Dollhouse miniature candle making

The era I am most interested (100-200 years ago) in has candles and what a great project to do for my various dollhouses. After sleeping on this idea, I came up with an efficient way to make multiple candlesticks. Lollypop sticks with wood pieces glued on top for handles. The string is cotton crochet.



The strings/wicks are taped to the lolly pop stick and then the dipping can begin.



Then I rigged up a rest contraption so the wax can solidify between dips.





The finished product. Not perfect but  in that time candles made at home were imperfect anyway.



The things I learned.: People love to make fun of you when you are making miniature candles.
                                   Temperature of wax matters. Too hot and it melts the wax right off.
                                    Double boilers are your friend - less of a fire hazard.

Dollhouse haul

Thanks to my Mother, I was the honoured recipient of a dollhouse and furniture. It is an early Christmas gift, but I get to play with it now! The dollhouse is homemade, and a whopping size. It is a lot overwhelming. There is a few things to repair, like the eavestrough and some of the furniture is broken.

 

The attic rooms are simple servants quarters. A pine furnished bedroom with a modest chamber pot.
The stair hallway has a bathtub and a privacy screen.



The other attic bedroom is a little nicer furnished. This must be a servant in good standing.



The second floor has a lovely bedroom with a fireplace. The curtains match the bedskirt.



The second floor stair hallway has a hutch and fancy chair. Notice how beautiful the custom made stairs are as they curve around.



The other second floor bedroom is a feminine theme, with a four poster bed and fireplace. I will be changing the green gingham bedcover to a more neutral sheet, and the curtain ties will be replaced with burgundy as well as the rug will be replaced with a gorgeous burgundy rughooked oval rug.



The dining room is quite elegant.



The kitchen has a old fashioned water pump, and ice box. I will add more food and maybe a mouse!



The pub is on the first floor and is the business of this house.



Here is all the furniture and accessories that came with the dollhouse.







On top of the haul, I also received a box of furniture from a friend of my mothers. The couch and ottoman is very nice.



The spinning wheel is too big for 1/12 scale, unless it is modified to a walking wheel. There are 3 bundles of wood that will be used for the dollhouse.



The chairs are quite nice, as is the rocking chair.



Here is the piece de resistance. A cast iron stove with a cast iron pan. It is my favourite item of all!

My first miniature room I choose Pikachu!

Before doing any of my Harry Potter miniatures, I cut my teeth with a whimsical Pokemon  room. Hope you like it. Using simple foam board and wallpaper designed by yours truly, a room was constructed. Pictures were printed and glued to cereal box board. The floor was an enlarged and photocopied  sheet from a miniature kit that was purchased on Aliexpress.com



Using inexpensive dollar store furniture was a great choice, and I painted white. The bed has wooden beads on the posts that are painted to look like Poke balls. A strip of black cardstock is glued around the middle of the balls. The tall dresser had a nice decorative bottom which was removed as it was just too tall, and a thin piece of wood was glued to the bottom to make it look finished.



The knitted blanket is an original design, a Poke Ball with a lightning bolt through the middle of it. The rug is a crocheted Poke Ball which took me 3 tries to get right. The lamp is a wooden bead painted and a teardrop bead attached with a pipe cleaner that holds up the lampshade. Many books and pokemon cards were made but I really like the Pokemon Monopoly board. The easel has a Hand drawn picture of Pikachu. Yellow pillow on the bed has a transferred picture of pikachu with a transfer medium from Michaels



The final addition - some cute figures that were purchased online.





Hope you enjoyed! I am thinking about selling this room as my other dollhouses are filling up my house, and I am running out of space!

I made a quick picture video

Miniature knitted affgan for Ron Weasley from Harry Potter

Sometimes you just need a knitting project to relax. So figuring out the blanket squares was a bit difficult as there was not a complete pattern on the internet. So pictures were used and the rest that couldn't be seen was just randomly filled in.



The first one attempted did not turn out as my squares were more rectangular. See bottom affgan in picture below.



It took 3 days for each in amongst work and life. Some of it is yarn number 1 (sock yarn) and some of it is cording from Michaels, usually used for making bracelets. Total cost for this project: $3.77 with lots of cording left over for other projects.  Knitting needles used were the smallest in my collection!

miniaturist show and sale haul

What a weekend! There were many beautiful displays and items for sale at this show. Here is my haul. In it, there are a few free items: small cabinet, hat and scarf, artists paint palette. Notable catches are the stove and cupboard set, some wood molding, a watercolour drawing, 2 sizes of sundial, and cross stitch potted plants. For my greenhouse project, I got some ceramic pots,a wooden pot and a strawberry clay pot. The sundial will also be used.










A trip to Michaels also was fruitful. My local store doesn't have these items, so they were snatched up. Lemonade pitcher and 2 glasses, kitchen mixer, tea kettle, garden apron with tools, umbrella, lamp, and kitchen cooking set.

Collector's cupboard kit

This is a Canadian pine cupboard kit. It is circa 1832.

The instructions came with a layout sheet, very useful, especially since the drawings were actual size.
Since my stain was mia, the kitchen provided a stain for me. To age it a little bit, vinegar and steel wool solution was used. Then layers of tumeric mixed with water were applied, giving it a more yellow colour. Glueing the cupboard together.







Using some drawer knobs from a dollar store dresser. All that is left is to varnish the piece.

Miniature croquet set and child's hammer toy

We could make exchange gifts at the miniaturists retreat, and I chose to make a croquet set. It would be labour intensive, but the materials were already available in my workroom.

Here the materials cut.

Painting pieces.

Pics of the finished set.

Also, I made for my table gifts, a miniature child's hammer toy.