Thursday, December 20, 2007

Well, I have this little confession to make ~ I have started on the little tiny dollhouse things ~ but I HAVEN'T finished trimming out the exterior of the dollhouse yet ~ I think I may take this opportunity to blame it on Kat.... It's HER dollhouse, right? She REALLY needs to get on it, and trim out that exterior. Sheesh! The lackadaisical attitude some people's kids have developed of late!!

;-D

OK, that over, wanna see some really awesome little tiny things? :-D

Well, Kat & I think they are really awesome, anyway!

If you want to really see them up close, click on them, and you can get a MUCH bigger pic.

This is a little collection of decanters, flasks, perfume bottles, and candle sticks that I made out of different beads I had. I also used some odd shaped nuts, a wall screw thingy, and some buttons for the bases of the chinese jars, and I used porcupine quills for the candles. The natural brown on the ends of the quills were perfect for a burnt wick look, and on the pair that didn't have the brown, I just markered it on. Also, I just used regular dollar store super glue. I recommend the gel kind for the bead work, rather than the thinner liquid kind, as the liquid kind tends to drip, run, and get your fingers stuck to everything!I put a quarter in some of the pics, so you can sort of gauge the size.

Here are some little boxes and food containers. We were able to get the printies off of http://www.jennifersprintables.com/ . I used plastic from a WalMart bag to make the cereal liner, and wood shavings compliments of Wood Genius for the grape nuts & corn flakes. I also weighted the boxes with either a piece of wood glued to the bottom of the inside of the boxes or put cornstarch into them. For the gelatin & starch boxes, I just glued the printie around a piece of wood cut to fit.

Perhaps you can see the tiny size by noticing the wooden spool of thread or the needle packet in the background.

Here are a collection of miniature dolls I have made for the dollhouse. The largest doll is all porcelain, 6" tall, and she was actually a dollar store find. I just stripped off her cheesy fake Hawaiian outfit & made her some new clothes out of vintage fabrics & laces.

The other three dolls I made are out of porcelain body parts that I got off of eBay, with hand stitched leather bodies. They have wire armatures, and are stuffed with sawdust. Again, thanks to Wood Genius.

This tiny baby doll is so little, she is only 1 1/2" tall. Yes, that's one and a half. :-D

I hand stitched their outfits out of vintage laces & silk ribbons. Perhaps you can see the smocking on the little blue baby dress. I had to use a single strand of sewing thread to make it the right size.

Ahhh... see the little girl? She is holding her baby sister ~ the little girl is only 3" tall.

Here you can see her leather body, and the porcelain parts. You can also see the hand stitching, which looks large in this close-up pic, but is really hardly visible to the naked eye. (well, to MY naked eye, anyway... your naked eye may be better eyesighted than mine....naked eyes, you know...) I was extremely lucky to find these tiny porcelain parts on eBay, I have never seen anything so tiny to make dolls from since. I have seen larger pieces, but nothing scaled to this perfect 1/12 size, unless you go with pre-made pipe-cleaner dolls from China or Germany. None with my leather bodies, however. :-D

Hopefully, they last a good long time, which is why I made them out of leather. Remember, Kat says she is going to hand this down to a granddaughter, so I have to make things that will hold up. :-D ( It's my duty...heheheh) Plus it's fun!

And last, but definitely not least, here is Wood Genius, to whom we must once again, say thanks!! He keeps providing us with lots & lots of fun things from the shop to use, as well as ideas and technical support. (Kat & I are sorta clueless, we admit this freely, and without shame. After all, as I have mentioned before ~ you don't see the words "Wood Genius" tacked on in front of either of OUR names! ;-D)

For Part 5 of this Venture, I will show some of the furniture that Wood Genius has made into kits for us. ( that is a 2-fold reasoning ~ 1) Kat & I feel like we are actually *good* at making cute miniatures, and 2) Wood Genius doesn't spend all his time making miniatures. :-D)

Isn't he beautiful? ( and he would say ~ "Yup, that's what I strive for, beautiful......" ) :-d

About Me

I love my husband, children & grandchildren. They bring me more happiness & peace than I deserve. I also love all those little things in life that make me stop and wonder. Like a 2 yr old discovering an ant, or the beauty of a spider in a rose, or the vista from atop a mountain trail. Sounds corny, but it's true! I love backpacking into a place and stopping along the way to eat the berries, and identify all the wild flowers. I love sleeping in the middle of nowhere in a tent, ( with my little self-inflating mattress! ;-D) Try it sometime, guarantee you'll go back for more ~ ;-D And I love to take pictures of all the beautiful things along the way.