Aunt Augusta on her way!

I couldn't resist the small Parian doll on Ruby Lane . She will be Aunt Augusta Gammage, who is Josiah's older sister. I'm not yet sure where she sleeps! But there is a small secret room in the basement that might make a cozy nest for Althea.Talking Julia out of her blue bedroom is unlikely, and even though it seems rude , we may find that Aunt Augusta stays in the attic. or possibly the front room becomes a bedroom, and the bathroom is imaginary? I don't think I can do it! ( see the suspend disbelief post.) No more additions!

Aunt Augusta is on the, so I probably should get Althea's feet back on.

Secret Progress

I've been working away at a few of my favorite ideas for Gammage House. But I haven't wanted to show them because they are still too rough.

I just remembered that Persis and Julia have made an appearance, but not Althea. Althea is the middle sister. Free spirited Persis and Julia, the epitome of proper, both rely on mousy Althea. She's having leg surgery right now, as the sawdust made its way out of the splits in her legs! I'm trying to figure out too how to make more period appropriate clothing without removing her original clothes.

I've got my eye on another doll , who may become Aunt Augusta. If she comes to live at Gammage House, we may have to do some room adjustment.

It looks as though Althea is participating in the construction of the Doolin Inn. Sort of half scale meets sort of quarter scale!

Old houses

My home for 23 years was more than 150 years old. After we got the holes in the floors and walls ( exterior) fixed, we consulted a historic architect . When asked how in the world one prioritized all the fixes that were needed, he answered," Just pick one thing at a time - not a whole room, but one door frame , or one mantle." Good advice because things eventually got done- for the most part only to the livable stage.

But I can't wait to get to furnishing the house!

Blogshelf app

I love reading other people's blogs about miniatures. I can't quite figure out how some of them can be so prolific - right now it is taking mea long time to finish anything! I thought I'd share an App I use to read blogs- it puts them all together and usually updates the picture if there is a new post.
this is only one of many pages of blogs !

Online legacies

I was just searching for ideas and got distracted by ideas for a Dutch Baby house. I have a Bespaq cabinet put away with only wallpaper in, but have always looked for websites with traditional furniture for it. I again came across the website of a wonderful miniature maker, Frances Armstrong . She is gone, but her website is still there and still has wonderful work that makes you wish she were still around. Frances Armstrong

I 'm also a history collector, so got tickled thinking that along with heirloom items, we'll be leaving behind Facebook pages, blogs and websites! My aunts, who are all crafters and artists, have Facebook though in their 70's - it didn't take them long to see the power of networking. So what do you think- should we all go to Ancestry.com and link our blogs and Facebook pages to our profiles?

Breaking up Christmas

There is an American Old time music tune called "Breaking Up Christmas". Quick lesson for those of you not into traditional music ; songs have words , and tunes don't ( unless you are Liz Carroll ) , and tune writers tend to either be traditional, using place names or the name of the person who wrote the tune, or to be silly. I always put this tune name in the category of silly takeoffs on Irish tune names. One of my favorite Irish Tune names is ,"I buried My Wife and Danced On Her Grave." But today I am thinking that it should be an air ( generally sad, slow tune ) and rather than describing a drunken melee around the Christmas tree, is describing what I am doing- packing away ornaments which are fragile and which all have sentimental value - so breaking up Christmas. Sad, but time to get on with the new year!

irony

Since I wrote the post on suspension of disbelief, and started adding a staircase to the basement of the Gammage House, I've being thinking about a few glaringly obvious inconsistencies. What is a 55 year old woman who has always hated talking animal stories doing collecting and making dolls and miniatures?

2nd - the original thought behind Gammage house was for it to be more like an antique dollhouse than a "to scale" modern miniature. Detailed but only close to the half inch scale- using mostly handmade furnishings and accessories or altering new ones . which is why I am struggling so much on whether or not to electrify in a typical way. Wouldn't it make more sense for me, who has always hated animal stories, to build meticulously realistic scenes , or least aspire to?

I did some work yesterday on the targeted end of the house, but also picked up work on painting Julia's bedroom walls. Painting the walls is a task which has been holding me up, but I've found a solution . All the walls are now removable, so I can finish painting later, but get the interior of the house ready.

This is a picture of the addition to motivate me!

Saturday morning

After years and years of chores on Saturday morning, this lovely time has become mine to work only on projects. I watch my favorite shows ( I love Sell This House- another secret)

Everyone has been well trained to leave this time unencumbered and not ask for anything- part of me wonders if I should have taught kids this a long time ago, and part can't get away from feeling guilty . but the biggest part is having a great time!

