Caravan progress, and welcome!

Firstly, welcome to Liesl, Maria, and Heleni.  I'm still surprised anyone is looking at this, thank you for following me!

I've had a busy few days so haven't posted for a while.  I've made a little progress on the caravan.  I've had an old red blouse lying around for years that I kept because of the embroidered panels on it.  I thought that one day I might find a use for them, and now I have!  I thought it made a good bedspread, maybe a bit Indian in style.  The bed is going to have a lot more cushions once I have made them.

I made a small shelf using the fretwork fan pieces.  They are very very delicate and easy to break once the main framework is cut into, so a few were broken as I attempted to make this.  Also I used a little bit for something like a Welsh love spoon to put on the wall.  I tried wetting and bending the wood for the bowl of the spoon but it just wouldn't work for me.

The doorway isn't to scale at all, so it will have to be a very low doorway that you need to stoop to get through - I put some material and lace hangings around it, but this end needs a lot more work.  The stove is a pencil sharpener - not sure about having a chimney inside though!

Here is the exterior, with the fan fretwork in place.  Perhaps it needs some aging?

I made my first little purchase on Etsy a few days ago, so once that arrives I'll also be adding it to the caravan....mini crochet, in lovely colours!  I also bought tickets to Miniatura in Birmingham, my first visit to a dolls house fair.  I'm so excited to be going!

PS.  I expect I will keep changing the background/header of this blog until I'm happy with it!  Sorry if it looks different each time you visit.

Garden colours

I was looking through the window onto the garden while fiddling around with my caravan, and realised the colours I was using are very similar to the colours of the flowers in the garden at the moment; mauves, faded pinks, purples, reds and greens.

In particular, the fuchsia - that is the reason there is a shrivelled looking fuchsia head in the next photo, the last one on that particular bush (others seem to have been picked off by my mini boy!).

So now I want to make some in miniature, perhaps also some red apples freshly picked....I'm thinking of the caravan on a late summer evening in an apple orchard, woodsmoke, lanterns.....

Strawberries!

Summer strawberries in a vintage bucket for the Gypsy caravan, made from a Dale R. Kendall kit.

Miniature finds!

I am always on the lookout for things with a miniature potential. This week I have found a couple of lovely items. Firstly, a box I found for £1.50 in a charity shop by 'Handcast Designs Ltd'. The lid is beautifully detailed - I think it's cast from a kind of resin. A quick google on the company when I got home revealed that the main sculptor for the company was previously Vaughan Williams, now of V & R Miniatures, so although this isn't intentionally a 1:12 scale miniature, there is a connection! I think it will make some kind of decorative wall carving for the caravan, possibly painted to resemble wood.


Next I found by chance a sandalwood fan on ebay for a very low price. They are sold as scented wedding favours - I immediately saw the possibilities and ordered one straight away!


When it arrived I was really impressed by the detail for something so cheap - what a bargain! Once taken apart there are a huge amount of lovely fretwork panels of very thin, easy to cut, sandalwood (laser cut?) with slightly thicker panels on either end with a more ecclesiastical looking design. They reminded me of Cynthia Howe's laser cut miniature kits. I'm going to have fun trying to make something from these. They will be used partially as ornate carved decoration on the exterior panels of the caravan - there is even a cartwheel shape within the design.

Caravan in colour

I've been working a little on the caravan. The colours will be loosely based on the vibrant 'Roulottes' decorated by Jeanne Bayol, more photos can be found here. I love the beautiful art dolls by Christine Alvarado of Du Buh Du Designs, and she has also used Gypsy Caravans inspired by Jeanne Bayol as a set for her dolls so she is also a source of inspiration to me. I've just put a few things together to give me an idea of how the colours work as a whole. I pulled off the roof (to be reconstructed later as an opening roof), added shutters to the doorway and painted external panels a bright green, painted the interior a mauve colour and started to build a bed using a kitchen cupboard from one of those cheap basic woodcraft furniture kits.

I like the bright clashing greens, mauves, reds and turquoises - somehow I think they will all work together to give the right kind of bohemian atmosphere. This is something very different to my usual fairly muted colours, and when I need a break I will start work again on my vintage white house!

Welcome!

Well, there's a first time for everything....hello! I have followed and enjoyed so many other blogs out there over the years that I thought it was about time I started my own, so hopefully I will no longer be the invisible 'lurker' and will have enough time to write something of my own and post a few pictures. I've been interested in dolls houses and miniatures for as long as can remember, ever since my Grandad built me my first dolls house as a child. I'll begin on here with a list of my current and possible future projects, though time is in very short supply for me as a stay-at-home mum with a fifteen month old toddler. Miniatures provide a just a little relaxation and distraction for me whenever I find a few moments to spare - here goes....
1. Manderley house, inspired by Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' (this one is my main project, a second-hand Manor House by Dolls House Emporium bought for a bargain price on Ebay, already built and decorated but in need of renovation)
2. Swedish Summer House (half-finished, a little Buttercup by Greenleaf)
3. Vintage/white/Scandinavian inspired house (a cheap import bought on Ebay, this was initially meant to be a 1930's house but I lost track of what I was doing with it and totally changed direction)
4. Gypsy Caravan (recently purchased in a charity shop, not sure if exactly 1:12 scale but I will see what I can make of it - the picture above is the caravan before renovation, although I'd already started to pull off the ugly trimmings. I'm currently very excited about this one!)
5. Sid Cooke shop - a small shop kit I bought a constructed some time ago, but couldn't decide what to make of it...a bakery, a Cornish seaside shop selling beachy things, a 1920's newsagent, a Victorian photographer, an early ironmonger? I'm thinking of reconstructing from imagination one of the shops my ancestors used to run...
6. Shop window display box - this will probably sell Greengate style interior items, maybe some Maileg toys
7. Various boxes and display frames which could end up as anything - I'd like to do some kind of Thai roombox using the Jim Thompson House in Bangkok as inspiration
Those are just the projects I have already in mind and some I have started, but I am constantly picking up new ideas and dreams for future houses....in reality I don't think I have the space, or time! Within this hobby are many 'miniature' distractions - needlework, polymer clay sculpting, miniature painting, wickerwork, flower making and so on, all of which I enjoy. I will try to keep this blog up to date as a record of whatever I'm currently working on.