Weekends again

Almost the weekend! I've got so many plans for the houses- we'll see what really gets done. When I have Saturday morning to "piddle", I truly feel off. I worked on some of the painted walls and paneling for the Gammage House- they are so primitive compared to those I see on other people's blogs. I just have to have faith that my skills will get better and better. although, one of my tasks this weekend is to complete an application for a doctoral program. It wouldn't start till the summer od 2013 though.

www.hypersmash.com

Creatin Contest 2010

In 2010 the miniature bug hit for good when I got an email from Miniatures.com saying that their Creatin Contest house , Lisa's cottage was on sale for around $29.  Which left me about a month to go to get the house ready if I really wanted to enter the contest. The minute I saw the cottage, I knew what I wanted to do- use graphics from a book I'd had as a child. Don't get any ideas, because the copyright of this book is in the 1920's - we bought this book at an estate sale in a mansion in Iowa City Iowa when I was about 5. I also got a very beautiful brooch the size of a dessert plate which was beautiful blue glass! I can't find the brooch, but have had the book for 50 years now. I scanned, cut, pasted, copied, until I had the right components to cover the house in paper. I can still smell all the sealer I used to keep the designs fresh!

If you've ever entered this contest, you know that you are judged by the 4 pictures you send in. I had a major photo shoot!  This is the book with the house. The teddy bear pic did NOT go in! I noticed that the winners from the years before almost always had some kind of background that showed off the house, so in this one, I used a piece of linoleum that looked like the one my grandmother had in her kitchen.

 Then I painted a BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE of a background on an old piece of paneling. 

 I actually do think the background painting added to the presentation. 

I added a few old pieces of antique furniture, but there was printed furniture inside. 

We combined printed and real in an interesting way. 

And as usual, I could not suspend disbelief, so we added doors, and dormers . But I managed not to add stairs. I'm pretty sure it is the last time I won't add stairs! 

I put a number of images together in the Paint program on my computer to make the doors, gate and railings. Tedious. 

I'm sure I spent as much time on my computer making the paper covering as others did doing everything else! 

As you can see, when I say that I had a major photo shoot, I meant it!  I think I had choose from about 120 pics, with multiple lighting options, from every possible angle and in three different locations in my basement,   to find the four I wanted to send in. The pictures from the book are mostly in the interior. 

The result: we got honorable mention! See the contest results here (and yes, I know , the other ones are amazing!) . 

Antique post office fixtures

I'm having to take a little break from working on houses. Last week I fell not once but two times 4 days apart while carrying my dog inside, on the same step , although I hit the right side the first time and the left side the 2nd. You know how, when you are carrying a small being your body adapts to protect it ( in this case a powderpuff Chinese Crested )? I'm thinking my ribs did that on the side of the brick step . The good news is that we are both perfectly okay, though I am very sore and lazy. If you've seen the movie "Groundhog Day" you know the feeling I had as I fell the 2nd time. I remember thinking, " Really?" "Again?"

And the look Josey The frou frou gave me gave away very similar thoughts!

Instead of working, I'm researching and planning. There is a wonderful antique post office counter I 'd like to copy in Forest, Virginia, not far from me. I'm going to have to go photograph it, as I can't find anything like it online. It is still in use, but is located in an antique shop which used to be a general store.

This is the closest I could come to what I remember.

I'll try to get out to see the one near me this weekend - I'm hoping it will live up to my memory of it!

Revelation- the basement store as a stationers and post office

I knew the Gammage women had to have occupations other than being ladies of leisure. The fancywork and domestic articles around the house are the work of women long gone. but even their mother, Cecile , preferred writing and illustrating botanical journals to prettying the house, which is why the decor speaks of their grandfather's lifetime more than the year of 1885.

The basement was used for years as an apartment for workers or temporary quarters for other shipmasters who weren't in Providence long enough to go home. For those who wanted to escape the drunken brawls of the boarding houses serving mostly sailers, the basement was a warm restful alternative. A somewhat primitive kitchen served both the upstairs and the basement living quarters. The current occupants of the house have done a bit of updating in the kitchen, with a new stove and inside sink.

Since the unpleasantness, the exterior room of the basement was converted into a post office and stationers store, with Julia as the proprietor. The shipmaster's quarters were somewhat preserved, but the larger part was converted as a wood shop for Althea, who makes beautiful clocks, sewing boxes and commissioned work.

So finally , I know how to proceed on the basement!

As you see, I am between color schemes on the house too, but I've added the beginnings of steps as well.

More house color choices

I went to images to deliberately find very different color schemes. As in not green and brick. I wonder if that color scheme is really as prevalent as it seems on Google images. The 2nd thing this exercise brought about was the realization of how far I have to go on the inn in terms of gingerbread. I suppose I could pretend that Max took it off, but I really secretly like the over the top houses.

Is that pink, or coral?

Mostly white.

A different green.

And here I go again with the green and brick. I'm thinking I like it because it downplays the ornate features.

I like the garages underneath on the row of houses.

K3ftwyvbnex9 My other Obsession ( well, one of them)

When my youngest left for college, I made a quilt. In about two weeks. After years of UFO's that inhabited my home, I was finally able to have time to indulge myself in all of those projects I would do " someday".

One of the someday undertakings was doll making. I fell in love with the work of Izannah Walker. I'm taking a hiatus from doll making right now, but I'm sure my dolls will show up on this blog- hence the name change.

My blog , which chronicles my trip in pursuit of information about Izannah Walker and her dolls , is FiddlerRock .

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 !