fabric with two strands of embroidery floss. 

By the way, Tiddles was 9 when she started this in November, and she's 10 now :)

This girl is amazing, isn't she?  She comes by it honestly -- her mother, Jennie, is the finest needlewoman I know -- fast, accurate, tidy and with perfect stitches.  Tiddles is going to be just as good, I think. 

From the sublime to the comparatively ridiculous, now :)  I finally finished the little casement window in the Tower bedchamber.

I was worried I wasn't going to be able to get the panes out, but it broke apart quite obligingly when I pulled on it :)  I'm not entirely sure it was supposed to, but it helped the process!  I stained the bits and pieces, applied miniature pin striping to the panes for leading and then reassembled the whole gubbins.  I glued the window back into the wall and framed it, and now I have a lovely, working casement window so when the inhabitant of the tower chamber needs a breath of fresh air, he can put down his lute and lean out :)

Welcome to our new followers!

I'm more than a little stunned and amazed (in a very happy way) at how many followers have joined this blog in the last day.  Thank you all, so much, for your interest and support!  For those whom I have not had a chance to thank personally, please forgive me.

There's Annie from Denmark whose blog is Obsidian Hall (I love that name.  It's so evocative).  She's got a dark, patinated, slightly grungy or distressed (in a very good way!)  aesthetic which I really enjoy.

There's aru, from Spain, whose blog amounts to a beautiful photo essay on miniatures!

There's annina from the UK, who specialises in modern miniatures (which I love, as well) and who is featured in an April 7 story in the NY Times about modern design in miniatures!

There's Bözse from Hungary, who loves making her own miniatures (and I have to agree, it's pretty addictive :)

There's Julia of Bear Cabin Miniatures from Wales, who started building a dolls' house for her daughter and now makes and sells wonderful furniture, needlework and accessories from her Etsy store!  (That's her Victorian sofa at the top of this post ...)

There's Kat who runs the Mini Madness Virtual Tea Party with her "co-conspirator" Wendie.  This blog's goal is to give miniaturists from all over the world a place to gather, chat and do all the things we might do if we could meet in person!

There's Sylvia from Spain, whose aesthetic is warm, romantic and slightly shabby (very European) and whose blog is full of delicious photos!

There's Tallulah-Belle who makes amazing miniature garden plantings and floral arrangements, and whose blog also has some tutorials.  She also has an Etsy shop!

There's also Synnøve, a Norwegian blogger, whose blog mixes photos of beautiful Nordic style miniatures (lots of patina, soft colours, very romantic) with photos of mind-blowing Norwegian scenery.  Gorgeous!

There's Teresa from Tiny Ter Minaitures, an IGMA artisan from Spain who makes an extraordinary range of miniatures from flowers, fruit and food to modern grocery items.  So perfect!

There's another IGMA artisan, Mags Cassidy, a busy miniaturist from the UK who also has an Etsy shop (in fact she's got a very tempting Tudor food board for sale right now ... :)

There's Katerina from Italy whose blog is lively and has some great tutorials (like a basket making tutorial that I simply have to try with the kids)!

And, finally, thanks also to our mysterious follower Monique!

Giveaway! Woo hoo!

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has been reading,  following and commenting on our blog. The KnitWits (the group of children with whom I play every week, and with whom I've been building this dolls' castle) are coming over this afternoon, and I'm going to show them how many kind and interested people from all over the world have been looking at our work. We all live in a small town in Nova Scotia, Canada, so it's a really big deal for us.

I have been immensely inspired by the work of other miniaturists (I guess I can call myself one, too, now :) It's an extraordinary hobby, this, isn't it?  It's really  much more an obsession or a way of looking at the world, I think.

Anyway, I'm rambling on, and what I want to say is that I'm going to have a giveaway to thank the over fifty people who are now following our blog!

I make (permanently) open books from different periods -- mostly medieval/Tudor, but I do other periods as well.  They work well as large books in 1:12 scale.  I love books in real life, and my husband and I have a sizeable library, so it seemed natural that our miniature houses should have libraries, too.  I started making them because of the dearth of early books available for miniature castles :)

This one shows two colourful pages from the famous Macclesfield Alphabet, a 15th century "pattern book" of source material for calligraphers.  It has a leather cover, but doesn't close.  It makes a pretty display item on a table or bookstand.

I will send a book plus a secret surprise to the winner of a draw from all the people who comment on this post until Sunday, April 18th.  All you have to do leave a comment on this post telling me your dolls' house's historical period (or the age of book you'd like), plus whether you prefer a colourful book or a more restrained one that's largely text (like the breviary on the table, above).  If you don't specify, I'll pick something I think you'd like :)

If you want to link to this giveaway on your blog, I'd be grateful, but it's not necessary for you to be entered.

Once again, thank you all so much for making a small town Canadian feel connected to an entire world of miniature enthusiasts!

Thanks, Ira, for the Happy 101 award!

I want to thank Ira of the delightful blog, Merry Jingle Crafts for so kindly giving me an award.  Thanks, Ira, that's so thoughtful of you!

I will now award it to some other bloggers whose work I'm following with great pleasure!

Emma at http://minibeginnings.blogspot.com/

Kris at http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/

Mags at http://mags-nificentminiatures.blogspot.com/

Jennifer at http://georgiandollshouse.blogspot.com/

Casey at http://caseymini.blogspot.com

Medieval or Tudor trestle table for kitchen

As I start to accumulate details in the kitchen of the castle, I am more and more dissatisfied with the kitchen table I have.

Quite frankly, it sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb.  The colour is too intense, the construction too advanced.  It may be just fine in the William and Mary kitchen, someday, but it's just not right here. Neither are the joint stools ...

This is more what I want -- a trestle table in the same more natural wood finish I'm using for the other wood in this room.  But I like the trestles best in the second photo, the one from Winkhurst. (In fact, I love ALL the things in this photo -- look at the butcher's block!  The scales! The three-legged stools!)

Brian Long, in his book The authentic Tudor and Stuart Dolls House, calls them "comb" trestles.

So I'm going to make my own.

I took a piece of quarter inch thick basswood, 7" x 4" and trimmed a little off the side using a razor saw, so it's now about 7" x 3".

Then I used the offcuts from that, plus a little scrap balsa wood, to make the tops of the trestles and three legs each.  I have this great tool -- the Easy Cutter Ultimate (Ultimate!  Woo!) that makes cutting odd angles very, very simple.  Thank heavens.  Because I suck at geometry.

I cut the six trestle legs using the 105 degree angle guide on the cutter for both the top and the bottom of the legs and trying (and probably failing) to get all the legs exactly the same length :)  I scored the top of the table with my razor saw to suggest planks.

Here I'm attempting to assemble the trestles with glue, using pins to hold the legs in place until the glue dries.  A sturdier way of doing this would be to make tenons at the tops of the legs and insert them into mortises in the tops of the trestles.  Or you could make tiny pegs of toothpicks and use them to make a better joint.  As you can see from the photo above, one of the legs of the trestle on the left is clearly made of balsa, not basswood, because the pin has gone right in!  The other pins I'll trim when the piece has set up.

After the glue set, I sanded everything, carved the edges of the table top a little roughly with an exacto knife, and painted all three pieces with the same weak wash I've been using all day -- lots of water, a little white and a little burnt umber.

I may glue the table together for sturdiness, but for the moment, here's what it looks like in the kitchen.  That's better!

Kitchen doorway and sideboard

I had a few minutes, so decided to trim the door from the kitchen to the storeroom.  I used really thin balsa for the sides of the frame and thicker balsa for the lintel.  Thank heavens for photos in macro!  The photo below showed me that I hadn't pushed the lintel far enough down on the right hand side, and the glue was still wet, so I could fix it easily!

I stained the balsa with some of the left over colour wash from the wall -- burnt umber, a little white, lots of water.

And I dressed up the sideboard for the photo.  Two nights ago I made a couple of trial sugar cones or sugar loaves.  I'm going to do a tutorial on those soon, although they're so easy a tutorial isn't really necessary :)