creating Dioramas, Miniatures and scale models
INSPIRATION PHOTOS:
There's still room in my Chicago class. If you'd like to try landscaping in 1:144 scale, why not join us for this fun and easy project? For details, go to: http://www.bishopshow.com/chi15ws41.htm
I made a dormer. The painting on this side is done, just some lead for the roof, the balconies, railing and shutters. Because I have a dormer, there is room for a little guest-room. I also used the beautiful lace that Mercedes give me as curtains, it is just perfect!!
Miniature artist Hannah Lemon's houseplants were a big hit, earning her a spot on season 2 of Best in Miniature. Learn more in the full interview!
Mandatory Credit: All Images Courtesy Michael Williams/MyLifeInPlastic.com Ideal Tuesday Taylor Fashion Doll Dollhouse House Summer Winter A-frame aframe A frame ski lodge lake house lakehouse miniature diorama 1970s vintage collectible toy toys dolls
by Karina Schaapman
I havent done much at all this week...bits of this and bits of that with nothing to show for it lol This post i thought i'd show you some of my latest inspiration pictures :D Firstly from a new friend Maritza :) NOT MY WORK but ooooooooooo i wish!!! :) ooooo myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy its all fabulous dont you think!!! pay her website a visit and drool for a while :D The next one is from Janny...she made a truly inspiational "Peacock Room" for a friend...such a great story and she also has a website from which sells fabulous kits among other things :D When i did my last post about the Shabby Chic Tea Salon i commented i thought i needed more cakes....well... Mieke commented and said she would send me some...they arrived this week and look fabulous in the shop!!! Thank you Mieke!!!! :D x Thanks for looking and see you next week :D Linda x
Explore Becky Quan's 6060 photos on Flickr!
These miniature rooms, created by 20 London-area designers, are now on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Esta serie de post sobre juguetes y juegos victorianos ha tratado de recopilar algunos de los juegos más populares entre los niños de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX. He dejado para el final tres de…
Оригинал взят у museum_cdm в Дом муми-троллей Это удивительный кукольный дом муми-троллей, который своими руками создали автор вселенной муми-троллей Туве Янссон с друзьями Тууликки Пиетилэ и Пентти Эйстола в конце 70-х годов. В доме 5 этажей, его высота 2.5 метра. Сначала дом должен был быть…
Decorated with lots of books and papers the Ginsburg Library set by Bespaq. Really love this Library Desk. Wasn't really sure my books would do it justice. These books are more realistic than my normal "fantasy" books. Handmade turned brass and wood ink well set. I bought this a few years back off eBay. Never really had a desk I thought would do it justice till now. It is singed "Wane" I think. Maybe one of you knows the artist. If you do let me know and I will be sure to give him credit here. Gold wax seals on old aged documents. You can buy my loose leather books here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/127201877/miniature-leather-bound-books-for?ref=shop_home_feat
Hay everyone.. almost a month since my last post.. and Wow I noticed I have 200 people following my blog now. Weird people care about my work enough to to hit the follow button.. Hehe.. Thanks so much to everyone and Hello to all the new followers out there.. Been trying to catch up with some of my commissions. Thought I would share one with you. This is a larger scale miniature table.. Not really sure what scale it would be. A collector from the Netherlands asked if I could make a wizard table that would fit into his display cabinet. The table is a little over 8" long and 5" tall without all the stuff on top..
Die Sonne war heute wirklich so wundervoll. Ich hoffe Ihr habt alle einen schönen Samstagnachmittag gehabt und konntet den herrlichen Tag ge...
As promised the pictures with all the details
Frances Glessner Lee's miniature murder scenes are dioramas to die for
FILLING THE SHADOWBOX SECTION 3: THE EASTER BASKETS ARE READY FOR THE EGG HUNT It is Easter morning, the baskets are filled, and the eggs are hidden in the grass. All is ready for the hunt to begin. This is the subject of the 4th section of our Easter Shadowbox. The Background: Make a color copy of the background graphic onto matte presentation paper using, best printer settings, adjusting the size to fit the walls of the shadowbox section it will be in. As seen the section is 4 ¼” wide. I used a dry, deep green watercolor pencil to change the yellow of the grass to a green, nothing artistic here, just simple feathered strokes. Cut out the piece. You may choose to add it in one piece or do each wall separately (makes applying to the walls easier). Use a quality Glue Stick for adhering. Save image to your computer. Print out at 8.97"w x 3.5"h Print onto matte presentation paper at best settings ------------- The Flooring: I used the same self-stick moss as was used in section 2, Adhesive-backed moss (this product is available in craft ((Michaels)), model railroad and floral supply stores). Although this product is not a must it sure makes the job of landscaping easier and less messy. Cover the floor and up the wall a bit to add dimension. I doubled some of the side edges, here and there, for more dimension and to make the look of the hidden eggs more realistic. Fine flowers were added in groups around the perimeter. These were purchased but one could easily make them using railroad flower landscaping material http://www.amazon.com/Scene-A-Rama-Scenery-Bags-Flowers and fine wire. You may choose to hide your eggs now as it is easer before the baskets are in place. Use the colored eggs you made for section 3…remember, I told you to make extras. But here is something different you may want to try: Look in the floral department of craft stores for branches of pastel colored Styrofoam balls. The balls can be picked off the branch and pinched in fingertips to form ovals...larger ones can be eggs; smaller ones can be used as candy eggs or jellybeans. WOVEN EASTER BASKETS These Easter baskets are paper strips woven over a form. They are fun and fairly easy to make. The size and shape of the form, the width of the strips used and the choice of colors make each basket unique. Choose a form that matches the diameter you desire of your finished basket. The samples used a ¾” diameter dowel but the form may be small, smooth lids, bottles, etc. Decide how tall your basket will be and mark a line up from the bottom around the form. For the spokes and the weavers, cut colored paper into 1/16” x 5 1/2 “strips. You may choose to make a solid color basket or a two-toned one…the spokes being one color and the weavers another. For a ¾” diam. basket you will need 8 full sized spokes and one half the length. You always need an uneven number of spokes to weave. Glue two spokes together at right angles at their centers. Continue to glue on the other 6 full spokes in the same manner, centering each around the others. Glue the 9th spoke on so it fits in an open space. When the glue has set a bit use needle nose pliers to pinch and compress the center a bit. Hold the center of the spoke assembly on the center of the bottom of the dowel- form and with the other hand glue the ends of the spokes on the sides of the form up somewhat from your marked line. If you glue four spokes that are evenly spaced around the dowel first you can then let go of the top of the spoke assembly while you glue the rest in place. To weave, cut one end of a weaver-strip to a point and glue the other end to the inside of one of the spokes, as close to bottom as possible, making sure not to get glue on the form. With the help of pointed tweezers, weave the strips in and out of the spokes around the form. When the first strip is almost used up, glue another weaver strip to it. Let the glue set just a bit and then continue weaving around, always pushing the weave close and tight. For this size basket six rows of waving are good. Stop up form the same place you started the weaving. Trim excess from the last weaver; glue the cut end under the nearest spoke. Cut off all but 1/16” of the spokes that are under the last woven row. Glue the extending 1/16” down over the last row of weaving to secure it. Cut off the remaining spokes in the same manner. Slip the basket off the form. Glue the extensions over the last row of weaving on the inside of the basket. For the top trim, Glue two of the strips together for a double thickness…if you are using two colors, use one of each. When the glue has set, cut the strip in two lengthwise, With the fingertips one hand, pinch one end of the strip to hold, and with the other hand twist the strip into a tight corkscrew….with a bit of practice this is easy. Cut off the end of the twisted paper. Glue the twist around the top of the basket, just very slightly to the outside edge. For the handle, prepare a twisted piece as described above. Glue one end to the inside of the basket, decide how high you want you handle, cut off excess twist and glue the other end inside the basket. Use needle nose pliers to pinch and meld handle paper to basket paper. If desired the baskets may be finished with a clear, matte medium. If you enjoyed weaving the basket do explore using other material in the same manner…thinner paper strips, cording, ribbon, etc. Easter Basket Grass: You may have some very fine Easter grass on hand… vintage grass is often very fine and lovely but hard to come by. The finest and most malleable I have been able to make is using tissue paper. Using sharp scissors and four thicknesses of tissue paper cut it into ultra fine strips but not freeing it from the whole paper. When it is as fine as you can cut it, without shedding it, cut it free. Roll it into bundles in your hand to compress and wrinkle it. Fill baskets. A deep green color is traditional but white or light pastels work well too. Filling the Baskets: Fill your baskets with candy, toys, and other goodies. As seen the white basket holds a small story book, dyed eggs, and a pom-pom chick. The lavender and white one besides candy has a coloring book and crayons. The blue and yellow baskets has a chocolate bunny and assorted candy. Story books: Because these books will not be opened they use matboard as a filler for the pages. Print the book covers onto matte presentation paper using best printer settings. Cut out, score and fold. Cut a piece of matte board a scant smaller and glue into cover. Chocolate Bunny: The bunnies are made using a mini plastic candy mold, Country Kitchen Inc. #90-2119. http://www.countrykitchensa.com/shop/seasonal-and-theme-party-shop/mini-easter-assortment-chocolate-candy/42/552/908/615923/ This particular mold has 10 each of rabbits, ducks, baskets and egg on it. The rabbits are 1” high. The mold can either be used as a press mold with Fimo by first dusting the mold very lightly with cornstarch or with Plaster of Paris. If using Fimo, choose a brown color and press into mold and smooth out evenly. Use a needle tool or something similar to lift rabbit out of mold, smooth edges if needed and bake according to Fimo directions, or do as I sometimes do and use a heat gun to cure the clay. If using Plaster of Paris, follow package directions for mixing and spoon into molds. When plaster has set a bit, smooth off excess plaster, even with mold. When plaster has set push out the rabbit and when completely dry paint with brown acrylics. Either way give the rabbit a tan eye and add a bow with paint, dimensional paint, Fimo, silk ribbon, or crepe paper twist. Use chocolate rabbits to fill Easter baskets or wrap in clear plastic wrap, tied at the top with a silk ribbon bow….whatever, they look good enough to eat, but don’t. Color Book: Print the pages on bright white paper and the cover on matte presentation paper. Cut out the pages in one continuous piece. Neatly fold the pages sharply, accordion-style, starting on the left-hand side with an inward fold. Keeping the smaller front and back pages free, glue the rest of the pages together in pairs by using a quality glue stick on the back side. Make sure there is no glue on the front of the pages and press the assembly even and flat. Cut the cover out and score and on the spine lines. Glue the page assembly into the cover by its spine and when the spine is in place glue down the smaller facing pages to evenly to the inside of the front and back covers. Check for excess glue and then press flat until the glue has set. Crayons: This image is an altered version from . http://www.printmini.com (a great printie site). Copy and paste image to your computer. Print box onto matte presentation paper. Cut out, score, fold and glue sides to tabs . ---------------------------------- -------------------------- SHADOW BOX TO DATE --------------------------------------------------- Well, per usual these days, time got ahead of me and I did not finish this project before Easter as planned. But not to fret, as the subjects of the next two sections of the Shadowbox will focus on pieces that can be used anytime of year. And so as soon as the remains of Easter dinner are put away, the family are on their way home, and I have put my feet up for awhile (maybe eating another tiny sliver of cheesecake) I will start on the 5th section of the Shadowbox, Spring Flowers. Here is hoping your Easter is/was peaceful, loving, and happy, Joann
Everybody has her own favorite miniaturist, I think? As there are many of you I admire deeply, there is one miniaturist I find realy AMAZING!!!! I follow her for some years now and wanted to share the link to her side and blog! I have asked her permission to use some photos of her blog, to show you a little peak of her skills! Click here for her website! Click here for her blog!
Queen Mary’s Doll House, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1924.
Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson on the pioneering criminologist Frances Glessner Lee and the influence of her Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death on forensics.
Welcome to the first-ever issue of Shrunk! What’s in the issue? 4 brilliant DIY projects for your 1:12 scale interior. Needle punch a modern rug, stitch a monochrome patchwork quilt, carve some rustic style kitchen boards and create your very own, chic corner sofa. The issue offers some great editorial features, the cover star: The Loft That Lockdown Built, tours Amanda Smith’s amazing 1:12 scale loft apartment, a renovation that took just a few short months as a result of all the extra time at home! A modern miniatures magazine, Shrunk is a celebration of doll's houses, miniatures, dioramas and model making. Bridging the gap between traditional doll's house collecting, contemporary craft and multimedia art. Shrunk is here to serve a new generation of collectors and makers through a combination of accessible projects and inspiring features.
View album on Yandex Disk
Finally I can show you the little attic room box project in its entirety! Back in November and September on here, I showed you the interior structure at different stages of its creation. Normally I would use wood in creating walls, doors, flooring etc. but this time I used a combination of foamboard, card and cardboard as part of a demonstration at our local dolls house club, to show to members that one does not need to be a master craftsman to create little scenes in room boxes (our latest club project was to make an attic scene inside a room box). I have filled this with some of my own creations as well as some little treasures accumulated over the years from various sources, including some vintage items. The beautiful painting was created by Ellie De Lacy and I won this in the Breast Cancer Campaign Raffle at the very first Thame Dolls House Fair that was run by the club, back in February 2004. It is beautiful and now I have somewhere to finally put it! I purchased this little coffee set from an artisan who was at a Surrey dolls house club exhibition, many years ago now, and simply cannot remember the name of the artisan who created it. All this time it has literally sat in a box but now I am able to put it to good use. Some photos are personal touches that are relevant to me including one of my father who was a navigator in WW2 and a photo of my five big brothers and me, all lined up in order of age!!! Some more personal touches are a box of Britains Floral Garden lawns, pond box, leaflets etc. plus Judy and Jackie Annuals, all scaled down from my own childhood posessions. Falling out of the old chest is a Sindy leaflet, scaled down from one that I still have (was anyone else ever in the Sindy Club back in the 1960s)? Plus there is the little family Children's Dictionary and a Ladybird book of The Nurse....two more of my childhood favourites. On the old table is a vintage metal sewing machine and it's lid can just be seen under the table. I just adore this and if you turn the handle the needle moves up and down. It is so like the real life one we had that was my mum's. The cotton reels are some purchased off David Edwards at last years Dolls House Festival. Many of the books and ephemera have been replicated and scaled down from the real thing. The brown upholstered chair was bought in a sale many years ago from Veronica who started up Key Miniatures - the dolls house shop in Thame (which is sadly no longer here). The other chair with green upholstery is vintage and had a broken leg which was stuck back on so that I could use it in this scene. I do still have space to fill but have simply run out of time. After the exhibition this weekend, I plan to sit this on a shelf above my computer for inspiration and will continue to add to it. One day I hope to electrify the little back lobby behind the door but for the moment.......this is my little attic project.....hope you enjoyed seeing it. May I take this opportunity to wish all the members of Market Town Miniaturists (aka Thame dolls house club and MTM for short) a very Happy 10th Anniversary!!!! To celebrate, on Saturday at Thame Dolls House Fair, the ladies of MTM will be exhibiting examples of projects that they have undertaken over the past 10 years plus each member will be ehxibiting their attic room box too......do come along and be amazed, they are very talented ladies!!!
Housed in a 16th century building in the historic center of Lyon, France is the Musée Miniature et Cinéma, a 5-story museum containing over 100 miniature film sets. The tiny scenes were produced by world-renowned miniaturists and contain the highest form of Hyperrealism in order to trick the audience’s eye into believing each set was indeed life-size. The handcrafted models contain all the minuscule features that would be found in the film’s actual scene, from fake mold inhabiting peeling walls to scratches seen behind tiny bedposts. More
I can barely believe I'm actually writing a little update today...! When our daughter was born two years ago my priorities changed drastically, and for a long time I didn't work on anything miniatures related. It wasn't so much lack of time, but having the breathing space needed for new inspiration. Luckily it looks like my little daughter is already hooked on minis! I found her a Momoll dolls house including all the original furniture for 10 Swiss Francs on a local auction website! The previous owners had painted it really badly in garish colours, but after a little sanding and a new lick of paint it's as good as new. And now it's filled with furniture that I used to play with, when I was a child. It's great to see how a simple house like this can spark her imagination! And now baby No 2 is due in a couple of weeks, but I actually managed to work on some minis since the beginning of the year! In January I started work on The Mountfield kit, which I had bought a year earlier from The Dolls' House Emporium. I had all the plans worked out in my head. There were a lot of changes I wanted to make to the kit - mainly to make it even more useable for taking photographs. It's an absolutely amazing house, which is much more interesting than traditional front opening dolls' houses, and very close to a typical British 1930s detached house. So first I spent a lot of time sawing and glueing, then came the outside finish. I wanted to have the bottom half of the house bricks, and the top half pebble dash, which is very typical for this type of property. And that meant a lot of this... :-) If you're not familiar with the egg carton technique have a look at Brae's great tutorial. I'm not done with the outside yet, but I just had to make a start on the inside :-) So here are a first few snap shots. The idea for the house is, that if my family and I would live back in the UK, this could be the type of house we would live in. I will copy a lot of the furniture and accessories we own in real life. First up, was the IKEA Lillesand bed and an old mirror we own. Of course there will be lots of vintage furniture as well and stripped floor boards throughout - just how I would have it in real life...
Micro Roots Perfect climbing suitable for the diorama.
I have been searching for some light fittings for my half scale dollhouse, however, in this scale I have not been able to find any affordable lights which are not clunky and look out of scale. I did find some that were nice but were about $150 - $200 each, which is too much if you want to light a whole house. So, I decided to make my own. The first light fitting I need to make it the entrance hall light because it will be closest to the lighting pack (which will sit under the stairs). I decided on a Victorian hall lantern. I love these lanterns so much! There are many different styles, but the common elements include leaded stain glass in simple geometric patterns, and quatrefoil patterned edging. To make my little lantern, I first found some cheap, thin bangles. I also tracked down some fancy jewellery wire with a nice gothic-type pattern. I cut the bangle into 8 equal lengths to form the top and bottom frame of the four sided lantern. I then cut small sections from the decorative wire and used them to cap the edges of the frame, top and bottom. I then bent two lengths of wire for the "handle" on the top. I then glued these two lengths on as you can see below. Once the top and bottom frames were done I cut four equal rectangles from acetate for the glass. These glued into a cube easily using a plastics glue. Then I popped the top and bottom framing sections onto the acetate cube. Next I used a length of gold tape to use for the leading (bought from a gold supply shop). This is thin lead strip tape with an adhesive backing which can be cut into very thin strips and simply stuck down to look like leading on glass. I also used it to cap the four side edges of the lantern. The use of super glue to glue the metal frame to the acetate oxidises the acetate, thus making it a little cloudy. I personally like this because I think it makes the glass look old. I bought glass paints to colour the acetate however (after spending a lot of money on the paint) changed my mind because it did not give a smooth finish. Instead I bought coloured cellophane, cut it into pieces and glued it to the inside of the lantern. The outcome is surprisingly real and effective! Im still debating whether I have made the lantern the right scale for the hall. I feel it might be a tiny bit big. I guess it will become more clear once the other finishes are in. I have been thinking of making some more to sell on Etsy (in both 1:12 and 1:24). Thoughts?
Hoorn, De kijkdoos museum
Check out these cool little dioramas. See more HERE.