I'm still proud to say that I am working toward the targeted end of Gammage house, and toward getting things ready to glue the 2nd floor on Max's Doolin Inn. yes, it has changed back to a B@B, but with some summer dwellers who stay from May to August. I'm working on the bay window seat this morning . Pics later.

Fine motor skills

I don't think I have really worked on fine motor skills since I was 5. I never did quite master cursive, but I type everything anyway. I play piano and fiddle with dexterity so WHY CAN'T I cut a straight line?

When I first started playing fiddle, it sounded so bad that I played with a practice mute and a clothespin on my bridge so that the noise wasn't so bad.

So I'll stick to this too, and skills will get better. Check the picture out and you'll understand my frustration!

Obsessed

You know you are obsessed when you are making divinity fudge and start trying to figure out how to use it to make miniatures. But it does kind of look like sparkling I need....

Multi tasking

Right now I seem to be so distractable that I have to hide loose projects from myself so I don't work on them instead of the houses. I am however giving myself permission to flit between the Gammage house and the yet to be named rooming house. I have the goal of finishing the 1st floor of the rooming house, and the stonework of the Gammage house. Oh, and the stone work requires that I add some framing , and the first floor requires a window seat built in and the fireplaces and panels finished.... As I write that I realize it is only partially true .

To commit , this is the end I am working on today. And yes, it is a complete mess! The interior of this end is meant to be very old and rustic- if you will remember, Persis will inhabit the upstairs, and had the balcony built( with private plans to find a way to escape the house unnoticed ) .

The Gammage sisters revolt

So the sisters seem to have gotten wind of the recent work stoppage on their house. Not happy! (and comments from my family as well since they seem to think that one dollhouse at a time is the gold standard.) Money for minis Is looking pretty slim this month after the $2000 for the dentist and the $95 for a new car battery in one day.

So time to at least introduce Julia ,the oldest Gammage sister. If you'll remember, Persis is the free spirited youngest , and the closest to being truly half scale. Julia is exceptionally tall . She would very much agree with my family about finishing one thing before starting another. Her room is a model of organization and beauty as well. Persis has never seen her in grubby clothes and jewelry. She does however need new boots. After dressing Persis, I'm marveling at the detail of her clothing! right now she is very unhappily surveying the mess outside the basement of Gammage house.

Cardstock

I go excited about using card stock after seeing the work of Shane Downes and decided to figure out how to use it. I love to cut wood , but the thinner wood breaks when trying to cut diagonals or details . What I've learned so far- my blade runner does cut card stock, but the scroll saw works better. After using the saws I'm just too impatient to cut by hand.

Mid day update

I just watched the movie - I think it is called Julie and Julia- about a woman who cooks her way through Julia Child's cookbook, and blogs daily. What would be the miniature equivalent? 

The rooming house is only quarter scale in name  I think, but we'll see the finished dimensions later. I've been challenged on both projects by my messy work- and it is even more challenging when smaller, because every gunk of paint is , in scale, at least as big as my paper model's hand. Yes, I made a little cut out the size of a tall adult, to give myself a sense of how tall things should be. I did make the ceilings extremely high on purpose, for the rooming house is a victorian mansion transformed to meet heating costs! 

I've built the house in separate pieces to, give me access to decorate. There are three levels , plus a loft level and a tower room . At first the tower was separate, but I've joined it already -a little challenging, but the end result is okay. 

This is the first floor. I'm hoping to get it ready to glue to the 2nd floor today. My plan is to decorate the exterior after it is all joined, unless someone tells me a different strategy! 

This app keeps crashing when I load pics, I'm going to switch to add pictures

Making wallpaper

I got a great idea to make wallpaper from the web. I took a picture of a small swatch of fabric, and a picture of a wallpaper border . An IPad makes this really easy- you take a picture of your screen by pushing the home button and the on/off button at the same time. I know there is an App to use , but I prefer to do it using PowerPoint.

in PowerPoint, you click on design, and background. in background, you select picture fill, then select the photo you want to use. Click "tile", then adjust the percentage as you like. I'm really pleased with the results!

distractions

Vacation seems to be coming to an end- even though I have two more days, then work two days before the weekend. it's time to fess up- what I've really been working on is  a quarter scale rooming house. Is there such a thing as a rooming house any more? The owner is named Max. Other characters to follow!Usually, I can work in a complete mess, but today my usual messes not working .First to sort out the projects. For now Gammage House parts are going into storage. Here is the original mess- well, it's side ways, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter.